Patent ID: 7295664

Claim:
A telephony system, comprising: a service node configured to communicate with a user device and provide a user associated with the user device with an automated voice interface to the telephony system upon the user's initiating access to the telephony system via the user device, wherein the automated voice interface is configured to permit the user to verbally specify a desired objective corresponding to any one of a plurality of predefined objectives, the predefined objectives including directory assisted call placement and at least one form of information retrieval, and wherein, upon receiving the desired objective from the user, the service node acts to implement the desired objective, wherein when the user specifies a desired objective relating to information retrieval, the service node is configured to: request, by voiced instruction, the user's verbal specification of an information item, retrieve the verbally specified information item from an information source, and voice the information item to the user via the user device, and wherein when the user specifies the desired objective relating to information retrieval by retrieval of Internet search results, the service node is configured to request, by voiced instruction, the user's verbal specification of a preferred Internet search engine.