Paging system that allows caller/subscriber interconnection

• US 5,307,399 A
• Filed: 03/06/1992
• Issued: 04/26/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Glenayre Electronics Incorporated (EDCI Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Glenayre Electronics Incorporated (EDCI Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Tkatch, Randy T., Gayton, Donald W., Laird, Brian G., Dai, Susan W. S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Oehling, George J.
• Application Number:
  US07/848,413
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 379/58, 379/59, 379/60, 379/61, 379/57, 455/33.1, 455/33.2, 340/311.1, 340/825.44
• US Class Current: 455/459
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/022 One-way selective calling networks, e.g. wide area paging

Abstract

A telecommunications system that performs meet-me paging. The telecommunications system of this invention includes a paging system that is designed to receive calls from meet-me paging system subscribers. Once such a call is received, the system parks the call on hold while sending a page to the subscriber. The subscriber can then call the paging terminal to automatically be connected with the calling party. The system further includes a cordless telephone-2 system wherein each of the system subscribers is further provided with a portable handset from which he can access the publicly switched telephone network. Subscribers with the handset, upon receiving a meet-me page, can automatically dial the paging terminal to be connected to their calling parties. Thus, the telecommunications system of this invention provides a convenient means of providing subscribers with portable telephone service that allows them to both make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system capable of receiving telephone calls for meet-me page subscribers and telephone calls for non-meet-me page subscribers from a publicly switched telephone network, wherein the subscribers are provided with portable paging receivers, comprising:

a paging system including a first processing circuit connected to the publicly switched telephone network for receiving telephone calls to the non-meet-me page subscribers, which, in response to the telephone calls, generates page requests;

a second processing circuit connected to said first processing circuit for receiving said page requests, which, in response to said page requests, forms pages; and

at least one paging station connected to said second processing circuit for receiving said pages and broadcasting said pages to the paging receivers;

a meet-me unit connected to the publicly switched telephone network for receiving telephone calls to the meet-me page subscribers and for receiving telephone calls from the meet-me page subscribers, wherein said meet-me unit is capable of distinguishing between calls to the meet-me page subscribers and calls from the meet-me page subscribers and in response to an incoming call for a specific meet-me page subscriber, generates a meet-me page request and parks the incoming call, said meet-me unit including means for generating a ring signal to a caller for a predefined time interval while said incoming call is parked, so that a caller is at least initially unaware that a meet-me page request has been generated, and wherein said meet-me unit is further connected to said paging system second processing circuit for forwarding said meet-me page requests thereto; and

call connection circuitry integral with said meet-me unit for determining from which meet-me page subscriber that said meet-me page subscriber call has been received, determining if said parked call is for the calling meet-me page subscriber; and

, if said parked call is for the calling meet-me page subscriber, establishing a signal link between said parked call and the call from the meet-me page system subscriber, said caller being connected in communication with the calling meet-me page subscriber without being informed that the calling meet-me page subscriber has been paged if the signal link is established within said predefined time interval.

2. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said paging system second processing circuit prioritizes the formation of said pages so that said pages formed in response to said meet-me page requests are formed prior to the formation of said pages formed in response to at least some earlier received non-meet-me page requests.

3. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said paging system first processing circuit and said meet-me unit are a single unit, wherein said paging system first processing circuit is capable of determining if a call is to a non-meet-me page subscriber, to a meet-me page subscriber, or from the meet-me page subscriber and when said call is to a meet-me page subscriber, generates either a non-meet-me page request or a meet-me page request and when the call is from a meet-me page system subscriber, establishes a signal link between said parked call and the call from the meet-me page system subscriber.

4. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein said paging system second processing circuit prioritizes the formation of said pages so that said pages formed in response to said meet-me page requests are formed prior to the formation of said pages formed in response to at least some earlier received non-meet-me page requests.

5. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein said paging system first processing circuit is capable of maintaining a predetermined number of said signal links, substantially less than a maximum available, between the callers and meet-me page subscribers and wherein said call connection circuitry monitors the number of established caller/subscriber interconnections and an outstanding number of pages for said interconnections and when said cumulative number of interconnections and attempted interconnections is equal to said predetermined number, said call connection circuitry stops generating said meet-me page requests.

6. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein, before said call connection circuitry establishes said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me page system subscriber, said call connection circuitry plays a message announcing said signal link to the subscriber, said call connection circuitry including means for selectively disabling establishment of said signal link in response to an election by the meet-me page system subscriber.

7. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein, before said paging system first processing circuit establishes said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me page system subscriber, said first processing circuit plays a message announcing said signal link to the subscriber, said call connection circuitry including means for selectively disabling establishment of said signal link in response to an election by the meet-me page system subscriber.

8. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said meet-me unit, in response to receiving telephone calls to at least some of the meet-me page system subscribers, monitors the telephone calls for transmission of an access code, and said meet-me unit generates said meet-me page requests only when said access code is received.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein said paging system first processing circuit, in response to receiving telephone calls to at least some of the meet-me page system subscribers, monitors the telephone calls for transmission of an access code, and said first processing circuit generates said meet-me page requests only when said access code is received.

10. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said call connection circuitry, in response to receiving a call from the meet-me page system subscriber who has a call parked, informs the meet-me subscriber that there is a parked call, waits to receive a call-reject code from the meet-me subscriber, and if said call-reject code is not received, proceeds to establish said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me subscriber and, if said call-reject code is received, plays a message to the caller and disconnects said call to the meet-me subscriber.

11. The telecommunications system of claim 10, wherein, after said call connection circuitry establishes said signal link between said parked call and said meet-me page system subscriber, said connection circuitry plays a message announcing said signal link to the meet-me page system subscriber.

12. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein said paging system first processing circuit:

in response to receiving a call from a meet-me page subscriber who has a call parked, informs the meet-me page subscriber that there is a parked call, waits to receive an accept code from the meet-me page subscriber, if said accept code is received, proceeds to establish said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me page subscriber, and, if said accept code is not received, plays a message to the caller and disconnects said call to the meet-me page subscriber; and

,

after said first processing circuit establishes said signal link between said parked call and said meet-me page subscriber, said first processing circuit signals the meet-me page subscriber to indicate that the caller is connected.

13. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein after said meet-me unit generates said meet-me page request, said meet-me unit plays a message to the caller indicating that the called subscriber is being accessed.

14. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein each meet-me page subscriber is assigned a public telephone number and a private telephone number, wherein both said telephone numbers are used to access said meet-me unit, and said meet-me unit determines if a telephone call is to a meet-me page system subscriber or from a meet-me page system subscriber by determining if said telephone call is over said public telephone number assigned to the subscriber or said private telephone number assigned to the subscriber.

15. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein each meet-me page subscriber is assigned a single telephone number, said meet-me unit receives calls to the meet-me subscribers and from the meet-me subscribers over said single number, and said meet-me unit evaluates overdial signals entered over said single telephone number to determine if a call is to the meet-me subscriber or from the meet-me subscriber.

16. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said paging system and said meet-me unit are spaced apart from each other.

17. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said meet-me unit monitors the call to said meet-me page subscriber, and when a call to said meet-me page subscriber is disconnected prior to the formation of said page for the meet-me page subscriber'"'"'s meet-me page request, said meet-me unit cancels said meet-me page request.

18. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said paging system first and second processing circuits comprise a central processing unit.

19. The telecommunications system of claim 3, wherein said paging system first and second processing circuits and said meet-me unit comprise a central processing unit.

20. A telecommunications system for interconnection to a publicly switched telephone network, comprising:

a plurality of base stations connected to the publicly switched telephone network wherein each said base station includes a radio transceiver and processing circuitry for establishing telephone calls through the publicly switched telephone network;

a paging system including a first processing circuit connected to the publicly switched telephone network for receiving telephone calls directed to non-meet-me page subscribers, which in response to the telephone calls, generates page requests;

a second processing circuit connected to said first processing circuit for receiving said page requests, which, in response to said page requests forms pages; and

at least one paging station connected to said second processing circuit for receiving said pages and broadcasting said pages;

a meet-me unit connected to the publicly switched telephone network for receiving telephone calls directed to meet-me page subscribers and for receiving telephone calls from the meet-me page subscribers, wherein said meet-me unit is capable of distinguishing between calls to the meet-me page subscribers and calls from the meet-me page subscribers and in response to an incoming call for a specific meet-me subscriber, generates a meet-me page request and parks the incoming call and wherein said meet-me unit is further connected to said paging system second processing circuit for forwarding said meet-me page requests thereto;

a portable handset including a transceiver capable of exchanging signals with said base stations to establish a communications link over the publicly switched telephone network through an adjacent one of said base stations wherein said handset further includes an autodial circuit for establishing a link with said meet-me unit over the publicly switched telephone network and a paging receiver integral with said handset for receiving said pages and an includes an annunciator wherein, when a specific subscriber page is received, said annunciator is actuated; and

call connection circuitry integral with said meet-me unit for determining which meet-me page subscriber said meet-me page subscriber call is from, determining if said parked call is for the calling meet-me page subscriber and, if the parked call is for the calling meet-me page subscriber, establishing a signal link between the parked call and the call from the meet-me page system subscriber, said call connection circuitry including means to indicate to the calling meet-me page subscriber that connection to the parked call is imminent.

21. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said handset transceiver exchanges signals with said base stations on a first set of frequencies and said handset page receiver receives said pages on a frequency different from said first set of frequencies.

22. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein said paging system second processing circuit prioritizes the formation of said pages so that said pages formed in response to said meet-me page requests are formed prior to the formation of said pages formed in response to at least some earlier received non-meet-me page requests.

23. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein:

said paging system first processing circuit and said meet-me unit are a single unit wherein said paging system first processing circuit is capable of determining if a call is to be a non-meet-me page subscriber, to a meet-me page subscriber, or from a meet-me page subscriber and when said call is to a meet-me page subscriber, generates either a standard page request or a meet-me page request and when the call is from a meet-me page subscriber, establishes a signal link to said parked call to the meet-me page subscriber; and

,

said paging system second processing circuit prioritizes the formation of said pages so that said pages formed in response to said meet-me page requests are formed prior to the formation of said pages formed in response to at least some earlier received non-meet-me page requests.

24. The telecommunications system of claim 23, wherein said paging system first processing circuit is capable of maintaining a predetermined number of said signal links, substantially less than a maximum available, between the callers and the meet-me page subscribers and wherein said first processing circuit monitors the number of established caller/subscriber interconnections and an outstanding number of pages for said interconnections and when said cumulative number of interconnections and attempted interconnections is equal to said predetermined number, said first processing circuit stops generating said meet-me page requests.

25. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein, before said call connection circuitry establishes said signal link between said parked call and said meet-me page system subscriber, said call connection circuitry plays a message to the meet-me page system subscriber announcing that said parked call is waiting.

26. The telecommunications system of claim 23, wherein, before said paging system first processing circuit establishes said signal link between said parked call and said meet-me page system subscriber, said first processing circuit plays a message to the meet-me page system subscriber announcing that said parked call is waiting.

27. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein said meet-me unit, in response to receiving telephone calls to at least some of the meet-me page system subscribers, monitors the telephone calls for transmission of an access code, and said meet-me unit generates said meet-me page requests only when said access code is received.

28. The telecommunications system of claim 23, wherein said paging system first processing circuit, in response to receiving telephone calls to at least some of the meet-me page system subscribers, monitors the telephone calls for transmission of an access code, and said first processing circuit generates said meet-me page requests only when said access code is received.

29. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein:

said call connection circuitry, in response to receiving a call from a meet-me page system subscriber who has a call parked, informs the meet-me page system subscriber that there is a parked call, waits to receive an accept code from the meet-me page system subscriber, if said accept code is received, proceeds to establish said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me page system subscriber, and, if said accept code is not received, plays a message to the caller that the meet-me page system subscriber cannot be reached and disconnects the call to the meet-me page system subscriber.

30. The telecommunications system of claim 23, wherein said paging system first processing circuit:

in response to receiving a call from a meet-me page system subscriber who has a call parked, informs the meet-me page system subscriber that there is a parked call, waits to receive an accept code from the meet-me page system subscriber, if said accept code is received, proceeds to establish said signal link between said parked call and the meet-me page system subscriber, and, if said accept code is not received, plays a message to the caller that the meet-me page system subscriber cannot be reached and disconnects the call to the meet-me page system subscriber.

31. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein after said meet-me unit generates said meet-me page request, said meet-me unit plays a message to the caller indicating that the called subscriber is being accessed.

32. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein each meet-me page subscriber is assigned a public telephone number and a private telephone number where both said telephone numbers are used to access said meet-me unit, and said meet-me unit determines if a telephone call is to a meet-me page system subscriber or from a meet-me page system subscriber by determining if said telephone call is to said public telephone number assigned to the subscriber or to said private telephone number assigned to the subscriber.

33. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein each meet-me page subscriber is assigned a single telephone number, said meet-me unit receives calls to the meet-me subscribers and from the meet-me subscribers over said single number, and said meet-me unit evaluates overdial signals entered over said single telephone number to determine if a call is to the meet-me subscriber or from the meet-me subscriber.

34. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein said paging system and said meet-me unit are spaced apart from each other.

35. The telecommunications system of claim 21, wherein said meet-me unit monitors the call to said meet-me page subscriber, and when a call to the meet-me page subscriber is disconnected prior to the formation of said page for the meet-me page subscriber'"'"'s meet-me page request, said meet-me unit cancels said meet-me page request.

36. A meet-me unit connected to a publicly switched telephone network for receiving telephone calls to meet-me page subscribers and for receiving telephone calls from the meet-me page subscribers, and further connected to a paging terminal, said unit comprising:

a first processing unit capable of distinguishing between calls to the meet-me page subscribers and calls from the meet-me page subscribers and in response to an incoming call for a specific meet-me page subscriber, generating a meet-me page request, forwarding said page request to the paging terminal, and parking the incoming call; and

a second processing unit connected to said first processing unit for determining from which meet-me page subscriber a call is received, determining if said parked call is for the meet-me page subscriber unless a predefined number of incoming lines are busy, where said predefined number is substantially less than a maximum available of the number of incoming line; and

, if said parked call is for the meet-me page subscriber who is calling, establishing a signal link between said parked call and the call from the meet-me page system subscriber who is calling.

37. The meet-me unit of claim 36, wherein said first and second processing circuits comprise a central processing unit.