Proactive voice mail service

Claim 1

A method of providing voice mail service, comprising the steps of: activating a forward on busy or a forward on busy/no-answer service on a customer's telephone line to forward calls to the customer's telephone line to a server; receiving a call at the server forwarded from the customer's telephone line and storing voice mail at the server; calling the customer's telephone line according to a retry schedule using a ring-back tone with an imbedded electronic signature that uniquely identifies the server; analyzing ring-back tones received by the server when calling the customer's telephone line to detect if the electronic signature is present; and disconnecting a telephone call to the customer's telephone line made according to the retry schedule if the unique signature is detected or transmitting the stored voice mail from the server to the customer's telephone line if the electronic signature is not detected and the customer answers the telephone call made according to the retry schedule.

Claim 2

A method of providing voice mail service, comprising the steps of: activating a forward on busy or a forward on busy/no-answer service on a customer's telephone line to forward calls to the customer's telephone line to a server; receiving a call at the server forwarded from the customer's telephone line and storing voice mail at the server; calling the customer's telephone line according to a retry schedule using a ring-back tone with an imbedded electronic signature that uniquely identifies the server; analyzing ring-back tones received by the server when calling the customer's telephone line to detect if the electronic signature is present; and disconnecting a telephone call to the customer's telephone line made according to the retry schedule if the unique signature is detected or transmitting the stored voice mail from the server to the customer's telephone line if the electronic signature is not detected and the customer answers the telephone call made according to the retry schedule.

Claim 4

A method of providing voice mail service, comprising the steps of: activating a forward on busy or a forward on busy/no-answer service on a customer's telephone line to forward calls to the customer's telephone line to a nation-wide toll free telephone number which terminates at a server; utilizing automatic number identification to determine the telephone number from which a call is forwarded to the server; receiving a forwarded call from the customer's telephone line and storing voice mail at the server with the determined telephone number; and transmitting the stored voice mail from the server to the determined telephone number when the customer's telephone line is free and the customer answers by calling the customer's telephone line according to a retry schedule using a ring-back tone with an imbedded electronic signature that uniquely identifies the server; analyzing ring-back tones received by the server when calling the customer's telephone line to detect if the electronic signature is present; and disconnecting a telephone call to the customer's telephone line made according to the retry schedule if the unique signature is detected or transmitting the stored from the server to the customer's telephone line if the electronic signature is not detected and the customer answers the telephone call made according to the retry schedule.

Claim 5

A method of providing voice mail service, comprising the steps of: activating a forward on busy or a forward on busy/no-answer service on a customer's telephone line to forward calls to the customer's telephone line to a nation-wide toll free telephone number which terminates at a server; utilizing automatic number identification to determine the telephone number from which a call is forwarded to the server; receiving a forwarded call from the customer's telephone line and storing voice mail at the server with the determined telephone number; and transmitting the stored voice mail from the server to the determined telephone number when the customer's telephone line is free and the customer answers by calling the customer's telephone line according to a retry schedule using a ring-back tone with an imbedded electronic signature that uniquely identifies the server; analyzing ring-back tones received by the server when calling the customer's telephone line to detect if the electronic signature is present; and disconnecting a telephone call to the customer's telephone line made according to the retry schedule if the unique signature is detected or transmitting the stored from the server to the customer's telephone line if the electronic signature is not detected and the customer answers the telephone call made according to the retry schedule.