Patent ID: 7254226

Claim:
A method for providing a call waiting priority alert service to a subscriber of a telephone line, the method comprising the steps of: associating a plurality of priority codes with a telephone number of the telephone line, wherein each of the plurality of priority codes is further associated with a priority level of a plurality of priority levels, each of the plurality of priority levels represents a degree of urgency and is associated with a priority alert signal that identifies the degree of urgency for the subscriber; providing multiple priority codes to each one of a plurality of calling parties prior to a call being placed by the calling parties to enable the calling parties to choose a level of urgency for a call to the subscriber, wherein the priority codes provided to a first calling party of the plurality of calling parties is unique to the first calling party; receiving the call from one of the calling parties of the plurality who dialed the telephone number while the telephone line is engaged in a first communication session between the subscriber and a third party; receiving one of the priority codes from the calling party of the plurality during the call to the subscriber to allow the calling party of the plurality to identify the level of urgency for the call; sending to the same telephone number dialed by the calling party a priority alert signal associated with the priority code provided by the calling party that is indicative of the level of urgency of the call to interfere with the first communication session and alert the subscriber to the level of urgency of the call; and establishing a second communication session between the calling party and the subscriber if the subscriber chooses to suspend the first communication session.