Method and apparatus for establishing telephone calling costs
First Claim
1. A method of establishing the cost of a telephone call made from a first telephone located in a first area code to a second telephone located in one of a number of second area codes the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a pair of coordinates based on the geographical location of said first telephone,supplying a unique pair of geographical coordinates for each of said number of second area codes, anddetermining said telephone cost using the provided coordinates for said first telephone and the supplied coordinates for said one of said number of second area codes within which said second telephone is located.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Small communication systems do not have a sufficiently large memory to store the vast amount of data required to determine the cost of interstate telephone calls using the conventional method. The disclosed telephone call cost establishing method and apparatus compresses the amount of data required by supplying a set of coordinates for a central point in each area code. The cost of an interstate call to any central office in an area code is then determined using the coordinates of the central point for that area code. Additionally, certain types of calls are priced using a predetermined price code stored in a variety of tables such as toll call allowed, frequently called numbers, personal line and facility tables.
35 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of establishing the cost of a telephone call made from a first telephone located in a first area code to a second telephone located in one of a number of second area codes the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a pair of coordinates based on the geographical location of said first telephone, supplying a unique pair of geographical coordinates for each of said number of second area codes, and determining said telephone cost using the provided coordinates for said first telephone and the supplied coordinates for said one of said number of second area codes within which said second telephone is located. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of establishing the distance between a calling party located in one area code and a called party located in a different area code using a telephone call made between the parties, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a pair of coordinates specifying the location of said calling party, supplying a pair of coordinates for each different area code to which telephone calls can be made, and determining the distance using said provided coordinates of said calling party and the supplied coordinates of the area code of the called party. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. Telephone call pricing apparatus for establishing the cost of a telephone call made from a first telephone located in a first area code to a second telephone located in one of a number of second area codes, said apparatus comprising
means for providing a pair of coordinates based on the geographical location of said first telephone, means for supplying a unique pair of geographical coordinates for each of said number of second area codes, and means for determining said telephone cost using the provided coordinates for said first telephone and the supplied coordinates for said one of said number of second area codes within which said second telephone is located.
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13. Telephone call pricing apparatus for establishing the cost of a telephone call made from a first telephone located in a first area code to a second telephone located in one of a number of second area codes, said apparatus comprising
means responsive to said telephone call for receiving a pair of coordinates based on the geographical location of said first telephone, means for supplying a pair of geographical coordinates for the area code in which the called said second telephone is located and means for determining said cost using said coordinates of said first telephone and said coordinates for said area code of the called said second telephone.
Specification