Personal portable apparatus for use in completing a telephone call

• US 6,192,254 B1
• Filed: 02/28/1992
• Issued: 02/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T IPM Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Robertson, John S., Kaplan, Marc P., Carlsen, Ralph
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMMING, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US07/843,685
• Time in Patent Office: 3,280 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.72, 370/95.1, 370/110.1, 379/56, 379/57, 379/58, 379/61, 379/63, 379/88, 379/97, 379/157, 379/164, 379/217, 379/231, 379/232, 379/374, 455/34.1, 455/54.1, 455/552, 455/426
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/48 Arrangements for recalling a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/022 One-way selective calling networks, e.g. wide area paging

Abstract

An improvement in the transparency of personal telecommunications over the prior art is achieved by automatically placing a return call from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and alerting the called individual to the existence of the call placed to his personal number only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. In one embodiment of the invention, the called individual associates his personal communications unit with a telephone channel, before his reception of any calls. Should a caller make a call to the called individual'"'"'s personal calling number, the telephone network causes the transmission of an actuation signal. In response to the actuation signal, the personal communications unit places a call to a predetermined number over a switched telephone network using the aforementioned associated telephone channel. As long as the telephone network determines that the caller'"'"'s telephone call continues to be in progress, it sends an “in progress” signal over the telephone channel to the personal communications unit. During continued reception of the in-progress signal, the personal communications unit causes the generation of an alerting indication. A going off-hook on the telephone channel by a telephone during alerting results in completion of the caller'"'"'s telephone call to the seizing telephone. To this end, the telephone network stops sending the in progress signal and bridges the caller'"'"'s call to the return call placed by the personal communications unit.

Claims

1. Portable apparatus for use in completing a telephone call that is initiated from a calling telephone to a called individual comprising:

means for receiving an actuation signal in response to said telephone call placed to said called individual;

means responsive to reception of said actuation signal for placing a second telephone call over a telephone channel through a switched telephone network to a predetermined location;

means for receiving from said location over said telephone channel an indication that said telephone call from said calling telephone continues to be in progress; and

means responsive to continued reception of said indication for supplying an alerting indication from said portable device.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said telephone channel is a wired subscriber telephone line.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said telephone channel is a mobile subscriber telephone channel.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said second telephone call to a predetermined location is a toll-free call.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said second telephone call to a predetermined location is placed from behind a PBX by dialing a prefix code prior to dialing a telephone number corresponding to said location.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1 further including means for transmitting over said telephone channel a predetermined code identifying said apparatus.

7. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which said predetermined location is a location to which said calling telephone call has been routed and wherein said apparatus further includes:

means for detecting that a telephone associated with said telephone channel went off-hook while said means for supplying said alerting indication was supplying said alerting indication; and

means responsive to said going off-hook for connecting said telephone associated with said telephone channel to said telephone channel, whereby said calling telephone can be connected to said telephone associated with said telephone channel via said location.

8. The invention as defined in claim 1 further including means for receiving the telephone number of the calling telephone and for displaying that number.

9. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said actuation signal is a paging signal.

10. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said location is identified to said apparatus as part of said actuation signal.

11. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for placing a second telephone call places said second telephone call by always dialing at least the same predetermined area code no matter what the area code of said telephone channel over which said second telephone call is placed.

12. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said call placing means places said second telephone call only if said telephone channel is determined to be not already seized when said actuation signal is received.

13. The invention as defined in claim 12 further including means responsive to a determination that said telephone channel is seized upon reception of said actuation signal for supplying a secondary alerting indication.

14. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for supplying an alerting indication directly supplies an alerting signal perceivable by a human being.

15. The invention as defined in claim 14 wherein said alerting signal perceivable by a human being is perceptually distinguishable from alerting signals generated in response to reception of calls over said telephone channel.

16. The invention as defined in claim 7 wherein said means for supplying an alerting indication supplies a ringing signal to said telephone.

17. The invention as defined in claim 16 wherein said ringing signal causes an alert to be generated by said telephone that is perceptually distinguishable from all other alerts generated by said telephone.

18. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said telephone channel is a primary telephone channel and including means for determining that said primary telephone channel is seized upon reception of said actuation signal and for causing said second telephone call to be placed over a secondary telephone channel associated with said apparatus instead of over said primary channel.

19. The invention as defined in claim 18 wherein said primary telephone channel is a wired subscriber telephone line and said secondary telephone channel is a mobile telephone channel.

20. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said telephone channel is a primary telephone channel and said call placing means can also place calls over a secondary telephone channel and said means for placing a call is also responsive to a reset signal for placing a new call over said primary telephone channel to said predetermined location to which a preceding call had been placed over said secondary telephone channel so as to effect a transfer of said call from said calling telephone to said primary telephone channel from said secondary telephone channel.

21. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said telephone channel is a primary telephone channel and said call placing means can also place calls over a secondary telephone channel and said means for placing a call is also responsive to a reset signal for placing a new call over said secondary telephone channel to said predetermined location to which a preceding call had been placed over said primary telephone channel so as to effect a transfer of said call from said calling telephone to said secondary telephone channel from said primary telephone channel.

22. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for placing said second telephone call includes a mobile telephone and said mobile telephone remains unpowered until said actuation signal is received.