Controlling communications terminal response to group call page based on group call characteristics

Abstract

A communications terminal, such as a wireless mobile terminal, is supplied with an indication of group call characteristics for incoming group calls so as to distinguish such calls from other types of incoming calls. A Group Call Server in charge of the group call may selectively augment the calling party number field of the paging message with one or more indicator “flag characters,” indicating one or more characteristics of the group call, such as call type, call subtype, or priority level. The communications terminal receives the group call paging message and selects the appropriate response to the paging message based on the flag characters. The communications terminal preferably examines the calling party field of the paging message and notes the presence of the flag characters. When the flag characters are present, the communications terminal parses out the flag characters and calling party ID. Based on the flag characters, the communications terminal determines the proper response to the paging message. This response may include, for instance, controlling the man-machine interface of the communications terminal and determining whether or not to automatically answer the call. For instance, the communications terminal may automatically answer group calls of certain kind(s) and require manual intervention of the user prior to answering the paging call for other kind(s). Thus, the communications terminals receiving the augmented paging message will base their response, such as whether to auto-answer or not, on the group call characteristics indicated in the paging message.