Ain based call retry and enhanced call waiting services

A method of servicing an incoming call directed to a telephone line which is busy with an ongoing call, the method comprising the steps of:

• operating a service control point to periodically request a telephone switch to provide information on the status of said telephone line;
• operating the service control point to receive from the telephone switch the requested status information on said telephone line;
• in response to the service control point receiving from the telephone switch status information indicating that said telephone line is not busy, operating the service control point to control the telephone switch to complete the incoming call to said telephone line;
• between each of the periodic requests made by the service control point to the telephone switch, to provide information on the status of said telephone line, connecting the incoming call to a peripheral device;
• and
• during at least one of the times the incoming call is connected to the peripheral device, offering to the caller the opportunity to be connected to voice mail;
• and
• when said caller selects to be connected to voice mail, connecting the caller to a voice mail device.

A method of processing a call from a caller to a called telephone line in a communications network including a service control point and a telephone switch, the method comprising the steps of:

• i. operating the service control point to request information from the telephone switch regarding the status of the called;
• ii. operating the service control point to receive line status information from the telephone switch;
• and
• in response to the service control point receiving line status information indicating the called telephone line is not busy, controlling the telephone switch to try to complete the call to the called telephone line;
• in response to the service control point receiving line status information indicating the called telephone line is busy, waiting a period of time before repeating steps i and ii;
• and
• wherein the act of waiting a period of time before repeating steps i and ii further includes:
• connecting the caller to a peripheral device;
• and
• operating the peripheral device to play a message to the caller offering the caller the opportunity to be transferred to voice mail.

A method of servicing an incoming call directed to a called party, the method comprising:

• operating a trigger set at a telephone switch to detect the call;
• in response to the trigger detecting the call, sending a request for call processing instructions to a service control point;
• operating the service control point to initiate notification of the called party of the incoming call;
• operating a server coupled to the Internet to monitor for call disposition information from the called party indicating how the called party wants the incoming call to be handled;
• and
• after at least one of i) the server receiving disposition information from the caller and ii) a set period of time expiring, operating the service control point to control processing of the call in accordance with disposition information received over the Internet or, in the absence of receiving such disposition information, in a selected default manner.

A service control point for providing a call retry service for a call directed to a busy telephone line, the service control point including:

• means for periodically requesting a telephone switch to provide information on the status of said telephone line;
• means for receiving from the telephone switch the requested status information on said telephone line;
• and
• means for incrementing a counter each time the requested status information indicates that said telephone line is busy;
• and
• means for controlling the telephone switch to complete the incoming call to said telephone line when the received status information indicates that the telephone line is not busy.