Induced answering method and system for circuit switching-based telephony

A network service on a telecommunications network the network service comprising:

• a circuit-switched (CS) bearer service for receiving and transmitting CS-based telephony signals, wherein the CS bearer service is configured to send a CS-alert signal of an incoming call to a user terminal;
• and
• a packet-switched (PS) bearer service configured to send a PS signal to the user terminal within a predetermined interval of time following the CS-alert signal, wherein the PS signal is associated with the CS-alert signal and the PS signal includes information indicating an answering mode for the user terminal, wherein the PS signal causes the user terminal to switch to an automatic answering mode and to transmit a CS-answer signal over the CS bearer service.

A call initiating terminal for communication over a telecommunications network, the call initiating terminal comprising:

• a circuit-switched (CS) telephony device for processing CS-based telephony signals, the CS-based telephony signals being received and transmitted over a CS bearer service, wherein the CS telephony device transmits a CS call-setup signal to the network to set up an outgoing call to a user terminal;
• and
• a packet-switched (PS) processing device configured to transmit a PS signal over a PS bearer service within a predetermined interval of time following the CS call-setup signal, wherein the PS signal is associated with the transmitted CS call-setup signal, and includes information causing the user terminal to switch to an automatic answering mode and to transmit a CS-answer signal to the network in response to the PS signal.