Interface circuit for a telephone system
First Claim
1. A method for routing a telephone call received from one of a group of trunk lines, which serves a private branch exchange (PBX), through a select one of a plurality of two-wire lines connected between said PBX and a user device, the PBX having an automatic call distribution subsystem which works in conjunction with a plurality of digital control telephone lines, the method comprising the steps of:
- passing a telephone call from one of the trunk lines through the PBX and a selected one of the digital control telephone lines to a telephone set,monitoring said two-wire lines to detect whether or not at least one of said two-wire lines is idle,passing a call transfer command from said telephone set to said PBX after receipt of said telephone call by said telephone set and provided at least one of said two-wire lines is idle as determined by said step of monitoring, andtransferring said telephone call from said selected digital control telephone line to an available one of said two-wire lines in response to said call transfer command such that the telephone call is forwarded to said user device.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephone communication system (10) utilizes a computer controlled PABX (12) which connects telephone trunk lines (13) to a voice response computer (50). The PABX (12) includes an automatic call distribution unit (12a) which provides selected call control and monitoring features. The ACD unit (12a), however, works only into digital control telephone lines while the voice response computer (50) works only with conventional two-wire telephone lines. Incoming telephone calls are transmitted through the trunk lines (13) to the automatic call distribution unit (12a). These calls are routed through a digital control telephone line (18) to a telephone set (24). A register (34) together with a make busy circuit (38) operate the telephone set (24) when one of the telephone lines (40) is available. If one of the lines (40) is available, a call from the PABX (12) through line (18) is received by the telephone set (24), transferred to the PABX (12), an auto-dial is generated by the set (24) and the transfer is completed. The incoming call is transferred to one of the lines (40) which is compatible with the inputs to the voice response computer (50). The register (34) serves to control each of the functions of the telephone set (24) in receiving, transferring, dialing and completing transfer of the incoming calls.
30 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A method for routing a telephone call received from one of a group of trunk lines, which serves a private branch exchange (PBX), through a select one of a plurality of two-wire lines connected between said PBX and a user device, the PBX having an automatic call distribution subsystem which works in conjunction with a plurality of digital control telephone lines, the method comprising the steps of:
-
passing a telephone call from one of the trunk lines through the PBX and a selected one of the digital control telephone lines to a telephone set, monitoring said two-wire lines to detect whether or not at least one of said two-wire lines is idle, passing a call transfer command from said telephone set to said PBX after receipt of said telephone call by said telephone set and provided at least one of said two-wire lines is idle as determined by said step of monitoring, and transferring said telephone call from said selected digital control telephone line to an available one of said two-wire lines in response to said call transfer command such that the telephone call is forwarded to said user device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A method for routing a telephone call received from one of a group of trunk lines, which serve a private branch exchange (PBX), through a select one of a plurality of two-wire lines connected to both a user device and the PBX, the PBX having an automatic call distribution subsystem which works in conjunction with a plurality of digital control telephone lines, the method comprising the steps of:
-
passing a telephone call from one of the trunk lines through the PBX and a selected one of the digital control telephone lines to a telephone set, said telephone set having an in-call relay, a transfer relay, an auto-dial relay and a make busy relay, transmitting from said telephone set an in-call signal to a register upon receipt of said telephone call from said PBX, monitoring said two-wire lines with said register to determine whether or not at least one of said two-wire lines is idle, activating said in-call relay of said telephone set with said register in response to said in-call signal when at least one of said two-wire lines is idle, and sequentially activating the transfer relay with said register followed by the auto-dial relay followed by a second activation of the transfer relay, thereby transferring said call from said telephone set through one of said two-wire lines to said user device. - View Dependent Claims (5)
-
-
6. Apparatus for routing a telephone call from one of a group of trunk lines through a private branch exchange (PBX) to a user device over a two-wire telephone line, the apparatus comprising:
-
a telephone set connected to said PBX via a digital control telephone line for receiving a telephone call from said PBX, said telephone set generating an in-call signal upon receiving the telephone call, and means responsive to said in-call signal for activating said telephone set to transfer said telephone call by operation of said PBX from said telephone set to the user device over said two-wire telephone line such that said telephone call is transferred from said digital control telephone line to said two-wire telephone line to free said telephone set for another telephone call.
-
-
7. Apparatus for routing a telephone call received from one of a group of trunk lines, which serve a private branch exchange (PBX), through a select one of a plurality of two-wire lines connected to both a user device and the PBX, the PBX having an automatic call distribution subsystem which works in conjunction with a plurality of digital control telephone lines, the apparatus comprising:
-
a telephone set connected to one of said digital control telephone lines for receiving a telephone call from said PBX through said automatic call distribution subsystem, said telephone set generating an in-call signal upon receiving the telephone call, means for monitoring said two-wire lines to determine whether or not at least one of said two-wire lines is idle, and means responsive to said means for monitoring and said in-call signal for activating said telephone set to transfer said telephone call, by operation of said PBX, from said telephone set to one of said two-wire lines which is idle, thereby connecting said telephone call, which is received from one of said trunk lines, to said user device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
-
-
10. Apparatus for routing a telephone call received from one of a group of trunk lines, which serve a private branch exchange, through a select one of a plurality of two-wire lines connd digital control telephone lines, said telephone set having an in-call circuit, a call transfer circuit, an auto-dial circuit and a make busy circuit, each of said telephone set circuits operating in conjunction with said PBX, the activation of said make busy circuit generating a make busy signal for blocking receipt of a call from said PBX to said telephone set,
a loop detector for monitoring said two-wire lines to determine whether or not at least one of said lines is idle, and a register connected to receive an in-call signal from said telephone set and said make busy signal from said make busy circuit, said register including a respective relay for each of the circuits of said telephone set, each of said relays connected to activate the corresponding circuit of said telephone set, said relays, other than the one of said relays for said make busy circuit, sequentially activated in response to receipt of said in-call signal from said telephone set, said register operating said make busy circuit in response to said make busy signal.
Specification