System and method for providing called party information for centralized telephone service

• US 6,690,785 B1
• Filed: 03/27/2001
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: America Online Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stelter, Ronald Durkson, Brown, Wendell
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BENNY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US09/818,390
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: 379/211.02, 379/219, 379/220.01, 379/221.01, 379/221.08, 379/221.13, 379/88.25, 379/88.27, 379/67.1, 379/229
• US Class Current: 379/211.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53308 Message originator indirectly connected to the message centre, e.g. after detection of busy or absent state of a called party

Abstract

A system and method are provided for forwarding information regarding a called party to a third party, for a call originated from a calling party to the called party. The information may comprise a telephone number of the called party and the call may be forwarded along with the information, so that the third party can provide a telephone service (e.g., centralized voice mail). At a telephone switch coupled to the third party, the forwarded call is received with the identifying information via a first signaling protocol (e.g., SS7). A second signaling protocol (e.g., SMDI, ISDN PRI) is used between the switch and the third party. The identifying information is retrieved from one field of the first protocol and stored in a different field of the second protocol.

Claims

1. A method of providing call data to a third party, for a call originated from a calling party to a called party, comprising:

receiving a telephone call at a telephone switch coupled to the third party;

retrieving information concerning the called party from a first set of call data received at said switch, wherein the first set of call data is configured according to a first telephone signaling protocol;

assembling a second set of call data for transmission to the third party, wherein said second set of call data is configured according to a second telephone signaling protocol that normally excludes said called party information;

including said called party information in said second set of call data in place of other information; and

forwarding said second set of call data to the third party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said telephone call is received at the telephone switch for forwarding to the third party;

and

said forwarding comprises forwarding the telephone call to the third party.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding the telephone call to a forward-to number associated with the third party.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said forward-to number is one of a toll-free number and a long-distance number from the called party.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said called party information comprises a telephone number of the called party.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said including comprises:

identifying a field of said second set of call data that is not configured to store said called party information; and

storing said called party information in said identified field.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said field is configured to store a telephone number of the calling party, and said called party information comprises a telephone number of the called party.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said field is a caller identification field configured to identify the calling party.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said including comprises storing said called party information in a field of said second set of call data that is not included in the first set of call data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving comprises extracting a telephone number of the called party from said first set of call data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing comprises placing said identifying data in a field of said second signaling protocol that is not included in the first signaling protocol.

11. A method of identifying a telephone service subscriber to a third party to which a call originated to the subscriber is forwarded, comprising:

receiving at a first telephone switch a call originated from a calling party to a first subscriber, for forwarding to a forward-to telephone number associated with a third party, wherein said forward-to telephone number receives calls forwarded from multiple subscribers;

forwarding the call, according to a first signaling protocol, from the first switch to a second switch coupled to the third party, wherein the first signaling protocol includes data identifying the first subscriber;

at the second switch;

retrieving said identifying data;

preparing the call for forwarding to the third party according to a second signaling protocol configured to omit said identifying data;

storing said identifying data in said second signaling protocol in place of other information; and

forwarding the call to the third party.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said forward-to number is a toll-free number.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said forward-to number is a long-distance number from the first subscriber.

15. A method of receiving information concerning a called telephone subscriber with a call forwarded from the called subscriber, comprising:

receiving a call forwarded from a telephone service subscriber, through a first telephone switch, according to a first telephone signaling protocol;

retrieving said identifying information from a field of call data accompanying the call, wherein the field is configured to store information other than said identifying information; and

using said identifying information to provide a telephone service to the called party;

wherein the call was received at the first switch according to a second telephone signaling protocol configured to include said identifying information and the other information; and

wherein said identifying information is stored in place of the other information at the first switch.

16. The method of claim 15, where said identifying information is a telephone number of the telephone service subscriber.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the other information is a telephone number of a calling party that originated the call to the telephone service subscriber.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first telephone signaling protocol is Integrated Services Digital Network, Primary Rate Interface.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first telephone signaling protocol is Simplified Message Desk Interface.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the second telephone signaling protocol is Signaling System 7.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein said telephone service is voice mail, and said identifying information is used to identify the telephone service subscriber from a set of telephone service subscribers.

22. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of providing call data to a third party, for a call originated from a calling party to a called party, the method comprising:

receiving a telephone call at a telephone switch coupled to the third party;

retrieving information concerning the called party from a first set of call data received at said switch, wherein the first set of call data is configured according to a first telephone signaling protocol;

assembling a second set of call data for transmission to the third party, wherein said second set of call data is configured according to a second telephone signaling protocol that normally excludes said called party information;

including said called party information in said second set of call data in place of other information; and

forwarding said second set of call data to the third party.

23. A system for identifying a called party to a telephone service provider, comprising:

a first switch configured to receive a call forwarded from the called party, wherein the call is received according to a first signaling protocol configured to include information identifying the called party; and

a communication link coupling the first switch to the telephone service provider, wherein data concerning the call is forwarded to the telephone service provider over the communication link according to a second signaling protocol configured to omit said identifying information;

wherein said first switch is configured to replace other information in said second signaling protocol with said identifying information.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a second switch configured to forward the call to said first switch according to the first signaling protocol.