Method for monitoring incoming calls to a user's premises on a pots telephone line
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring incoming calls on a POTS telephone line to an individual'"'"'s premises comprising:
- ringing a telephone instrument in response to an incoming call on said POTS telephone line;
counting a number of rings to said telephone instrument to generate a ring count;
taking said POTS telephone line off-hook when said ring count equals a maximum answer ring count MAX1;
continuing to ring said telephone instrument after taking said POTS telephone line off-hook; and
establishing a monitor telephone call to a monitor telephone instrument.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
With a personal call manager, when a caller calls a primary telephone number for the owner of the personal call manager, the personal call manager selectively routes the incoming call to any combination of local extensions on the owner'"'"'s premises, and to remote extensions such as a telephone instrument on another premises, a pager, a cellular telephone, a central office voice mail box, and a cellular telephone voice mail box. The personal call manager retains control over an incoming call throughout the duration of the call. Consequently, the owner can route the incoming call to multiple locations, or transfer the call to a telephone answering service at any time after taking the incoming call. The personal call manager permits a user to monitor, either locally or remotely, a message being left with a telephone answering service, e.g., a telephone answering device on the user'"'"'s premises, a central office voice mail box, or another answering service, and can take the call at any time prior to the caller hanging up.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring incoming calls on a POTS telephone line to an individual'"'"'s premises comprising:
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ringing a telephone instrument in response to an incoming call on said POTS telephone line; counting a number of rings to said telephone instrument to generate a ring count; taking said POTS telephone line off-hook when said ring count equals a maximum answer ring count MAX1; continuing to ring said telephone instrument after taking said POTS telephone line off-hook; and establishing a monitor telephone call to a monitor telephone instrument. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for monitoring incoming calls on a POTS telephone line to an individual'"'"'s premises comprising:
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ringing at least a local telephone instrument in response to an incoming call on said POTS telephone line; counting a number of rings to said local telephone instrument to generate a ring count; taking said POTS telephone line off-hook when said ring count equals a maximum answer ring count MAX1; continuing to ring said telephone instrument after taking said POTS telephone line off-hook; establishing a monitor telephone call to a monitor telephone instrument; and connecting said incoming call to a local telephone answering device when said ring count is equal to a maximum extension ring count MAX2 wherein said incoming caller can leave a message on said telephone answering device, and upon taking said monitor telephone call, a person taking said monitor telephone call can listen to said incoming caller leaving said message without knowledge of the incoming caller. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for monitoring incoming calls on a POTS telephone line to an individual'"'"'s premises comprising:
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ringing at least a local telephone instrument in response to an incoming call on said POTS telephone line; counting a number of rings to said local telephone instrument to generate a ring count; taking said POTS telephone line off-hook when said ring count equals a maximum answer ring count MAX1 wherein said maximum answer count MAX1 is selected as at least one ring less than a number of rings MAXCO necessary for routing said incoming call to a telephone answering service; continuing to ring said telephone instrument after taking said POTS telephone line off-hook; establishing a monitor telephone call to a monitor telephone instrument; and connecting said incoming call to said telephone answering service when said ring count is equal to a maximum extension ring count MAX2 wherein said incoming caller can leave a message with said telephone answering service, and upon taking said monitor telephone call, a person taking said monitor telephone call can listen to said incoming caller leaving said message without knowledge of the incoming caller. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification