Voice messaging system caller ring bypass control

Abstract

A voice messaging system such as a telephone answering device which allows a calling party to bypass the ring signal and substantially immediately allow the calling party to leave a voice message. To activate the no ring signal access to the telephone answering device, the calling party preferably enters a control sequence prior to entering the telephone number of the called party to signal the appropriate central office to signal the telephone line of the called party that the ring signal is to be bypassed. The central office includes an appropriate ring signal bypass request detection module adapted to detect a request for no ring signal from a calling party. In the disclosed embodiment, the calling party signals the central office using an appropriate sequence of DTMF tones, e.g., '77', and the central office in turn signals the telephone line using a non-ring signal, e.g., a line reversal. If the called party's telephone remains on-hook after a predetermined amount of time after the central office has signaled a no ring signal request, e.g., DirectAnswersignaling using a line reversal and appropriate DTMF tones as desired, the central office may proceed to send ring signals on the telephone line to the called party for functionality in a conventional sense.