Caller control of call waiting services

• US 6,834,103 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2002
• Issued: 12/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Silver, Edward M., Roberts, Linda A., Nguyen, Hong T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Deane, Jr., William J.
• Application Number:
  US10/109,783
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 379/215.01, 379/201.01, 379/201.12, 379/204.01, 379/207.02, 379/207.14, 379/207.15, 379/210.01, 379/210.02, 379/219, 379/221.08, 379/93.35, 379/230, 455/415, 455/414, 455/567
• US Class Current: 379/215.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/428 Arrangements for placing incoming calls on hold

Abstract

A method and system are provided for caller control of telephone calls placed to telephone lines provisioned with a call waiting feature. A call waiting control feature is provisioned at the local telephone switch of the calling party. After a directory number of a called party is entered, a determination is made as to whether the called party has a call waiting feature, and if so, whether her telephone line is busy. If the line has an activated call waiting feature and the line is busy, the call attempt is terminated. If the called party'"'"'s line does not have a call waiting feature, or if the line does have call waiting, but the called party'"'"'s line is not busy, the call attempt proceeds. If the call attempt is to be terminated, a message may be played to the caller to alert the caller that the called party'"'"'s line is busy, that a call waiting feature is activated on the called party'"'"'s line, and that the call attempt is being terminated. The call waiting control method and system may be switch-based where the determinations as to the call waiting status and busy status of the called party'"'"'s line are made from information from the called party'"'"'s switch. Alternatively, the call waiting control method and system may be network-based where the determinations as to the call waiting status and busy status of the called party'"'"'s line are made at a network component such as a service control point.

Claims

1. A method for controlling calls placed to a called party whose telephone line is provisioned with a call waiting feature, comprising the steps of:

provisioning a call waiting control feature at a calling party switch;

entering a telephone directory number of a called party to place a call from a calling party to a called party;

determining whether a telephone line of the called party is provisioned with a call waiting feature;

determining a status of the call waiting feature;

determining whether the telephone line of the called party is busy; and

if the call waiting feature is activated on the telephone line of the called party, and if the telephone line of the called party is busy, terminating a call attempt from the calling party to the called party.

2. The method of claim 1, prior to the step of terminating the call attempt from the calling party to the called party, further comprising the step of:

sending a call attempt termination instruction from a service control point to the calling party switch.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

playing a message to the calling party to notify the calling party that the called party has activated a call waiting feature and that the call attempt from the calling party to the called party is terminated.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring at a service control point the status of the call waiting feature and the busy status of the telephone line of the called party;

notifying the calling party via the calling party switch if the status of the call waiting feature changes so that calls directed to the called party will not invoke the call waiting feature; and

notifying the calling party via the calling party switch if a busy status of the telephone line of the called party changes so that calls directed to the called party will not invoke the call waiting feature.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

if the call waiting feature is not activated on the telephone line of the called party, connecting the call from the calling party to the called party.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

if the telephone line of the called party is not busy, connecting the call from the calling party to the called party.

7. The method of claim 5, prior to the step of connecting the call from the calling party to the called party, further comprising the step of:

sending a message from the service control point to the calling party switch to connect the call from the calling party to the called party.

8. The method of claim 6, prior to the step of connecting the call from the calling party to the called party, further comprising the step of:

sending a message from the service control point to the calling party switch to connect the call from the calling party to the called party.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of provisioning a call waiting control feature at a calling party switch includes:

entering a call waiting control feature code at the calling party switch.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether a telephone line of the called party is provisioned with a call waiting feature, further comprises the steps of:

querying a service control point to initiate the call waiting control feature; and

at the service control point, determining whether the telephone line of the called party is provisioned with a call waiting feature based on the telephone directory number of the called party by sending an Update Request message to a called party switch.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a status of the call waiting feature further comprises:

sending a call waiting feature update request from a service control point to the called party switch.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

sending a status update response from the called party switch to the service control point indicating the status of the call waiting feature.

13. The method of claim 12, whereby sending a call waiting feature update request from a service control point to the called party switch includes sending a Query_Request message having a format of:

UserlD=Called Party Telephone Number

ProvideInfo

RequestGroups=RequestGroup1

RequestGroup1 {Service1=CallWaiting Request1=ActivationStatus}.

14. The method of claim 13, whereby sending a status update response from the called party switch to the service control point indicating the status of the call waiting feature includes sending a response message having a format of:

InfoProvided

ActivationStateCode=off/on;

whereby a response result of ActivationStateCode=on indicates the call waiting feature is active on the telephone line of the called party; and

whereby a response result of ActivationStateCode=off indicates the call waiting feature is not active on the telephone line of the called party.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of determining a status of the call waiting feature and determining whether the telephone line of the called party is busy, further comprise the steps of:

querying a service control point to determine the status of the call waiting feature and a busy status of the telephone line of the called party;

at the service control point, determining a status of the call waiting feature; and

at the service control point, determining whether the telephone line of the called party is busy by sending the Monitor_for_Change message to the switch, the switch responding with a Status_Reported message including the busy status of the line.

16. A system for controlling calls placed to a called party whose telephone line is provisioned with a call waiting feature, comprising:

a calling party switch operative

to receive provisioning of a call waiting control feature;

to receive a telephone directory number of a called party to place a call from a calling party to a called party;

to generate a query to a service control point to initiate the call waiting control feature;

the service control point operative

to determine whether a telephone line of the called party is provisioned with a call waiting feature;

to determine a status of the call waiting feature; and

to determine whether the telephone line of the called party is busy; and

to terminate a call attempt from the calling party to the called party if the call waiting feature is activated on the telephone line of the called party, and if the telephone line of the called party is busy.

17. The system of claim 16, whereby the service control point is further operative

to send a call attempt termination instruction to the calling party switch if the call attempt is to be terminated.

18. The system of claim 16, whereby the calling party switch is further operative

to play a message to the calling party to notify the calling party that the called party has activated a call waiting feature and that the call attempt from the calling party to the called party is terminated.

19. The system of claim 16, whereby the service control point is further operative

to monitor the status of the call waiting feature and the busy status of the telephone line of the called party;

to cause calling party switch to notify the calling party if the status of the call waiting feature changes so that calls directed to the called party will not invoke the call waiting feature; and

to cause the calling party switch to notify the calling party if a busy status of the telephone line of the called party changes so that calls directed to the called party will not invoke the call waiting feature.

20. The system of claim 16, whereby the calling party switch is further operative

to receive instructions from the service control point to complete the call;

and

to connect the call from the calling party to the called party if the call waiting feature is not activated on the telephone line of the called party.

21. The system of claim 16, whereby the calling party switch is further operative

to receive instructions from the service control point to complete the call;

and

to connect the call from the calling party to the called party if the telephone line of the called party is not busy.

22. The system of claim 16, whereby

the service control point is further operative

to send a call waiting feature update request to the called party switch to determine the status of the call waiting feature;

and

the called party switch is operative

to send a status update response from to the service control point indicating the status of the call waiting feature.

23. The system of claim 22, whereby the update request includes a Query_Request message includes a format of:

UserlD=Called Party Telephone Number

ProvideInfo

RequestGroups=RequestGroup1

RequestGroup1 {Service1=CallWaiting Request1=ActivationStatus}.

24. The system of claim 23, whereby the status update response includes a format of:

InfoProvided

ActivationStateCode=off/on;

whereby a response result of ActivationStateCode=on indicates the call waiting feature is active on the telephone line of the called party; and

whereby a response result of ActivationStateCode=off indicates the call waiting feature is not active on the telephone line of the called party.

25. The system of claim 24, whereby the status update response includes a format of:

FalureCause=Unavailable Resources, indicating that the call waiting feature is not subscribed to by the called party.