Personalized assistance system and method

A system for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of the system, the system comprising:

• at least one user terminal;
• a web server coupled to at least one user teal through a communication network, the web server receiving a personal contact update data from the at least one user terminal;
• a first database coupled to the web server, the first database storing information corresponding to a customer representative assistance service, said first database also storing the list of personal contact data;
• a computer terminal coupled to said first database configured to retrieve said list of personal contact data in response to a received call associated with said personal contact data so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a desired listing from said personal contact data;
• and
• said user terminal having access only to said portion of said database storing said list of personal contact data, such that, the list of personal contact data stored in the first database being updated with the personal contact update data received by the web server.

A signaling method for a personal assistance system, the method comprising the steps of:

• translating a first dial string sent from a telephone to a second dial sting, the second dial string identifying an originating switch for at least one of the originating service and originating service provider for the telephone, wherein said originating service corresponds to retrieval of a personal contact list stored by said personal assistance system;
• transmitting a telephone identification code uniquely associated with said telephone to a computer terminal remotely located from said telephone so as to prompt the computer terminal to automatically generate a search query in response to identification of said service to retrieve said personal contact list in said database so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a destination contact number;
• searching the database to identify a network address of the originating switch, the network address being identified in accordance with the second dial string;
• and
• sending the destination number to the network address of the originating switch using an out-of-band network.

A method for using a telephone to contact a service for searching a database of contact numbers for a desired contact number and connecting a calling telephone to the desired contact number, the method comprising the steps of:

• calling a telephone number associated with the service;
• routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including a first data sting associated with the service and a second data string associated with a telephone identification number of said telephone used to contact the service;
• generating a database lookup query in response to said first and second data strings for searching the database for a contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone;
• retrieving the contact list for search by a customer service representative;
• searching the contact list for the desired contact number;
• sending call completion data to a switch, the call completion data corresponding to the desired contact number, and
• connecting the call to the desired contact number.

A method for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of a personalized assistance system, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving the personal contact update data from a user terminal;
• storing a list of personal contact data in a first database, said database also storing data corresponding to information for a customer representative assistance service such that only data corresponding to said personal contact data is subject to update via said user terminal;
• retrieving from a computer terminal coupled to said first database said list of personal contact data in response to a received telephone call associated with said personal contact list, said personal contact list being available for search by a customer service representative;
• and
• periodically synchronizing the list of personal contact data stored in the first database with the received personal contact update data.

A method for using a telephone to contact a service for scarching a database for a desired information and performing an operation requested by a user, the method comprising the steps of:

• calling a telephone number associated with the service, said service including storage and retrieval of personal contact lists each personal contact list corresponding to a user;
• routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including an identification number of the calling telephone;
• searching the database for a contact list among a plurality of personal contact lists, said contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone;
• retrieving the contact list from the database and providing said retrieved contact list to a customer service representative;
• receiving a requested operation from the user;
• and
• performing the requested operation.