System and method for processing telephone numbers

• US 5,475,743 A
• Filed: 11/05/1993
• Issued: 12/12/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Menezes, Arul A., Nixon, Toby L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAINT SURIN, JACQUES M
• Application Number:
  US08/148,057
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 379/355, 379/211, 379/127, 379/207, 379/67, 379/60, 379/245, 379/112, 379/113, 379/201, 379/354, 379/359
• US Class Current: 379/355.07
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27485 Appending a prefix to or inserting a pause into a dialling sequence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/912 Geographically adaptive

Abstract

A system and method using canonical telephone numbers which allows automatic calling with any location in the world independent of the caller'"'"'s location. The caller canonical telephone number and a plurality of caller prefixes are stored within the system. A telephone directory stores a plurality of callee canonical telephone numbers for locations throughout the world. The caller manually enters a callee telephone number or selects a callee telephone number from the telephone directory. The system determines if the callee telephone number is a canonical telephone number. The system expands non-canonical telephone numbers to canonical form using known telephone numbering rules for various countries. The system uses the callee canonical telephone number and the caller canonical telephone number to determine which digits of the callee canonical telephone number must be placed on the telephone line to complete the call. The system then adds the appropriate prefix for international, long distance, or local telephone calls to generate a final callee telephone number.

Claims

1. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

a phone book storage area for storing at least a first non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location;

selection means for permitting a user to select one of said stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area;

an expansion analyzer analyzing said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said first portion, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number;

matching means for sequentially comparing said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number with said corresponding first and second portions of said expanded non-canonical telephone number, said matching means comparing said first portion of said station canonical telephone with said corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number and generating a first match signal if said first portion of said station canonical telephone number matches said corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number, said matching means comparing said second portion of said station canonical telephone with said corresponding second portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number only if said first match signal was generated, and generating a second match signal if said second portion of said station canonical telephone number matches said corresponding second portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number; and

alteration means for deleting said first portion of said expanded canonical telephone number in response to said first match signal, and deleting said second portion of said expanded canonical telephone number in response to said second match signal to generate a callee telephone number.

2. The system of claim 1, further including a dialer generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said callee telephone number.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said station information storage area contains a plurality of telephone prefixes, the system further including adder means for adding a selected one of said prefixes to said callee telephone number to generate a final callee telephone number, said dialer generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said final callee telephone number.

4. The system of claim 1 for use with a telephone exchange using a user code for billing purposes, the system further including a user identification storage area containing the user code used for billing purposes, and adder means for adding the user code to said callee telephone number in response to the user selection of the user code for billing purposes.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said phone book storage area contains an interchange carrier telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the system further including adder means for adding said interchange carrier telephone number to said callee telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said callee telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said first portion of said station canonical telephone number comprises one of a country code and a long distance code.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number comprises a long distance code and a subscriber telephone number for said station canonical telephone number, respectively.

8. The system of claim 1, further including manual entry means for manually entering said callee telephone number into said phone book storage area by a user.

9. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

a phone book storage area for storing at least a first non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location;

selection means for permitting a user to select one of said stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said first portion, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said expansion analyzer further analyzes said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to said second portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer further expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said second portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said second portion, whereby said further expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said first portion of said station canonical telephone number comprises one of a country code and a long distance code.

12. The system of claim 9, further including a dialer generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number.

13. The system of claim 9, further including manual entry means for manually entering said callee telephone number into said phone book storage area by a user.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein said phone book storage area contains an interchange carrier telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the system further including adder means for adding said interchange carrier telephone number to said expanded non-canonical telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

15. The system of claim 14, further including a dialer generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number, said dialing signals including dialing signals for said preferred interchange carrier telephone number to per,nit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

16. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a data storage table containing a plurality of country codes identifying the telephone exchange of individual countries and a plurality of long distance codes corresponding to long distance codes if any for each of said individual countries;

a phone book storage area for storing at least a first non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location;

selection means for permitting a user to select one of said stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to one of said plurality of country codes in said data table and designating said first portion as said one country code if said first portion contains said one country code, said expansion analyzer further analyzing said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to one of said plurality of long distance codes in said data table corresponding to said one country code and designating said second portion as said one long distance code if said second portion contains said one long distance code.

17. The system of claim 16, further including a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having an country code portion and a long distance code portion, said expansion analyzer expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said country code portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said first portion corresponding to one of said plurality of country codes in said data table, said expansion analyzer further expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said long distance code portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said second portion corresponding to one of said plurality of long distance codes in said data table, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first and second portions corresponding to country code and long distance code portions, respectively.

18. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a data storage table containing a plurality of country codes identifying the telephone exchange of individual countries and a plurality of long distance codes corresponding to long distance codes for each of said individual countries that use long distance codes;

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having a country code portion, a long distance code portion, and a subscriber number portion;

data entry means for permitting a user to enter a non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine a number of digits in said non-canonical telephone number and processing said non-canonical telephone number in a manner dependent on said determined number of digits, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said country code portion and said long distance code portion of said station canonical telephone number if said determined number of digits corresponds to the number of digits in said subscriber number portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said country code portion of said station canonical telephone number if said determined number of digits corresponds to the number of digits in said long distance code portion and said subscriber number portion of said station canonical telephone number.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said station information storage area contains a plurality of telephone prefixes corresponding to long distance calling prefixes and international calling prefixes, the system further including a prefix adder means for adding a selected one of said prefixes to said callee telephone number to generate a final callee telephone number.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein said station information storage area contains a plurality of telephone prefixes corresponding to long distance calling prefixes and international calling prefixes, said expansion analyzer deleting a callee long distance prefix from said non-canonical telephone number if said determined number of digits corresponds to the number of digits in said subscriber number portion of said station canonical telephone number and said long distance prefix.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein said station information storage area contains an interchange carrier telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the system further including adder means for adding said interchange carrier telephone number to said expanded non-canonical telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

22. The system of claim 18 for use with a telephone exchange using a user code for billing purposes, the system further including a user identification storage area containing the user code used for billing purposes, said expansion analyzer adding the user code to said expanded non-canonical telephone number in response to the user selection of the user code for billing purposes.

23. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having least first and second portions;

data entry means for permitting a user to enter a non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number does not contain said first portion, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first portion of said station canonical telephone number.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said expansion analyzer further analyzes said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to said second portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer further expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said second portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number does not contain said second portion, whereby said further expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein said station information storage area contains a preferred interchange carrier telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the system further including adder means for adding said preferred interchange carrier telephone number to said expanded non-canonical telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

26. The system of claim 23 for use with a telephone exchange using a user code for billing purposes, wherein said station information storage area contains the user code used for billing purposes, said expansion analyzer adding the user code to said expanded non-canonical telephone number in response to the user selection of the user code for billing purposes.

27. The system of claim 23 wherein said first portion of said station canonical telephone number comprises one of a country, code and a long distance code.

28. The system of claim 23, further including a dialer generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein said dialer includes a speaker to acoustically couple the system to the telephone exchange to transmit said dialing signals to the telephone exchange.

30. The system of claim 23, further including station alteration means for altering said station canonical telephone number and storing said altered station canonical telephone number in said station information storage area, said expansion analyzer using said altered station canonical telephone number to analyze said non-canonical telephone number.

31. The system of claim 23 wherein said data entry means includes a keypad to permit the manual entry of said non-canonical telephone number by a user.

32. The system of claim 23 wherein said data entry means includes a touch sensitive display to permit the manual entry of said non-canonical telephone number by a user.

33. The system of claim 23, further including a phone book storage area storing a plurality of non-canonical telephone numbers for locations other than the first location, and selection means for selecting one of said plurality of stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area as said non-canonical telephone number.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein said phone book storage area contains an interchange career telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the system further including adder means for adding said interchange carrier telephone number to said expanded non-canonical telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

35. The system of claim 23, further including canonical processing means for processing said expanded non-canonical telephone number by comparing said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said first corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number and deleting said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number if said first portion of said station canonical telephone number matches said first corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number to generate a callee telephone number.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein said station information storage area contains a plurality of telephone prefixes corresponding to long distance calling prefixes and international calling prefixes, the system further including a prefix adder means for adding a selected one of said prefixes to said callee telephone number to generate a final callee telephone number.

37. The system of claim 35, further including correction means for permitting the user to generate a corrected callee telephone number if said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number was deleted by said canonical processing means, said correction means restoring said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number to generate said callee telephone number.

38. The system of claim 37, further including memory means for generating said corrected callee telephone number in subsequent telephone calls from the first location to said non-canonical telephone number.

39. A system for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the system comprising:

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

a rule storage area containing telephone numbering rules for a plurality of countries;

data entry means for permitting a user to enter a non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to a country code for a particular one of said plurality of countries, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number using telephone numbering rules for said particular country if said first portion of said non-canonical telephone number corresponds to said particular country, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said first portion of said non-canonical telephone number does not correspond to said country code for any of said plurality of countries.

40. A system for telephonic communication from a first location, the system comprising:

a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

data entry means for permitting a user to enter a non-canonical telephone number for a second location different from the first location;

a telephone exchange coupling the first location to said second location; and

an expansion analyzer analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number does not contain said first portion, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein said expansion analyzer further analyzes said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to said second portion of said station canonical telephone number, said expansion analyzer further expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said second portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number does not contain said second portion, whereby said further expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number.

