System for providing personalized telephone calling features

- 1 - 20~3g~7 - A SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING PERSONALIZED TELEPHONE CALLING FEATURES Field of the Invention The invention relates to public switched telephone systems, and more 5 particularly relates to a public switched telephone network adapted to provide a common platform for the provision of customer controlled features.

13a.L~ of the Invention It is often the case that a telephone subsaiber who is at a distant location needs to place a long distance telephone call to his/her home telephone10 station set or to another telephone station set.

As is well-known, such a person may place a long distance telephone cail from a so-called coin telephone station set.

However, to do so, a prescribed amount of money needs to be inserted in the cointelephone to cover the cost of the long distance call for an initiai 1~ .1. ~ . ", .. ,.. i calling period.

As is aiso well-known, a long distance cail may be extended beyond 15 the initiai cailing period only if additional money is inserted in the coin telephone.

The burden associated with placing a long distance telephone call via a coin telephone station may be deait with by placing such a call through a so-calied long distance telephone operator. rn such an instance, the cost of the long distance cail may be charged to a credit card acceptable to the long distance catrier or "reversed" 20 to the cailed telephone station.

It can be d~ that in the first instance, thecailing subscriber must accept the burden associated with ",,, ~ a aedit card acceptable to the long distance carrier.

It can also be ~ L~ that in the second instance the called party may not accept the charges for the long distance call.Summary of the Invention An advance in the art of telephone switching systems is achieved by disposing in a ~. 1~.",."",.-;. ~li.,,-c system an adjunct operative for allowing telephone subsaibers to control the manner in which they receive telephone calls. A further advance is achieved by arranging the adjunct so that a telephone subscriber may place a long distance telephone call to his/her home telephone and have the 30 telephone call d"l' ~ y billed to a respective service telephone number associated with the adjunct.

Thus, a subscriber to the novel service may place atelephone call from virtually any telephone location served by the ,"". . ,;~ ~li.",c system without the need of placing the cail through a telephone operator or a coin telephone.

In addition, a party who places a caii to a service 35 subscriber via the adjunct and who enters a so-called caller i,~ number 20739~7 -- 2 -when requested to do so will cause the billing for the call to be charged to the service subscriber rather then to the calling party, in accord with an aspect of the invention.

In particular, when the adjunct receives a call identified by a respective service telephone number, then the adjunct advances the call to the associated service S subscriber's home telephone station set if the caller is not the service subscriber.

If, on the other hand, the caller is the service subscriber, then the adjunct transmits thereto an . . --~...1. . .llrlll defining a menu of u~ l~ul~ali~.J calling services that the subscriber may program to customize the manner in which the subscriber receives telephone calls via the adjunct.

Such personalized services include, but are not limited to, call forwarding 10 and call screening.

In addition, one menu item, in accord with an aspect of t~le invention, allows the subscriber to place via the adjunct a telephone call to either the subscriber's "home" telephone station set or another telephone station set.

The billing for such a telephone call is charged to the service telephone number rather than to the telephone number identifying the subscriber's "home" telephone.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a method for providing personal ~ service, said method CHARACTERIZED BY the steps of storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers at least a first caller identifier and the specification of a first call routing treatment associated with that identifier, answering a first telephone call 20 directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers, receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered, and processing said call using the call routing treatment associated with the received caller identifer stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a ~5 system for providing a p~l~ullalii ~J calling service in a ~ network formed from a plurality of switches il.~l.,UI~ L~I via respective ~ .~.""....,i. -~ion~ paths, said system comprising a plurality of telephone numbers each uniquely deflned by a ~ rl...;.l ~I prefix code and associated with said l,~. ,u"-' ' calling service, ones of said service telephone numbers being associated with respective ones of 30 telephone subscribers that ~lave subscribed to said personalized calling service, said telephone subscribers being associated with respective telephone station sets identirled by other ones of telephone numbers, and CHARACTERIZED BY means, disposed in 2073997 2a said network and responsive to receiving From an associated one of said switches a telephone call identifled by one of said plurality of service telephone numbers assigned to a respective one of said ellhsrrihPrc, for extending said telephone connection to said one subscriber's associated telephone station set if the originator of said received 5 telephone call is not said one telephone subscriber, or, if said originator is said one telephone subscriber, for then ~ over said connection a menu of said pPrcrnqli7Pd calling services each programmable via said telephone connection such that said one telephone subscriber may customi7e the manner in which long distance telephone calls are received at said one subscriber's associated telephone station set.

10 Brief Description of the ~ The operation of these and other aspects of the claimed invention willbecome more apparent and better understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawing in which:

FIG. I is a broad block diagram of a . ~."""~ network in which 15 the principles of the invention may be practiced;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of a record associated with a telephone subscriber who has subscribed to the inventive service;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative ~".1.~.1;.,.. 1 of the basic service adjunct shown in FIC. I;

FIG. 4 shows the manner in which ~IGS. 5-7 should be arranged;

FIGS. 5-7 show a flow chart of the software program which implements the invention in the adjunct of FIG. 3; and F~G, ~ is an illustrative alternative rl.ll~ of the basic service adjunct shown in FIG. 1.

Detailed Desçription In an exemplary el.ll o-lilll~.lL of the invention,, """"",;. ~ network 100, FIG. 1, may be, for example, a public switched telephone network, such as, for example, the well-known AT&T network, that provides long distance telephone services for its subscribers, such as the subscribers associated with telephone stations Sl through S6.

Network 100 includes, inter alia, a plurality of Switching offices, -3~ 2073g97 three of which, 110, 130 and 140, are shown in the FIG.

Such switches may be anyone of the well-known types of switching equipment, and include, for example, the No. 4ESS (Electronic Switching System) and No. 5ESS available from AT&T.

It is seen from the FIG. that each switch, e.g., TS 110, is connected to a number of other 5 switches via a so-called inter-toll network, e.g., 111, 112, 113.

