Telephonic communications – Special services – Abbreviated dialing or direct call
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-10
2004-09-14
Matar, Ahmad F. (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Abbreviated dialing or direct call
C455S445000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06792095
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates generally to enabling a telephone user to use both a fixed telephone unit and a portable telephone unit and relates more particularly to providing automatic changeovers of service features for the operations of the two telephone units.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
In a typical corporate environment, at least some of the employees have assigned work areas that include dedicated telephones. Each dedicated telephone has access to an assigned prime (main) line and several associated lines. The prime line is accessed by a single telephone number. In addition to basic telephone service, the telephones may be enabled to provide extended service features. Telephones having extended features are sometimes referred to as “feature phones,” and are more likely to be digital phones than analog phones.
A private branch exchange (PBX) or proprietary communications server will associate certain features with the prime line of each dedicated telephone. For example, a feature phone may have a Message Waiting indicator (such as a light) which provides a signal that a voice mail message has been stored for retrieval by the user of the telephone. As another example, voice mail messages may be stored in a voice mail box that is accessible only by using a particular telephone. That is, the voice mail boxes may be directly associated with the prime lines, so that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the feature phones and the voice mail boxes. The “last number redial” feature and the “saved number redial” feature are also often associated with a particular feature phone, so that a user who presses the saved number redial button on his or her phone will cause the number to be saved for that phone, but not any other phone.
The feature phones are typically desktop keysets that are substantially fixed in position. That is, the phones may have cordless handsets, but at least a base member is wired in position. In addition to the wired telephone, a corporate executive may be assigned a wireless portable telephone, such as a cellular phone. Conventionally, the portable telephone has its own prime line that is necessary to distinguish it from telephones of other users, has associated lines, and has features that attempt to duplicate the capabilities of the user's wired telephone. Based on the design of the portable telephone, these lines and features may not have dedicated physical buttons, but instead may be selectable via “soft” keys and associated display. The portable telephone, however, cannot duplicate the functionality of the desktop phone if the two phones have different prime lines. The separate prime lines require separate Message Waiting indicators and separate voice mail boxes. The user having dual phone capability will have two different main telephone numbers, one for the desktop phone and one for the portable phone. Features related to line use apply separately to each of the prime lines. For example, if the user forwards incoming calls to the prime line of the desktop phone, they will not be forwarded to the prime line of the portable phone. The reverse is also true. Moreover, features related to the particular telephone unit will not be interchangeable. For example, if a user changes from using the desktop phone to using the portable phone, activating the last number redial feature on the portable telephone will not select the last number dialed from the desktop phone.
There are known systems for providing cooperation between a fixed telephone unit and a portable member. While not directly related, U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,918 to Hata describes a system for enabling switching between a cordless telephone (that includes a fixed portion and a cordless portable portion) and an ordinary telephone that may be connected to the cordless telephone through a subscriber network. The switching arrangement of Hata allows continuous operation of the telephones, even during failure of the power supply that provides power to the fixed portion of the cordless telephone. The Hata patent is concerned with providing continued basic service to the two telephones of the user, rather than providing a continuation of service features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,032 to Pinard et al. describes a method of establishing communication to one of multiple devices that are associated with a single telephone number. A home subscriber may have a home telephone, a cellular telephone, and a facsimile machine. The three devices may be assigned three different telephone numbers, or may be assigned a single telephone number that rings the various devices. In accordance with Pinard et al., when an incoming call is received via the telephone number that supports a number of devices, all of the devices ring. After one of the ringing devices is answered, thereby going off-hook, a communication link is established from the calling line only to the device that has gone off-hook. The remaining devices are blocked from use. Thus, the subscriber can be called using a single telephone number and can use whichever device is most convenient, e.g., the home telephone or the cellular telephone. This capability is achieved by storing tables at a central office telephone switching system or a PBX, so that the switching system or PBX can quickly determine which of the devices was used to respond to an incoming call. While the method allows a wired telephone and a wireless telephone to be accessible by means of a single telephone number, the service features such as last number dialed are not universally applied. Rather, the use of a service feature at one of the devices, such as the wired telephone, is independent of the use of the same service feature at another device, such as the wireless telephone.
Another system that allows a wired telephone and a wireless telephone to share a single telephone number is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,902 to Mitsuo. A wire port physical number is registered in association with a radio port physical number, so that the wired and wireless telephones can be handled as if they were a single-channel extension phone with a branch switch. A call to the wired telephone can then be transferred to the wireless telephone by a simple operation. The patent notes that the secretary of a subscriber may trigger the transfer of an incoming telephone call from being directed to the wired telephone to being directed to the wireless telephone, if the subscriber is not near the wired telephone. In another embodiment, the two phones are called simultaneously, allowing the subscriber to answer either phone. Again, the concern relates to providing basic connectivity, rather than to providing extended features.
The prior art inventions allow a user to have a dual presence that appears to be a single presence to a calling party. What is needed is a method and system that enable a user to have an increased perception of a single presence, at least with respect to the application of extended service features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A telecommunications system “relocates” user-specific service features between a fixed telephone unit and a portable telephone unit that are assigned the same prime (main) telephone number. In the preferred embodiment, the fixed telephone unit is a wired telephone and the portable telephone unit is a wireless telephone. The two telephones offer a number of service features, including user-specific features that are available via operations of either of the two telephones. These common user-specific features may include automatic redial features and voice mail accessibility features “Common user information” is defined herein as the information relevant to implementation of these common user-specific features. Based upon the current availability of the wireless telephone, either the wireless telephone or the wired telephone is selected.as the current exclusive telephone to which the common user information is to be applied. In effect, the method and system provide “feature forwarding.”
The changeover operations are automatically implemented. That is, the user of t
Matar Ahmad F.
Nguyen Quynh H.
Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc.
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