Call waiting arrangement providing options to both a subsequent calling party and to the called party

A switching arrangement for processing calls among a plurality of communication stations, said arrangement comprising

• means, responsive to a call from a calling one of said stations to a called one of said stations, for determining whether call waiting is assigned to said called station and said called station is busy,
• means, responsive to a determination by said determining means that call waiting is assigned to said called station and said called station is busy, for signaling to prompt a caller for a request to interrupt an ongoing call at said called station and to prompt a caller for an auto-callback request,
• means, responsive to receipt of an interrupt request from said calling station for transmitting an interrupt signal to said called station,
• means for establishing a connection between said calling and called stations only in response to receipt of a signal from said called station after transmission of said interrupt signal by said transmitting means, and
• means responsive to receipt of an auto-callback request from said calling station and to a return to an idle status of said called station, for initiating a new call between said called and calling stations.

A method of processing a call from a calling communication station to a called communication station comprising:

• determining for said call whether said called station is busy;
• determining whether a call waiting feature is assigned to said called station;
• determining whether said call is a toll call;
• if said called station is busy, and if said called station has a call waiting feature assigned thereto, and if that said call is a toll call, signaling to said called station via a special tone, different from a call waiting tone for a local call, that a toll call is waiting;
• and
• after said signaling, establishing a connection between said calling and said called stations only in response to receipt of a signal from said called station.

A method of processing a call waiting call from a calling communication station to a called communication station comprising:

• determining whether said call is a toll call;
• in response to determining that said call is a toll call, signaling to said called station via a special tone, different from a call waiting tone for a local call, that a toll call is waiting;
• and
• after said signaling, establishing a connection between said calling and said called stations only in response to receipt of a signal from said called station.

A method of processing a call waiting call from a calling communication station to a called communication station comprising:

• determining whether said call is a toll call;
• in response to determining that said call is a toll call, signaling to said called station via a special tone, different from a call waiting tone for a local call, that a toll call is waiting;
• checking whether said calling station is still off-hook;
• and
• if said calling station is still off-hook after said signaling, establishing a connection between said calling and said called stations only in response to receipt of a signal from said called station.