System for providing personalized telephone calling features

• US 5,384,831 A
• Filed: 06/26/1992
• Issued: 01/24/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Creswell, Carroll W., Lanning, Steven G., Papazian, Carol J., Rulon, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TSANG, FAN S
• Application Number:
  US07/905,265
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/201, 379/207, 379/211, 379/212, 379/112, 379/114, 379/127, 379/196, 379/142
• US Class Current: 379/114.05
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/90 using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/016 Billing using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4228 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1313 Metering, billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13256 Call screening
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13282 Call forward, follow-me, call diversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13541 routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13547 subscriber, e.g. profile, database, database access
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0016 Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A common adjunct switch in association with a communications network provides a number of functionalities, one of which allows associated subscribers to customize the way in which they receive telephone calls and access enhanced services, such as a facsimile service. In particular, each subscriber may dynamically specify a number of caller identifiers and a different call treatment for each such identifier as well as a particular billing mode. A call treatment may include, for example, a specification to forward an associated call to a (a) particular telephone number, (b) default telephone number, or (c) messaging service.

Claims

1. A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification defining a respective first call treatment,

answering a first telephone call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers,

receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered, and

processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising the further steps of

answering a second telephone call directed to said particular subscriber telephone number, and

processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of a caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said caller identifier is a predetermined multidigit number.

7. The method of claim 2 or 3 wherein each said call treatment further comprises using one of a predetermined plurality of call billing modes.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said first call treatment comprises forwarding said first call to a voice messaging facility which provides a selected announcement message to the originator of said first call, said announcement being a first announcement if the received caller identifier is said first caller identifier and being a second announcement otherwise.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said second announcement is a default announcement.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein said first call treatment comprises the forwarding of said first call to at least a first predetermined telephone number and wherein said second call treatment comprises the forwarding of said second call to a voice messaging facility, whereby a call screening functionality is provided.

19. The method of claim 2 wherein said second call treatment comprises the entry into a service administration menu provided in response to the receipt during said second call of a predetermined subscriber identifier.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said subscriber identifier and each caller identifier are multi-digit numbers, said subscriber identifier having a different number of digits from any caller identifier.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein said service administration menu includes a predetermined plurality of service functionalities each selectable by the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein one of said plurality of service functionalities includes extending said second call to a voice messaging service so that the associated caller may obtain messages priorly stored in said messaging service that are addressed to said associated caller.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein one of said plurality of service functionalities includes a bulletin board service operative for allowing the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier to store a message addressed to said first caller identifier.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes extending said second call to an enhanced service.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes an option to program a predetermined number of call forwarding telephone numbers associated with respective call treatments.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein another one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes an option to program associated caller identifiers and associating those identifiers with different ones of said respective call treatments including default call treatments.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said option includes associating said call treatments with respective durations of time during which said treatments may be invoked.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said method includes the step of associating one of said associated caller identifiers with a series of call treatments and the step of processing a received call associated with said one caller identifier in accordance with a succeeding call treatment in said series if said received call cannot be completed after being processed in accordance with a preceding call treatment in said series.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein said method includes the step of associating one of said associated caller identifiers with a series of call treatments and the step of processing a received call associated with said one caller identifier in accordance with a succeeding call treatment in said series if said received call cannot be processed in accordance with a preceding call treatment in said series.

30. The method of claim 21 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes the option of allowing the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier to change associated caller identifiers and/or the call treatments associated with those identifiers.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said option includes the option of associating said caller identifiers with respective names.

4. A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers at least a first caller identifier and the specification of a first call treatment associated with that identifier,

answering a first telephone call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers,

receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered,

processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number,

answering a second telephone call directed to said particular subscriber telephone number, and

processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number, wherein each said call treatment comprises forwarding a call to a selected one of a predetermined plurality of destinations, said destinations including a default telephone number, a subscriber-administerable alternate telephone number, a facsimile facility, a text messaging facility, a voice messaging facility, an information service facility and a language translation service.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said first call treatment further comprises the providing of service announcements to the originator of said call in a language associated with said first caller identifier.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein charges associated with said second call are billed to a telephone number other than said particular subscriber telephone number in the absence of the receipt during said second call of any caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

