Methods and systems for selecting a buddy from a buddy list and for placing call to a buddy

A method for placing a call between user telephone means and a buddy telephone means, the buddy telephone means being Internet-enabled and being identifiable by coordinates, the user telephone means having associated thereto identification information, the method comprising:

• receiving, at an Internet-enabled computing device, a call from the user telephone means, the call having associated thereto calling line identification (CLID) information;
• comparing the CLID information to the user telephone means identification information;
• validating the CLID information using the comparison;
• upon positive validation, receiving from the user the coordinates of the buddy telephone means;
• and
• placing the call between the user telephone means and the buddy telephone means corresponding to the coordinates;
• wherein the coordinates are received in the form of at least one of:
• letters related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, DTMF tones related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, numbers related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, a short-message-service-type message related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, and speech commands related to the coordinates and entered using the user telephone means.

A buddy selection system for determining contact information of a buddy of a user of the buddy selection system, the system comprising:

• a database for storing a pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations;
• and
• an Internet-enabled computing device communicatively coupled with the database and comprising:
• an Internet telephony application for receiving a call from a user telephone means of the user, the call having calling line identification (CLID) information;
• a specialized software application for intervening in the call when the CLID information indicates that the call is from the user telephone means, and for receiving buddy identification from the user via the user telephone means;
• and
• a communication software application for searching for the buddy identification within the pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations to determine a search result;
• wherein the specialized software application sends the search result to the user telephone means and cooperates with the Internet telephone software to create an outgoing call to-a buddy telephone means associated with the buddy upon successful match between the buddy identification and one of the Internet-accessible destinations.

A system for placing a call between user telephone means and a buddy telephone means, the buddy telephone means being Internet-enabled and being identifiable by coordinates, the user telephone means having associated thereto identification information, the system comprising:

• an input for receiving calling line identification CLID information of an initial call from the user telephone means to an Internet-enabled computing device, and the coordinates of the buddy telephone means;
• a database for storing the user telephone means identification information;
• and
• the Internet-enabled computing device for comparing the CLID information to user-specific information;
• for validating the CLID information using the comparison;
• upon positive validation, for receiving the coordinates of the buddy telephone means;
• and for placing the call between the user telephone means and the buddy telephone means corresponding to the coordinates;
• wherein the coordinates are received in the form of at least one of:
• letters related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, DTMF tones related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, numbers related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, a short-message-service-type message related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, and speech commands related to the coordinates and entered using the user telephone means.