Telephonic communications – Plural exchange network or interconnection – With interexchange network routing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-08
2004-03-30
Harvey, Minsun Oh (Department: 2644)
Telephonic communications
Plural exchange network or interconnection
With interexchange network routing
C379S221140, C379S114020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06714638
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal adapter through which a terminal device is connected to a telecommunication network, and more particularly, to a terminal adapter permitting a user to selectively and easily utilize telecommunication networks respectively provided by telecommunication enterprises with which the user made a service contract.
2. Related Art
In addition to public telecommunication networks provided by a primary telecommunication enterprise (hereinafter referred to as “common carrier” or “CC”) such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., a variety of telecommunication networks (hereinafter referred to as “NCC networks”) accessible to various users have been provided by other telecommunication enterprises (hereinafter referred to as “new common carriers” or “NCCs”).
To produce an outgoing call to establish a line connection via a particular NCC network, the user dials an enterprise identification number [
00
XX] (hereinafter referred to as “NCC identification number”) which specifies such a particular NCC, and then dials a called party's telephone number. Some of terminal adapters, each serving to connect a user terminal device such as a telephone to a digital telecommunication network, have an auto-dialing function. When a called party's telephone number is dialed through a dial button operation on the terminal device, a terminal adapter having an auto-dialing function automatically delivers an NCC identification number prior to the delivery of the called party's telephone number. In response to the delivery of the NCC identification number, a local switching system is connected to a toll switch selected by the local switching system, and then the toll switch is connected to an inter-gateway switch selected by the toll switch. Further, the inter-gateway switch is connected to an NCC exchange selected by the inter-gateway switch based on the NCC identification number, whereby the terminal adapter is connected to the NCC exchange through the public network. Subsequently, procedures to establish a line connection between the terminal adapter and a called party's terminal device though the public network and the NCC network are started.
The function of automatically delivering an NCC identification number is convenient for users who wish to utilize NCC networks. However, connection procedures, performed after the delivery of the NCC identification number, to establish a line connection between the terminal adapter and the NCC exchange through various exchanges are complicated, to lengthen a period of time required for establishing the line connection and to increase telecommunication costs. Furthermore, some NCCs request users to deliver supplementary information such as a caller ID and/or a password attained by an individual user who made a service contract with these NCCs. It is burdensome for users to operate dial buttons and the like to input the supplementary information each time they use a telephone. In particular, those users who made a service contract with a plurality of NCCs are requested to make a burdensome operation of inputting the supplemental information which varies from one NCC to another NCC.
In order to selectively utilize NCC networks with the aid of an automatic dialing function, the provision of terminal adapters is needed, which adapters respectively correspond to the NCC networks and are connected to the subscriber line through a switching device or through a switching device and a digital service unit. To utilize a particular NCC network, a user should select a required one of the terminal adapters in advance by operating the switching device, if necessary.
Moreover, in order to realize a telecommunication system for establishing a line connection through an NCC network and part of the CC network in response to the delivery of an NCC identification number, NCCs are required to obtain approval for usage of their NCC identification numbers from a government office and to ask the CC to register the NCC identification numbers in a numerous number of CC exchanges, prior to the start of operations of their telecommunication networks. In addition, after using an NCC network, an individual user pays a high-priced fee for services rendered by the CC for connecting a user's terminal device to the NCC network.
It is advisable to select a low-toll NCC network by comparing tolls to be paid to respective NCC networks, thereby reducing telecommunication costs. In this respect, toll information associated with each NCC can be downloaded through a personal computer connected to a terminal adapter. However, such a download operation is burdensome and difficult to be done in a timely fashion.
In the present specification, the term “particular common carrier” indicates a common carrier with which an individual user made a service contact. The term “particular telecommunication network” indicates network provided by a particular common carrier, and the term “particular exchange” indicates an exchange provided, typically on the side close to a subscriber line, in a particular telecommunication network.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal adapter capable of relieving a user of labor of manually operating a terminal device such as telephone, required at the time of producing an outgoing call to establish a line connection via an arbitrary one of a plurality of telecommunication networks respectively provided by different particular common carriers with which the user made a service contract, and capable of promptly establishing a line connection between the terminal adapter and a particular telecommunication network at low costs in term of simplified connection procedures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal adapter which eliminates the need of a user's manual operation to input supplementary information, such as a caller ID and a password, which is to be delivered when requested by an exchange provided in a particular telecommunication network through which the user wishes to establish a line connection.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a terminal adapter which permits the selection of an appropriate network among a plurality of telecommunication networks in the order specified by a user in advance or in an ascending order of toll.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a terminal adapter capable of permitting an individual common carrier to download its structured toll information to the terminal adapter on the initiative of the common carrier, thereby constructing a toll database, proper to an individual user, in the terminal adapter.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a terminal adapter the setup of which can be made by a remote control via telecommunication networks.
According to the present invention, there is provided a terminal adapter including a transmit/receive control section for controlling telecommunication between a user terminal device connected to the terminal adapter and another user terminal device line-connected to the user terminal device through a selected one of particular telecommunication networks respectively provided by particular common carriers with which a user made a service contract.
The terminal adapter of the present invention comprises a memory device for storing at least one table indicating adapter-operating conditions for determining operations of the terminal adapter. The adapter-operating conditions include a plurality of exchange identification numbers respectively specifying particular exchanges respectively provided in the particular telecommunication networks. In response to manual input of a called party's telephone number through the user terminal device, the transmit/receive control section selects one of the plurality of particular telecommunication networks or a public telecommunication network, and reads out, when one of the particular telecommunication networks is s
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Harvey Minsun Oh
Sophia International Co., Ltd.
Swerdlow Daniel
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