Caller ID logging: entry storage on a per line basis
First Claim
1. A method of storing incoming caller ID information records in a memory of a business telephone system connected to a plurality of telephone lines and including a plurality of telephone stations, comprising the steps of:
- (a) associating one of said plurality of telephone lines with one of said plurality of telephone stations;
(b) monitoring all incoming calls on the plurality of telephone lines with a processor;
(c) receiving incoming caller ID information from a Central Office for each incoming call on the plurality of telephone lines;
(d) storing in the memory the received caller ID information for each unanswered call as a caller ID record so as to associate the stored caller ID information with the telephone line on which the call was received; and
(e) allocating a minimum number of records in the memory for each of said plural telephone lines.
19 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephone system with a caller ID logging feature includes a plurality of telephone stations which share a plurality of telephone lines connected to the telephone system. Each one of the plural telephone lines is associated with one or more of the telephone stations. A control processor (CPU) monitors the incoming calls on the telephone lines connected to the telephone system, and also receives caller ID information from the Central Office of the telephone service provider. For unanswered incoming calls and answered calls which are to be stored, the CPU stores the associated caller ID information in a memory as a caller ID record including data indicating the telephone lines on which the incoming call was received. The stored caller ID records for each telephone line are accessible from telephone stations that are associated with that telephone line. Therefore, only one record is required which all users may access, thereby increasing the efficiency of the memory over prior art systems. The memory includes a minimum capacity per line so that a minimum number of records are allocated for each telephone line.
60 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of storing incoming caller ID information records in a memory of a business telephone system connected to a plurality of telephone lines and including a plurality of telephone stations, comprising the steps of:
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(a) associating one of said plurality of telephone lines with one of said plurality of telephone stations; (b) monitoring all incoming calls on the plurality of telephone lines with a processor; (c) receiving incoming caller ID information from a Central Office for each incoming call on the plurality of telephone lines; (d) storing in the memory the received caller ID information for each unanswered call as a caller ID record so as to associate the stored caller ID information with the telephone line on which the call was received; and (e) allocating a minimum number of records in the memory for each of said plural telephone lines. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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2. A method of storing incoming caller ID information records in a memory of a business telephone system connected to a plurality of telephone lines and including a plurality of telephone stations, comprising the steps of:
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(a) associating one of said plurality of telephone lines with one of said plurality of telephone stations; (b) monitoring all incoming calls on the plurality of telephone lines with a processor; (c) receiving incoming caller ID information from a Central Office for each incoming call on the plurality of telephone lines; (d) storing in the memory the received caller ID information for each unanswered call as a caller ID record so as to associate the stored caller ID information with the telephone line on which the call was received; and (e) selecting selected ones of said plurality of telephone lines to be monitored for incoming calls, and wherein said step of monitoring further comprises monitoring only said selected ones of said plural of telephone lines and said step of storing further comprises storing the caller ID information only for the selected ones of said plural telephone lines.
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12. A device for logging incoming caller ID information records for unanswered incoming calls on a telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations and connected to a plurality of telephone lines, said device comprising:
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a processor having a dynamic memory for storing incoming caller ID information as a caller ID information record so that each said stored caller ID information record is associated in the memory with the one of the telephone lines on which it was received, and wherein said memory allocates a minimum number of record spaces for each of said plural telephone lines; and each of said plural telephone stations connected to said processor comprising means for accessing selected ones of the stored caller ID records in said memory and a display for displaying a currently selected one of the stored caller ID records. - View Dependent Claims (13, 15, 16, 17)
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14. A device for logging incoming caller ID information records for unanswered incoming calls on a telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations and connected to a plurality of telephone lines, said device comprising:
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a processor having a dynamic memory for storing incoming caller ID information as a caller ID information record so that each said stored caller ID information record is associated in the memory with the one of the telephone lines on which it was received, and wherein said memory allocates a minimum number of record spaces for each of said plural telephone lines; each of said plural telephone stations connected to said processor comprising means for accessing selected ones of the stored caller ID records in said memory and a display for displaying a currently selected one of the stored caller ID records; and an administrator input device operatively connected to said processor for selecting the selected one of the plural telephone lines for association with the plural telephone stations.
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18. A device for logging incoming caller ID information records for unanswered incoming calls on a telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations and connected to a plurality of telephone lines, said device comprising:
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a processor having a dynamic memory for storing incoming caller ID information as a caller ID information record so that each said stored caller ID information record is associated in the memory with the one of the telephone lines on which it was received, and wherein said memory allocates a minimum number of record spaces for each of said plural telephone lines; and each of said plural telephone stations connected to said processor comprising means for accessing selected ones of the stored caller ID records in said memory and a display for displaying a currently selected one of the stored caller ID records, wherein the caller ID information comprises one of a caller ID name and a reason for absence, one of a caller ID number and a reason for absence, and a caller ID date and time; and wherein said processor is operatively connected for storing and displaying, with each caller ID information record, data comprising a viewed/unviewed status, a call answered/not answered status, a two-digit telephone line number on which an incoming telephone call was received, and an auto dialback status.
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Specification