Telephonic communications – Multi-line or key substation system with selective switching... – Detail of hold circuitry
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2001-10-09
Tieu, Binh (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Multi-line or key substation system with selective switching...
Detail of hold circuitry
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301346
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to field of telephone communication devices. In particular, the present invention relates to a Hold/off Alert System (HAS), audibly alerting the held party on a telephone when he or she is released from a hold state.
2. Background of the Invention
Each and everyday, millions of people are spending millions of hours, holding and waiting on their phones—an idling non-activity. The Hold/off Alert System could enhance their productive capacity by allowing them to free their hands and work freely near the phone while they are on hold. Some callers may use speakerphones to free their hands, but speakerphones are rather expensive and not frequently used for a common household telephone. Moreover, callers may get annoyed from hearing repeated commercial messages from speakerphones and lots of background noise. An object of this invention is to let callers free their hands and work freely near their phones while waiting on hold. Thus, callers are alerted by a brief ring or beeps when the called phone inactivates the hold function.
There had been a few similar inventions which was purported to achieve the same function. As early as in 1976, Caffine noticed the inconvenience of the phone-holding condition and patented a related invention with U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,142 with a poor result due to its complexity and its reliance on an ineffective voice recognition arrangement to set off an alert sound. After Caffine's invention, Dubner disclosed a better and less costly device with U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,479 but it still was dependent on an ineffective voice recognition means to set off an alarm. A second series of patents departed from voice recognition aspects, and instead relied on a message playback recorder to allow callers to be called back. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,552 uses a means to reach the party on hold via the use of a message playback recorder. This could be a time-consuming and irritating process for the hold-initiating party, especially when numerous callers use the system. In 1998, another automated telephone hold device was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,403, where a voice playback mechanism was again used to inform the hold-initiating party what must be done to reach the party on hold. The present invention departs from such voice playback mechanisms and eliminates the above mentioned time-consuming process by transmitting and receiving information via the multiple use of automatically generated DTMF signals. Due to such a feature, the called party does not have to follow any routines to talk to the party on hold as in the message playback means. In addition, the Hold/off Alert System uses DTMF tone signals to overcome the problems with the aforementioned voice recognition means in the prior art. The Hold/off Alert System also differs from earlier inventions because it is an integral part of a telephone or a telephone system and not a separate device.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
The addition of the Hold/off Alert System or HAS to telephones can change the way people think about calling big companies and being put on hold for an indefinite amount of time. When people are placed on hold, they can simply activate the Hold/off Alert System by pressing a button and wait for an alert ring which indicates that their phones are released from a hold state. The Hold/off Alert System function will operate with multiple transmissions of a DTMF tone signal from a called telephone to a calling telephone; thus the called telephones compatible with HAS send DTMF signals which can be then recognized by calling telephones as HAS signals. Upon recognition of the first HAS signal, the calling telephone enables HAS switch to be turned on, and upon the receipt of the second tone signal, it will respond with a HAS alert sound.
The Hold/off Alert System function is simple to understand and use. The following steps explain how HAS is operated by its users.
1. The calling party is put on hold by the called party.
2. The caller presses the HAS button to turn on Hold/off Alert System.
3. The caller confirms that the HAS lamp is lit and waits for an alerting sound.
If the HAS lamp is not lit, the HAS is not operable due to the called phone's incompatibility.
4. The called party releases the hold.
5. The calling phone sounds an alarm and the HAS lamp gets turned off automatically.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5095504 (1992-03-01), Nishikawa et al.
patent: 5497415 (1996-03-01), Kagi
patent: 5546454 (1996-08-01), Harrington
patent: 5764746 (1998-06-01), Reichelt
patent: 5838778 (1998-11-01), Jung
patent: 6219415 (2001-04-01), Deutsch et al.
Tieu Binh
Yoon Richard
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