Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Emergency or alarm communication
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-12
2004-08-03
Cumming, William (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Emergency or alarm communication
C379S207020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06771947
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
United States Utility Patent Application by M. A. Griffiths, filed on the same date as this application and entitled “Method and System for Implementing a Call Administration Service for a Public Switched Telephone Network”, is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for implementing a call administration service.
BACKGROUND
There are many reasons for which a subscriber may want to prevent all calls to his telephone. For instance: the baby may be sleeping; a family member may be sick and resting; the subscriber has just returned home after working the night shift and wants to sleep; or, perhaps the wireless subscriber is about to enter the library or attend an important meeting at which the company CEO is the featured speaker. In each of these scenarios the ringing of the telephone is bothersome.
There are also situations in which a subscriber may want to deny calls from only certain types of callers. Such callers may include telemarketers and unknown callers. Additionally, a subscriber may want to keep the line available for a particular caller, like a son or daughter who is out later than expected. Furthermore, a wireless customer may desire to deny calls from out-of-area callers to avoid paying long-distance charges.
For many of the preceding scenarios, a common solution is to unplug the phone. Cutting off all communications is obviously not an optimal solution. First, the subscriber could not be reached in case of emergency. Additionally, the subscriber may have wanted to talk to some of those who attempted to call, but could not get through. Moreover, sometimes the subscriber remembers to plug the phone back in only after realizing why the subscriber has not received any calls for some time.
Automated techniques were established to overcome these problems and to address other scenarios, but they have various disadvantages. These techniques include Caller ID™, Caller ID Plus, Call Block, and Selective Call Block.
Caller ID™ and Caller ID Plus are often used by subscribers to screen calls. An incoming caller's number is displayed on the screen of a Caller ID™ device attached to the subscriber's telephone line. The subscriber can then chose to answer the phone or not. However, a caller can prevent or “block” the caller's number from displaying on the Caller ID™ device. With Caller ID Plus, the caller is forced to unblock the caller's number or the caller will not be connected to the subscriber's telephone.
One problem with using both Caller ID™ and Caller ID Plus in this manner is that the phone still rings. Another is that in many instances a caller's number will not display, such as when the call has been placed from out of the area or when the caller has blocked his telephone number from being displayed (and the subscriber has Caller ID™ rather than Caller ID Plus). In these cases, the subscriber must still answer the phone or let it ring until the caller hangs up.
Call Block is a service addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,255, issued October 1991 to Brown. Brown states in column 2 lines 62-65 that this “service and system arrangement will permit a customer to program a period of time where all incoming calls will be routed to an announcement.” However, one problem with Call Block is that it simply blocks all calls. There is no capability for keeping the line available for access by certain callers, while blocking others.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,388, issued November 1995 to Redd, Jr. et al. (hereinafter Redd) addressed some of the shortcomings of Brown. Redd describes a “system for allowing a telephone subscriber to selectively block incoming calls for selected time periods,” as stated in the abstract.
Additionally, Redd permits the automatic connection of an authorized caller as discussed in column 15 lines 55-60 which states that “from a caller's AIN or Caller ID™ number, the Integrated Service Control Point may determine whether the caller's number is on an authorized tier level. If the number is authorized, the call is terminated (i.e., connected) to the subscriber.”
Furthermore, as stated in column 12 lines 39-41, Redd employs a programming method in which “DTMF is used, and hence the subscriber must have access to a Touch-Toner™ telephone.” And, a DTMF entry method is described in column 12 lines 43-46 such that “the subscriber may select from a menu of items offering options how to program the service.”
Although addressing some of the limitations of the “all or none” approach of Brown, Redd has several inadequacies. First of all, Redd does not provide for the flexibility of programming aperiodic activation periods. Additionally, Redd does not provide a capability to connect the caller to a device other than the subscriber's telephone. Furthermore, Redd's menu-driven, DTMF programming method is cumbersome, inflexible, and is limited to data entry via a Touch-Tone™ telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,917,817, issued June 1999 to Dunn et al (hereinafter Dunn) addressed one shortcoming of Redd, i.e., that of DTMF programming. Dunn describes in column 5 lines 41-44 a system for programming user services “wherein a web server utilizes a database containing a forms based program to conduct its communications relative to browsers on customer computers.” Dunn, however, requires a separate connection above and beyond the user's phone for programming of the user's services. A computer with a browser is also required.
What is needed is a call administration system that overcomes the shortcomings of conventional systems while providing additional advantages, such as flexibility.
SUMMARY
An embodiment of the present invention implements a call administration service, permitting both interactive and automatic denial and routing of calls, under the direction of subscriber provisioning. Embodiments of the present invention operate in a public switched telephone network environment, a cellular network environment, and other environments. Embodiments of the methods set forth herein are applicable to any communications environment in which a called party, subscriber, or other party desires to control the calls or communications sent to a called party.
An embodiment of the present invention provides for the provisioning and activating of a call administration service. Processing of an incoming call during
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activation occurs in accordance with the subscriber provisioning. An incoming call is detected and a caller identification is extracted from the received incoming call information. Routing is performed according to the subscriber-provisioning information, and routing may take place interactively, requiring caller input, or automatically without I caller input. An embodiment of automatic routing comprises receiving an access table, validating that the caller identification exists within the access table and receiving an at least one primary auto-route option associated with the validated caller identification. The incoming call is then connected to an at least one subsystem identified by the at least one primary auto-route option. Subsystems comprise service provider systems (such as voice mail subsystems) and end user “systems” (such as home phones, cellular phones, BLUETOOTH communication devices, and PBXs).
Another embodiment of the present invention provides for alternate provisioning mechanisms for receiving and storing of subscriber provisioning information. Such alternate provisioning interface mechanisms comprise a DTMF menu, voice processing, speech processing, use of a browser form, and use of a formatted file translation mechanism. Voice and speech processing differ in that voice processing is specific to the speaker, whereas speech processing recognizes spoken words and is indifferent as to the actual speaker. Formatted file translation comprises reading a file, extracting certain data fields, and translating that data into a cur
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Cantor & Colburn LLP
Cumming William
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