CALL FORWARDING ARRANGEMENT
First Claim
1. A call forwarding arrangement for automatically forwarding calls by a calling subscriber station originally directed to a forwarder subscriber station to a forwardee subscriber station, for use in a telephone system including a common control having a plurality of registers for connection to any of a plurality of subscriber stations for receiving dial pulses therefrom, said call forwarding arrangement comprising:
- a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
means for identifying any one of the plurality of registers having a call forwarding request or call forwarding erase codes dialed therein by a calling forwarder subscriber station connected to the register by the common control;
message storage circuit means responsive to a call forwarding request code dialed in an identified register for receiving from the common control the identity and class of service of the forwarder subscriber station connected to the identified register, for receiving from the identified register the number of a forwardee subscriber station subsequently dialed into the register by the forwarder subscriber station, and for storing into said memory the forwarder subscriber identity and forwardee number;
memory erase circuit means responsive to a call forwarding erase code dialed in the identified register for receiving from the common control the identity and class of service of a forwarder subscriber station connected to an identified register for erasing from said memory the corresponding forwarder subscriber station identity and forwardee subscriber station number previously stored therein, and call diverter circuit means for identifying any one of the plurality of registers connected to a calling subscriber station by the common control and having the number dialed therein corresponding to a forwarder subscriber station having its identity stored in said memory for changing the number in the identified register to the corresponding forwardee subscriber station number stored in said memory.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Call forwarding services are provided for telephone stations having the appropriate class of service by modifying the dialed signals in the common control register of a station requesting call forwarding services to a station corresponding to dialed signals previously stored in random storage memory. The register, of any one of a plurality of registers, that received dialed digits of the station requesting call forwarding services is identified and the memory is searched for the station to which the call is to be diverted. Prior to the diversion of the call, the party requesting the call forwarding services is signalled in a distinct manner readily recognizable, a call is being diverted. Thereafter, the number of the station to which the call is to be diverted is inserted in the identified register and the connection to the substitute station is completed by the telephone exchange in the same manner as normal calls are completed.
46 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A call forwarding arrangement for automatically forwarding calls by a calling subscriber station originally directed to a forwarder subscriber station to a forwardee subscriber station, for use in a telephone system including a common control having a plurality of registers for connection to any of a plurality of subscriber stations for receiving dial pulses therefrom, said call forwarding arrangement comprising:
- a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
means for identifying any one of the plurality of registers having a call forwarding request or call forwarding erase codes dialed therein by a calling forwarder subscriber station connected to the register by the common control;
message storage circuit means responsive to a call forwarding request code dialed in an identified register for receiving from the common control the identity and class of service of the forwarder subscriber station connected to the identified register, for receiving from the identified register the number of a forwardee subscriber station subsequently dialed into the register by the forwarder subscriber station, and for storing into said memory the forwarder subscriber identity and forwardee number;
memory erase circuit means responsive to a call forwarding erase code dialed in the identified register for receiving from the common control the identity and class of service of a forwarder subscriber station connected to an identified register for erasing from said memory the corresponding forwarder subscriber station identity and forwardee subscriber station number previously stored therein, and call diverter circuit means for identifying any one of the plurality of registers connected to a calling subscriber station by the common control and having the number dialed therein corresponding to a forwarder subscriber station having its identity stored in said memory for changing the number in the identified register to the corresponding forwardee subscriber station number stored in said memory.
- a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
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2. A call forwarding arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said call diverter circuit means includes:
- means for applying a short burst of ringing signals to the forwarder subscriber station prior to changing the number in said register.
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3. Apparatus for automatically forwarding calls by a calling subscriber station originally directed to a forwarder subscriber station to a forwardee subscriber station comprising:
- a switching network;
a plurality of subscriber stations connected to said network;
A common control system for receiving dialed information in registers for completing connections between said subscriber stations through said network;
a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
means controllable by a forwarder subscriber station for receiving from said common control a designation of a forwardee subscriber station to which calls to said forwarder subscriber station are to be forwarded and storing such designations along with the identity of the forwarder subscriber station in said memory, and means responsive to an attempted connection from a calling subscriber station being directed to said forwarder station for applying via the common control a distinct ringing signal to said forwarder station indicating that the attempted connection is being inhibited and for changing the dialed information in said common control registers for establishing a connection through said switching network between the calling subscriber station and said forwardee subscriber station wherever said memory includes the identity of the forwardee station along with the forwarder station.
- a switching network;
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4. A call forwarding arrangement for automatically forwarding calls by a calling subscriber station originally directed to a forwarder subscriber station to a forwardee subscriber station for use in a telephone system including a common control having a plurality of registers connectable by the common control to any of a plurality of subscriber stations, a translator connected to the plurality of registers for converting dialed directory numbers received from the subscriber station into equipment numbers for completing connections, the translator having means for associating the individual identities of subscriber stations connected by the common control to the registers and their class of service, said call forwarding arrangement comprising:
- a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
means for identifying a register having a call forwarding service request or call forwarding erase codes dialed therein by a calling forwardee subscriber station connected thereto by the common control which has a call forwarding class of service;
means responsive to the service request code dialed into an identified register for inserting into said memory the identity of a forwarder subscriber station along with the number of the forwardee station to which the call is to be forwarded that is subsequently dialed into the identitied register by the forwarder subscriber station connected thereto;
means responsive to the erase code dialed into an identified register for erasing from said memory the identity of a forwarder subscriber station connected to the identified register along with the number of the forwardee subscriber station;
means for identifying a register connected to a calling subscriber having a number dialed therein of acalled subscriber having a call forwarding class of service for determining if the called subscriber identity is stored in said memory along with a number to which the calls are to be forwarded;
means responsive to a determination that the dialed number in an identified register corresponds to a called forwarder subscriber station having requested call forwarding services for changing the number of the forwarder subscriber stations in the identified register to the number of the forwardee subscriber station in said memory and for enabling the common control to complete the connection between the calling subscriber station and the forwardee subscriber station, and means responsive to a determination that the dialed number in an identified register corresponds to a called subscriber not requesting call forwarding services for enabling the common control to complete a connection between the calling and called subscriber stations.
- a memory for the random storage of equipment numbers of said forwarder and forwardee subscriber stations;
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5. A call forwarding arrangement for automatically forwarding calss by a calling subscrIber station originally directed to a forwarder subscriber station to a forwardee subscriber station for use in a telephone system including a common control having a plurality of registers for connection by the common control to any of a plurality of subscriber stations, a translator connected on a time divided scanning basis to individual ones of the plurality of registers for converting directory numbers into equipment numbers for completing connections through the telephone system, the translator having means for associating the identities of subscriber stations connected by the common control to any one of the registers along with the class of service assigned to the subscriber stations, said call forwarding arrangement comprising:
- a memory;
first means, synchronized with the time divided scanning of the registers, for identifying a register having a call forwarding service request dialed therein by a forwarder subscriber station identified by the translator having a call forwarding class of service;
second means, synchronized with the time divided scanning of the registers, responsive to the identification of a register by said first means for clearing the code dialed in the register and sending a dial tone for signalling the forwarder subscriber station to dial the number of a forwardee subscriber station to which the calls are to be transferred;
third means, synchronized with the time divided scanning of the registers, responsive to the completion of the dialing of the number of the forwardee subscriber station in the register identified by the first means for inserting into said memory the number of the forwardee subscriber station in the register along with the forwarder subscriber station identity;
fourth means responsive to the storage of the number of the forwardee subscriber station and the forwarder subscriber station identity into the memory by said third means for signalling the common control to complete a connection between the forwarder subscriber station and the forwardee subscriber station;
fifth means, synchronized with the time divided scanning of said register, for identifying a register, connected to a calling subscriber station, having number dialed therein of a called subscriber station having a call forwarding class of service for determining if the called subscriber station identity is stored in said memory along with a forwardee subscriber station number;
sixth means, responsive to a determination by said fifth means that the called subscriber station identity is not stored in said memory, for signalling the common control for completing the connection between the calling and called subscriber stations;
seventh means, responsive to a determination by said fifth means that the called subscriber station identity is stored in said memory, for signalling the common control to complete a connection between a ringing circuit and the called forwarder subscriber station for signalling with a short burst of ringing signals the called forwarder subscriber station that the attempted connection thereto is being inhibited and diverted to a forwardee subscriber station;
eighth means, responsive to the signalling of the called forwarder subscriber station of the diverted call by said seventh means, for substituting the number of the forwardee subscriber station in memory for the number dialed in the identified register that is connected to the calling subscriber stations;
ninth means, responsive to the substitution of numbers in said identified register connected to the calling subscriber station by said eighth means, for signalling the common control to complete the connection between the calling subscriber station and the forwardee subscriber station;
tenth means, synchronized with the time divided scanning of the register, for identifying a register having a call forwarding service removal request dialed therein by a subscriber station identified by the translator having a call forwarding class of service;
eleventh means, responsive to the removal request in a register identification by said tenth means, for locating the storage in memory of the subscriber station requesting removal of service and removing the subscruber station identity and forwardee subscriber station number associated therewith from the memory, and twelfth means, responsive to the removal of the subscriber station identity and forwardee subscriber station number from memory by said eleventh means, for signalling the common control to complete a connection between a signalling circuit and the forwarder subscriber station to notify the forwarder subscriber station that the call forwarding service has been terminated.
- a memory;
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6. A call forwarding arrangement as defined in claim 4 wherein said means for identifying said call forwarding request and erase codes includes means for receiving from said translator a signal that a code is present, effective upon receipt of said signal to enable means for storing a type of call signal from said translator corresponding to the code dialed, said means for storing being connected to decoding means adapted to discriminate between different ones of said type of call signals for enabling said means for inserting if a call forwarding request is decoded and for enabling said means for erasing if a call forwarding erase code is decoded.
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7. A call forwarding arrangement as defined in claim 6 wherein said means for identifying includes means for storing the time slot of the register identified upon receipt of said signal that a code is present.
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8. A call forwarding arrangement as defined in claim 7 wherein said means for identifying includes means for comparing said stored time slot for identity with the current time slot of said translator and for producing an enabling signal to said means for inserting, said means for erasing and said means for changing when an identity is detected by said means for comparing.
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9. A call forwarding arrangement as defined in claim 8 wherein said means for inserting includes means, enabled by a signal from said comparing means, for signaling said register to erase said dialed code and for signaling said register thereafter to return a second dial tone to the forwardee subscriber connected thereto.
Specification