Telephone call notification feature.

DESCRIPTION

Feature of phone call notification.

Technical Field of the Invention

The invention relates to telecommunications networks.

Foundation of the Invention

“Call waiting” is a call termination feature that provides a distinctive tone to alert a subscriber who is “busy” talking on the telephone with another caller that another call is trying to connect with the subscriber. At that point, the subscriber can ignore the tone or press the switching hook of the subscriber apparatus. The last action placed the interlocutor with whom the subscriber was talking on hold and connected the new incoming call to the subscriber apparatus. After which, the subscriber can press the switching hook again to reconnect to the caller he had left on hold. This time, the last action disconnects the subscriber's device from the new call and reconnects it with the interlocutor who had been put on hold.

We have noticed that many telephone subscribers are irritated by the call waiting tone while they are busy talking on the telephone. In fact, up to a third of the telephone subscribers, on occasion, ignore the call waiting tone. Maós auón, the interlocutor who is talking to the subscriber can get irritated as a result of being left in the state of retention.

Summary of the invention

The invention according to the claims.

Brief description of the drawings

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a simplified block diagram of an exchange network in which the principles of the invention can be carried out;

Figure 2 is a block diagram of the attached figure 1;

Figure 3 illustrates an example of a subscriber record that can be stored in the database of Figure 2;

Figure 4 illustrates an example of a way of relating a list of telephone numbers to the respective telephone calls together in the database of Figure 2; Y

Figures 5-8 illustrate in a flowchart the program that implements the principles of the invention in the network of Figure 1. Detailed description

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the exchange network 200, shown in Figure 1, provides a plurality of services for its subscribers, such as the subscribers associated with the subscriber equipment S1 to S3. Specifically, the network 200 includes, among others, a plurality of interconnected Line Switches (TS), three of which are shown in the figure, namely TS 205, 210 and 215. Such line switches (eg, 205, 210 and 215) can be any of the universal types of switching equipment, such as, for example, No. 4 ESS (Electronic Switching System) manufactured by AT&T.

In a topical case, a line switch is associated with a number of Local Central Offices (CO), three of which are shown in the figure, namely COs 105, 110 and 115. Follow it is known, a CO, eg , CO 105, was constituted to connect a calling (originating) terminal that has dialed a certain telephone number to an associated switching line, eg, TS 205. In doing so, the CO sends the associated call information that includes, among others, the dialed telephone number (called) and the telephone number of the calling terminal to the line switch. A CO was also ready to send a telephonic call received from its line switch associated with the intended telephone terminal, eg, terminal S1.

It is seen in the figure that each line switch, eg, TS 205, may also be associated with an attachment, eg attachment 305. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, an attachment includes an interactive voice system, eg, universally known Interactive Conversation Voice System (registered trademark of AT&T) manufactured by AT&T. An attachment also includes a database system for storing subscriber records. A subscriber record identifies a subscriber subscription associated with the services of the network 200. Such service may constitute an alternative to the conventional call waiting feature, the alternative of which is processed by an attachment according to an aspect of the invention. (It is noted that attachments 310 and 315 associated with the line switches TS 210 and 215, respectively, are similar to attachment 305. Consequently, the treatment of attachment 305 is equally applicable to the other attachments.)

Specifically, assume that the telephonic user associated with terminal S2 makes a telephonic call to terminal S1 in the conventional manner. CO 115, in response to the above, directs the call and the associated call information (eg, the caller's telephonic numbers and called) to TS 215. TS 215, at the time and in a conventional manner, determines that the switch of Destination lines for the call is TS 205 and directs the call to it. Once the call is received, TS 205, according to an aspect of the invention, accesses a table of called destinations using a translation of the telephone number of the called as an index in the table. If TS 205 finds that the called telephone number is stored in the accessed position, TS 205 concludes that the called subscriber was associated with one or more telephonic services provided by the network 200. In such a case, TS 205 sent the call information to attachment 305 through a communication path 306. If the call number was not stored in the accessed position, TS 205 processes the call in the conventional manner. That is, TS 205 directs the call directly to CO 105 to route it to terminal S1.

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the communication path 306 may be, for example, a conventional ISDN primary rate interface comprising 23 B channels for establishing telephone connections between the

EN 2 103 231 B1 attached 305 and TS 205. Communication path 306 also includes a D channel for the exchange of signaling messages between PS 205 and attachment 305. Attachment 305, in response to receiving the above-mentioned call information via the associated D-channel, provides the telephone number of the call to an associated database to obtain a copy of the record that identifies the different services of the network 200 associated with the telephone number of the call. Assuming that the called subscriber is subscribed to the service of the invention and that the subscription is noted in the associated register, attachment 305 makes a call to the called number. Attachment 305 executes this by sending a call establishment (connection) message containing the number called to TS 205, see channel D mentioned above. The message also contains the identification of the B-channel that should be used to extend the call connection from TS 205 to attachment 305. TS 205, in response to the message, establishes a conventional call connection to CO 105 and directs the call to it. CO 105, in turn, extends the connection to terminal S1 and applies a conventional call signal to it. CO 105 then sends a message of this fact to TS 205. Once the message is received, TS 205 passes it to the originator of the call, namely attachment 305, see channel D mentioned above. Attachment 305, in response to the message received, directs TS 205 to merge the new connection established with the connection that extends to terminal S2 of the calling party. Consequently, when the user of the S1 terminal answers the call, the calling and called callers can communicate with each other.

At this point, suppose that while the user of terminal S1 communicates with the user of terminal S2, the user associated with terminal S3 makes a telephenic call to the terminal

S1. Similarly, CO 110 directs the call to TS 210, which, at the time, directs the call from terminal S3 to TS 205 through the intercity network 230. Once the call has been received, I indicated above, TS 205 access your table of destinations called associates to determine if the number of the call is contained in it. Since it has been assumed that we are in this case, TS 205 provides the caller's information associated with attachment 305 in the manner described above. Similarly, Attachment 305, once it finds that the called subscriber is subscribed to the service of the invention, makes a call to the called terminal, as described above. However, in this case, CO 105 would not be able to direct the call to terminal S1, since that terminal is busy with a call received from terminal S2. Consequently, CO 105 returns a signaling message indicating that the called terminal is occupied at TS 205. TS 205, at the time, notifies attachment 305 of such fact by means of the signaling channel D mentioned above. In response to receiving the busy message from terminal S1, attachment 305 sends a call connection signaling message on channel D requesting that the call connection of terminal S3 be directed to attachment 305. TS 205, in response to the reception of the message, extends the call connection from terminal S3 to attachment 305 by means of a channel B available from path 306. Additionally, TS 205 sends a message to identify this last B channel through the D channel associated with attachment 305.

At that point, attachment 305 stores the calling party's telephone number and the current date and time in its associated database. Attachment 305 then transmits a warning to terminal S3 indicating that the called terminal is busy and that the called subscriber will be notified of the calling caller's call. The following is an example of such a warning:

(1) "Red 200. Service" While You Were Busy ". The caller you have called is busy. We will inform the caller of the date and time of your call and your telephone number in the next_minutes ”(In the previous example, you can replace the underline with any appropriate value, eg, a value of 10.)

After the transmission of the warning 1, the attachment 305 sends, via channel D of the path 306, a disconnection message to TS 205 ordering the latter to terminate the incoming call from the terminal S3 and the call from the attachment 305 to the terminal S1. TS 205, in response to the message received, terminates the call in a conventional manner.

