Responding to a call with a prompt and routing the call to a phone selected in response to the prompt
A method and apparatus provide multiple telephone lines using a single directory number. A method and apparatus associate multiple directory numbers with multiple telephone lines. A broadband residential gateway (BRG) is a user interface to a broadband communication system providing packetized telephone service and other media services. The BRG can provide greeting and message features. A greeting may instruct a caller to select a name or extension which is associated with a party the caller is attempting to reach. Also, a message, played after the greeting, may further instruct the caller.
1. A single physical device comprising:
a plurality of integrated communications interfaces to multiple other devices at a customer premise, wherein the plurality of integrated communications interfaces comprise a telephone port connection and an Ethernet connection, and wherein the multiple other devices comprise a plain old telephone system (POTS) phone and an Internet Protocol (IP) phone;
a transceiver comprising a register to facilitate data transfer across an IP network;
a processing unit coupled to a memory, wherein the memory comprises instructions to respond to receipt of an incoming call comprising an IP packet via the transceiver, with a greeting that includes a prompt, and to route the incoming call from the IP network to the IP phone of a party or an extension selected from among the multiple other devices by a caller in response to the prompt.
2. The single physical device of claim 1 further comprising:
a CODEC configured to convert an analog voice signal into IP packets.
3. The single physical device of claim 1 further comprising:
an intercom module to provide an announcement of at least a name of the party or the extension selected by the caller.
4. The single physical device of claim 1 further comprising:
an intercom module to set-up an intercom connection to another device.
5. The single physical device of claim 1 wherein:
multiple IP phones are connected to a single port.
6. The single physical device of claim 5 being programmed to address each IP phone individually.
7. The single physical device of claim 1 further comprising:
circuitry configured to detect unused telephone(s) and generate a special intercom tone on the unused telephone(s).
8. The single physical device of claim 1 wherein:
the greeting is based on at least a telephone directory number (DN) or an IP address from which the incoming call originates.
9. The single physical device of claim 1 further comprising a message feature to play a message associated with the party or the extension selected by the caller.
10. A method of operating at least a single physical device, the method comprising:
responding to an incoming call comprising an Internet Protocol (IP) packet with a greeting that includes a prompt;
wherein the IP packet is received via a transceiver in the single physical device, the transceiver comprising a register to facilitate data transfer across an IP network from which the incoming call is received, the single physical device further comprising a plurality of integrated communications interfaces to multiple other devices at a customer premise, the plurality of integrated communications interfaces comprising a telephone port connection and an Ethernet connection, the multiple other devices comprising a plain old telephone system (POTS) phone and an IP phone; and
routing the incoming call from the IP network to the IP phone of a party or an extension selected from among the multiple other devices by a caller in response to the prompt.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
converting an analog voice signal into IP packets.
12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
providing an announcement of at least a name of the party or the extension selected by the caller.
13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
providing an intercom connection to another device at a remote location.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein:
multiple IP phones are connected to a single port.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
addressing each IP phone individually.
16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
detecting unused telephone(s); and
generating a special intercom tone on the unused telephone(s).
17. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the greeting is based on at least a DN or IP address from which the incoming call originates.
18. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
providing a message after the greeting, the message being associated with a name of the party or the extension selected by the caller.
19. The method of claim 10 wherein:
said single physical device is hereinafter a first single physical device;
the incoming call originates in a second single physical device; and
the method further comprises establishing an end-to-end communication path between the second single physical device and the first single physical device.
20. The method of claim 10 wherein:
multiple IP phones are coupled to the single physical device; and
the method further comprises instructing each IP phone to ring distinctively.