Method and apparatus for reformatting caller identification from different communication networks

1. A communication device for reformatting a caller identification when operating with a plurality of communication networks comprising:

a transceiver for communicating with a first and second communication network wherein the first communication network uses a first caller identification and the second communication network uses a second caller identification, wherein the first caller identification has a first format used by the first communication network and the second caller identification has a second format used by the second communication network different from the first format; and

a controller, coupled to the transceiver, to provide a reformatted caller identification by reformatting the caller identification for use by the communication device by matching a format of the caller identification to one the first format and the second format based on a one of the first communication network and second communication network used by the transceiver.

2. The communications device of claim 1 wherein the reformatted caller identification is provided by adjusting the number of characters of the first caller identification.

3. The communications device of claim 1 further comprising a memory for storing a template, wherein the reformatted caller identification is provided according to the template and the template corresponds to a difference between the first format and the second format.

4. The communications device of claim 1 wherein the first communication network is one of a cellular communication network and a private network.

5. The communications device of claim 1 wherein the reformatted caller identification is used for addressing an outbound communication sent via the transceiver.

6. The communications device of claim 1 further comprising an address book wherein the controller identifies an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

7. The communications device of claim 1 further comprising a display for displaying one of the reformatted caller identification and an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

8. The communications device of claim 1 wherein the controller provides the reformatted caller identification only when received from the first communication network.

9. The communications device of claim 1 further comprising a user interface and wherein rules used by the controller to provide the reformatted caller are supplied from one of the user interface and a communications network.

10. A communication controller arranged to reformat a caller identification comprising:

an input to receive one of a first caller identification used by a first communication network and a second caller identification used by a second communication network, the first and second caller identification comprising at least a portion of an incoming call from the first communication network or second communication network;

a processor to reformat the caller identification; and

an output to provide a reformatted caller identification, wherein the reformatted caller identification is formatted according to one of a first and second format by matching the caller identification to one of the first caller identification and the second caller identification based on a one of the first communication network and the second communication network used by the controller.

11. The communication controller of claim 10 wherein the reformatted caller identification is provided by adjusting the number of characters of the caller identification.

12. The communication controller of claim 10 further comprising a memory for storing a template, wherein the reformatted caller identification is provided according to the template.

13. The communication controller of claim 10 wherein the first format corresponds to a public wide area communication network and the second format corresponds to a private local area communication network.

14. The communication controller of claim 10 wherein the reformatted caller identification is used for addressing an outbound communication.

15. The communication controller of claim 10 further comprising an address book wherein the controller identifies an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

16. The communications controller of claim 10 further comprising an interface to a display for providing one of the reformatted caller identification and an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

17. The communications controller of claim 10 utilized in one of communications device and network controller.

18. A method for reformatting a caller identification for use by a wireless communication device when operating with at least one of a first communication network and a second communication network comprising:

receiving a communication from one of the first and second communication networks, the communication comprising the caller identification wherein the caller identification corresponds to one of a first format used by the first communication network and a second format used by the second communication network; and

reformatting the caller identification to provide a reformatted caller identification, the reformatted caller identification corresponding to a caller identification format for an other of the plurality of communication networks by matching the caller identification to one of the first format and second format based on a one of the first communication network and second communication network used by the wireless communication device.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the reformatting the caller identification further comprises:

adjusting a number of characters of the caller identification.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

reformatting the caller identification according to a stored template corresponding to the one of the first format or the second format used by the wireless communication device.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

addressing an outbound communication using the reformatted caller identification.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

identifying an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

displaying one of the reformatted caller identification and an address book entry corresponding to the reformatted caller identification.

24. The method of claim 18 utilized in one of a communications device and a network controller.