Method and apparatus for sharing of common in-house wiring to permit multiple telephone carriers to serve the same customer
First Claim
1. A competitive access on premises telephone connection system to allow a telephone user to selectively connect a single in-house telephone wiring circuit, to a primary carrier and to a secondary carrier, said primary and said secondary carriers having separate and independent physical paths, connected to said single in-house wiring circuit are said telephone user'"'"'s telephone sets and telecommunications equipment, said system comprising:
- a first remotely controlled switching unit having a first switch connected between said single in-house telephone wiring circuit and said primary carrier with said first switch being normally closed, said first switch disposed to selectively disconnect and interconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit to and from said primary carrier on the premises of said telephone user;
a second remotely controlled switching unit having a second switch connected between said single in-house telephone wiring circuit and said secondary carrier with said second switch being normally open, said second switch disposed to selectively interconnect and disconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit from and to said secondary carrier on the premises of said telephone user;
an actuation controller coupled to said first switching unit and said second switching unit to individually control the activation of said first switching unit and said second switching unit, and thus the corresponding said first and second switches, to connect or disconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit to either said primary carrier or said secondary carrier in response to a selection of carrier made by said telephone user; and
a pair of interlocks, each coupled to a different one of said first and second switching units, with each of said pair of interlocks coupled to and under the control of said actuation controller to prevent closure of an open one of said first and second switches before the opening of a closed one of said first and second switches to prevent the interconnection of said primary carrier and secondary carrier one to the other through said single in-house telephone wiring circuit.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system to allow two or more telephone carriers to automatically connect to existing in-house telephone wiring wherein the choice of carrier is made by the calling party. Service is provided on a default basis by a primary carrier, however, the user can select and cause an alternative carrier to be connected to the in-house wiring permitting the use of standard telephone equipment with different carriers at the option of the calling party. In this system the switching arrangement is such that only one carrier is connected to the in-house wiring at any one time. Additionally, there is provision to detect incoming calls from carriers other than the default primary carrier and to switch to that carrier in response to the incoming call. Further, this system permits the packetization of outgoing information and the receipt of packetized incoming information on the secondary carrier with standard telephone equipment that is connected to the in-house wiring.
168 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A competitive access on premises telephone connection system to allow a telephone user to selectively connect a single in-house telephone wiring circuit, to a primary carrier and to a secondary carrier, said primary and said secondary carriers having separate and independent physical paths, connected to said single in-house wiring circuit are said telephone user'"'"'s telephone sets and telecommunications equipment, said system comprising:
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a first remotely controlled switching unit having a first switch connected between said single in-house telephone wiring circuit and said primary carrier with said first switch being normally closed, said first switch disposed to selectively disconnect and interconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit to and from said primary carrier on the premises of said telephone user; a second remotely controlled switching unit having a second switch connected between said single in-house telephone wiring circuit and said secondary carrier with said second switch being normally open, said second switch disposed to selectively interconnect and disconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit from and to said secondary carrier on the premises of said telephone user; an actuation controller coupled to said first switching unit and said second switching unit to individually control the activation of said first switching unit and said second switching unit, and thus the corresponding said first and second switches, to connect or disconnect said single in-house telephone wiring circuit to either said primary carrier or said secondary carrier in response to a selection of carrier made by said telephone user; and a pair of interlocks, each coupled to a different one of said first and second switching units, with each of said pair of interlocks coupled to and under the control of said actuation controller to prevent closure of an open one of said first and second switches before the opening of a closed one of said first and second switches to prevent the interconnection of said primary carrier and secondary carrier one to the other through said single in-house telephone wiring circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification