Systems and methods for selectively accepting telephone calls without establishing voice communications

A cellular telephone comprising:

• notification means for alerting a user of the cellular telephone that a source telephone has placed a telephone call to the cellular telephone;
• hold selection means;
• release hold selection means;
• answer selection means;
• answering delay means, responsive to said notification means and further responsive to actuation of said hold selection means by the user of the cellular telephone, for accepting the telephone call from the source telephone without establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone, and for transmitting a predetermined signal to the source telephone;
• answering means, responsive to actuation of said answer selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after said notification means has alerted the user, for establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone without delay;
• and
• releasing means, responsive to actuation of said release hold selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after acceptance of the telephone call from the source telephone by said answering delay means, for establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone;
• wherein said answering delay means comprises timer means and wherein said answering delay means is responsive to actuation of said hold selection means only within a predetermined period of time after said notification means has alerted the user.

A feature node for providing predetermined functions to a plurality of cellular telephones of a cellular radio communications system, at least one cellular telephone comprising hold selection means, release hold selection means and answer selection means, the feature node comprising:

• notification means for alerting a user of a cellular telephone that a source telephone has placed a telephone call to the cellular telephone;
• answering delay means, responsive to said notification means and further responsive to actuation of the hold selection means of the cellular telephone by the user of the cellular telephone, for accepting the telephone call from the source telephone without establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone, and for transmitting a predetermined signal to the source telephone;
• answering means, responsive to actuation of the answer selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after said notification means has alerted the user, for establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone without delay;
• releasing means, responsive to actuation of the release hold selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after acceptance of the telephone call from the source telephone by said answering delay means, for establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone;
• and
• timer means and wherein said answering delay means is responsive to actuation of said hold selection means only within a predetermined period of time after said notification means has alerted the user.

A method of selectively establishing voice communications between a cellular telephone and a source telephone placing a telephone call to the cellular telephone, wherein the cellular telephone comprises hold selection means, release hold selection means and answer selection means, the method comprising the steps of:

• alerting a user of the cellular telephone that the source telephone has placed a telephone call to the cellular telephone;
• accepting the telephone call from the source telephone upon actuation of the hold selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after said alerting step without establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone;
• establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone without delay upon actuation of the answer selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after said alerting step;
• establishing voice communications between the cellular telephone and the source telephone of the previously accepted telephone call upon actuation of the release hold selection means by the user of the cellular telephone after said accepting step;
• and
• determining the elapsed time since the user of the cellular telephone was initially alerted wherein the telephone call from the source telephone can be accepted only within a predetermined period of time after the user of the cellular telephone was initially alerted.