Telephone system providing personalized telephone features

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber telephone number a plurality of caller identifiers and associated call treatment specifications including a first caller identifier and a specification of a first call treatment associated with the first identifier,
• answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number,
• receiving a caller identifier during said first call after it has been answered which matches a caller identifier stored for said subscriber telephone number,
• processing said first call using the call treatment the specification of which is associated with the received caller identifier,
• answering a second telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number, and
• processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier, wherein said first and second call treatments each comprise forwarding a call to a selected one of a predetermined plurality of destinations.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing for a subscriber telephone number a plurality of caller identifiers including a first caller identifier having a first specification of call treatment associated with the first caller identifier,
• answering a first telephone call directed to the subscriber telephone number,
• receiving, during said first telephone call after it has been answered, a caller identifier previously stored for said subscriber telephone number,
• processing said call using a call treatment specified by a specification associated with the received caller identifier,
• answering a second telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number,
• processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said subscriber telephone number, and
• indicating to an originator of a particular call a destination that will be used in processing said particular call and/or a handling mode that will be used for that particular call.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber telephone number a plurality of caller identifiers including a first caller identifier and a specification of a first call treatment associated with the first caller identifier,
• answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number,
• receiving a caller identifier previously stored for said telephone number during said call after said call has been answered,
• processing said call using a call treatment associated with the received caller identifier and stored for said subscriber telephone number by connecting said first telephone call with a device at a telephone network address defined by the call treatment associated with the received identifier,
• answering a second telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number,
• processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said subscriber telephone number.

An arrangement for providing a personal telecommunications service, said arrangement comprising

• means for storing, for a subscriber telephone number, a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification defining a respective call treatment;
• means for answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number;
• means for receiving a caller identifier, and receiving an incoming caller identifier during said first call after it has been answered;
• and
• means for processing said first call using a call treatment which has been stored for said subscriber telephone number as associated with the received incoming caller identifier.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber telephone number a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification defining a respective call treatment,
• answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number,
• receiving a caller identifier which matches a caller identifier previously stored for said subscriber telephone number during said first call after it has been answered, and
• processing said call using the respective call treatment specified by the specification associated with the received caller identifier.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification of call treatment, including a first caller identifier and a specification of a first call treatment associated with that identifier,
• answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber,
• receiving, during said call after it has been answered, a caller identifier which was previously stored for said subscriber as associated with a specification of call treatment,
• processing said call according to the specification of call treatment associated with the received caller identifier,
• answering, while said first call is ongoing, a second telephone call directed to said subscriber, and
• processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier, wherein said first and second call treatments each comprise forwarding a call to a selected one of a predetermined plurality of destinations.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber at least a first caller identifier and the specification of a first call treatment associated with that identifier,
• answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber,
• receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered, processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said subscriber,
• answering a second telephone call directed to said subscriber,
• processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said subscriber, and
• indicating to the originator of a call the destination that will be used in processing said call and/or the handling mode for that call.

An arrangement for providing a personal telecommunications service, said arrangement comprising

• means for storing for a subscriber a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification defining a respective call treatment,
• means for answering a first telephone call directed to said subscriber,
• means for receiving caller identifiers and receiving, during said first call after it has been answered, a caller identifier which was stored for said subscriber, and
• means for processing said first call in combination with a switch, using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier, said switch being functional to process a plurality of calls at any given time and being responsive to instructions received from said processing means.

A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

• storing for a subscriber telephone number a plurality of caller identifiers and a specification of a call treatment associated with each caller identifier,
• receiving a first telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number and, during said first call after said first call has been answered, receiving a previously stored caller identifier in connection with said call,
• processing said first call using the call treatment specified by the specification associated with the received caller identifier by connecting said first telephone call with a destination telephone network address defined by the specification associated with the received caller identifier, and
• while said first call is still in progress answering a second telephone call directed to said subscriber telephone number.