Each such switch is also connected to a number of Central Of fices (CO), e.g., COs 10 and 20.

The operation of a central of fice is well-known and will not be discussed herein.

However, it suffices to say that a CO is arranged to send to an associated switch of network 100 a telephone call originated at a calling telephone station set (herein the 10 calling party), e.g., S 1, which has dialed a particular long distance telephone number.

A CO is also arranged to connect to a telephone station set (herein the called party), e.g., S4, a call that the CO receives from an associated switch.

Included in network 100 is service adjunct 150 which operates, in accord with the invention, to process a call associated with one of its subscribers in a 15 manner prescribed by that subscriber, as will be explained below.

Associated with adjunct 150 is voice message service 200 which is extemal to network 200, but which connects thereto via switch 130.

Voice message service 200 may be a I.;UII~ iUlldl voice messaging service that is designed to receive from a calling party via adjunct 150 and network 100 a voice message that is "addressed" to a party who 20 has subscribed to the inventive service as well as message service 200.

That is, when a called subscriber does not "answer" a call directed to his/her station set via adjunct 150, then adjunct 150 may direct the calling party to voice message service 200 so that the calling party may store in service 200 a voice mcssage for the called subscriber.

Briefly, upon being connected to service 200 via adjunct 150 and at the direction of a service 200 voice ~ the calling party may enter a voice message.

Service 200, in a ~,UII~ iU~ l manner, stores the voice message in its internal memory at a location that is associated with the called subscriber.

Thereafter, the called subscriber may "dial up" service 200 via adjunct 150 and,30 when requested to do so, enter a so-called Personal ~ .

Number (PIN), or a password.

Service 200, responsive to receipt of the PIN, unloads from its internal memory the voice message and transmits the message to the called party's station set via a network 100 connection established between the subscriber's station set and service 200.

~ .

~/ ~4~ 2073~97 A telephone user, for example, the user associated with station S5, may subscribe to a number of network 100 services including the inventive r~rson~li7Pd calling service, which allows a subscriber to customize the way in which he/she receives long distance telephone calls.

For example, the subscriber may customize 5 selecdve calling features, such as call forwarding and call screening, and may also customize patdcular telephone call billing opdons, all in accord with the present invendon.

A telephone user may subscribe to the inventive service by merely dialing from a telephone stadon set a ~ telephone number, e.g., 1-80010 555-1000, associated with adjunct 150.

Network 100 responsive to receipt of those digits, then establishes a connection (not shown) to terrrtinal 160 attended by a service l~,~lu~ aliv~.

As a result of interacting with the ~ n; ~" the new subscriber is assigned a unique telephone service number tha~ is one of a d range of telephone numbers (e.g., the range from xxx-xxxx to yyy15 yyyy).

In an illustrative .. ,.l.~li.. l of the invention, each such unique telephone number employed by the inventiYe p~rcr~n:lli7~d calling service is prefixed by aparticular long distance telephone code -- illustratively 700.

Such a unique telephone number, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, is p~ ly assigned to a subscriber (user) as long as he/she subscribes to the personalized20 calling service.

What this means is that the assigned number will not change even though the user's local exchange telephone number, e.g., 201-555-6008, changes as a result of the user relocating to an area that is served by another CO.

In this sense, then, the assigned r~rsnnSIli7~d calling service telephone number "travels" with the user as he/she relocates from one area to another area of the country.

25 A-lv~ulL6~.vualy, then, a subscriber may selectively identify as his/her long distance telephone number the assigned 1~ `.,"~li, .l calling service telephone number, rather than the subscriber's current local exchange telephone number and associated area code.

The subscriber is also assigned a Personal T-lf ~iril ~li.,..

Number (PIN), 30 a security code and a group of Caller Tfl~n~ifir~lirn Numbers (CIN), in which the group comprises -- illustratively four -- such numbers.

As will be discussed below, a CIN is used, in accord with an aspect of the invention, for call billing purposes.

That is, a service subscriber (user) is billed for a call that is placed to hislher unique 700 service number when the calling party enters, at the direction of adjunct 150~ a CIN 35 assigned to the called subscriber, as will be discussed below.

Thus, in accord with an aspect of the invention, a calling party who enters a CIN is not billed for the .

2073g97 associated call.

Otherwise, the calling party is billed for the call.

Ad~ ~L6~.~U ~IY~ then, the calling party may be the subscriber.

That is, the subscriber may dial his/her service number to establish a connection to adjunct 150, enter the subscriber's assigned PIN (or one of the associated CINs) when requested to do so, and then enter 5 a rcquest to establish a long distance telephone connection to a desired telephone stadon set.

In this way the need to place the call (a) via an operator in order to "reverse" the telephone charges to the subscriber's local exchange telephone number or to bill the call to a crcdit card number, or (b) via a so-called coin telephone station is obviated.

For example, a service subscriber may, for example, place a long 10 distance call to his/her home telephone stadon set by dialing the subscriber's assigned service number and, then entering the subscriber' s assigned PIN (or one of the associated ClNs) when requested to do so, as will be discussed below.

More ad~ ..6~ , a user may give to a relative, such as a son or daughter, an assigned CIN and that relative may then call home, from virtually any 15 telephone location, via the long distance telephone network without the need of employing a telephone credit card, reversing the "charges" or using a coin telephone.

As a further result of the new subscriber interacting with the ,, the Ic~llc~ alivG causes a data record defining the new subscriber's . to be stored in memory intemal to adjunct 150.

The new subscriber may 20 thereafter interact with adjunct 150 to customize, in accord with the invention, the calling features defined by the subscriber's associated data record, as will be explained below.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown an illustrative example of a subscriber data record 300 formed from a plurality of fields.

One or more of the25 fields define a particular aspect of the inventive service as follows:

PHONE.NUM - defines the unique ,~ ;.,., telephone number, e.g., 700-555-2234, assigned to the associated subscriber, DEFLT.SVC - defines the services available to a new CIN, SUB.PIN - defines the PIN number assigned to the associated subscriber;

SEC.CODE - defines the unique security code assigned to the associated subscriber, M.MASK - defines the services that the associated .

