Remote telephony service management
First Claim
1. A method of controlling telephony services in an end office switch serving a plurality of service subscribers, comprising:
- a) receiving a request to manage the telephony services from a requesting service subscriber;
b) establishing a communication session with the end office switch with a terminal emulation format compatible with the end office switch in response to receiving the request;
c) receiving from the end office switch an interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber;
d) sending for display at a subscriber terminal the interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber;
e) receiving a requested service change in the form of service change input made to the interactive list of telephony services by the requesting service subscriber;
f) converting the service change input into the terminal emulation format to provide a converted service change input;
g) transmitting the converted service change input to the end office switch, thereby to effect the requested service change;
h) receiving a confirmation message that the requested service change has been effected;
i) sending the confirmation message to the requesting service subscriber; and
j) terminating the communication session with the end office switch after the requested service change has been effected and the confirmation message has been sent.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method enabling telephony service subscribers to activate, deactivate, make service changes, and access call-related information from telephony services provided by a telephony service provider. According to one aspect, the service management system of the present invention interacts with subscriber terminals connected to a public data network. The service management system receives requests from subscriber terminals and converts the requests into a format compatible with terminal emulation programs, such as the Telnet protocol, running on end office switches. Using the converted request information, the requested service changes are made or the requested call-related information is collected by the end office switches with little or no intervention by service provider personnel.
25 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of controlling telephony services in an end office switch serving a plurality of service subscribers, comprising:
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a) receiving a request to manage the telephony services from a requesting service subscriber; b) establishing a communication session with the end office switch with a terminal emulation format compatible with the end office switch in response to receiving the request; c) receiving from the end office switch an interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber; d) sending for display at a subscriber terminal the interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber; e) receiving a requested service change in the form of service change input made to the interactive list of telephony services by the requesting service subscriber; f) converting the service change input into the terminal emulation format to provide a converted service change input; g) transmitting the converted service change input to the end office switch, thereby to effect the requested service change; h) receiving a confirmation message that the requested service change has been effected; i) sending the confirmation message to the requesting service subscriber; and j) terminating the communication session with the end office switch after the requested service change has been effected and the confirmation message has been sent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A telephony service management system for controlling telephony services in an end office switch serving a plurality of service subscribers, comprising:
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a) a first interface disposed to communicate with a subscriber terminal; b) a second interface disposed to communicate with the end office switch; c) a control system, associated with the first interface and the second interface, adapted to; i) receive a request to manage the telephony services from a requesting service subscriber; ii) establish a communication session with the end office switch with a terminal emulation format compatible with the end office switch in response to receiving the request; iii) receive from the end office switch an interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber; iv) send for display at the subscriber terminal the interactive list of telephony services available to the requesting service subscriber; v) receive a requested service change in the form of service change input made to the interactive list of telephony services by the requesting service subscriber; vi) convert the service change input into the terminal emulation format to provide a converted service change input; vii) transmit the converted service change input to the end office switch, thereby to effect the requested service change; viii) receive a confirmation message that the requested service change has been effected; ix) send the confirmation message to the requesting service subscriber; and x) terminate the communication session with the end office switch after the requested service change has been effected and the confirmation message has been sent. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification