Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-09
2001-02-20
Kuntz, Curtis A. (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C201S045000, C201S045000, C201S045000, C201S045000, C201S045000, C201S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06192115
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to providing information about telecommunications customers to other telecommunications customers.
Problem:
As the telephone monopoly for local service is being challenged, requirements have grown for various types of number portability arrangements for telecommunications customers, such as telephone and cellular wireless station customers. In order to allow competitors to enter the field, it is important that telephone customers not be required to change telephone numbers, i.e., be able to “port” their telephone numbers, in order to switch telephone providers; a telephone number is a valuable asset because it is known by many people, and changes in telephone numbers are, therefore, costly to the party whose telephone number is being changed.
Along with the requirement for number portability in moving from one service provider to another, there has begun to be pressure for number portability as telephone customers move geographically. Initially, number portability is likely to be restricted to movements within a local area transport area, (LATA), but eventually, it is likely that there will be a requirement for number portability for customers who move outside their present LATA.
In the case of wireless customers, many such customers subscribe to roamer service, which permits these customers to move outside their basic service area, and still receive service, both incoming and outgoing. If the calling party were required to pay some, or all of the charges for a call to such a roamer, the calling party would be interested in knowing whether higher charges are likely to be incurred.
A problem which has resulted, and is likely to further result from these moves, is that the caller is no longer sure of where the called party is to be found, and consequently, that the charges are likely to be for a call to that party.
Solution:
The above problem is solved, and an advance is made over the teachings of the prior art in accordance with our invention, wherein the caller who dials a land-based telephone number or a wireless number, can receive information about the called party. If necessary, in response to receipt of a call by a serving switching system, a query is made of a database to provide information, and that information is then returned to the caller in a display, or announcement. Advantageously, the display, or announcement, can provide information to the caller which can help the caller decide whether or not to make the call, and possibly, whether to limit the length of the conversation if the caller decides to make the call.
Note that there are many diverse services which provide a called party with information about the calling party. The most common is calling line identification, which provides the identity of a caller to a called party in a display on the called party's telephone. The identity of the calling party has also been used by businesses to call up a display concerning the account activity of the caller, based on the calling line identification. In one application of this type of arrangement, a caller to a real estate company who fails to inhibit his/her calling line identification, triggers a query of a proprietary database which provides the real estate agent with information about such matters as the caller's mortgage amount and status. None of these services, however, provide a calling party with information about the called party.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment, the caller is provided with sufficient information to determine whether the call is a local or a toll call. This arrangement minimizes intrusions on the privacy of the called party, and provides information needed by the caller to help determine the decision as to whether a call should be completed. While this arrangement is probably adequate for the Continental United States, wherein toll calls typically have a standard charge that is almost independent, or entirely independent of the distance between calling and called parties, in other countries, or in International Networks for places like Europe, additional information to identify a charge rate can also be provided. For example, in European systems, a pulse metering rate required by the telephone network in order to charge the call, can fully inform the caller of charges to be incurred on the call.
In accordance with another feature of Applicant's invention, the called party's name and/or location, (useful for locating cellular subscriber roamers), can also be provided; in the case of cellular roamers, the location can be the location wherein the roamer was most recently registered, or preferably, the present location, as determined by available techniques for locating a wireless station within a few hundred meters, can be provided to the caller. This type of service can be useful even if number portability is not offered in an area identified by a called land-based, or wireless telephone number.
In accordance with another feature of this invention, when more detailed information is provided to the caller, the called party has options for suppressing the reporting of such information to callers. The called party can suppress such information for all incoming calls either on a permanent basis, or on the basis of a dialed request, (with the option of a dialed deletion of the request); or can selectively provide the information to a pre-assigned group of telephone numbers, or deny the information to a pre-assigned group of telephone numbers, (screening). Advantageously, those telephone customers who do not wish to provide such information are not required to do so, but other telephone customers will have their information available to callers.
A service which will soon be introduced, for example, flexible alerting, allows a call to a “pilot” directory number to be completed to one of several telephone stations, such as a business location telephone, a cellular telephone, and a home telephone. For called customers who will have this type of service, according to the principles of this invention, the caller can be provided with the requested information concerning all possible terminating numbers before allowing the call to be completed, and/or with the information concerning the number that actually answers the call after the call has been completed.
In accordance with another feature of this invention, the information can be provided to the caller on every call; on calls which the caller dials a prefix; on “no” calls; on a predefined list of numbers, or on all numbers except such a predefined list; or on a switchable on-off basis under the control of the caller; the selection is made based on the class of service of the caller. Correspondingly, the telephone operating company would either charge a flat rate, a rate per use, or nothing, in case the caller did not wish to use the service.
In accordance with another feature of Applicants' invention, the called party can control the information to be provided to the caller. This control can be complete, (no information supplied), or selective, (certain information denied); can be for all callers, for selected callers, or for all but selected callers, the caller being identified by a calling number identification; can be turned off or on by the called party.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, if the caller wishes to have detailed information, and the operating company provides such information, then the information would be provided in response to specific requests keyed by the caller. Advantageously, this allows the caller to receive specific information for some, but not all calls.
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pat
Toy Arthur Randall
Tsai Christopher Lee
Tsai Liane Toy
Barnie Rexford
Kuntz Curtis A.
Lucent Technologies
Ulrich Werner
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