Method of processing special service telephone calls

• US 4,310,727 A
• Filed: 02/04/1980
• Issued: 01/12/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Lawser, John J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Thomas W.
• Application Number:
  US06/117,829
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 179/5.5, 179/18 FH, 179/18 B, 179/18 D, 179/18 C, 179/18 BF, 179/18 BC, 179/18 BA, 370/62, 370/61
• US Class Current: 379/211.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13282 Call forward, follow-me, call diversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13541 routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0016 Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A method is disclosed of processing telephone calls with customized services in a telephone system with CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signaling) in which all offices are not required to have CCIS capability. The entitlement of a call to customized service is verified by transmitting from an action control point (TSPS 13) via CCIS (15, 16, 17, 19) a data message identifying calling and called entities. The message is transmitted to a data processing facility (19) associated with the terminating office (14). If the call is so entitled, a fictitious number (44) is assigned to the call and returned to the action control point. The fictitious number is stored at the data processing facility with the called entity identification. The call is completed from the action control point using the fictitious number. Upon receipt of the call directed to the fictitious number, the terminating office obtains the identity of the called entity from storage and completes the call with customized service.

Claims

1. A method of processing customized telephone calls in a telephone system comprising a plurality of telephone offices, voice facilities interconnecting said offices, and a data communications network interconnecting prescribed ones of said offices, said method being characterized by the steps of

transmitting call processing data via said data communications network to a data processing facility during a call directed to a called entity,

temporarily assigning at said data processing facility one of a plurality of fictitious telephone numbers to said call and in response to a determination at said data processing facility that said call is entitled to customized treatment, the assigned one of said fictitious numbers serving to identify said call as so entitled,

storing in a storage means of said data processing facility an identity of said called entity in association with said assigned one of said fictitious numbers,

completing said call to a terminating one of said offices serving said called entity and under control of said assigned one of said fictitious numbers,

obtaining at said terminating office from said storage means the stored identity of said called entity and in response to said completing of said call to said terminating one of said offices, and

completing said call to said called entity with customized treatment and in response to the obtained stored identity of said called entity.

2. A method of processing customized telephone calls in a telephone system comprising a plurality of telephone offices, voice facilities interconnecting the offices, and a data communications network interconnecting prescribed ones of the offices, said method being characterized by the steps of

transmitting data identifying a calling and a called entity from a first one of the offices via the data communications network to a data processing facility,

verifying at the data processing facility from the identifying data the entitlement of the calling entity to customized service in calling the called entity,

assigning a fictitious telephone number to the call if the calling entity is entitled to customized service,

transmitting the fictitious telephone number via the data communications network to the first office,

completing the call from the first office to a terminating office serving the called entity using the fictitious number,

in response to receipt of the call at the terminating office, obtaining the called entity identification data from the data processing facility using the fictitious telephone number, and

completing the customized call from the terminating office to a station identified by the called entity identification data.

3. A method of processing customized telephone calls in a telephone system comprising a plurality of telephone offices, voice facilities interconnecting the offices, and a data communications network interconnecting prescribed ones of the offices, said method being characterized by the steps of

transmitting data identifying a calling and called entity from a first one of the offices via the data communications network to a data processing facility,

verifying at the data processing facility from the identifying data the entitlement of the calling entity to customized service in calling the called entity,

assigning a fictitious telephone number to the call if the calling entity is entitled to customized service,

transmitting the fictitious telephone number via the data communications network to the first office,

completing the call from the first office to a terminating office serving the called entity using the fictitious number,

in response to receipt of the call at the terminating office, obtaining the called entity identification data from the data processing facility using the fictitious telephone number, and

completing the customized call from the terminating office to a station identified by the called entity identification data, and

maintaining at the data processing facility a pool of fictitious telephone numbers associated with the terminating office, and

maintaining at the data processing facility a first list of stations served by the terminating office which may receive calls with customized treatment and, in association with each station entry in the first list, a different second list of stations which are entitled to customized treatment when calling the associated station in the first list.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein the verifying step further comprises the steps of

determining if a called station is in the first list and, if so,

determining if a calling station is in the second list associated with the called station entry in the first list.

5. The invention of claim 4 wherein the assigning step further comprises the steps of

selecting one of the numbers from the pool of fictitious numbers, and

storing the called station number in association with said one fictitious number.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein the step of obtaining the called entity identification data from the data processing facility comprises the step of

locating the called station number in storage using said one fictitious number.

7. The invention of claim 6 further comprising the step of

returning said one fictitious telephone number to the pool of fictitious numbers after receipt of the call at the terminating office.

8. The invention of claim 7 further comprising the step of

automatically returning said one fictitious number to the pool of fictitious numbers if the call is not received at the terminating office within a prescribed time interval after assignment of said one fictitious number to the call.

9. The invention of claim 6 in which the pool of fictitious numbers comprises spare line numbers in the terminating office.

10. A method of processing a customized call at a data processing facility comprising the steps of

receiving at said facility call processing data via a data communication network from a communication office during a call to a called entity,

determining at said facility from the received call processing data that said call is entitled to customized treatment,

temporarily assigning at said facility one of a plurality of fictitious numbers to said call in response to the determining that said call is entitled to customized treatment,

storing in a storage means at said facility an identity of said called entity in association with said assigned one of said fictitious numbers,

controlling via said network and said office a completion of said call to a terminating communication office serving said called entity and by using said assigned one of said fictitious numbers,

obtaining at said terminating communication office from said storage means via said network the stored identity of said called entity and in response to the completing of said call to said terminating communications office, and

controlling a completion of said call via said terminating communication office to said called entity with customized treatment and in response to the obtained stored identity of said called entity.