~ ~ -6- 2~73~97 - subscriber has subscribed to;

CALL.FWD - defines a call for varding telephone number IJIU~jlOllllll.,.i by the subscriber, HOME.PHONE - defines the "regular" telephone number assigned to the associated subscriber's station set, e.g., the telephone number assigned by the local CO;

NU - Not used;

NU - Not used;

NUM.CIN - defines the number of ClNs assigned to the associated subscriber, 10 NUM.MSG - defines the number of voice messages stored in voice message service system 200 (FIG. I) for the associated subscriber;

NONCIN.GT - defines a greeting (salutation) that adjunct 150 outputs to a calling party who, when requested to do so, does not enter a CIN associated with the called service subscriber;

15 CF.TIME - defines the duration of time that the call forwarding feature is in effect;

CALL.SCN - defines whether so-called call screening is in effect;

CS.TI~E - defines the duration of time that call screening is in effect;

CS.NUM - defines a particular call screening telephone number that is l" u~ by the associated subscriber; and CIN.1-4 - defines the caller i~ ;......... number(s) assigned to the associated service subscriber.

Once a telephone user, e.g., the telephone user associated with station SS, has subscribed to the inventive service, then he/she may thereafter interact with 25 adjunct 150 and customize his/her associated record 300 to invoke particular calling features or to change the values of one more of the assigned CINs.

Referiing now to FIGS I and 2, a subscriber may customize such calling features by dialing his/her service number, e.g., 700-555-2234, to establish a network 100 connection to adjunct 150.

In doing so, network 100, i.e., switch 130, 30 in a cul.~,."iu.lal manner, passes to adjunct 150 the calling and called telephone numbers.

Responsive to the connection and receipt of those numbers, adjunct 150 trdnslates the called service number into a memory location and unloads from itsinternal memory the data record 300 associated with the called service number.

Adjunct 150 then returns to the calling party (subscriber in this instance) a recorded 35 message requesting entry of a CIN or subscriber PIN.

In the present illustrative example, the station SS calling subscriber enters via the associated station set keypad 7 2073997 his/her assigned PIN.

Adjunct 150 responsive to receipt thereof compares the value of the received PIN with the value of the PIN contained in the associated data record.

In this instance adjunct 150 would find that the former and latter values compare with one another and therefore returns to the calling subscriber a ~c~ ,ul~d S I Iisting a number of calling features that the subscriber may access and/or customize.

An illustrative example of such an ,. " . ,. .~ may be formatted as follows:

"Welcome to the ~ service system.

10 To hear your voice messages -- press one.

for call forwarding -- press two, to call home or place a call -- press three, (I) for call screening ~ press four, and to access your calling i. l~ ;. ," numbers -- press 15 five." Assuming that Ihe subscriberresponsive to ~"".,".. 1 1 enters the digit one by pressing the c~ keypad button of the station set SS from which the subscriber is calling, then adjunct 150 respûnsive to receipt of the tone 20 defining that number unloads the contents of the NUM.MSG field of the associated record.

If the contents of that field equals zero, then adjunct 150 returns to the calling subscriber a message indicative of that fact, for e:cample, the following message;

"Sorry you have no messages waiting.

Please 25 press zero to retum to the call features menu.l' (2) If the value of the contents of the NUM.MSG field is greater than zero, then adjunct 150 returns to the calling subscriber a message indicative of that fact, for example, the following message:

"You have messages waiting.

Please press one if wish to access your messages.

Otherwise, press zero to (3) return to the call features menu.ll - 207~997 - (It is noted that in the above message the dashes represent the verbal equivalent of the value contained in NUM.MSG field.) Adjunct 150 responsive to receipt of a tone c~ c to the digit zero retransmits to the calling subscriber the above-mentioned call features 5 : (1).

Alternatively, adjunct 150 responsive to receipt of a tone c ~ e to the digit one establishes a connection to switch 130 and outpulses the telephone number assigned to voice message service 200.

Switch 130 operatingin a C~ iv..ol manner then extends the connection to service 200.

In addition, adjunct 150 bridges the calling subscriber's connection to the connection extending 10 to service 200.

At that point, the subscriber may, in a cu..~.,..liu..al manner, interact with service 200 to hear voice messages that are addressed to the subscriber, asdiscussed above.

If, on the other hand, the calling subscriber desires to program the call forwarding feature and therefore in response to - ....,... ~ (I) enters the digit 15 two in the manner discussed above, then adjunct 150 responsive to receipt of the tone defining that number returns via network 100 a ~lclc~ul~d detailing the various options that the subscriber may elect in connection with the call forwarding feature.

An illustrative example of such an - ".. ---. ~.. l may formatted as follows:

"To turn on call forwarding - press one, to review call forwarding - press two, (4) to turn offcall forwarding - press three, and to exit the call forwarding feature - press four.

Assuming that the subscriber in response to Allll~ (4) enters the digit one, then adjunct 150 returns to the calling subscriber an Al~ llr .1-~ requesting entry of the duration that call forwarding is to be in effect in terms of hours.

An illustrative example of such an A.\.~Oll... r .11. ''I may be formatted as 30 follows:

"Please enter the number of hours for call forwarding followed by the pound sign.

For confinuing call forwarding, please (5) 35 press just the pound sign." ~9~ 20739~7 A If the calling subscriber desires call forwarding for a duration of one hour, then he/she may enter, in a cu~ iulldl manner, that value (i.e., I) followed by the pound sign.

Adjunct 150 responsive to receipt of the latter entry stores in the 5 CF.TIME field of the subscriber's associated data record the current time and the rc~ceived duration value.

If, on the other hand, the calling subscriber desires continuing call forwarding and enters just the pound (#) sign, then adjunct 150 in rcsponse thereto stores in the associated CF.TIME field a ~ A~ value -illhJ~ Li~.ly a negative value.

