Enhanced telephone communication methods and apparatus incorporating pager features

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for implementing a telephone communication system incorporating pager features are described. In accordance with the present invention, when a call to a system subscriber is received, the subscriber is contacted by the telephone switch which receives the call via the use of a pager message, e.g., using a conventional pager system. If the subscriber has a pager module of the present invention, which receives the pager message directed to the subscriber inserted into an enhanced telephone of the present invention, the pager module will automatically initiate a call to the switch where the waiting call is being held or “parked”. The automatically placed call will result in a connection between the switch and called party being established over conventional telephone lines. The connection with the switch is thus established automatically in a manner that is transparent to the subscriber. After verifying the identify of the responding party, the calling and called parties are connected. A signal from the contacted switch may be used to cause the enhanced telephone used to establish the connection with the switch to ring thereby signal the receipt of a call to the telephone subscriber. Because the methods and apparatus of the present invention can be implemented using pager technology and land-line telephones, many of the cost, privacy, power consumption, and regional compatibility problems encountered when using current cellular telephones are avoided.