Call hold state notification across a communications network

Details Call hold state notification across a communications network Call hold state notification across a communications network

1998-07-08

2001-04-17

Smith, Creighton (Department: 2742)

Telephonic communications

Special services

Call waiting

C379S162000, C379S393000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06219415

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to communications systems and, in particular, to a method and apparatus that provides a notification to all parties on an existing call connection of changes in the hold state or participation in the call connection initiated by any party to the call connection.
PROBLEM
It is a problem in the field of voice communications that when an existing call is placed on hold by a first party on the call connection, the held party must remain on the line to monitor the held state of the call connection. If the held party places their end of the call connection on hold, the first party is not aware of this status when they return to the call connection and likely believes that the call connection has been dropped. In addition, the held party receives no notification that the first party has returned to the call connection and they must now themselves return to this call connection to reinitiate the communication with the first party.
Therefore, the use of the hold function in a typical two-way communication connection can be frustrating to the party placed on hold, since they are captive to the call connection and must remain idle for the duration of the hold condition. The extension of this problem to multi-party conferences simply compounds the problem, since it is difficult to coordinate the present hold state of the various parties and be aware of who is present on the call connection unless the previously held party announces their return to the call connection. Furthermore, if the held party drops from the call connection, the other participants in the call connection are unaware of the departure of this individual. There is presently no system that addresses these problems.
SOLUTION
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present system for call hold state notification across a communications network (termed “call hold state notification system” herein) that functions to provide an indication to the parties presently served by the existing call connection that the original hold state of a call participant has been terminated or that the call participant has dropped from the call connection. This is accomplished by enabling both parties (multiple parties on a n-way call) to a call connection to place their respective call termination on hold to serve another call or to perform some other task without having to physically monitor the call connection. When any party to the call connection removes the hold state at their respective terminal device, the remaining parties to the call connection, including those who have a hold state active at their termination, receive a notification of the reconnection of the party to the call connection. Optionally, the returning party also receives a notification that the call connection is in an on hold state at the other end of the call connection and that party is being advised of the termination of the held state by the returning party. Furthermore, this feature can be used to alert the participants to a call connection that a call participant has dropped from the call connection.
The held state determination is performed by the communications system in the communications network that serves the party that has placed the call connection on hold. The information regarding the held state of the various parties is typically communicated out-of-band among the various communications systems in the communications network that serve the call connection. The alert to a holding party that another party to the call connection has reconnected to the call can be an inband audible tone, a signal that generates a visual output at the terminal device, and the like.
Furthermore, the use of this feature is extensible to data communications connections, multi-media connections, as well as the use of various communications network architectures, including the Internet, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), inter-exchange carriers, and the like.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5668861 (1997-09-01), Watts
patent: 5764746 (1998-06-01), Reicholt
patent: 5875231 (1999-02-01), Farfan et al.
patent: 6031905 (2000-02-01), Furman et al.
patent: 6118861 (2000-12-01), Gutzmann et al.

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