As will be seen below, adjunct 150 uses the value 10 stored in the CF.TIME field to confirm that continuing call forwarding is in effect.

Following the foregoing, adjunct 150 returns to the calling subscriber a ~III,lC~,Ul~d ' rcquesting entry of the call forwarding telephone number.

An illustrative example of such an 1.~.,,. ,. ~, . ,l may be formatted as follows:

"To forward calls to the telephone number you are calling from, press the pound sign; to forward calls to a different number, then enter the (6) 20 ten digit number, followcd by the pound sign; to forward calls to your message service, then press six, followed by the pound sign." Assuming that the calling subscriber selects the second of the announced options by entering a ten digit telephone number fûllowed by the poundsign, then adjunct 150 stores the digits in a memory register in the order that they are received. (Alt~,.llaLi~ly, selection of the first or third of such options, would cause adjunct 150 to respectively store in the memory register the calling telephone 30 number that it initially received from switch 130, or a negative value.) Upon receipt of the pound sign adjunct 150 confirms the subscriber's selections by returning an .~.. 1(1 ~. .11 indicative thereo An illustrative example of such an ~ ,~u,l. . ~, . , may be formatted as follows:

35 "Your calls will be forwarded to for hours.

If this is correct, press one, (7) .

- 20~399 ~ ~ to change your entties, press zero." For the above _ (7), adjunct 150 substitutes for the first set of dashes the number contained in the dlu~ r ~:l register or the words "your S message service" if the register contains a negative value, and substitutes for the second set of dashes the duration entered by the subscriber.

If the subscriber enters a one to verify the correctness of the entties, then adjunct 150 retransmits to the subscriber ( 1).

If, on the other hand, the subscriber presses ~ero, then adjunct 150 transmits to the subsctiber a ~., c. ~ - - to determine 10 which of the two entries, duration or call forwarding number, that the subscriber desires to change.

An illusttative example of such an ,.".. l.. .l may be formatted as follows:

"To change the call forwarding duration - press one, 15 to change the call forwarding telephone number - press two." (8) If, in response to the above ~, the subscriber presses the digit one (two), then adjunct 150 retransmits A~ 10l 1~ 1. ..1 5 (6).

When the subscriber has entered the desited change, then adjunct 150 retransmits 7 to once again confirm the correctness of the subscriber's entties.

If, in response to ~ . . . l. .. " l. l .. . ,1 4, the subscriber presses the digit 2 to review his/her associated record vis-a-vis call forwarding, then adjunct 150, inresponse thereto and in response to finding that the associated record indicates that call forwarding is in effect, transmits to the calling subsctiber the contents of the 25 associated CALl,.F~fD and CF.TIME fields.

The latter ~ - ... may be in the form of a ~ c~ulJ~ l modified by the contents of the latter fields.

An illustrative example of such an a~ ul may be formatted as follows:

"Your calls are being for~varded to for hours.

If this is correct press one. (9) To change your entries, press 0.

To cancel call forwarding, press 2." It can be d~ that, except for the ~-AnAf ~ n option, 9 is similar to ,n "" ~ ,~ . . .1 7.

Thus, the foregoing discussion pertaining to ~ . , .. ,. f .. , 1 7 equally pertains to A ~ f .. 1 9.

However, if the 2073997 ~ ~ calling subscriber desires to cancel call forwarding, then in response to g, he/she may press the digit two.

Adjunct 150 responsive thereto, initializes (i.e., sets to zero) the contents of the CALL.FWD, and CF.TIME fields of the associated data record, thereby canceling the invocation of the call forwarding S feature.

Al,~ , if call forwarding is not in effect, then adjunct 150 notifies the calling subscriber of that fact.

Following the foregoing, adjunct 150 retransmits to the calling subscriber menu ~ 4.

If, in response to the latter ~ P the calling subscriber presses the digit 3, then adjunct 150 extends to the user, in the manner discussed above, the 10 option to cancel call forwarding.

If, on the other hand, the calling subscriber presses the digit 4, then adjunct 150, in response thereto, exits the call forwarding features menu and retransmits ~ ~, ~.., l, ..~ ~ .. ,...l 1.

As discussed above, the calling subscriber may place, via adjunct 150, a long distance call to his/her home, or some other location.

The calling subscriber 15 may do so by entering, in a CU~ liO~ manner and in response to the call features 1, the digit three.

Adjunct 150 in response to that selection transmits to the calling subscriber a ~)~GIG~.Vld~,.i All'lV- " ` '. 1l to detemmine whether the calling subscriber desires to place a call to his/her home or to some other location.

An illustrative example of such an ,.,.."~."" . .". .1l may be formatted as follows:

"To call home press the digit one.

To call another location, then press (10) the digit two." Assuming that the calling subscriber selects the second option by pressing the digit two, then Adjunct 150 responsive thereto transmits to the calling subscriber an requesting entry of the ten digit telephone number that the calling subscriber desires to call.

An illustrative example of such an may be formatted as follows:

"Please enter the ten digit telephone number that you wish to call followed by the pound sign.

Otherwise, enter (I l) zero followed by the pound sign to 35 return to the call features Al~,~..lll...,...~1 " -12- 2073997 ~ ~ Assuming that the calling subscriber, responsive to the above , enters a ten digit number, for exatnple, the telephone number of 201-555-9876, then adjunct 150 stores in a memory register the dialed digits in the order that they are received.

Upon receipt ~f the last such digis then, adjunct 150 5 establishes a connection to switch 130 and outpulses the telephone number contained in the memory register.

In addition, and as will be discussed below, adjunct 150creates a billing record to track the time and charges for the associated call.

Adjunct 150 then "bridges" the subscriber's inbound connection to the outbound connection between adjunct 150 and switch 130.

In a cu..~ iu.~al manner, switch 130 causes 10 the ~ ~ connection to be extended to the local CO serving the called telephone station set identified by the outpulsed telephone number.

If the local CO finds that the called station is in a busy state (i.e., Off-Hook), then, the CO returns over the established connection so-called busy tone.

Assuming that is not the case, then the local CO applies a ringing signal to the telephone line connected to the 15 called station.

When the call is "answered", then the calling subscriber and answering party may begin to converse with one another over the bridged ....- When the parties end their ~u..~c.~Liu.., then either party may terminate the established connection in a C~ LiU--dl manner, i.e, by placing their respective station sets in a so-called "on-hook" state.

Alt~,l.l.,Li~clr, the calling 20 subscriber may terminate the call by entering in the ~,u~ Liullal way the pound sign ~#) followed by the star sign (*).

Adjunct 150, responsive to receipt of those signals, (a) terminates, in the .c...~. ' manner, the outbound connection to the called station, and (b) transmits to the calling subscriber ..""~ Under certain ~,u~ a subscriber, e.g., the station S5 25 subscriber, may find it desirable to cause adjunct 150 to "screen" calls and to forward to the subscriber's home phone only those calls originated by a particular calling party who enters, in a ~u~ Lio~lal manner and when requested to do so by adjunct150, a particular CIN assigned to the subscriber. IAhe subscriber may invoke ~helatter feature by entering, responsive to heating A - ll~ 1, the digit four.

30 Adjunct 150, responsive to receipt of that digit, transmits to the calling subscriber a IJlCI.~.,Ul~d Al''l~ ` I requesting entry of the pertinent CIN.

An illustrative eA~ample of such an may be formatted as follows:

"For call screening, please enter the call 35 i/t~ ifit`~hl~ number followed by the pound sign. (12) To cancel call screening, please press the star sign.

-13- 207~997 To rcturn to the call features ~ please press zero followed by the pound sign." If the calling subscriber desires call screening and enters the pertinent 5 CIN, then adjunct 150 upon receipt of the CIN stores it in the aforcm~-nti~m.-d memory register.

Adjunct 150 then transmits to the calling subscriber a ~ .cc~ rcquesting entry of the desired duration, in terms of hours. that call screening is to be in effect.

An illustrative example of such an -- '"J" ~ "" ''I may be formattcd as follows:

"Please enter the number of hours for call (13) screening followed by the pound sign." If the calling subscriber desires call screening for a duration of, for 15 example, one hour, then he/she may enter that value (i.e., a one) followed by the pound sign.

Adjunct 150 responsive to receipt of the latter value ~ ly stores in the CS.NUM and CS.TIME fields of the subscriber's associated data record the CIN that had been stored in the dr~,lc., .. l;.. ~i memory register and the current time including the received duration value.

In addition, adjunct 150 stores in the 20 associated CALL.SCN field a ~c.l~ ,.,'.,. ~I value -- illustratively a negative number -- to confirm ehat call screening is in effect.

Adjunct 150 then confirrns the correctness of the entered CIN and duration.

Adjunct 150 does this similar to the way that it confirms the correctness of a call for varding number and associated duration, as discussed above.

Altematively, if the calling subscriber, in response to ~I`-` .. ll.. ~ 12, enters the star sign, then adjunct 150 initializes the CS.NUM, CS.TIME and CALL.SCN fields of the associated data record to effectively cancel call screening.

It can be d~ c - ' that a subscriber, for whatever reason, may desire changing the value of one or more assigned ClNs. A calling subscriber may readily 30 do so by entering, in response to ,... l~ . .l 1, the digit five.

Adjunct 150responsive thereto then (a) unloads from the associated data record the contents of the NUM.CIN field and CIN fields, and (b) forms such contents into an - for 1,~ ,,. to the calling subscriber.

An illustradve example of such an - - .,. ~ .,...1l may be formatted as follows:

.

"Your, l.~ .il.l,.,.~ of calleri-lf-nrifif~rif~n numbers -14- 20739~7 ~ - is The first caller i.~ r~ ;.. number is , press the pound sign if you wish to change that number, otherwise press the star ~ien (14) The second caller i~ i ri ~ number is 5 press the pound sign if you wish to change that number, otherwise press the star sign .. (and so on)." The first set of dashes in 14 represent the contents of the associated NUM.CIN field and the subsequent sets of dashes represent the contents 10 of respective ones of the associated CIN fields.

Accordingly, if the calling subscriber desires to change one of the assigned ClNs, then all that the calling subscriber needs to do, after hearing that portion of the ~ ,.,... . ,....l 14 c~ 1 e to that CIN, is to enter the pound sign as requested.

Adjunct 150, in turn, transmits to the calling subscriber a request to enter the new CIN followed by the pound sign.

Upon receipt 15 of the new CIN, adjunct 150 stores it in the CIN field of the last announced CIN.

Adjunct 150 then continues the L~ll>l~ lil)ll of the above Al .U~ -, thereby allowing the calling subscriber to change the values contained in subsequent ones of the associated CIN fields.

It is noted that in ~ of the invention, a subscriber may 20 subscribe to more than one group of ClNs, in which the additional group(s) of ClNs are associated with the subscriber's data record and in which each such group contains illustratively four -- CINs.

Also in c~--t ..,~ iu of the invention, a subscriber may subscribe to just a basic service, which provides a service telephone number, but not the calling 25 features discussed above.

However, the subscriber may extend his/her ~ 1., . ;l,l i~ .. . to include one or more of those features.

As mentioned above, the subscribed features are defined in the M.MASK field of the subscriber's associated data record.

Tuming now to FIG. 3, it is seen that adjunct 150 includes a number of transaction processors 10-1 through I0-N each operating in cnnjllnrti~n with 30 database manager 20 to implement the inventive service.

In an exemplary ..b~li... l of the invention, each of the transaction processors 10 may be, for example, tbe well-known Conversant voice inforrnAtif~n system that is available from AT&T.

