Identification of calling devices dialing a universal number to access a telecommunications relay service center

1. A method for routing a call to a telecommunications relay service center, the call being initiated in response to a calling party inputting a universal telephone number into a communications device, the method comprising:

establishing a communications connection between the communications device and the telecommunications relay service center over a signaling system 7 (SS7) feature group D trunk line; and

forwarding a charge number (CN) to the telecommunications relay service center over the signaling system 7 feature group D trunk line.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

ascertaining a toll free telephone number in response to the input universal telephone number, the toll free telephone number corresponding to the telecommunications relay service center.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the charge number has been previously received at the telecommunications relay service center;

when the charge number has not been previously received:

creating a profile of a user of the communication device; and

storing the profile of the user for the use of the telecommunications relay service center;

when the charge number has been previously received:

associating the charge number with a previously created profile of the user; and

updating the previously created profile of the user with information received from the calling device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, from the charge number, a state corresponding to a location of the communication device.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

finding a toll free telephone number corresponding to the telecommunications relay service center for the state corresponding to the location of the communications device.

6. The telecommunications method of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication relay service center is equipped with memory and graphical displays that display identifying information.

7. The telecommunications method of claim 6 , further comprising counting the number of times a calling number has called the telecommunications relay service center.

8. The telecommunications method of claim 6 , wherein the identifying information comprises the location of the calling party and a phone number associated with the communications device.

9. The telecommunications method of claim 3 , wherein the profile is used for planning and billing purposes.

10. A telecommunications system that routes a call to a telecommunications relay service center, the call being initiated in response to a calling party inputting a universal telephone number into a communications device, the telecommunications system comprising:

a service switching point that establishes a communications connection between the communications device and the telecommunications relay service center over a signaling system 7 (SS7) feature group D trunk line, the service switching point forwarding a charge number (CN) to the telecommunications relay service center over the signaling system 7 feature group D trunk line; and

a service control point that communicates with the service switching point, the service control point translating the universal telephone number into a telephone number corresponding to the telecommunications relay service center.

11. The telecommunications system of claim 10 , wherein the service control point determines an originating state from the charge number, and determines a telephone number corresponding to the telecommunications relay service center for the originating state.

12. The telecommunications system of claim 10 , wherein the charge number enables the telecommunications relay service center to identify the communications device.

13. A computer readable medium storing a computer program that routes a call to a telecommunications relay service center, the call being initiated in response to a calling party inputting a universal telephone number into a communications device, the computer readable medium comprising:

a communications connection establishing code segment that establishes a communications connection between the calling party and the telecommunications relay service center over a signaling system 7 (SS7) feature group D trunk line; and

an identification information forwarding code segment that forwards a charge number (CN) of the calling party to the telecommunications relay service center over the signaling system 7 feature group D trunk line.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising:

a telephone number determining code segment that determines a toll free telephone number in response to the input universal telephone number, the toll free telephone number corresponding to the telecommunications relay service center.