Automated public phone control for charge and collect billing
DCFirst Claim
1. An electronic computing system for use in the automatic control of telephone instruments and networks over which users can communicate by means of either spoken voice or manual commands, and comprising:
- means for electronic storage of data, for automatic execution of a computer program, and for input/output transfer of various electronic signals, said means comprising an automation computer,means for connection of said automation computer to both a conventional telephone instrument and a switched network, means for generation and detection of conventional currents, pulses, and tones associated with the manual operation and dialing of said telephone instruments,means for storage and selective regeneration of spoken voice utterances,means for analysis and detection of selected voice utterances, including means for distinguishing selected voices utterances from other signals and voice utterances,means for measuring the amplitudes and timings of the events and waveform characteristics of detected tones, pulse, and voice signals,means for communicating with the calling party and the calling telephone instrument such that the destination party cannot participate in such communication,means for communicating with the destination party and the destination telephone instrument such that the calling party cannot participate in such communication,means for communicating with various conventional automatic equipment, and with parties other than the calling and destination parties, including means for the detection of current, pulse, tone, and voice signals returned in a responsive manner to said automation computer,means to permit validly-charged calls to proceed and means to establish a conventional voice connection between the calling and destination parties, andmeans to prevent communication between the calling and destination parties and to terminate calls attempted to be charged to an invalid credit account, including means for originating telephonic calls to an alternative number stored in or created by said computer and other than those numbers supplied by the calling party,means for transmitting credit account numbers to automatic equipment and to parties responding at any such called alternative number,means for detection of tone and voice signals returned in a responsive manner to indicate the credit status and account number validity of said transmitted credit account numbers,means to terminate said telephonic call made to an alternative number and to resume other processes to be carried out by said automation computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The charge and collect-call functions of a public telephone are arranged automatically by a microcomputer system preferably connected on customer premises between the phone terminal instrument and the local loop, wherein control of said instrument, network signaling and call placement voice prompting of the call parties, recognition of responses from the parties and the network, call detail records of numbers and timings, and data communications with other computers are accomplished by the microcompter system without requiring human operator assistance or the transmission of calls over excessive distances to reach such an operator.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. An electronic computing system for use in the automatic control of telephone instruments and networks over which users can communicate by means of either spoken voice or manual commands, and comprising:
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means for electronic storage of data, for automatic execution of a computer program, and for input/output transfer of various electronic signals, said means comprising an automation computer, means for connection of said automation computer to both a conventional telephone instrument and a switched network, means for generation and detection of conventional currents, pulses, and tones associated with the manual operation and dialing of said telephone instruments, means for storage and selective regeneration of spoken voice utterances, means for analysis and detection of selected voice utterances, including means for distinguishing selected voices utterances from other signals and voice utterances, means for measuring the amplitudes and timings of the events and waveform characteristics of detected tones, pulse, and voice signals, means for communicating with the calling party and the calling telephone instrument such that the destination party cannot participate in such communication, means for communicating with the destination party and the destination telephone instrument such that the calling party cannot participate in such communication, means for communicating with various conventional automatic equipment, and with parties other than the calling and destination parties, including means for the detection of current, pulse, tone, and voice signals returned in a responsive manner to said automation computer, means to permit validly-charged calls to proceed and means to establish a conventional voice connection between the calling and destination parties, and means to prevent communication between the calling and destination parties and to terminate calls attempted to be charged to an invalid credit account, including means for originating telephonic calls to an alternative number stored in or created by said computer and other than those numbers supplied by the calling party, means for transmitting credit account numbers to automatic equipment and to parties responding at any such called alternative number, means for detection of tone and voice signals returned in a responsive manner to indicate the credit status and account number validity of said transmitted credit account numbers, means to terminate said telephonic call made to an alternative number and to resume other processes to be carried out by said automation computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An electronic computing system for use in the automatic control of telephone instruments and networks over which users can communicate by means of either spoken voice or manual commands, and comprising:
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means for electronic storage of data, for automatic execution of a computer program, and for input/output transfer of various electronic signals, said means comprising an automation computer, means for connection of said automation computer to both a conventional telephone instrument and a switched network, means for generation and detection of conventional currents, pulses, and tones associated with the manual operation and dialing of said telephone instruments, means for storage and selective regeneration of spoken voice utterances, means for analysis and detection of selected voice utterances, including means for distinguishing selected voice utterances from other signals and voice utterances, means for measuring the amplitudes and timings of the events and waveform characteristics of detected tones, pulse, and voice signals, means for communicating with the calling party and the calling telephone instrument such that the destination party cannot participate in such communication, means for communicating with the destination party and the destination telephone instrument such that the calling party cannot participate in such communication, means for communicating with various conventional automatic equipment, and with parties other than the calling and destination parties, including means for the detection of current, pulse, tone, and voice signals returned in a responsive manner to said automation computer, means to permit validly-charged calls to proceed and means to establish a conventional voice connection between the calling and destination parties, and means to prevent communication between the calling and destination parties and to terminate calls attempted to be charged to an invalid credit account, including means for either origination or answering of either a conventional telephonic call or a local direct connection that is placed to enable automatic data communications between said automation computer and another computer means, means for transmitting and receiving data to and from said storage facility of said automation computer, including data describing the programs, status, and operating instructions, means for diagnosing problems and failures in either the hardware or software of said automation computer, including for communicating the results of said diagnosis to said other computer means, means for said automation computer to alter its own information and programs, including memory and storage means that permit automatic writing and rewriting of programs and data, means for correcting and updating said software of said automation computer, including for communicating to said automation computer the results of the processing of said diagnostic data by said other computer means.
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8. An electronic computing system for use in the automatic analysis and storage, synthesis and generation, and control and processing of electronic signals and data, including signals associated with currents, pulses, tones, and voices such as are used in telephonic systems, and comprising:
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means for electronic storage of data in discrete form, for automatic execution of a digital computer program, and for input/output transfer of various quantized electronic signals, said means comprising an automation computer, means for conversion of continuous electronic signals obtained from sources such as conventional telephone instruments and switching equipment, and from human sources as users and callers communicating over such apparatus, and located external to said automation computer, into discrete, quantized form, means for conversion of events, changes, pulses, amplitudes, frequencies, and other characteristics obtained from said continuous electronic signals derived from said sources external to said automation computer, or obtained from frequency-limited representations of said signals passed through linear filters, into discrete, quantized form, means for communication of said discrete, quantized representations and data obtained from said continuous electronic signals into the discrete electronic storage and other data facilities of said digital automation computer, means for processing and storage of said data by means of stored programs and instructions that can be automatically executed by said automation computer, means for communication of processed and stored data out from the digital storage facilities of said automation microcomputer, into means indicating discrete events, changes, and pulses, means for conversion of said output digital data into continuous electronic signals, and into amplitudes, frequencies, and other characteristics of output signals, including into human speech and voice signals, means for amplification and otherwise increasing the strength of said output signals, means for coupling said output signals onto a bi-directional telephone line, including means for separation of differing signals traveling in opposite directions on said bi-directional line, means for separate control of the current, pulses, tones, and speech signals communicated to each of several coupling means to said bi-directional line wherein said system includes means for data and system security for the storage of data and program of said automation computer, including means for receiving, storing, and changing security key codes, means for requiring the sending and/or reception of security key codes at the beginning of data communications, means for comparing received key codes with stored key codes, including the requirement for a match of key codes being obtained before any data communications can be effected, means for encoding of data being transmitted from the automation computer over the switched network, using a stored key code, and such that decoding by a receiving computer requires knowledge of the stored key code, means for counting and logging the number of unsuccessful attempts at establishing communications and matches of key codes, means for originating data communication calls to auxiliary or host computers, including to report diagnostic or security alarms and information. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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- 16. An on-site telephone communications system, said system comprising, in combination, at least one telephone instrument at a given site, computer means at said site for enabling the use of said telephone instrument for the making of calls requiring the acceptance of charges for said call by another party at a location remote from said site, without the intervention of a human operator, means for connecting said telephone instrument to said computer means, and means for connecting said telephone instrument into an off-site switched telephone network through said computer means.
- 28. A method of manufacturing a telephone system, said method comprising the steps of selecting as a site a location for one or more public telephone instruments where a relatively large percentage of the telephone users seek to make calls charged to a telephone number at an instrument remote from said site, installing at least one computer means at said site, said computer means being adapted to enable the making of said calls without a human operator, and connecting said computer means to said one or more telephone instruments and a remote switched network to enable the making of said calls over said switched network.
- 32. Automation computer means for modifying the operation of one or more telephone instruments at a given site to enable the usage of said telephone instrument for the making of calls requiring the acceptance of charges for said call by another party at a location remote from said site, without the intervention of a human operator, said computer means being adapted to make a preliminary connection to said other party at the remote location to solicit and conduct an acceptance signal from said remote location to said computer means, and to connect the calling party to the called party in response to the receipt of said acceptance signal, and said computer means including means for interconnecting said computer means between said one or more telephone instruments on said site and a switched telephone network off of said site.
Specification