CALL SCHEDULING ON A TELEPHONE NETWORK USING A TELEPHONY INTERFACE

A system and method to allow telephone subscribers to schedule calls for future placement on a telephone network using a telephone interface. In an illustrative implementation, a telephone subscriber part of an AIN telephone network is offered a call scheduling service whereby the subscriber may schedule future placed calls according to various parameters (e.g. telephone number(s) to call, the time of the scheduled call, and the frequency of the call, i.e. every day, month, week, or year) by inputting parameters using a telephone interface of a telephone station that is connected to the AIN telephone network. In operation, a participating user would connect to the service switch point (SSP) of the AIN telephone network using his/her telephone station. The SSP communicates this request to a service control point (SCP) having an administrative application and a call scheduling application. The SCP verifies that the requesting party is a subscriber to the call scheduling service and cooperates with a service node (SN) to prompt the participating user to input information indicative of the desired scheduled calls. The call schedule information is stored in a SCP cooperating database. When the scheduled time for a scheduled call arrives, the SCP cooperates with the SN to notify the participating user (e.g. by calling the subscriber's listed telephone) that the time for the scheduled call has arrived. If prompted by the participating user, the SCP proceeds to cooperate with the SN to place the scheduled call.