A cellular telephone subscriber who wishes directory assistance services is
connected in the conventional manner to an operator who identifies a
destination telephone number desired by the subscriber. As in the prior
art, the operator then initiates a call connecting the subscriber to the
destination telephone number. In a preferred embodiment, the operator
locates a desired destination telephone number in a computer database, and
can select automatic dialing of the located number. Further, rather than
dropping all further involvement with the call, the preferred embodiment
of the present invention continually monitors the connection thereby
established for a predetermined DTMF signal issued by the customer, such
as that obtained by pressing the "*" button. If such a signal is detected,
the customer is transferred to a directory assistance operator, who can
then provide whatever further assistance is needed (e.g. redialing a busy
number, or providing further directory assistance). This feature can be
disabled, manually or automatically, if the destination number makes its
own use of the DTMF signals.