Each processor 10 includes a so-called 6386 work group station (not 35 shown) which controls the overall operation of its associated processor 10 and provides standard system services, such as real time clock, memory control, and -'5- 2073997 interrupt handling.

The work group station also provides ;~-t~ ` with the keyboard and display of terminal 160, and, with associated peripherals via a so-called AT bus.

These peripherals (not shown) include RAM, a hard disk, LAN interface as well as various other p~rirh.-rr~lc The other peripherals include S digital network interface circuits and signal processing circuits for interfacing the associated transaction processor 10 with network 100 via respective ones of the ......... '.

Al;.,.. ~paths 151-1 through 151-N.

Each network interface provides a so-called primary rate ISDN digital interface bet~veen adjunct 150 and a network switch, such as switch 130 (FIG. 1).

As 10 is well-known, a primary ISDN rate interface includes 23 ~,.. ;. ~l irmc channels and one signaling channel, in which each of the 23 channels is operative for g a . ~m incoming or outgoing, between a switch and adjunct 150.

Thus, each of the c~.,...,.,...i. ~;l. ~ paths 150-1 through 150-N represents a respective primary rate 24 channel circuit between adjunct l~iO and network 100.

('' between one adjunct 150 and another adjunct 150 may be established via data bridge 45 connected to bus 15 and a so-called wide area network ~ lt~ by path 46.

Such (`l.. ,.. ,.. ;. ~ may include changes in a subscriber record that occur as a result of the respective subscriber ~ .. ~ .. l .. ;. .

his/her associated service record.

Such . ll,.,...,.,.i~ ~l;.".~ also include a new 20 subscriber record.

Thus, each adjuncts 150 that may be disposed in network 100 maintains an up-to-date copy of each subscriber record.

The ~IU~.Ciil~iOII of a call established under the direction of a transaction processor 10 as well as a call received thereat via a channel associated with a respective one of the ~.~.,...,.,- ~li~...c paths 151 is monitored by an associated signal 25 processing circuit operating under the control of an application software program.

Such application software ,,,,l.l- .. ,l~ the inventive service within a transaction processor 10 in the manner discussed above, and operates under the control of the well-known UNIX operating system.

Such application software may be readily ;,.,~ rCI ( 1) 30 using the so-called Script Builder software provided by the afor~mrnrirm~d Coversant voice interactive system.

The latter software allows a user to define the sequences of the application software in terms of menus and in a form specifying the between adjunct 150 and incoming calls as well as outgoing calls.

Such include, for example, (a) answering an incoming call, (b) est lhlichi~ an 35 ûutgûing call, (c) prompting and collecting caller input, and (d) reading associated data and making logical cr~nrll-ci~lnc, in the manner discussed above. A particular ! 207399~ - 16strength of such Script software is that it allows such i.. .,.. l;~..,c to be individually invoked for each of the ~r, .., ., .. ~ ", ~ ~ .., channels.

Database manager 20 and associated high density memory disks 25 may be of the well-known type, such as the database manager and disks forming the 5 StarServer FT system that is also aYailable from AT&T.

In particular, manager 20 is a fault tolerant computer and includes three Central Processing Units (CPU) eachoperating under the control of the afor~m~nr~ d Unix operating system.

Such CPUs operate ;,.rl~ r 1l of one another in executing the same stream of 'u.~L.u.,liu..., contained in their respective cache and onboard memories.

The CPUs 10 output to an associated voting circuit their respective results obtained from executing such i~ U-,Liul~s.

If the output of one CPU is different from that outputted by the other two, then the voting unit ignores the output received from the one CPU andaccepts the output received from the other two CPUs.

In most instances, the accepted output is a response to a database query received from one of the transaction 15 processors 10 via bus 15.

Typically, a database query involves a subscriber record.

The '~ ' application software may issue a number of such queries over the course of processing an incoming (inbound) call or . ~ an outgoing (outbound) call.

In an illustrative ~ "~..~.l; " .. . ~ of the invention, subscriber records 20 are stored in one of the disks 25, e.g., disk 25-1, whereas the associated CINs are stored in another one of the disks 25, e.g., disk 25-N.

With the foregoing in mind we now turn to a discussion of the way in which the inventive system processes particular types of telephone calls in accord with a respective subscriber data record.

In doing so, it is assumed that the station 25 S5 user is a subscriber of the inventive system and has subsclibed to all of the above-mentioned calling features.

It is also assumed that the station S5 subscriber is assigned (a) a PIN equal to, for example, 98765, (b) a ~ .. telephone number of, for example, 700-555-2234, and (c) a group of ClNs l~ ,ly equal to, for example, 4201 through 4204.

It is further assumed that the S5 subscriber (hereinafter 30 Subscriber") has given CIN 4204 to the user associated with station set S I .Specifically, and referring to FlGs. I and 5-7, if the user at station S I places a telephone call by first causing station S I to go off-hook and then dialing the Subscriber's assigned telephone number of 700-555-2234, then, in that event, CO 10 upon receipt of the dialed digits ~C-~hliCh--c, via a ~U~ iUlldl trunking ~ ~, a cûnnectiûn between the statiûn Sl telephone line and switch I IQ CO =~ 10 then passes to switch 110 the dialed digits (called number) and telephone number -17 2~73997 of the calling party, namely th-e station S 1 telephone number including its associaoed area code (calling number).

Switch 110, in tum, translates the dialed digits into a so-called destination switch number.

In the present illustratiYe example, it is assumed that the destination switch number identifies switch 130.

Accordingly, 5 switch 110extendstheconnectiontoswitch 130viathe ~.ru.c intertoll network IGI~lG~ t~ by path 111 and passes to switch 130 the called and calling telephone numbers.

Switch 130, in tum, translates the received called telephone number into a respective trunk group extending to a destination point.

Typically, the destination point would be a local CO.

However, in accord with an aspect of the 10 invention, the destination point for the subscribed service is service adjunct 150.

