Apparatus and method for personalized call acknowledgement

A method of processing a telephone call from a caller, the method comprising:

• receiving the call;
• identifying a person to whom the call is directed;
• indicating to the person that the call is pending;
• obtaining caller information;
• providing the caller information to the person;
• receiving from the person an acknowledgement indication signifying that the person wants to acknowledge the call;
• recording an acknowledgement message from the person after receiving the acknowledgement indication;
• playing the acknowledgement message to the caller;
• maintaining a flag indicative of whether the acknowledgement message should be saved in a voice mailbox of the person;
• checking the flag to determine whether the acknowledgement message should be saved in the voice mailbox;
• and
• if the step of checking determines that the acknowledgement message should be saved in the voice mailbox, saving the acknowledgement message in the voice mailbox.

A method of processing a telephone call from a caller to a subscriber, the method comprising:

• (a) identifying the subscriber;
• (b) obtaining caller information;
• (c) providing the caller information to the subscriber;
• (d) asking the subscriber whether to accept, reject, or acknowledge the call;
• (e) if in response to the step of asking the subscriber indicates within a predetermined period that the subscriber wants to acknowledge the call,
• recording an acknowledgement message from the subscriber,
• playing the acknowledgement message from the subscriber to the caller,
• offering the caller to leave a message to the subscriber, and
• recording the message from the caller to the subscriber if the caller chooses to leave the message to the subscriber;
• wherein each step of the steps of asking, recording the acknowledgement message, playing, offering, and recording the message from the caller is performed during the call.

A method of processing a telephone call from a caller to a subscriber, the method comprising:

• (a) identifying the subscriber;
• (b) obtaining caller information;
• (c) providing the caller information to the subscriber;
• (d) if the subscriber indicates within a predetermined period of the caller information being provided to the subscriber that the subscriber wants to take the call, connecting the caller to the subscriber;
• (e) if the subscriber indicates within the predetermined period that the subscriber wants to acknowledge the call,
• recording an acknowledgement message from the subscriber,
• playing the acknowledgement message from the subscriber to the caller,
• offering the caller to leave a message to the subscriber,
• recording the message from the caller to the subscriber if the caller chooses to leave the message to the subscriber, and
• saving the acknowledgment message in a voice mailbox of the subscriber;
• (f) indicating to the subscriber that the call is pending;
• (g) asking the caller whether the caller wants to be transferred back to the subscriber if the subscriber indicates within the predetermined period that the subscriber wants to acknowledge the call;
• and
• (h) repeating said steps (f), (d), and (e) if the caller indicates that the caller wants to be transferred back to the subscriber.