Call waiting priority alert

• US 8,175,247 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2009
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roberts, Linda Ann, Silver, Edward Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): SING, SIMON P
• Application Number:
  US12/576,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20100020958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 379/215.01, 379/207.16, 379/142.06, 379/207.15
• US Class Current: 379/215.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4288 Notifying a called subscriber of an incoming call during an ongoing call, e.g. Call Waiting

Abstract

A method for delivering a priority call waiting alert service to a telephone subscriber. An embodiment of the present invention may be implemented on an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN). When a call intended the subscriber is received by a service switching point from a calling party while the telephone line is already engaged in a first communication between the subscriber and a third party, the calling party is solicited to supply a priority code. If the priority code is recognized by a service control point, a call waiting tone or a priority alert signal associated with the priority code is played to alert the subscriber that a priority call has been received.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts for providing priority call waiting services for a subscriber of a telephone line, the acts comprising:

associating a telephone number of the telephone line with a plurality of priority codes, wherein each of the plurality of priority codes associated with the telephone number represents a different priority level that is representative of a degree of urgency of a call;

assigning a priority alert signal to each of the plurality of priority codes associated with the telephone number such that the priority alert signal of each of the plurality of priority codes identifies the degree of urgency for the subscriber;

providing multiple priority codes to each one of a plurality of calling parties prior to a call being placed by the plurality of calling parties to enable the plurality of calling parities to choose a level of urgency for a call to the subscriber, wherein the priority codes provided to a first calling party of the plurality of calling parties are unique to the first calling party.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving the call from one of the plurality of calling parties dialing the telephone number while the telephone line is engaged in a first communication session between the subscriber and a third party;

receiving one of the priority codes from the calling party during the call to the subscriber to allow the calling party to identify the level of urgency of the call; and

determining whether the priority code provided by the calling party matches any of the party of priority codes associated with the telephone number.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the acts further comprising:

sending to the same telephone number dialed by the calling part a priority alert signal assigned to the priority code provided by the calling party that is indicative of the level of urgency of the call to alert the subscriber to the level of urgency of the call from the calling parity if the priority code provided by the calling party matches one of the plurality of priority codes associated with the telephone number.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein a second communication session is established between the calling party and the subscriber if the subscriber chooses to suspend the first communication session.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein each priority alert signal assigned to each of the priority of priority codes is unique to the calling party.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein a second calling party is provided by the subscriber with more priority codes associated with the telephone number than is provided to the first calling party.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts for providing a call waiting service to a subscriber of a telephone line, the acts comprising:

associating two or more priority codes with a telephone number of the telephone line in an accessible database, wherein each of the two or more priority codes is associated with a priority level of a plurality of priority levels that represent a degree of urgency, and each of the plurality of priority levels is associated with a priority alert signal that identifies the degree of urgency for the subscriber;

providing multiple priority codes to each one of a plurality of calling parties prior to a call being placed by the plurality of calling parties to enable the plurality of calling parties to choose a level of urgency for a call to the subscriber, wherein the priority codes provided to the first calling party of the plurality of calling parties are unique to the first calling party.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

receiving the call from one of the plurality of calling parties while the telephone line is engaged in a first communication session between the subscriber and a third party;

receiving one of the priority codes from the calling party during the call to the subscriber to allow the calling party to identify the level of urgency for the call; and

determining whether the priority code from the calling party matches a priority code accessible in the database.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

when the priority code matches, determining the priority alert signal for the priority code.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, the acts further comprising sending an instruction to send the priority alert signal to the same telephone number dilated by the calling party.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein a control field of the instruction specifies the priority alert signal to play.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, the acts further comprise:

playing the priority alert signal specified by the control field for the same telephone number dialed by the calling party to interfere with the first communication session between the subscriber and the third party to alert the subscriber of the level of urgency of the call.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein a second commutation session is established between the calling party and the subscriber if the subscriber chooses to suspend the first communication session.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the priority code provided by the calling party is unique to the calling party.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

determining whether the priority code provided by the calling party matches any of the two or more priority codes associated with the telephone number.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts for providing a call waiting service to a subscriber of a telephone line, the acts comprising:

associating a telephone number of the telephone line with a plurality of priority codes, wherein each of the plurality of priority codes is further associated with a priority level of a plurality of priority levels that represent a degree of urgency;

assigning a priority alert signal to each of the plurality of priority codes to thereby identify the degree of urgency for the subscriber by the priority alert signal; and

providing multiple priority codes to each one of a plurality of calling parties prior to a call from the plurality of calling parties to the subscriber to enable the plurality of calling parties to choose a level of urgency for a communication to the subscriber, wherein the priority codes provided to a first calling party of the plurality of calling parties are unique to the first calling party.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, the acts further comprising:

receiving a second communication from one of the plurality of calling parties while the telephone line is engaged in a first communication session between the subscriber and a third party; and

receiving one of the priority codes from the calling party during the call to the subscriber to allow the second party to identify the level of urgency of the call.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, the acts further comprising:

sending to the telephone number a priority alert signal assigned to the priority code provided by the calling party and indicative of the level of urgency of the call to alert the subscriber to the level of urgency of the call.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein an additional calling party is provided by the subscriber with more priority codes associated with the telephone number than is provided to the second party.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein a second communication session is established between the party and the subscriber if the subscriber chooses to suspend the first communication session.