Remembrance-promoted number receipt for call allowance

• US 20030198327A1
• Filed: 04/23/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sand, Paul Raymond, Young, Claudis L., Akhteruzzaman, A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,110,515 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords

Abstract

A user is allowed to place a call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the user, at an access phone number location. The one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of: an existing phone number employable by one or more users to place one or more direct calls to the user; and one or more numbers preselected by the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising the step of:

allowing a user to place a call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the user, at an access phone number location;

wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of;

an existing phone number employable by one or more users to place one or more direct calls to the user; and

one or more numbers preselected by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise the existing phone number employable by the one or more users to place the one or more direct calls to the user, wherein the step of allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises the step of:

allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers, that comprise the existing phone number employable by the one or more users to place the one or more direct calls to the user, and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise the one or more numbers preselected by the user, wherein the step of allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises the step of:

allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers, that comprise the one or more numbers preselected by the user, and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the zero or more passwords comprise one or more password numbers, wherein the step of allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises the step of:

allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the one or more password numbers, from the user, at the access phone number location.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user comprises a first user, wherein the call comprises a first call, wherein the one or more password numbers comprise one or more first password numbers, the method further comprising the step of:

allowing a second user to place a second call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and one or more second password numbers, from the second user, at the access phone number location.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

automatically billing the first call and the second call to an account pre-associated with one or more of the first user and the second user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises the step of:

accessing a database to determine a relation exists between an account pre-associated with the user and the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers to allow the user to place the call to the target phone number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user comprises a first user, wherein the call comprises a first call, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more first remembrance-promoted numbers, wherein the step of allowing the first user to place the first call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more first remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the first user, at the access phone number location comprises the step of:

allowing a second user to place a second call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more second remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the second user, at the access phone number location;

wherein the one or more second remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of;

an existing phone number employable by one or more users to place one or more direct calls to the second user; and

one or more numbers preselected by the second user.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising the step of:

automatically billing the call to an account pre-associated with the user.

10. An article, comprising:

a computer-readable signal-bearing medium; and

means in the medium for allowing a user to place a call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the user, at an access phone number location;

wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of;

an existing phone number employable by one or more users to place one or more direct calls to the user; and

one or more numbers preselected by the user.

11. The article of claim 10, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise the existing phone number employable by the one or more users to place the one or more direct calls to the user, wherein the means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises:

means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers, that comprise the existing phone number employable by the one or more users to place the one or more direct calls to the user, and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location.

12. The article of claim 10, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise the one or more numbers preselected by the user, wherein the means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises:

means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers, that comprise the one or more numbers preselected by the user, and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location.

13. The article of claim 10, wherein the zero or more passwords comprise one or more password numbers, wherein the means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises:

means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and one or more password numbers, from the user, at the access phone number location.

14. The article of claim 13, wherein the user comprises a first user, wherein the call comprises a first call, wherein the one or more password numbers comprise one or more first password numbers, the article further comprising:

means in the medium for allowing a second user to place a second call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and one or more second password numbers, from the second user, at the access phone number location.

15. The article of claim 14, further comprising:

means in the medium for automatically billing the first call and the second call to an account pre-associated with one or more of the first user and the second user.

16. The article of claim 10, wherein the means in the medium for allowing the user to place the call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the user, at the access phone number location comprises:

means in the medium for accessing a database to determine a relation exists between an account pre-associated with the user and the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers to allow the user to place the call to the target phone number.

17. The article of claim 10, wherein the user comprises a first user, wherein the call comprises a first call, wherein the one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more first remembrance-promoted numbers, wherein the means in the medium for allowing the first user to place the first call to the target phone number upon receipt of the one or more first remembrance-promoted numbers and the zero or more passwords, from the first user, at the access phone number location comprises:

means in the medium for allowing a second user to place a second call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more second remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the second user, at the access phone number location;

wherein the one or more second remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of;

an existing phone number employable by one or more users to place one or more direct calls to the second user; and

one or more numbers preselected by the second user.

18. The article of claim 10, further comprising:

means in the medium automatically billing the call to an account pre-associated with the user.