Automated method and arrangement for integrating a telephone system with

Abstract

A method and arrangement of utilizing an announcement system to provide paging capability for a facility includes automating the integration of a telephone switch, a voicemail system, and an announcement system. An unanswered call to a telephone of the facility is forwarded to the voicemail system, establishing a first connection between the telephone of the calling party and the voicemail system. The caller is presented with the option of recording a message or initiating a broadcast of an audible page announcement. If the announcement option is selected, a second connection that is separate from the first connection is formed from the voicemail system to the announcement system. An audible announcement identifies the availability of the call for retrieval by the particular called party. In the preferred embodiment, access to the waiting call is restricted to either or both of verification of a password and verification that the retrieval is from one of a limited number of authorized telephones. Security and privacy are further enhanced by restricting access to the announcement procedure in accordance with the preferred embodiment. Multi-tier call notification may be employed, with differences in the tiers being based either upon regions of broadcast (e.g., localized versus general-facility announcements) or upon modes of paging (e.g., overhead announcements versus a page to a particular remote page device).