Special services add-on for dial pulse activated telephone switching office
First Claim
1. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, said apparatus comprising:
- A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means includingi. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including signals transmitted from the subscriber subset over the subscriber line to the office, andii. switch means actuated to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment;
B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means;
C. a first bidirectional data bus for transferring information between said buffer storage means and each of said line circuit means;
D. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information;
E. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for recognizing that a special service is to be provided on one of the subscriber lines and for controlling said switch means in the appropriate one of said line circuit means so as to effect the connection modification necessary to provide the special service on that line; and
F. a second bidirectional data bus for transferring information between said processor means, said memory means and said buffer storage means, said second bus being isolated from said first bus by said buffer storage means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A special services add-on specifically adapted for use in a dial pulse activated telephone switching office such as a step-by-step office to enable the addition of various modern features thereto, thereby extending the economic life of the office. The add-on is a stored program, processor based system that can be put into service on a line-by-line basis independent of subscriber line assignments. Among the special services provided by the add-on are incoming call alert, call conferencing, call forwarding, tone dialing, abbreviated dialing, instant recall, restricted calling, ringback, delayed ringback and ring disable. Various of the services are remotely controllable by the subscriber by dialing programming instructions to the add-on either from his own or another telephone subset.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including signals transmitted from the subscriber subset over the subscriber line to the office, and ii. switch means actuated to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. a first bidirectional data bus for transferring information between said buffer storage means and each of said line circuit means; D. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; E. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for recognizing that a special service is to be provided on one of the subscriber lines and for controlling said switch means in the appropriate one of said line circuit means so as to effect the connection modification necessary to provide the special service on that line; and F. a second bidirectional data bus for transferring information between said processor means, said memory means and said buffer storage means, said second bus being isolated from said first bus by said buffer storage means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes a distribution frame and dial pulse actuated call switching equipment including office connector equipment and office line equipment, each subscriber line including a tip lead and a ring lead and having associated therewith a connector circuit including a tip lead, a ring lead and a sleeve lead extending to the office connector equipment and a line circuit including a tip lead, a ring lead and a sleeve lead extending to the office line equipment, said tip leads, said ring leads and said sleeve leads normally being interconnected at the distribution frame, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including signals transmitted from the subscriber subset over the subscriber line to the office, ii. switch means including a plurality of circuit modifying contacts, and iii. connecting means for extending each of said tip leads, said ring leads and said sleeve leads associated with the subscriber line electrically independently of one another from the distribution frame to the circuit modifying contacts of said switch means, said switch means being actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for recognizing that a special service is to be provided on one of the subscriber lines and for controlling said switch means in the appropriate one of said line circuit means so as to effect the connection modification necessary to provide the special service on that line. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including a multifrequency tone dialing service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing multifrequency tone dial signals transmitted from the subscriber subset over the subscriber line to the office, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; b. means connectible to said line circuit sensing means for converting the multifrequency tone dial signals to logic signals; C. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information including said logic signals from said converting means; D. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; and E. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the tone dialing service is enabled for the subscriber line and, if enabled, for responding to said logic signals from said converting means to operate said line circuit switch means to develop dial pulse signals recognizable by the office switching equipment and corresponding to the multifrequency tone dial signals.
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31. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including an instant recall service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing the digits of a telephone number dialed on the subscriber line, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing the subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information, said memory means storing the digits of the telephone number dialed on the line and retaining that number until a new telephone number is dialed on the line, and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the instant recall service is enabled for the line and, if enabled, for responding to the receipt of a hookswitch flash on the line to operate said line circuit switch means to dial an outgoing call to the telephone number stored in said memory means.
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32. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes said pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including a toll restriction service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing that an outgoing call has been dialed on the subscriber line, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the toll call restriction service is enabled for that line and, if enabled, for operating said line circuit switch means to prevent the outgoing call if it is a toll call. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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34. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including an outgoing call restriction service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing that an outgoing call has been dialed on the subscriber line, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the outgoing call restriction service is enabled from that line and, if enabled, for operating said line circuit switch means to prevent the outgoing call. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including a ringback service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing that a preset digit sequence instruction signal has been dialed on the subscriber line, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the ringback service is enabled for that line, and, if enabled, for responding to said instruction signal and to an on-hook on the line to operate said line circuit switch means to initiate a return call to the subscriber line. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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39. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including a ring disable service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including means for sensing that a preset digit sequence instruction signal including digits corresponding to a time of day has been dialed on the subscriber line, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information; D. a real time clock; and E. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the ring disable service is enabled for the subscriber line and, if enabled, for responding to the receipt of said instruction signal to operate said line circuit switch means to inhibit the application of ringing voltage to the line during an incoming call thereby to prevent ringing at the subscriber subset, said processor also being responsive to said real time clock attaining the time of day specified in said instruction signal for operating said line circuit switch means to again permit the application of ringing voltage to the line during incoming calls. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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41. In a telephone system of the type including a plurality of subscriber subsets connected by a corresponding plurality of subscriber lines to a telephone switching office that includes dial pulse actuated call switching equipment, apparatus connectible within the office for augmenting the switching capabilities thereof by enabling the provision of a plurality of special services to subscribers not otherwise providable by the office itself, the special services provided by said apparatus including an abbreviated dialing service and an outgoing call restriction service, said apparatus comprising:
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A. line circuit means associated with each subscriber line to receive a special service, each of said line circuit means including i. means for sensing circuit status of the subscriber line including signals transmitted from the subscriber subset over the subscriber line to the office, and ii. switch means actuatable to modify the connection between the subscriber line and the office switching equipment; B. buffer storage means for storing subscriber line circuit status and signal information sensed by said line circuit sensing means; C. memory means for storing subscriber identification and class of service information which information includes a plurality of telephone numbers in locations identified by a preset digit code; and D. processor means responsive to subscriber identification and class of service information stored in said memory means and to subscriber line circuit status and signal information stored in said buffer storage means for determining whether or not the abbreviated dialing service and the outgoing call service are enabled for the subscriber line and, if enabled, for operating said line circuit switch means to prevent all outgoing calls from the subscriber line except to the telephone numbers stored in said memory means locations and identified by the preset digit code.
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Specification