System and method for notifying a customer of a call from a particular number

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is directed to a caller-activated rental system in the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) for a temporary notification service and methods therefor.
Through use of an exemplary embodiment, a customer who is interested in obtaining on short notice or renting a temporary notification service may initiate the process for obtaining such notification service by placing a call to a feature access code.
The call is routed to a rental service interface through which rental information from the caller may be collected.
This rental information may be compiled into a rental agreement that is used as the basis for activation of the temporary notification service with respect to the caller's calling line number.
To activate the notification system, a customer typically dials a feature access code via a telephone handset associated with the customer's calling line number.
The customer then identifies their pager number or other notification information and the number to screen.
Incoming calls to the customer's calling line number are thereafter monitored.
When a match between an incoming calling party number and the number to screen against is found, the customer is paged or otherwise notified that the number to screen against has dialed the customer's calling line number.
Advantageously, by this invention, a customer does not have to have a predefined relationship with a service provider in order to obtain such notification service in the AIN but in most cases would.
Also by this invention, the stumbling blocks to the short term and on short notice implementation of notification service in the AIN have been overcome.
This invention provides an effective manner for the entry of information for a customer in a centralized AIN element.
This effective manner includes the creation of a rental agreement based on a customer's selections for notification service and storage of this rental agreement in a centralized AIN element.
No prior entry of information relating to the customer need be stored in this element