Accordingly, switch 130 extends the connection to service adjunct 150 via one of the ,Ir, ~ primary rate channels.

In doing so, switch 130 sends to adjunct 150 via the primary rate signaling channel associated with one of the paths 151, e.g., 151-1, a so-called call set-up message containing, inter alia, the called and 15 calling numbers.

Upon receipt of the message, the adjunct 150 application program retums over the associated channel a ringing signal (block 501) to alert the calling party that the desired connection has been ,CtAhli~h,-f~ After a short duration of time, e.g., three seconds, the application program (hereinafter "program") removes the ringing signal from the channel.

The program (block 502) then forms into a message the received called number (e.g., 700-5552234) and a request to validate the number and sends the message to manager 20 via bus 15.

Manager 20, in a (.UII~ iUII~I manner, determines the validity of the called service number by accessing the database of subscriber records to determine if a subscriber record has been assigned to the called 2~i number.

If a subscriber record has been so assigned, then manager 20 transmits to the program via bus 15 a message indicating that the called number is valid.

Otherwise, the latter message indicates that the called number is not valid.

If the manager 20 message indicates that the called number is not valid, then the program (block 503) transmits over the path 151- I channel an - " .. ~ ,. ~ ., ..., l indicating that 30 the called number is not in service.

The program (block 504) then terminates the call by ~ a call If ~ message over the path 151-1 signaling channel.

The program (block 50~i) then exits.

If the called number is valid, then the program (block 506) transmits over the associated channel a ~,c.G~f.. ~;l "welcome" Al .. ~.. f.. ~' "I requesting entry 35 of a personal i~ . -l;.- number.

The fûllûwing is an example ûf such 18 2~7399~ "Welcome to the l~ calling system.

If you are calling from a touch-tone telephone and have a personal calling i.l. . l; ~. ~ ;n.~ (15) 5 number, please enter it now followed by the pound sign.

Otherwise, just press the pound sign." The program then monitors, for a l" r~ d period of time, e.g.. 20 seconds, the path 151- I channel for receipt of a PIN or pound sign only.

If, at the 10 end of 20 seconds, the program (block 507) finds that it did not receive a PIN or pound sign only, then the program (block 509) transmits over the associated channel an requesting that the calling party re-enter the personal i~ number.

Similarly, the program then waits for receipt of the requested ' If, at the end of wait period (i.e., 20 seconds), the program (block 510) finds that it 15 did not receive a PIN or pound sign only, then the program (block 511) checks to see if it received from its associated network 100 switch the calling party's telephone number.

If that is the case, then the program (block 513) transmits to the calling party via the path 151-1 channel an ~",.. ,.. ,...... ,.l indicating that the calling party will be billed for the call.

Jrhe program (blocks 514, 515, 516) then determines if call forwarding is in effect by sending to manager 20 a message requesting a call forwarding telephone number.

If call forwarding is in effect, then manager 20 returns to the program a message containing the call forwarding telephone number.

If call forwarding is not in effect, then the message contains the telephone number 25 associated with the called Subscriber's home telephone.

The program (block 517) then (a) seiæs, in a co,.~c..Lio,.al manner, an idle one of the ~ channels associated with one of paths 151-1 through 151-N, for example, path 151-2, (b) bridges the inbound channel associated with the calling station to the seiædchannel, and (c) sends to switch 130 via the dr.,.. l j""~ .~ signaling channel a so30 called "call setup" message containing, inter alia, (i) a request to establish a rnnnl c~ n and (ii) the telephone number contained in the manager 20 message.

Network 100, in a ~O.I~ J..dl manner, establishes via switches 130 and 140 a connection between the seiæd path 151-2 channel (and thus adjunct 150)and CO 30 serving the called station, e.g. station S5. CO 30 responsive to receipt of 35 the called telephone number from switch 140, then extends the connection to the telephone line serving station S5. CO 30 then applies to the telephone line the -19- 2073997 r ~ ringing signal to alert the Subscriber to the incoming call.

at is nooed that if the manager 20 message contained instead a call forwarding telephone number, then a telephone connection would be established tothe CO serving the telephone station identified by the call forwarding number.) S When the Subscriber answers the call, then the program (block 518) generates acu..~, ' telephone billing record.

That is, thc program inserts in a START fieldof the associated billing record the current time of day and stores the billing record in local memory.

Thereafter, the program monitors the status of the bridged connection to determine the point in time at which the calling or called party 10 terminaoes the call.

At that point, the program inserts in an END field of the associated billing record the current date and time of day.

The program then sends the billing record to manager 20 via bus 15 for storage in billing database 35.

If the called subscriber does not answer the call within a ~lC 1 ~.. , .. ~1 period of time -- illustratively 30 seconds -- then the program oerminates the 15 connection to the called station.

The program then transmits to the calling party via switch 130 an ~ .~.".. l indicating that the call has not been answered and that a connection to voice messaging service 200 is being established so that the calling party may leave a voice message for the called party.

The ~ also indicates that the calling party may forego that option by ~ . .. ,;. l...~ the call 20 ("hanging up"), as discussed above.

If, on the other hand, the program (block 507) finds that the calling party responded to ~ . . ... l 15, then the program (block 508) checks to see if that party entered just the pound (#) sign.

If that is the case, then the program (block 513) transmits to the calling party an d ~ indicating that the calling party 25 would be charged for the call.

The program (blocks 514-518) then proceeds to establish a connection to the called Subscriber's telephone station set, in the manner discussed above.

If the calling party enters a CIN (e.g., 4204) or subscriber PIN (e.g., 98765), then the program (block 519) checks the validity of the entry.

The program does this by sending to manager 20 via bus 15 a message containing, inter alia, the 30 received entry, called telephone number and vaiidation request.

Manager 20 responsive to receipt of the message, determines if the entry contained in the message comprises either four digits or five digits.