After the above, once the aforementioned time has elapsed, eg 10 minutes, the attachment 305 makes a call to the terminal S1 in the manner described above. When the subscriber of the S1 terminal answers the call, the attached 305, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, transmits a warning that identifies the telephone numbers and hours at which telephenic calls associated to the S1 terminal were made when the same was occupied. It is noted that such telephone numbers can be notified in the same order in which calls to terminal S1 occurred. The following is an example of such notice:

(2) "Red 200. Service" While You Were Busy ". While you were busy, I received telephone calls from the following telephone numbers:

First - telephone number 908-6068888 at 2:45 PM el_;

Second - telephone number 212-5551234 at 2:53 PM el_;

Third - telephone number 908-2214444 at 3:06 PM el_;

If you wish to make a call to any of these numbers, enter the associated identification code.

EN 2 103 231 B1 (It is indicated that the previous underline represents the date of the associated call.) Following the previous notice, attachment 305 deletes the notified telephone numbers and associated times from the database, but stores a copy of the themselves in a so-called file memory. Telephone numbers are stored in case the subscriber wishes to review the numbers notified later. If, in response to the notice, the subscriber enters a digit, eg At digit 2, attachment 305 sends a call connection message via channel D of path 306 ordering PS 205 to establish a call to the telephone number of 212-555-1234 and to join that call with the call located at the terminal S1. TS 205, in response to the above, establishes the requested call and joins the call with the S1 terminal calls in a conventional manner.

Turning now to Figure 2, a large block diagram of an attachment is shown, eg attachment 305. An attachment, in a more particular way, includes one or more interactive voice systems 305-1 to 305-N based on the level of traffic it processes. It also includes a local air network 302, which interconnects interactive voice systems with database 303. As mentioned earlier, database 303 is used to store subscriber records and records associated with the different services that make up the services subscribed by the subscriber. An example of subscriber registration is shown in Figure 3, in which a service register includes the subscriber's telephone number and a number of fields 401 that identify the services subscribed by the subscriber. For example, if the subscriber subscribes to a number of services other than network 200, the associated fields 401 contain certain values, eg, a binary one. If the subscriber does not subscribe to one of the particular services, its associated field 401 contains a different value, eg, a zero. For example, assuming that field 402 is associated with the invention service, the associated subscriber's registration field contains a one. Fields 403, on the other hand, are associated with other different services. For example, field 404 associated with field 402 is used to store the first address of a list of relationship (LL) of memory locations, each containing a telephone number of a calling subscriber who attempted to make a call to the associated subscriber while The subscriber was busy with another call.

An example of such a list is shown in Figure 4, whose list 500 is stored in the database 303. Specifically, assuming that entry 501 is the first record in the list, the address of the memory location containing that record It was stored in field 404 of the associated subscriber's record. It is seen that the register in list 500 contains a number of fields for storing a telephone number of a terminal that I tried to call the subscriber while his terminal was busy with another telephone call, and the date and time of such a telephone call. It also contains a field 502 for storing the address of the next register 503 containing the telephone number and date of the next telefoin call that I attempted to contact with the associated subscriber terminal while the latter was busy. Similarly, field 404 of the last record contains the address (eg, "pointer to") of a record containing similar data but referring to a different calling terminal. If a fourth call was made to the subscriber terminal during the busy condition, field 506 of register 505 would point to a record in list 500 identifying the fourth call. In other circumstances, field 506 contains an address that points to register 501.

When an incoming call arrives at a line switch, eg, TS 205, via the intercity network, the main process program of the line switch executes the program in Figure 5. When it is executed (block 600), the program (block 601) checks if the phone number of the call is contained in your destination list. If it is, the program (block 602) directs the information associated with the call, eg, call number and ANI (Automatic Numbers Identification, eg, the caller's telephone number), to its associated attachment, eg, attachment 305 , he indicated earlier. Then the program ends. If the number of the call was not in the destination list, the program (block 603) passes the call to its main call processing program, which directs the call to its intended destination, then indicated above.

