Telephone call monitoring, metering and selection device
First Claim
1. A telephone call monitoring, metering and selection device comprisinga housing for a telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means and having an offset portion,a telephone computer responsive to software means for the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means,a viewing area in said offset portion,said viewing area including a display area for indicating time, date, carrier, the number dialed, duration of a call, and cost of the call determined for various routes available to the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means;
- said telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means having a telephone set operatively connected thereto,means for supplying power to said telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means,means for operatively connecting the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means to a phone company office, anda selected carrier and including further means for connection to a destination telephone set operatively connected to the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
There is provided a telephone call monitoring, metering and selection device, the purpose of which is to select the lowest-cost way to make a call from one point to another point. The user will program the possible carriers and rates from a standard telephone and the user will enter the time, date, taxes and other information after plugging in the unit. After selecting the destination phone number, the device will show the rates of all possible carriers and then allow the user to choose or select a desired carrier. Because carriers do not have the same quality, the low-cost carrier may not always be the carrier the user wants to select. The unit will display all carrier rates on a one minute call, five minute call, ten minute call and the like. The device will show the user on a real time basis what the calls may cost. The costing feature will apply to local and long distance calls. Also, the device can be programmed to keep a total of what the calls have been from a beginning of a billing cycle and previous billing cycles.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A telephone call monitoring, metering and selection device comprising
a housing for a telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means and having an offset portion, a telephone computer responsive to software means for the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means, a viewing area in said offset portion, said viewing area including a display area for indicating time, date, carrier, the number dialed, duration of a call, and cost of the call determined for various routes available to the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means; -
said telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means having a telephone set operatively connected thereto, means for supplying power to said telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means, means for operatively connecting the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means to a phone company office, and a selected carrier and including further means for connection to a destination telephone set operatively connected to the telephone call monitoring, metering and selection means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification