Patent ID: 7649987

Claim:
A selective call forwarding system implemented on an advanced intelligent network telephone system, comprising: a subscription list comprising a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers, wherein an entry in the subscription list indicates that a subscriber subscribes to the selective call forwarding system; a programmable telephone number table linked to the subscription list by the subscriber telephone numbers, the programmable telephone number table comprising for each of the subscriber telephone numbers in the subscription list, a plurality of associated forwarding telephone numbers and a plurality of associated preferred callers, wherein for each preferred caller the programmable telephone number table has a first preferred caller telephone number and a second preferred caller telephone number; logic to execute a service package application and a service node, the service node providing the subscriber with access to modify the programmable telephone number table; and a telephone system having access to the subscription list and the programmable telephone number table, the telephone system: determining that a call placed by a caller is to a subscriber having a corresponding subscriber telephone number entry in the subscription list and the programmable telephone number table; determining that the caller is a preferred caller, the determining comprising verifying that a caller telephone number associated with the call matches a first preferred caller telephone number associated with the preferred caller, and verifying that the caller telephone number matches a second preferred caller telephone number associated with the preferred caller in response to the caller telephone number not matching the first preferred caller telephone number associated with the preferred caller; and selectively forwarding the call to one of a plurality of forwarding telephone numbers associated with the corresponding subscriber telephone number entry in the programmable telephone number table using a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) protocol to respond to a trigger, wherein the telephone system provides an indication to the caller that the call is being forwarded to the forwarding telephone number, and wherein the telephone system uses the trigger on the call to send a TCAP message to initiate searching to locate the corresponding subscriber telephone number entry in the subscription list and the programmable telephone number table.