Key telephone apparatus

• US 5,652,788 A
• Filed: 05/17/1996
• Issued: 07/29/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hara, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shankar, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US08/650,030
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 379/34, 379/35, 379/156, 379/157, 379/164, 379/165, 379/166, 379/265, 379/266, 379/309
• US Class Current: 379/156
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/002 with subscriber controlled access to a line, i.e. key telephone systems

Abstract

One of the internal key telephone sets coupled to a key telephone apparatus capable of automatic call distribution operates as a supervisor and other operate as agents. Under the automatic call distribution, the statuses of the agents and their number are stored in a memory. The stored statuses of the agents are informed to the supervisor. Each key telephone set has a display unit. When one of the key telephone sets operates as the supervisor, the informed statuses and their number are displayed on the display unit of the supervisor. With identification data of a specific agent, the status of the specific agent is displayed on the display unit of the supervisor. To operate one of the key telephone sets as the supervisor and other the agents, first, a password is entered from one of the key telephone sets. The input password is compared with a first reference password for the supervisor and with a second reference password for the agents. When the input password is equivalent to the first password, the telephone set is registered as the supervisor. On the other hand, when equivalent to the second password, the telephone set is registered as the agent.

Claims

1. A key telephone apparatus having a key service unit and a plurality of internal key telephone sets coupled to the key service unit, the key service unit being capable of automatic call distribution under which calls are distributed to the key telephone sets, the key telephone apparatus comprising:

input means, provided in at least one of the key telephone sets, for inputting a password into the key service unit;

control means, provided in the key service unit, responsive to the input password, for comparing the input password entered with a reference password for a supervisor telephone, and, when both passwords are equal to each other, the control means operating the one of the key telephone sets as the supervisor telephone and other key telephone sets as agent telephones to be supervised by the supervisor telephone;

a memory that stores the statuses of the agent telephones under the automatic call distribution; and

informing means for informing the supervisor telephone of the stored statuses of the agent telephones.

2. The key telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each key telephone set comprises a display, the statuses of the agent telephones informed by the informing means being displayed on the display of the supervisor telephone.

8. The key telephone apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means comprises means for comparing the input password with another reference password for the agent telephones and registering the one of the key telephone sets as the supervisor telephone when the input password is equivalent to the reference password for the supervisor telephone, and as an agent telephone when the input password is equivalent to the other reference password for the agent telephones.

9. The key telephone apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the memory further stores a specific number of the agent telephones to be supervised by the supervisor telephone and the informing means informs the supervisor telephone of the number of the agent telephones to be supervised, the number being displayed on the display of the supervisor telephone.

10. The key telephone apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the informing means informs the supervisor telephone of a status of a specific telephone among the agent telephones in response to identification data of the specific telephone entered from the supervisor telephone, the status of the specific telephone being displayed on the display of the supervisor telephone.

3. A method of controlling a key telephone apparatus having a key service unit and a plurality of internal key telephone sets coupled to the key service unit, the key service unit being capable of automatic call distribution under which calls are distributed to the key telephone sets, the method comprising the steps of:

inputting a password from at least one of the key telephone sets into the key service unit;

comparing the input password entered with a reference password for a supervisor telephone held by the key service unit;

operating with the key service unit, when both passwords are equal to each other, the one of the key telephone sets as the supervisor telephone and other key telephone sets as agent telephones to be supervised by the supervisor telephone;

storing statuses of the agent telephones under automatic call distribution; and

informing the supervisor telephone of the stored statuses of the agent telephones.

4. The control method according to claim 3 further comprises a step of displaying the statuses of the agent telephones on a display of the supervisor telephone.

5. The control method according to claim 4, further comprises steps of:

reading out a specific number of the agent telephones whose statuses are stored; and

displaying the read out number of the agent telephones on the display of the supervisor telephone.

6. The control method according to claim 3 further comprises steps of:

entering identification data of a specific telephone set among the agent telephone sets; and

displaying the status of the specific telephone set on the display of the supervisor telephone in response to the identification data.

7. The control method according to claim 3, wherein the operating step comprises the steps of:

comparing the input password with another reference password for the agent telephones;

registering the one of the key telephone sets as the supervisor telephone when the input password is equivalent to the reference password for the supervisor telephone, and as an agent telephone when the input password is equivalent to the other reference password for the agent telephones.