42. A method for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

(b) storing at least a first non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location in a phone book storage area;

(c) sensing user input to select one of said stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area;

(d) determining if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number; and

(e) expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number is determined not to contain said first portion of said selected non-canonical telephone number, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number.

43. The method of claim 42, further including the steps of:

(f) further analyzing said selected non-canonical telephone number to determine if said selected non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to said second portion of said station canonical telephone number; and

(g) further expanding said selected non-canonical telephone number by adding said second portion of said station canonical telephone number to said selected non-canonical telephone number if said selected non-canonical telephone number does not contain said second portion, whereby said further expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain said first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein said first portion of said station canonical telephone number comprises one of a country code and a long distance code.

45. The method of claim 42 wherein said phone book storage area contains an interchange carrier telephone number for a designated long distance carrier, the method further including the step of adding said interchange carrier telephone number to said expanded non-canonical telephone number to permit telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number using said designated long distance carrier.

46. The method of claim 42, further including the steps of:

comparing said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number; and

deleting said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number if said first portion of said station canonical telephone number matches said corresponding first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number to generate a callee telephone number.

47. The method of claim 46 for use in a telephone storing at least a first telephone prefix, the method further including the step of adding the first telephone prefix to said callee telephone number if said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number is not deleted.

48. The method of claim 46, further including the steps of:

manually entering a corrected callee telephone number if said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number was deleted; and

restoring said first portion of said expanded non-canonical telephone number to generate said callee telephone number.

49. The method of claim 48, further including the step of using said connected callee telephone number in subsequent telephone calls from the first location to said non-canonical telephone number.

50. The method of claim 42, further including the step of generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number.

51. The method of claim 42, further including the step of generating audio tones corresponding to said expanded non-canonical telephone number dialer to acoustically couple dialing signals to the telephone exchange.

52. The method of claim 42, further including the step of manually entering said callee telephone number into said phone book storage area.

53. A method for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions;

(b) entering a non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location;

(c) analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number; and

(d) expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number is determined not to contain said first portion of said non-canonical telephone number, whereby said expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain a first portion of said non-canonical telephone number corresponding to said first portion of said station canonical telephone number.

54. The method of claim 53, further including the steps of:

(e) further analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a second portion corresponding to said second portion of said station canonical telephone number; and

(f) further expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said second portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said non-canonical telephone number is determined not to contain said second portion of said non-canonical telephone number, whereby said further expanded non-canonical telephone number will contain first and second portions corresponding to said first and second portions of said station canonical telephone number.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein said first portion of said station canonical telephone number comprises one of a country code and a long distance code.

56. The method of claim 53, further including the step of generating dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number.

57. The method of claim 53, further including the step of generating audio tones corresponding to said expanded non-canonical telephone number dialer to acoustically couple dialing signals to the telephone exchange.

58. The method of claim 53, further including the steps of:

altering said station canonical telephone number; and

storing said altered station canonical telephone number in said station information storage area, said step (c) of analyzing uses said altered station canonical telephone number to analyze said non-canonical telephone number instead of said station canonical telephone number.

59. The method of claim 53 wherein said step (b) of entering a non-canonical telephone number includes the entry of said non-canonical telephone number on a keypad by a user.

60. The method of claim 53 wherein said step (b) of entering a non-canonical telephone number includes the entry of said non-canonical telephone number on a touch sensitive display by a user.

61. The method of claim 53 wherein the first location contains a phone book storage area storing a plurality of non-canonical telephone numbers for locations other than the first location, the method further including the step of selecting one of said plurality of stored non-canonical telephone numbers from said phone book storage area for use as said non-canonical telephone number.

62. The method of claim 53, further including the step of using a dialer to generate dialing signals on the telephone exchange to initiate telephonic communication to said expanded non-canonical telephone number.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein said dialer includes a speaker, the method further including the steps of generating acoustic tones corresponding to said dialing signals, and transmitting said acoustic tones to the telephone exchange.

64. A method for telephonic communication from a first location coupled to a telephone exchange, the first location containing a station information storage area storing a station canonical telephone number for the first location, said station canonical telephone number having at least first and second portions, and a role storage area containing telephone numbering rules for a plurality of countries, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) entering a non-canonical telephone number for a location other than the first location;

(b) analyzing said non-canonical telephone number to determine if said non-canonical telephone number contains a first portion corresponding to a particular one of said plurality of countries,

(c) expanding said non-canonical telephone number using telephone numbering rules for said particular country if said first portion corresponds to said particular country; and

(d) expanding said non-canonical telephone number by adding said first portion of said station canonical telephone number to said non-canonical telephone number if said first portion of said non-canonical telephone number does not correspond to any of said plurality of countries.