Patent ID: 7715544

Claim:
A process for providing a selective call waiting feature within a communication network comprising: installing options for a selective call waiting feature into a database in communication with the communication network, wherein the selective call waiting feature comprises: a call accept list; a call deny list; anonymous call acceptance; anonymous call rejection; instruction to transmit a caller ID for an incoming call; instruction to withhold a caller ID for an incoming call; selecting treatment of an incoming call rejected using an option; and combinations thereof; linking the options to a network user's account, wherein the options comprise: network end user does not desire the selective call waiting feature; network end user does desire the selective call waiting feature; and activating the selective call waiting feature; linking the selective call waiting feature to the options in each network user's account; and applying the selective call waiting feature activated to incoming calls; wherein applying the selective call waiting feature to incoming calls comprises: determining if a called party has the selective call waiting feature active; retrieving a called party's options; determining if a called party's call accept list is active; determining if a calling party's identity matches an entry on the call accept list; and; rejecting the incoming call if no match to the call accept list occurs or accepting the incoming call if a match to the call accept list occurs and applying call waiting treatment; wherein applying the selective call waiting feature to incoming calls comprises: determining if the called party has the selective call waiting feature active; retrieving a called party's options; determining if a called party's call deny list is active; determining if a calling party's identity matches an entry on the call deny list; and; rejecting the incoming call if a match to the call deny list occurs and accepting the incoming call if no match to the call deny list occurs.