Method for signaling an incoming call received at a telecommunications terminal, a telecommunications terminal and a network unit

• US 7,162,022 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2002
• Issued: 01/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: IPCom GmbH & Co KG
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Jupe, Michael, Schmoll, Klaus-Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sing; Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/494,455
• Publication Number:
  US 20050063523A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,601 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142.06, 379/210.02, 379/207.13, 379/211.02
• US Class Current: 379/210.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• 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 method for signaling an incoming call received at a telecommunications terminal, a telecommunications terminal and a network unit that signals an incoming call at the telecommunications terminal depending on the urgency of the incoming call. The incoming call is signaled at the telecommunications terminal only when an urgency value transmitted together with the incoming call exceeds a threshold value.

Claims

1. A method for signaling an incoming call for a telecommunications terminal, the method comprising:

initiating a signal for the incoming call at the telecommunications terminal only when an urgency value that is transmitted together with the incoming call exceeds a preset threshold value and a phone number of the caller matches a preset phone number, wherein each incoming call is assigned one of a plurality of urgency, wherein the urgency value is appended to a dialed telephone number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preset threshold value is entered at an input unit of the telecommunications terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the urgency value is entered at a caller'"'"'s end.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the urgency value is compared with the threshold value in a network unit of a telecommunications network, and the incoming call for the telecommunications terminal is forwarded by the network unit to the telecommunications terminal only when the urgency value exceeds the threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the urgency value is compared with the threshold value in the telecommunications terminal, and a signal for the incoming call is initiated at the telecommunications terminal only when the urgency value exceeds the threshold value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification regarding the threshold value to the caller only when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification regarding the threshold value to the caller when the caller dials the number of the telecommunications terminal.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving the incoming call in a call list if the urgency value is lower than or equal to the threshold value.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding the incoming call to a voicemail recorder if the urgency value is lower than or equal to the threshold value.

10. A telecommunications terminal comprising:

a signaling device to signal an incoming call;

a first memory device to store a preset threshold value;

one phone number memory including at least one entry;

a first detector to detect an urgency value appended to dialed telephone number and received together with the incoming call;

a second detector to detect a phone number of a caller received together with the incoming call;

a first comparator to compare the urgency value with the preset threshold value; and

a second comparator to compare the detected phone number with the at least one entry in the first phone number memory;

wherein the signaling device signals an incoming call received at the telecommunications terminal only when an urgency value received together with the incoming call exceeds the threshold value and the received and detected phone number of the caller matches an entry in the first phone number memory, wherein each incoming call is assigned one of a plurality of urgency values.

11. The telecommunications terminal of claim 10, further comprising:

a first transmitter to, in response to the incoming call, send a notification regarding the disturbance threshold to the caller.

12. The telecommunications terminal of claim 11, wherein the first transmitter sends the notification regarding the disturbance threshold to the caller only when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

13. The telecommunications terminal of claim 10, wherein a first call list stores an incoming call when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

14. The telecommunications terminal of claim 10, further comprising:

a first voicemail recorder to receive an incoming call when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

15. The telecommunications terminal of claim 10, further comprising:

an input unit to preset at least one of the threshold value and the urgency value.

16. A network unit of a telecommunications network, the network unit comprising:

a device to forward an incoming call to a dialed telecommunications terminal;

a second memory device to store a preset threshold value appended to a dialed telephone number and;

a second phone number memory having at least one entry;

a third detector to detect an urgency value received with the incoming call;

a third comparator to compare a detected urgency value with the preset threshold value;

a fourth detector to detect a phone number of a caller received together with the incoming call;

a fourth comparator to compare the detected phone number with the at least one entry in the second phone number memory; and

a call forwarding device to forward the incoming call to a dialed telecommunications terminal only when the urgency value exceeds the threshold value and the received and detected phone number of the caller matches an entry in the second phone number memory, wherein each incoming call is assigned one of a plurality of urgency values.

17. The network unit of claim 16, further comprising:

a second transmitter to, in response to the incoming call, send a notification regarding the disturbance threshold to the caller.

18. The network unit of claim 17, wherein the second transmitter sends the notification regarding the disturbance threshold to the caller only when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

19. The network unit of claim 16, further comprising:

a second call list to store an incoming call when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

20. The network unit of claim 16, further comprising:

a second voicemail recorder to receive an incoming call when the urgency value is lower than or equal to the disturbance threshold.

21. The network unit of claim 16, further comprising:

an extractor to extract a phone number of the telecommunications terminal and the urgency value from a digital sequence received from the caller.