8. A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers at least a first caller identifier and the specification of a first call treatment associated with that identifier,

answering a first telephone call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers,

receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered,

processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number,

answering a second telephone call directed to said particular subscriber telephone number,

processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number, and

indicating to the originator of a call the destination that will be used in processing said call and/or the billing mode for that call.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said one of said plurality of billing modes includes the billing of a call to the originator of said call.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said method includes the further steps of indicating to the originator of a call the destination that will be used in processing that call and the billing mode therefor, and extending to said originator the option to terminate said call, these steps being performed if the billing mode for the call is the billing of the call to said originator.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein one of said plurality of billing modes is the billing of a call to said particular subscriber telephone number.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein a predetermined caller identifier characteristic determines which of said billing modes can be included in said first call treatment.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said first caller identifier is a number having a first number of digits only if the billing mode for said first call comprises the billing of that call to said subscriber telephone number, and having a second number of digits only if the billing mode for said first call comprises the billing of that call to said originator.

14. A method for providing a personal telecommunications service, said method comprising the steps of

storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers at least a first caller identifier and the specification of a first call treatment associated with that identifier,

answering a first telephone call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers,

receiving a caller identifier during said call after it has been answered,

processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number,

answering a second telephone call directed to said particular subscriber telephone number,

processing said second telephone call using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of said first caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number, wherein each said call treatment further comprises using one of a predetermined plurality of call billing modes, and wherein said method further comprises the step of prompting the originator of said second call to select one of a predetermined plurality of billing modes, said prompting step being performed when the billing mode associated with said second call includes the billing of said call to said call originator.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said modes include billing to a predetermined credit account, billing to the calling telephone number, and invoking an operator billing functionality.

32. An arrangement for providing a personal telecommunications service, said arrangement comprising

means for storing for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers a plurality of caller identifiers each associated with a specification defining a respective first call treatment,

means for answering a first telephone call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers,

means for receiving a caller identifier and receiving Said called identifier during said call after it has been answered, and

means for processing said call using the call treatment associated with the received caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

33. The arrangement of claim 32 wherein said means for processing processes an answered second telephone call directed to said particular subscriber telephone number using a second call treatment in the absence of the receipt during said second call of a caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

34. The arrangement of claim 33 wherein said received caller identifier is a predetermined number.

35. The arrangement of claim 33 wherein each said call treatment comprises forwarding a call to a selected one of a predetermined plurality of destinations, said destinations including a default telephone number, a subscriber-administerable alternate telephone number, a facsimile facility, a text messaging facility, a voice messaging facility, an information service facility and a language translation service.

36. The arrangement of claim 35 wherein said first call treatment further comprises the providing of service announcements to the originator of said call in a language associated with said first caller identifier.

37. The arrangement of claim 33 wherein charges associated with said second call are billed to a telephone number other than said particular subscriber telephone number in the absence of the receipt during said second call of any caller identifier stored for said particular subscriber telephone number.

38. The arrangement of claim 33 or 34 wherein each said call treatment further comprises using one of a predetermined plurality of call billing modes.

39. The arrangement of claim 38 comprising the further step of indicating to the originator of a call the destination that will be used in processing said call and/or the billing mode for that call.

40. The arrangement of claim 38 wherein one of said plurality of billing modes includes the billing of a call to the originator of said call.

41. The arrangement of claim 38 further comprising means for indicating to the originator of a call the destination that will be used in processing that call and the billing mode therefor, and for extending to said originator the option to terminate said call, wherein said means for indicating and extending being invoked if the billing mode for the call is the billing of the call to said originator.

42. The arrangement of claim 40 wherein one of said plurality of billing modes is the billing of a call to said particular subscriber telephone number.

43. The arrangement of claim 42 wherein a predetermined caller identifier characteristic determines which of said billing modes can be included in said first call treatment.

44. The arrangement of claim 42 wherein said received caller identifier is a number having a first number of digits only if the billing mode for said first call comprises the billing of that call to said subscriber telephone number, and having a second number of digits only if the billing mode for said first call comprises the billing of that call to said originator.

45. The arrangement of claim 38 comprising the further step of prompting the originator of said second call to select one of a predetermined plurality of billing modes, said prompting being performed when the billing mode associated with said second call includes the billing of said call to said call originator.

