Qilin Huang

US Patent:

60524383, Apr 18, 2000

Filed:

Nov 26, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/757049

Inventors:

Woody Wu - Richardson TX
Qilin Huang - Richardson TX

Assignee:

Ericsson Inc - Research Triangle Park NC

International Classification:

H04M 164

US Classification:

379 671

Abstract:

An apparatus in a local switch or in an advanced intelligent network determines whether a called party is a subscriber of a Send Announcement to Caller subscriber feature whenever a called party receives a call. The apparatus also determines whether the feature is presently activated. If it is, either a selected standard announcement or a customized announcement is played to the calling party. The customized announcement which must be prerecorded, allows a subscriber to give a calling party specific guidelines about whether the calling party should hang up or even bother to call back. In a business environment, this announcement can be used to play a trademark slogan or an advertisement. The call routing process is suspended for a specified amount of time to give the calling party enough time to respond. After specified amount of time has expired, the call routing process is completed.