Method and device in telecommunications network

Details Method and device in telecommunications network Method and device in telecommunications network

1998-09-01

2001-02-13

Smith, Creighton (Department: 2742)

Telephonic communications

Special services

Call diversion

C379S201060, C379S230000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06188758

ABSTRACT:

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §§ 119 and/or 365 to Application No. 9703158-7 filed in Sweden on Sep. 2, 1998; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to telecommunication networks and in particular to the manual routing of calls in such networks.
BACKGROUND
Today's telecommunication networks support a number of different services and, in fact, consist of a number of networks which are interconnected, such as Public Services Telephone Network (PSTN), various mobile or cellular networks, such as the GSM and NMT networks, and data communications networks, for example TCP/IP networks, such as the Internet.
An individual user may be reached on a number of different terminals, depending on the time of day and the type of service desired. For example, a user may typically be reached at a telephone in a business network at work, at a PSTN telephone at home and at a mobile telephone that is switched on only part of the time. At any time, the user can receive telefax on his personal number. The fax will be routed to a telefax machine in accordance with the user's temporary or permanent fax number.
It is possible to let the same, personal telephone number identify all the terminals to which one subscriber is connected. The problem then arises of routing incoming calls to the appropriate terminal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,210 discloses a solution to the problem of automatically selecting a telephone or a telefax machine. A programmable interface device comprising a microprocessor is connected to a subscriber line. The microprocessor receives and interprets digital signals in the incoming traffic and controls the equipment connected to the interface device in dependence of the type of traffic. If the registered Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signal indicates a telefax, the call is automatically connected to the telefax machine, if not, the call is connected to a telephone or an answering machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,373 describes a flexible interface which automatically performs protocol conversion between different types of traffic, such as voice mail, telefax, e-mail, DTMF tone detection, and so on.
None of these patents describe the possibility of manually routing an incoming call to the appropriate terminal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,210 also only describes the selection of two kinds of traffic: voice and telefax.
Manually routing an incoming call in many cases is a more flexible solution than automatic routing. Any kind of traffic may be handled, and terminals may be added or changed. Incoming calls may be handled in dependence of the momentary situation in a more flexible way than automatic routing will allow.
SUMMARY
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for manually routing incoming calls to the appropriate terminal.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus which will allow the routing of any kind of traffic to the appropriate terminal.
The above mentioned and other objects are achieved according to the invention by a method comprising the following steps:
specifying available terminals and how each terminal is to be identified,
automatically routing incoming calls in the network to one of the terminals assigned to the user,
manually selecting an action according to the type of incoming call,
automatically routing the call to a terminal in dependence of the action selected.
The subscriber may specify short numbers signifying the different terminals to which incoming calls for this subscriber are normally to be routed. The user may also specify the terminal to which the call should be routed at the time of the incoming call, by entering the terminals telephone number.
The solution according to the invention offers the following advantages: The incoming calls can be routed to the terminal that is most convenient at the moment, not necessarily following a particular schedule.
If the Calling Line Identity (CLI) or user name is displayed to the second subscriber, the calls may be received or routed to the answering service (or disconnected) depending on who is calling, and depending on the situation. For example, if the subscriber is temporarily busy, the person calling may be asked to wait a short time for the call to be answered.
The subscriber always knows when a fax or any kind of data has been received and at what terminal.
The fax or other terminal to which an incoming call is to be routed can be selected for each individual call. This is particularly useful for people who move around a lot, such as service personnel.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5463685 (1995-10-01), Gaechter et al.
patent: 5465295 (1995-11-01), Furman
patent: 5467390 (1995-11-01), Brankley et al.
patent: 5490210 (1996-02-01), Sasso
patent: 5497373 (1996-03-01), Hulen et al.
patent: 5533115 (1996-07-01), Hollenbach et al.
patent: 5579377 (1996-11-01), Rogers
patent: 5724409 (1998-03-01), Malik et al.
patent: 0 604 042 (1994-06-01), None

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