Patent ID: 7260187

Claim:
A method of providing voice responses to commands comprising the steps of: receiving a first command; associating said first command with a subscriber to be called; selecting a first processing option in response to said first command; providing a first outgoing voice message indicative of said first processing option selected including identification of said subscriber; providing a silent delay period of a predetermined duration immediately subsequent to a completion of said step of providing said first outgoing voice message; and selectively (i) initiating alternate processing in response to a receipt of a second command input during said silent delay period, said alternate processing selected from the set of actions consisting of (a) providing spoken listing information for said subscriber, (b) providing a spoken alternate telephone number for said subscriber, (c) receiving and recording an incoming voice message for said subscriber, and (d) forwarding said subscriber to access their voice mail system, and (ii) initiating said first processing option in response to an absence of said second command input for a duration of said silent delay period to thereby initiate a call to said subscriber.