Telephone call notification feature

• US 5,768,359 A
• Filed: 11/17/1994
• Issued: 06/16/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Tupino, James J., DiPierro, Anthony R. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US08/341,288
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/142, 379/209, 379/211, 379/212, 379/213, 379/245, 379/210, 379/214, 379/355, 379/216, 379/127, 379/246
• US Class Current: 379/209.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/428 Arrangements for placing incoming calls on hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/48 Arrangements for recalling a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0464 Primary rate access circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13173 Busy signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13205 Primary rate access, PRI
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13216 Code signals, frame structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1328 Call transfer, e.g. in PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13377 Recorded announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0016 Arrangements providing connection between exchanges

Abstract

A facility is disposed in a telecommunications network to provide an alternative to the conventional call waiting feature. More particularly, if a telephone call is placed to a subscriber while the subscriber'"'"'s telephone station set is busy with another telephone call, then the facility notes that fact and terminates the new telephone call after advising the caller that the subscriber'"'"'s station is busy. Thereafter, the facility places a telephone call to the subscriber and presents thereto at least the telephone numbers of the telephone stations that placed respective calls to the subscriber during the time that the latter'"'"'s station was busy.

Claims

1. A method of processing a telephone call placed from a calling station to a called station via a public telecommunications network, said calling station being associated with a particular telephone number and said called station being associated with a call notification service as a result of having subscribed to that service, said call notification service being provided by said telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of

responsive to said called station being idle, forwarding said call to said called station, and

responsive to said called station being busy, then, independent of any input from a calling party at said calling station, terminating said telephone call at a terminating switch within said network and responsive to said called station being associated with said call notification service, thereafter automatically placing a call from said call notification service via said network to said called station and presenting at least said calling telephone number to a user of said called station.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of terminating includes the step of announcing that said called station is busy to said calling party prior to terminating said call.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of terminating and placing includes the steps of

presenting to said user the option of placing a call to said calling station, and

responsive to said user invoking said option, placing a call to said calling station.

4. A method of processing a telephone call from a calling station to a called station, said calling station being associated with a particular telephone number, said called station being a subscriber of a call notification service that is invoked when said called station is busy, said method comprising the steps of

determining if said called station is busy,

responsive to said called station being busy and responsive to said called station being a subscriber of said call notification service, then, independent of any input from a calling party at said calling station, terminating said telephone call at a terminating switch within a telecommunications network, and

thereafter placing a call from said call notification service to said called telephone station and announcing at least said calling telephone number to a user of said called telephone station, wherein said call notification service is disposed in said telecommunications network operable for establishing a connection between said calling and called stations.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said step of terminating includes the step of announcing that said called station is busy to said calling party prior to terminating said call.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said step of terminating and placing includes the steps of

presenting to said user the option of placing a call to said calling station, and

responsive to said user invoking said option, placing a call to said calling station.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein said step of announcing includes the step of announcing the date and time of said telephone call from said calling station.

8. A method of processing a telephone call from a calling telephone station to a called telephone station, said calling telephone station being associated with a particular telephone number, said method comprising the steps of

receiving said telephone call at a communications switch within a telecommunications network and determining if said called telephone station is busy,

if said called telephone station is not busy, then connecting said calling telephone station to said called telephone station,

if said called telephone station is busy and is a subscriber of a call notification service provided by said communications switch, then, independent of any input from a calling party at said calling telephone station, storing said calling telephone number and at least the time of said telephone call in memory and terminating said telephone call at said communications switch, and

thereafter, placing a telephone call from said call notification service to said called telephone station and announcing at least said stored calling telephone number to a user associated with said called telephone station.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of terminating includes the step of announcing that said called station is busy to said calling party prior to terminating said call.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of placing and announcing includes the steps of

presenting to said user the option of placing a call to said calling station, and

responsive to said user invoking said option, placing a call to said calling station.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of placing and announcing includes the step announcing the date and time of said telephone call from said calling station.