Method and apparatus for automating special service call handling

• US 4,054,756 A
• Filed: 09/29/1976
• Issued: 10/18/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Comella, William Kirk, Yokelson, Bernard Julius
• Primary Examiner(s): Cooper, William C.
• Application Number:
  US05/727,767
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• Field of Search: 179/18 B, 179/27 FF, 179/7.1 R
• US Class Current: 379/88.26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/54525 Features introduction

Abstract

A system is disclosed for serving special service calls such as collect, person-to-person and charge-to-third number on a wholly automatic basis without any operator intervention normally being required. The system requests specific information from the calling party such as, his or her name for collect calls, and utilizes the received answers in the formulation of additional announcements to the "called" subscriber. The system is responsive to information received from the called station or third party station for instituting billing for the requested call after a connection is established between the calling and called stations.

Claims

1. In an automated special service telephone system for servicing a plurality of types of special service calls and selectively connectable to calling and called subscriber stations, the combination comprising:

receiving means for receiving from a connected calling subscriber station information indicating a type of special service call requested;

generating means comprising means responsive to said received information for generating and applying to said connected calling subscriber station a first voice announcement requesting a voice answer to a specific question corresponding to said type of special service call requested;

storing means for storing said voice answer received from said connected calling subscriber station;

said generating means further comprising means for generating and applying to a connected called subscriber station a second voice announcement including said stored voice answer and requesting a subscriber at said connected called subscriber station to provide information responsive to said second voice announcement indicating whether or not said special service call is to be completed; and

said receiving means also arranged for receiving from said called subscriber station information responsive to said second voice announcement.

2. In an automated special service telephone system, the combination according to claim 1, wherein said receiving means comprises a digit receiver;

said storing means comprises a memory for storing announcement words and voice answers in binary bits; and

said generating means comprises data processing means for selectively retrieving announcement words and voice answers from said memory and decoding means for converting retrieved announcement words and voice answers into speech signals.

3. In an automated special service telephone system, the combination according to claim 2, wherein said storing means further comprises encoding means for encoding speech signals into binary bits and said data processing means selectively writes said encoded binary bits into said memory.

4. In an automated special service telephone system, the combination according to claim 1 further comprising network means controllable for establishing a connection between said receiving means and said calling subscriber station, and for establishing a connection between said receiving means and said called subscriber station;

and data processing means responsive to said generating means for controlling said network means.

5. In an automated special service telephone system for processing a collect call from a calling subscriber station connected thereto and including means for further establishing the connection to a called subscriber station, the combination comprising:

generating means comprising a memory for generating and applying to said calling subscriber station a first voice announcement requesting the name of the calling subscriber;

writing means for writing in said memory a first voice answer received from said calling subscriber station;

said generating means also automatically generating and applying to said called subscriber station a second voice announcement indicating a collect call from the person identified by said first voice answer received from said calling subscriber station and requesting that said called subscriber station indicate whether or not this call is accepted; and

receiving means for receiving the indication from said called subscriber station.

6. In an automated special service telephone system, the combination in accordance with claim 5 wherein said memory comprises a plurality of addressable memory locations storing portions of announcement words in binary data words, and wherein said generating means further includes means for selectively retrieving the binary data words stored in said memory and means for converting said retrieved binary data words into voice signals.

7. In an automated special service telephone system, the combination in accordance with claim 5 wherein said writing means comprising means for encoding voice signals into binary data words and access means for loading into said memory the binary data words indicating encoded voice signals.

8. In an automated special service telephone system for processing a person-to-person call from a calling subscriber station connected thereto and including means for further establishing a connection to a called subscriber station, the combination comprising:

generating means comprising a memory for generating and applying to said calling subscriber station a first voice announcement requesting the name of the person to whom the call is directed;

writing means for writing in said memory a first voice answer received from said calling subscriber station;

said generating means also automatically generating and applying to said called subscriber station a second voice announcement indicating that this is a person-to-person call for the person identified by said first voice answer received from said calling subscriber station and requesting that said called subscriber station indicate whether or not the person identified by said first written voice answer is available; and

receiving means for receiving the indication from said called subscriber station.

9. In an automated special service telephone system for processing a charge-to-third number call from a calling subscriber station connected thereto and including connecting means for establishing connections to a plurality of other subscriber stations, the combination comprising:

generating means including a memory for generating and applying to said calling subscriber station a first voice announcement requesting a telephone number of a third party;

receiving means for receiving said telephone number of said third party from said calling subscriber station;

said generating means also automatically generating and applying to said calling subscriber station a second voice announcement requesting the name of the calling subscriber;

writing means responsive to said generating means for writing in said memory a voice answer received from said calling subscriber station;

said connecting means establishing a connection to said subscriber station identified by said received telephone number;

said generating means further comprising means for generating and applying to the last-mentioned station a third announcement indicating that the person identified by said voice answer received from said calling subscriber station wishes to charge a call to said received telephone number and requesting that this station indicate whether or not the charges for this call are accepted; and

said receiving means also receiving the charge indication.

10. The method of automating special service telephone calls comprising the steps of

detecting information from a calling subscriber station indicating a type of special service requested;

applying to said calling subscriber station a first announcement requesting an answer to a specific question;

encoding a voice answer received from said calling subscriber and storing said encoded voice answer in a memory;

retrieving said encoded voice answer from said memory;

decoding said retrieved encoded voice answer;

applying to a called subscriber station a second announcement including said decoded voice answer and requesting that said called subscriber station indicate whether or not the call is to be completed;

detecting an indication from said called subscriber station; and

completing the call from said calling subscriber station to said called subscriber station if said detected indication indicates that the call was accepted, and terminating the call from said calling subscriber station to said called subscriber station if said detected indication indicates that the call was not accepted.

11. The method of automating a collect telephone call comprising the steps of

receiving information from a calling subscriber station indicating that a collect call is requested;

applying to said calling subscriber station a first announcement requesting the name of the calling subscriber;

recording in a memory a voice answer from said calling subscriber station;

establishing a connection to a called subscriber station;

retrieving from said memory said recorded voice answer;

applying to said called subscriber station a second announcement indicating that this is a call from a person identified by said retrieved recorded voice answer received from said calling subscriber station and requesting that said called subscriber indicate whether or not said call is accepted;

detecting said acceptance indication from said called subscriber station; and

completing said call from said calling subscriber station to said called subscriber station if said detected acceptance indication indicates that said call was accepted.

12. The method of automating a person-to-person call comprising the steps of

receiving dialed digits from a calling subscriber station indicating that a person-to-person call is requested;

applying to said calling subscriber station a first announcement requesting the name of the called subscriber;

recording in a memory a response of said calling subscriber station to said first announcement;

retrieving said recorded response from said memory;

applying to a called subscriber station a second announcement including said retrieved response and requesting that certain digits be dialed at said called subscriber station if the person identified by said retrieved response is at said called subscriber station;

detecting digits received from said called subscriber station; and

completing said call from said calling subscriber station to said called subscriber station if certain digits are detected.

13. The method of automating a charge-to-third number call comprising the steps of

receiving digits from a calling subscriber station indicating that a charge-to-third number call is requested;

applying to said calling station a first announcement requesting the name of the calling subscriber;

recording in a memory the response of said calling subscriber station to said first announcement;

applying to said calling subscriber station a second announcement requesting that said calling subscriber station dial a number of a third subscriber station;

receiving said dailed number of said third subscriber station;

establishing a connection to said third subscriber station;

retrieving from said memory said recorded response;

applying to said third subscriber station a third announcement including said recorded response and indicating that the person identified by said recorded response wishes to call said received dialed number and requesting said third subscriber station to indicate whether the charge for said charge-to-third number call is accepted;

detecting an acceptance indication from said third subscriber station; and

completing said call from said calling subscriber station to a called subscriber station responsive to said detection of said acceptance indication.

14. A telephone call switching arrangement for automatically controlling completion of special service telephone call connections between customer telephone circuits wherein the telephone circuits include means controllable by customers to transmit signaling and include means to indicate to customers the meaning of received signaling, the arrangement comprising:

A. means automatically responsive to transmission from a calling customer telephone circuit of special signaling specifying a desired special service call connection to a specified called customer telephone circuit for automatically transmitting to the calling customer telephone circuit a request that the calling customer telephone circuit transmit call-type signaling specifying the particular type of desired call connection,

b. means automatically responsive to transmission from the calling customer telephone circuit of call-type signaling indicating the need for acceptance of the desired call connection by a particular customer other than the calling customer for automatically establishing an inquiry connection to the particular customer telephone circuit,

C. means automatically responsive to transmission from the particular customer telephone circuit of answer signaling indicating an answer of the inquiry connection for automatically transmitting to the particular customer telephone circuit a request that the particular customer telephone circuit transmit acknowledgment signaling specifying whether or not the desired call connection is accepted by the particular customer,

D. and means automatically responsive to transmission from the particular customer telephone circuit of acknowledgment signaling for automatically completing the desired call connection between the calling and specified called customer telephone circuits only if the acknowledgment signaling specifies acceptance.

15. In a traffic service position system including a network establishing a connection from a termination thereon to a calling telephone station, a special service announcement system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of digital data words each representative of audio signals,

data processing means for selectively accessing said memory to retrieve a first group of data words representative of a first audio announcement,

decoding means connected to the termination for converting the retrieved first group of data words into the first audio announcement for application to the calling telephone station, and

encoding means connected to the termination for converting audio signals received from the calling station into a second group of digital data words,

said data processing means including means for writing the second group of digital data words into said memory,

said network also establishing a connection from the termination thereon to another telephone station,

said data processing means also selectively accessing said memory to retrieve a third group of data words including said second group of data words, and

said decoding means also converts the third group of retrieved data words into a second audio announcement for application to the other telephone station.

16. In a telephone system connectable to a calling station and to an other station,

generating means including a memory for generating a first announcement and applying the first announcement to the calling station, and

means controlled by said generating means for storing in said memory an audio response from the calling station,

said generating means also generating a second announcement including the stored audio response and applying the second announcement to the other station, and

digit receiving means connected to the other station for detecting digits generated thereat responsive to the second announcement, and wherein

said generating means responsive to said detected digits operates to control the completion of a connection between the calling station and the other station.

17. A special service announcement system comprising:

means responsive to first unique signals received from a calling subscriber station for requesting and receiving identifiable information from said calling subscriber station;

means for storing said identifiable information;

means responsive to said first unique signals for utilizing said identifiable information in said storage means for requesting a response from a called subscriber station; and

means responsive to second unique signals from said calling subscriber station for terminating or completing a call between said calling subscriber station and said called subscriber station.

18. A special service announcement system in accordance with claim 17 wherein said identifiable information is a speech response and said means for storing includes a memory and means for encoding said speech response and storing said encoded speech response in said memory.

19. A special service announcement system in accordance with claim 17 further comprising digit receiver means for receiving said first and second unique signals.