If the entry comprises five digits, indicating that the entry is a subscriber PIN, then manager 20, in a cu~ ,..Lio.,al manner, compares the five digit number with the number contained in the SUB.PIN 35 field of the Subscribers associated service record stored in disk memory, e.g., disk 25-1.

If the numbers compare, then manager 20 returns to the program a message 2073997 -20indicating that the entry is valid.

Otherwise, the message indicates that the entry is invalid.

Similarly, if the entry comprises four digits, indicating that the entry is a caller CIN, then manager 20 compares the four digit entry with the contents of each S CIN field associated with the Subscriber's record, and retums to the program the ..IJy~ t~, validation message.

If tbe manager 20 message indicates that the entry is not valid, then the program (block 520) checks to see if it has set a particular flag for the current call.

If the flag is set, then the program (block 511) processes the call in the manner discussed above.

If the flag is not set, then the program (block 521) 10 sets the flag.

The program (block 509) then proceeds in the manner discussed above.

If the manager 20 message indicates that the entry is valid, then the program (block 522) checks the entry to determine if it contains four digits.

If that is the case, then the program (523) detemmines if call screening is in effect.

If call screening is in effect, then the program (block 524) detemmines (via manager 20) if 15 the CIN entered by the calling party compares with the CIN contained in the CS.NUM field of the associated subscriber record.

If the ClNs compare with one another, then the program (block 525) transmits to the calling party a message indicating that the call will be charged to the called party.

The program (blocks 514, 518) then proceeds to establish a connection to the called station in the manner20 discussed above.

If the ClNs do not compare, then the program (block 526) transmits to the calling party an ~u. ..~ ,. . . ". .,1 indicating that the caller may leave a voice message for the called Subscriber, as discussed above.

If the number entered by the caller contains five digits, then the program 25 concludes that the calling party is the Subscriber and transmits (block 527) to the Subscriber via the path 151-1 channel call features ~"".. "". ~ .. ,1 1.

The program then waits for the Subscriber's selection kntry).

Upon receipt of the entry, theprogram proceeds to an a~ ,. sub-program (block 528, 529, 530, 531 or 532) to process the Subscriber's selection, in the manner discussed above.

One possible altemative nl.lll~l; .,. - of adjunct 150 is shown in FIG. 8.

It can be ,~ ;c;~t~d that FIG. 8 is somewhat similar to FIG. 3.

Accordingly, similar to those shown in FIG. 3 are similarly numbcred in FM. 8.

It is seen from FIG. 8 that adjunct 150 connects to a plurality of network 100 switches 170.

In the illustrative altemative I ."I,o(l;",. of adjunct 150, each 35 such switch may be the well-known No. 5ESS Operator Service Position System (OSPS) switch available from AT&T.

As is well-known the No. 5ESS/OSPS ~ 21 2073~97 . provides operator services.

As such, a call placed to a subscriber telephone number would now be preceded by a long distance operator code, i.e., a so-called 0+ code.

To enhance its reliability, adjunct 150 is formed from two sections, in which a component in one such section is duplicated in the other such section.

S ~ y, a discussion of one such section equally pertains to the other such section.

In particular, each such section includes, a group of transaction processors lO (l l), in which associated ~ paths~ e.g.~ paths 151-1 and 151-2, connect a transaction processor, e.g., processor 10-1, to two of the switches 10 170.

In an illustrative "l~ of the invention, each such c~ -- path may be, for example, a so-called Tl carrier line.

As is well-known, a Tl carrier line provides 24 channels for carrying a like number of calls.

Each such section alsoincludes an X.25 Front End Processor (FEP) 50, SNA processor 55, LAN 15, and a computer 60 associated with a disk memory 66.

The X.25 FEP 50 i . ' the 15 well-known X.2S data ~ - ." protocol and is the means by which an associated section of the adjunct 150 exchanges call signaling ;.,r.., ,,.~1;.... with a network switch 170.

That is, X.25 FEP 50 is arranged so that it supplies to its associated computer 60 via LAN 15 call signaling i..r~l...d~iO-I that FEP 50 receives from a respective one of the switches 170.

Similarly, X.25 FEP 50 is arranged to20 supply to a respective one of the switches 170 call signaling i.,r~..l..dti.,.. that FEP 50 receives from an associated computer 60 via LAN 15.

In this respect, X.25 FEP 50connects to each of the switches 170 that connect to associated section transaction processors.

The between X.25 FEP 50 and such switches 170 is .~ ...t~,d in the FIG. by cable 153.

2S The processing of incoming and outgoing calls and associated call ;r~ ;.... .as well as data base ~ ; of subscriber records stored in a disk memory 66 is handled by the associated computer 60, which may be, for example, the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-9000.

That is, computer 60 operates in accord with the program of FlGs. 5-7 as well as other programs.

In this respect,computer 60 is at the heart of adjunct 150, whereas transaction processors 10 (11) and X.2S FEP 50 serve to interface their associated computer 60 with switches 170.

In addition, and as a means of further improYing the l~;dulnid.~cy of adjunct 150, each computer 60 is connected to each LAN 15, as shown in the FIG.

As mentioned above, a new subscriber record is inputted by an attendant operating terminal 160.

Terminal 160 connects to each section of adjunct 150 via a respective SNA processor 50.

Each SNA processor 50 i,..l.l~ ..,. ~ the well-known -22- 2~73997 IBM SNA protocol, and is used to interface terminal 160 with a respective computer 60.

Thus, a newly inputted subscriber record is passed to both computers 60 via their respective SNA processors 50 and LANs 15.

Both of the computers 60, in turA, store the new record, or a change to an existing record, in their respective disk 5 memodes 66. A computer 60 may also receive from another adjunct 150 via the associated data bridge 45 a new subscriber record, or a change to an existing record.

In this way, each adjunct 150 maintains an updated copy of each subscriber record, as mentioned above.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention.

10 Those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous ~ . which, although not explicitly shown or descdbed herein, r.~ embody those principles that are within the spirit and scope of the invention.