Patent ID: 7978833

Claim:
A communications system, comprising: a first switch connected to a calling party communications device, the calling party communications device communicating with a caller identification messaging device, the caller identification messaging device transmitting a caller identification messaging signal comprising a caller identification message and at least one of (i) an identifier of a calling party, (ii) an identifier of a destination communications address, and (iii) an identifier of the calling party communications device; a second switch connected to a receiving party communications device; and a communications network connecting the first switch to the second switch, the communications network operable to determine if the receiving party communications device blocks incoming caller identification messaging; if the receiving party communications device blocks incoming caller identification messaging then the communications network advises the calling party communications device that the receiving party communications device does not accept caller identification messaging and determines whether the calling party communications device requests an alternate communication connection and establishes the alternate communications connection; if the receiving party communications device accepts incoming caller identification messaging, the communications network operable to process an incoming line identification (ICLID) signal and the caller identification messaging signal and operable to transmit the caller identification message to the destination communications address, the communications network further operable to establish a voice connection to the destination communications address and to transmit at least one of the caller identification messaging signal and caller identification message, the communications network querying a database for presentation capabilities associated with the destination communications address and formatting at least one of the caller identification messaging signal and caller identification message in response to the presentation capabilities; wherein the caller identification messaging device transmits a subsequent calling identification messaging signal after the voice connection is established between the calling party communications device and the receiving party communications device, and wherein the communications network is operable to transmit the subsequent calling identification messaging signal during the voice connection while the calling party communications device and the receiving party communications device exchange voice signals.