46. The arrangement of claim 45 wherein said billing modes include billing to a predetermined credit account, billing to the calling telephone number, and invoking an operator billing functionality.

47. The arrangement of claim 32 wherein said first call treatment comprises forwarding said first call to a voice messaging facility which provides a selected announcement message to the originator of said first call, said announcement being a first announcement if the caller identifier received during said call is said first caller identifier and being a second announcement otherwise.

48. The arrangement of claim 47 wherein said second announcement is a default announcement.

49. The arrangement of claim 33 wherein said first call treatment comprises the forwarding of said first call to at least a first predetermined telephone number and wherein said second call treatment comprises the forwarding of said second call to a voice messaging facility, whereby a call screening functionality is provided.

50. The arrangement of claim 33 wherein said second call treatment comprises the entry into a service administration menu provided in response to the receipt during said second call of a predetermined subscriber identifier.

51. The arrangement of claim 50 wherein said subscriber identifier and each caller identifier are multi-digit numbers, said subscriber identifier having a different number of digits from any caller identifier.

52. The arrangement of claim 50 wherein said service administration menu includes a predetermined plurality of service functionalities each selectable by the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier.

53. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes extending said second call to a voice messaging service so that the associated caller may obtain messages priorly stored in said messaging service that are addressed to said associated caller.

54. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes a bulletin board service operative for allowing the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier to store a message addressed to an associated caller identifier.

55. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes extending said second call to an enhanced service, a facsimile service or a financial service.

56. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes an option to program a predetermined number of call forwarding telephone numbers associated with respective call treatments.

57. The arrangement of claim 56 wherein another one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes an option to program associated caller identifiers and associating those identifiers with different ones of said respective call treatments including default call treatments.

58. The arrangement of claim 57 wherein said option includes associating said respective call treatments with respective durations of time during which said treatments may be invoked.

59. The arrangement of claim 58 further comprising means for associating at least one of said associated caller identifiers with a series of call treatments and for processing a received call associated with said one caller identifier in accordance with successive ones of the call treatments in said series if the received call cannot be completed after being processed in accordance with preceding ones of the call treatments in said series.

60. The arrangement of claim 58 further comprising means for associating at least one of said associated caller identifiers with a series of call treatments and for processing a received call associated with said one caller identifier in accordance with successive ones of the call treatments in said series if the received call cannot be processed in accordance with preceding ones of the call treatments in said series.

61. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein one of said plurality of administerable service functionalities includes the option of allowing the caller associated with said predetermined subscriber identifier to change associated caller identifiers and/or the call treatments associated with those identifiers.

62. The method of claim 61 wherein said option includes the option of associating said caller identifiers with respective names.

63. An arrangement for providing personal communications services comprising

means for associating each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers with a respective group of caller identifiers and for specifying a plurality of call treatments for each caller identifier of a group, and

means, responsive to receipt of a telephone call directed to one of said subscriber telephone numbers and receipt of a caller identifier of the associated group of identifiers, for processing said call in accordance with the call treatment specified for the received caller identifier of the associated group of identifiers.

64. A communications system for providing personalized calling services comprising

means for storing a group of caller identifiers for each of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers and for associating each caller identifier of a group with a particular series of call treatments each specified by the associated subscriber, and

means, responsive to receipt of a call directed to a particular one of said subscriber telephone numbers and receipt of a caller identifier of the associated group, for processing the received call in accordance with a next one of the call treatments specified in the associated series if the call cannot be completed when processed in accordance with a preceding one of the call treatments of the associated series.

65. The system set forth in claim 64 wherein said means for storing includes means for storing a predetermined subscriber identifier for each of said subscriber telephone numbers.

66. The system set forth in claim 65 wherein said subscriber identifier and each of said caller identifiers of the associated group are multi-digit numbers, said subscriber identifier having a different number of digits from any caller identifier of the associated group.

67. The system set forth in claim 65 wherein individual ones of the caller identifiers of said associated group have a different number of digits from other ones of the caller identifiers of the same group.

68. The system set forth in claim 67 wherein said individual ones of said caller identifiers are associated with a call billing mode different from a call billing mode associated with said other ones of said caller identifiers of the same group.