Personal communication system answerable by proxy

A method of communication in which a call is originated from a calling person using first terminal equipment with first identification information already allocated to a called person, the called person answering the call using second terminal equipment with the first identification information, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting absence information indicative of absence of the called person to the first terminal equipment when a proxy person other than the called person intends to answer the call during a processing of the communication;
• and
• notifying the calling person of the absence of the called person in response to the absence information.

A method of communication in which a call is originated from a calling person using first terminal equipment with first identification information already allocated to a called person, the called person answering the call using second terminal equipment with the first identification information, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting unspecific proxy answer information to the first terminal equipment indicating that an unspecific proxy person other than the called person intends to answer the call, when the unspecific proxy person enters the unspecific proxy answer information during a processing of the communication;
• and
• notifying the calling person, in response to the unspecific proxy answer information, that the unspecific proxy person intends to answer the call.

A method of communication in which a call is originated from a calling person using first terminal equipment with first identification information already allocated to a called person, the called person answering the call using second terminal equipment with the first identification information, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting absence information indicative of absence of the called person to the first terminal equipment when an erroneous unspecific proxy answer request is entered by an unspecific proxy person other than the called person during a processing of the communication;
• and
• notifying the calling person of the absence of the called person in response to the absence information.