Telephonic communications – Supervisory or control line signaling – Substation originated
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-31
2001-09-18
Ŝmits, T{overscore (a)}livaldis Ivars (Department: 2641)
Telephonic communications
Supervisory or control line signaling
Substation originated
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292557
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for inserting an area code into a dialed telephone number. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus and method which allows a prestored area code to be automatically inserted into a dialed telephone number.
2. Background of Related Art
The number of area codes in the United States are proliferating at an increasing rate. Hundreds of new area codes have been created in just the past few years. The increased number of area codes have resulted from an increased consumer demand, e.g., for multiple telephone lines for services such as additional home or business lines, facsimile machines, internet and/or e-mail services, etc. Many of the new area codes created by the local telephone companies comprise existing telephone lines which are divided or “split” from regions comprised of old area codes. Most new area codes are the result of divisions of old area code regions, but some are generally created as an “overlay” within original geographical regions served by original area codes. In an overlay region, the area code in the original geographical regions is served not only by the original area code but additionally by a new area code.
The creation of new area codes at the current accelerated rate, whether created by “split” or by “overlay”, has added additional confusion for the typical telephone consumer when attempting to dial telephone numbers within these areas. For instance, in an increasing number of areas around the country, telephone consumers are now required to dial ten (10) digit telephone numbers for every call, even local calls, whereby in the past the telephone consumer was only required to dial a seven-digit telephone number. Moreover, due to the proliferation of new area codes, previous telephone calls to other telephones within the same region might now be a telephone call to a different area code. Unfortunately, ten digit dialing, whether required for all calls or just for those which would now reside in a different area code, increases the time necessary to dial telephone numbers, and might also require a user to relearn telephone numbers with a new area code.
FIG. 4
illustrates a conventional area code scheme showing an original area code geographical region
111
having an original area code (910), and the addition of new area codes (619) and (333) by the “overlay” method and the “split” method, respectively.
In particular, in the example of
FIG. 4
, an original area code, e.g., (910), is shown as being originally assigned to a geographic region
111
. However, due to an increase in demand for additional telephone numbers, the local telephone company is shown to have split the geographic region
111
into two new area codes, e.g., (619) and (333). Due to decisions within the local telephone company, the new area code (333) is shown to have split from a region including the original area code (910) by dividing the geographic region
111
into a first geographic region
113
and a second geographic region
115
. As a result of the split, the original area code (910) may, as shown in the given example, remain assigned to the first geographic region
113
and a new area code (333) may be assigned to the second geographic region
115
. Furthermore, additional phone numbers may be provided in the first geographic region
113
by creating a new area code, e.g., (619) as an overlay to the original area code (910). In an overlay situation, both the original area code, e.g., (910), and the new overlayed area code, e.g., (619), are assigned to a common geographic region, e.g., the first geographic region
113
.
Unfortunately, in the given example, a telephone consumer located in a city
117
in the original geographic region
111
might find themselves in a confusing situation after the new area codes (619) and (333) have been added to what used o be a homogeneous region comprising only one area code, e.g., (910). For instance, when a telephone consumer in the city
117
now attempts to make a telephone call to a telephone consumer in another city, e.g., in city
119
located in the second geographic region
115
, the telephone consumer in the city
117
will be conventionally required to manually insert the new area code, e.g., (333) into the telephone number which may have been dialed previously either without any area code included (i.e., seven digit dialing), or with the same area code as the caller included, e.g., (910). Thus, the consumer must be acutely aware of the divisions of nearby geographic regions and their respective area codes as they change over time. With the larger number of area codes and continual changes over time, this becomes increasingly difficult.
Likewise, when a telephone consumer in the city
117
now attempts to make a telephone call to a relatively new telephone consumer in another city
121
located in the same first geographic region
113
as the telephone consumer in the city
117
, the telephone consumer in the city
117
will be required to dial ten digits including the overlay area code, e.g., (619), or (619) 555-1212, particularly if the telephone consumer in the city
121
acquired their telephone number after the creation of the overlay area code (619) in the first geographic region
113
.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an apparatus and method which allows a user to continue to use a seven digit telephone number for calls to telephone numbers in regions which were previously part of a same area code region even after new area codes are introduced into that original area code region.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an area code insertion module for a telephone comprises a storage device comprising at least one pre-stored portion of a telephone number associated with a pre-stored area code. A processor compares a portion of a dialed telephone number with at least one pre-stored portion in the storage device, and inserts an area code into the dialed telephone number if a match is found between the portion of the dialed telephone number and a corresponding portion of the telephone number in the storage device.
A method of adding an area code to a dialed telephone number in accordance with the principles of the present invention comprises capturing a dialed telephone number before initiating a connection to a desired party. An area code corresponding to at least a portion of the dialed telephone number is obtained, and a connection to the desired party is initiated using both the obtained area code and the dialed telephone number.
A method of adding an area code to a dialed telephone number in accordance with another aspect of the present invention comprises capturing a dialed telephone number before initiating a connection to a desired party. A default area code is added to the captured dialed telephone number if the dialed telephone number is less than a ten digit telephone number. A connection is initiated to the desired party using both the default area code and the dialed telephone number.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5475743 (1995-12-01), Nixon et al.
patent: 5722088 (1998-02-01), Storn et al.
patent: 5859901 (1999-01-01), Brendzel et al.
patent: 5917904 (1999-06-01), Theis
Jones “Hot Line Two: Telephone Dialing via a Modem” Oct. 1998, Link Up, pp. 7,20.
Ŝmits T{overscore (a)}livaldis Ivars
Bollman William H.
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
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