System and method for computerized status monitor and use in a telephone network

In a system that includes a telephone network and a computer network with one or more users, and wherein each user is connected through a user computer to the computer network and is logically connected through the computer network to the telephone network, a computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium for carrying computer executable instructions for implementing at the computer network a method of determining when to establish. telephone communication between two parties, at least one of whom is a user connected to said computer network, and wherein said method comprises:
• at the computer network, receiving information from the telephone network that a first party from whom a call is originating desires to establish telephone communication with a second party;
• at the computer network, monitoring activity of a user computer connected to the computer network and associated with the second party;
• at the computer network, storing a set of predetermined rules for determining when the second party is available to take a call from the first party;
• and
• at the computer network, using the set of predetermined rules to process i) the information received from the telephone network regarding the call being originated by the first party, and ii) information regarding the monitored activity of the user computer of the second party, to determine when the second party is available to take the call originated by the first party.

In a system that includes a telephone network and a computer network with one or more users, and wherein each user is connected through a user computer to the computer network and is logically connected through the computer network to the telephone network, a method of determining when to establish telephone communication between two parties, each of whom is a user connected to said computer network, comprising:

• at the computer network, monitoring activity of the user computers associated with both a first and a second party;
• at the computer network, receiving information from the telephone network that the first party is originating a call to the second party;
• at the computer network, storing a set of pre-determined rules for determining when the second party is available to take a call from the first party;
• at the computer network, using the set of pre-determined rules to process i) the information received from the telephone network regarding the call being originated by the first party, and ii) information regarding the monitored activity of the user computers of the first and second parties, to determine when the second party is available to take the call originated by the first party;
• and
• using the information processed at the computer network to facilitate connecting the call originated by the first party through the telephone network to the second party.

In a system that includes a telephone network and a computer network with one or more users, and wherein each user is connected through a user computer to the computer network and is logically connected through the computer network to the telephone network, a computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium for carrying computer executable instructions for implementing at the computer network a method of determining when to establish telephone communication between two parties, each of whom is a user connected to said computer network, wherein said method comprises:
• at the computer network, monitoring activity of the user computers associated with both the first and second parties;
• at the computer network, receiving information from the telephone network that the first party is originating a call to the second party;
• at the computer network, storing a set of pre-determined rules for determining when the second party is available to take a call from the first party;
• and
• at the computer network, using the set of pre-determined rules to process i) the information received from the telephone network regarding the call being originated by the first party, and ii) information regarding the monitored activity of the user computers of the first and second parties, to determine when the second party is available to take the call originated by the first party.