Patent ID: 8811585

Claim:
A method of operating a communication system, the method comprising: in a processing server, periodically receiving a plurality of contact lists from a plurality of communication devices wherein each one of the contact lists is individually associated with one of the communication devices; in the processing server, processing the contact lists to generate a routing plan for routing communication sessions to ones of the plurality of communication devices through the communication system wherein the routing plan indicates to redirect at least an incoming communication session intended for a first communication device to at least one other communication device based on contact items present in the plurality of communication devices; in the processing server, transferring the routing plan for delivery to a routing server; in the routing server, receiving a communication request for a first communication session through the communication system; and in the routing server, processing the communication request and the routing plan to identify a route through the communication system for the first communication session associated with the communication request to at least one of the communication devices.