When the line switch receives a message from the attachment, the main processing program of the line switch executes the program in Figure 6. When it is executed (block 610), the program jumps to a certain number of software routines represented by blocks 611 to 614 depending on the type of message received from the attachment. As indicated above, the message could be a request for (a) merger (block 611), (b) establishment of connection between the attached and called caller (block 612), (c) address of the incoming call to the attached (block 613) or (d) termination of the call (block 614).

When an attachment receives an initial message containing a call number from its associated line switch, the attachment executes the program shown in Figure 7. When it is executed (block 700), and then indicated above, the program obtains a copy of the associated subscriber's record of its associated database (block 701). The program (block 702) examines the record to see if the called subscriber was subscribed to the call notification feature of the invention. If this is not the case, the program passes the registration to the software module (represented by block 708) designated to process the subscriber's subscription or other services. Otherwise, the program (block 703) sends a call establishment (connection) message to its associated line switch ordering the connection of the attachment to the called terminal to the latter. The program then waits to see if it receives an indication that the terminal called is busy from the CO that manages the call. If the program (blo4

EN 2 103 231 B1 that 704) does not receive such an indication but receives an indication that the CO is calling the called terminal, the program (block 709) sends a merge message to its associated line switch. Otherwise, the program (block 705) sends a message to the line switch requesting that the incoming call be connected to the attachment. When the line switch completes its task, the program (block 706) transmits notice 1 to the calling party and, in the manner described above, establishes a record of the call in table 500. The program also enters the call number. in a list to process if the number of the call was not already contained in it. The purpose of the list to be processed was discussed later. The program (block 707) sends a termination message to its associated line switch to terminate the connections that extend between the calling and called subscribers. Then the program ends.

Periodically, eg, every 10 minutes, the attachment executes the program in Figure 8 to process table 500. Specifically, when it is executed, the program (block 721) obtains a copy of the list to be processed following the initial entry that is made in table 500 for a subscriber. From the list to be processed, the program (block 722) checks if the list was empty. If it was, the program ends. Otherwise, the program (block 723) obtains a telephonic subscriber number from the list and obtains (block 724) the list related to table 500 of associated calling subscriber records. The program (block 725) then sends a call establishment message to its associated line switch requesting the switch to establish a call to the telephone number that was currently being processed. If the call is answered (block 726), the program (block 727) communicates the list in the manner described above in conjunction with warning 2. The program then waits for the subscriber to enter a corresponding digit to one of the entries in the list. of notices. If the program (block 728) receives such a code, it sends (call block 729) to its associated line switch a call establishment (connection) message containing the telephone number stored in the corresponding entry of the associated list. The program (block 730) then sends a merge message to its associated line switch. The program (block 731) then deletes the telephone number of the subscriber from the list to be processed and, in a conventional manner, deletes the associated list from the database. However, before performing such deletion, the program stores the associated list in a so-called archive memory so that the associated subscriber can access the list later. The program then returns to block 702 to process the next telephonic subscriber number contained in the list to be processed.

If the program (block 726) finds that the subscriber does not answer the previous telephone call, the program marks the entry of the associated list to be processed for processing during the next program entry.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. Those skilled in the art could develop numerous provisions, which, even when they have not been explicitly described, nevertheless carry out the principles that were within the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the notice (1) and the actions of the associated attachment can be modified so that the attachment presents a storage option of the caller's telephone number to be presented to the called subscriber only if the calling subscriber consents. That is, if the calling subscriber allows it by entering a particular code, eg, the pad (#), by means of the terminal keypad, whereby the caller's phone number is stored in the attachment database for subsequent submission to the subscriber. If the calling subscriber rejects the option, the caller's phone number is not stored in the attachment database. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, a vg switch TS 205, may be arranged so that it consults the mentioned destination table only when the called terminal is busy. Specifically, in the example described above, TS 205 directed the call from terminal S3 directly to CO 105. When CO 105 notifies TS 205 that terminal S1 was busy, TS 205 then consults the destination table for the terminal if information on the terminal caller must be provided to attachment 305.

ES 2 103 231 B1