Telephonic communications – Special services – Anonymous party
Patent
1995-08-11
1998-01-20
Bost, Dwayne
Telephonic communications
Special services
Anonymous party
379200, 379213, 379355, H04M 166
Patent
active
057108080
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of telecommunications and telephone equipment, particularly to that used with public switched telephone networks, and more particularly to means associated with the act of telephone dialling in order to facilitate a desired connection.
DEFINITIONS
2. Description of the Related Art
Legislation in certain countries (such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom) has come to allow competition in telecommunications, such as in the operation of alternative providers of telecommunications services such as trunk calls in a public switched telephone network (PSTN). For possibly technical reasons those wishing to use alternative services generally have to dial extra digits over those needed to use the original provider's services in order to access them, such as "050" (NZ, UK) or "1414" (Australia). A niche has appeared in the market of telecommunications accessories for a device that can automatically provide those prefix codes in a dialling sequence, so that the person does not have to remember to provide them. One estimate is that up to 30% of the alternative provider's business may be lost as a result of that extra complexity.
There is therefore a requirement to be able to modify and restrict telephone numbers dialled by subscribers, so that their access to the network can be re-routed, blocked, or otherwise altered--as for access to enhanced services such as client billing.
Equipment capable of performing suitable processes on a telephone terminal (including a fax, telex machine, computer modem, etc) should be able to (1) recognise when dialling is being done, (2) be able to match a sequence against a list of stored numbers, (3) prevent the original sequence from being sent to the PSTN, and (4) send a modified sequence to the PSTN. This equipment should be invisible to the telephone network so that it causes no significant loading of lines or power supplies, distortion of sounds, alteration of line voltage, ringing voltage, line impedance, or other effects on normal telephone operation.
Previous attempts to provide this type of equipment have used electromechanical equipment such as relays to switch the subscriber's line onto a temporary holding circuit, recognise the dialling sequence, modify it if required, and send unmodified or modified numbers to the PSTN. Electromechanical relays require an external power supply, while semiconductor-based relays cost several times as much as electromechanical relays. This kind of equipment also may require isolating transformers and as a result is large, noisy, expensive and imposes dialling delays.
There is also a need for a device to add a constant and possibly confidential series of numbers to a dialled telephone number, particularly in cases where a business may wish to have a secret number for accessing a leased trunk line or some other service that is connected to the PSTN. Another application is for a device capable of providing a personal identification number so that telephone charges may be correctly attributed.
Yet another application is in barring the making of trunk and international calls from a residential telephone--for which toll-barring is otherwise difficult--so that large accounts will not materialise.
There is also a requirement for an automatic dialling device for telephones, so that (to take one example) an activated burglar alarm linked to a telephone connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) can cause a certain telephone number to be rung.
If a device incorporating a microprocessor could be made to include a successful implementation of a dialling code processor, it could also be provided with flexibility for other, optional applications such as these.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for the dialling of telephone numbers, or one which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect the invention provides a telephone dialling code
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Bost Dwayne
Presson Thomas F.
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