Telephonic communications – Special services – Service trigger
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-04
2001-01-16
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Service trigger
C379S229000, C379S266070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175621
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a system for setting a priority level of a call.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is a schematic block diagram of a conventional telecommunications system
10
that includes terminal equipment
11
and
16
, a central offices
12
and
15
, toll switches
13
and
14
, and a call status platform
18
. Terminal equipment
11
, such as a standard wired-line telephone, wireless telephone, a computer terminal or a facsimile machine, is connected to a central office
12
of a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) over link
17
a
in a well-known manner. Central office
12
is connected to long distance toll switch
13
, such as a
4
ESS™ type tandem switch, over trunk
17
b
in a well-known manner. Toll switch
13
is connected to toll switch
14
, which can also be a
4
ESS™ type tandem switch, over trunk
17
c
in a well-known manner. Toll switch
14
is connected to a central office
15
of another LEC over trunk
17
d
, which, in turn, is connected to terminal equipment
16
, such as a standard wired-line telephone, a wireless telephone, a computer terminal or a facsimile machine. Call status platform
18
is connected to CO
12
and provides an audible indication of the status of a dialed call to a caller in a well-known manner, such as a ringing signal or a busy signal, depending upon the conditions encountered by the dialed call.
Even though only two toll switches are shown, the system of
FIG. 1
can include more than two toll switches. A plurality of call status platforms
18
can be connected throughout telecommunications system
10
, in which case, a call status platform local to where a busy connection is encountered signals a busy indication signal in a well-known manner to a call status platform that is local to the call originating equipment. Additionally, while system
10
is shown configured for completing interLATA telephone calls, system
10
can be configured for completing intraLATA telephone calls.
A call from terminal equipment
11
to terminal equipment
16
is connected in a well-known manner to central office (CO)
12
. Central office
12
connects the call to toll switch
13
. Under normal conditions, the call is routed to toll switch
14
over trunk
17
c
, then to CO
15
over trunk
17
d
, and finally to terminal equipment
16
over link
17
e
. In the situation when any of trunks
17
b
,
17
c
,
17
d
and
17
e
are filled to capacity with other call traffic, that is, busy, terminal equipment
11
will receive an indication that the call cannot be completed because the lines are busy. A caller in such a situation can either hang up and abandon efforts to complete the call, or continue to dial the desired number attempting to connect to terminal equipment
16
.
While the concept of a call priority level has been used for traffic management and provisioning, what is needed, nevertheless, is a way for a caller to change a priority level of a call at the caller's option so that the call will be handled on a higher priority basis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and a system that allows a caller to dynamically change the priority level of a call so that the call is handled on a higher priority basis. The advantages of the present invention are provided by a method and a system for setting a priority level of a call in which a request is received from an originator of a call for changing a priority level of a call to one of a plurality of available call priority levels, the priority level of the call is changed based on the received request, and the call is handled based on the changed priority level of the call. The request for changing the priority level of the call can be in response to a busy signal for the call, or be received from the originator of the call before the call is dialed. Further, the request for changing the priority level of the call can be a request for a central office service feature for changing the priority level of the call, receipt of a call routed to a predetermined telephone number, such as an 800, an 888, a 900 or a charge-to-caller number, or receipt of a DTMF signal indicating the requested priority level, and the requested priority level can be one of a plurality of available priority levels. A message can be generated providing a menu for changing the priority level of the call having at least one available priority level with an associated charge rate for each available priority level. When the priority level of the call is changed, the call can be advanced in a call holding queue, a lower priority call can be interrupted or the call can be routed on a high-priority trunk capacity available for high-priority calls.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4885780 (1989-12-01), Gopal et al.
patent: 5311583 (1994-05-01), Friedes et al.
patent: 5329578 (1994-07-01), Brennan et al.
patent: 5570411 (1996-10-01), Sicher
patent: 5787162 (1998-07-01), Javitt
patent: 5802155 (1998-09-01), Garland et al.
patent: 5812656 (1998-09-01), Garland et al.
patent: 5828742 (1998-10-01), Khalid et al.
patent: 5857018 (1999-01-01), Sumner et al.
patent: 5946388 (1999-08-01), Walker et al.
AT&T Corp.
Hong Harry S.
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