Systems and methods for providing enhanced telephone services

Abstract

A switching platform comprises a first circuit for recognizing tones generated by an originating telephone line, the tones representing a common number of a party and associated with telephone lines of the party, a second circuit for recognizing that the party has answered one of the associated telephone lines, a third circuit for sending a challenge to the answered telephone line, a fourth circuit for awaiting the party to satisfy the challenge, and a fifth circuit for establishing a telephone connection between the originating telephone line and the answered telephone line if the challenge is satisfied.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, executed by a computerized telephone services device, for providing enhanced telephone services comprising:
 a) recognizing, by the computerized telephone services device, tones generated by an originating telephone line, the originating telephone line being associated with a calling number, wherein the tones represent a common number associated with a called party and assigned to two or more telephone lines;   b) identifying, by the computerized telephone services device, the two or more telephone lines associated with the common number;   c) causing, by the computerized telephone services device, a first telephone line and a second telephone line of the two or more telephone lines to ring substantially simultaneously;   d) awaiting, by the computerized telephone services device, the called party to answer via one of the two or more telephone lines;   e) sending, by the computerized telephone services device, a challenge to the answered telephone line and waiting for the called party to satisfy the challenge if one of the two or more telephone lines is answered, wherein the challenge comprises a menu having a plurality of options for routing the call; and   f) establishing, by the computerized telephone services device, a first telephone connection between the originating telephone line and one of the two or more telephone lines associated with the common number of the called party if the challenge is satisfied.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the answered telephone line is a telephone line configured to receive the challenge, and sending the challenge to the answered telephone line upon determining that the answered telephone line is the telephone line configured to receive the challenge. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the telephone line configured to receive the challenge includes the called party's primary home telephone line. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the telephone line configured to receive the challenge includes a telephone line shared by multiple individuals. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the telephone line configured to receive the challenge includes a college dormitory line. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting the challenge to send to the answered telephone line based on identifying information associated with one or more of the called party, the two or more telephone lines associated with the common number, the answered telephone line, the originating telephone line, and a calling party. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge includes a prompt, the prompt including a voice announcement, a text prompt, or any combination thereof 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the challenge includes one or more of a PIN, a password, a name, a number, a character, and any combination thereof 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising repeating the sending and the awaiting a predetermined number of times or until the called party satisfies the challenge, whichever occurs first. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the sending is capable of sending a different challenge between instances. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising determining, upon the party's failing to satisfy the challenge each of the predetermined number of times, that the challenge is not satisfied and therefore not establishing the telephone connection between the originating telephone line and the answered telephone line. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining that the challenge is not satisfied and therefore not establishing the telephone connection between the originating telephone line and the answered telephone line.