CA2235459A1

CA2235459A1 - Remote line monitoring

Info

Publication number: CA2235459A1
Application number: CA 2235459
Authority: CA
Inventors: Ken Henderson; Gordon Freedman; Debbie Pinard
Original assignee: Mitel Corp
Current assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
Priority date: 1997-04-22
Filing date: 1998-04-21
Publication date: 1998-10-22
Also published as: DE19816896A1

Abstract

A system and method for remotely monitoring the status of one or more extension phones in a distributed telephone network. Preferably the remote monitoring station has bi-direction communication capabilities such that calls to one or more extensions can be intercepted in addition to status monitoring. Greater flexibility is provided by two separate communication channels, one for digital signals relating to call status and one for analog signals representing voice traffic.

Description

Remote Line Monitoring Thi.s invention relates to tel~rhs~e systems and more particularly to a system and a method for remote line monitoring in distributed tel~rhn~e systems.

Bach~-o~ Of ~h~ Tnv~nt~on Wil~h the advent of the private branch ~Y~h~nge (PBX), many ne~w tel~rh~e features became av~ilahle to provide improved services for businesses. One of these features is llne monitoring. In line monitoring, a recept;Q~t or a secretary can obser~e the status of one or more lines by loo~ing at the line indicators associated with the phone. The principal user of an e~tenRion may choose to an~wer an ~nc~ng call or to leave it for the secretary.
LLkewise, an incoming call on a ~con~ line won~t be transferred to the principle when she is on one of the other lines.
In the past and before PBXs, line monitoring was achieved by having mult~ple rh~ne~ or a single multi-line phQ~e provided with ~n~c~Q~8 disting~ ht~ an "in use" state from an av~ hl ~ state. Such an ~in use" state was 25 ~n~c~e~ typically by a ~ht on a line r~lPct button.
A recept$onist with a single glAn~e co~ detenr~e how many and wh~ch lines were in use. Unfor~n-t~y, such a system ~oes not pro~ide the receptionist with an o~po ~u~ity to determine who is using each line.
l~lis problem was addressed by having separate lines for each prlnc~r~l thereby allowing the recep~o~t to determine whose line was in use.

Under the operAt~n of a PBX, calls can be routed to several ~e1~ O~F--. As the switch~ Gc~r~ where the call is received, it iB possible to route a call to several locations simultaneously and even to route several calls to a single loc~tion. Using such a PBX a receptionist can pick up any ~nCQ~ng call that has been made av~;lAhle to S the receptionist's r~o~s. Upon "picking up" a call, the ~ct~l'call ~gn~l is routed to the recept;4~;~t's phone.
Prior to the ~ e~1n~t's r~n~ going off-hook, it is possible to send to the recept~o~;Rt's rhon~ a signal ind.icative of an in~or~ ng call or ;n~;c~tive of a status of other monitored lines..

Unf'ortunately, when a ece~tionist provides an off site service or ~ from home, it i6 not possible to send signals indicative of ~ncQ~;ng calls to the phone without lS tying up the phnne line. For ~ Jle, when an ;nco~;ng ca~l arrives, a system can call the recept;on;Rt to indicate that there iR an ;nco~ call. When the receptionist is on the line, however, the status inf'ormation cannot be trAn~rltted. Otherwise, the-inf'ormation likely takes longer than a r~QQ~hle lengthof time to arrive at the receptio~t, thereby ~ ~vr~t;ng the recept~ Q~; ~t from performing the eYrscted function.
As ~uch, a ~e_~t~on~t a~ a ~L~te locAtt~n - often termed an ans~ering ser~ice - has very limited c~r~h~l~ties an~ can't truly f~r-t~on an~logous to an in-h~ l ~e recept~on~t.' In patent do~ t US 4,682,354, VAn~core describes a - feature that allows a call to be transferred after a predetenmined number of rings. This aliows for a remote attenA~nt to pick up calls when the called ~YtenR~on is busy or unatt~n~e~. Unfortun~t~ly, it does not allow for re~ote line monitoring to determine status of a plurality of lines. ~urther, current ~hQ~s systems provide a rich set. of features including call display. A acc,e~ary often screens calls for a principal and ensures that the pri.ncipal accept~ call~ from certain predeter~inPA
individuals such a6 high-profile client~. An auto attPn~nt feature does'not provide such functionality.

In an attempt to o~ercome these and other limitations of the prior art, it is an ob~ect of the present invention to provide a method and system for remotely monitoring lin,e status. m e invention therefore seek6 to provide a system and msth~ for remotely monitoring the line status of one or more communication devices in a.distributed telPr~on~ system such as a pri~ate branch eY~h~nge (PBX).

Summary of the Tnvention A~rordingly, a first aspect of the invention pro~ides a system for the remote monitoring of the status of one or-mor~ communication devices in a distr;~teA telPphone net~oLh, the 6ystem co.~ri6ing: a remote monitoring st~t~on having tn~;C~tQr m~n~ for displaying call-status lnfonmation of at least one of the communication devices in the distributed -telerho~ net~ork; access means con~ected to the distributed telPrhnne neL.rork for acqulring call status infonmati,on therefrom; and - commun~cation means b.et~reen the distr~ PA telQrho~
network and the remote monitoring ~t~t~ for ~du~fel~ing the status information from the distributed telephone net~rork to the remote mon~toring stA~o~.

A remote operator at the remote monitoring station may .the~ monitor the ~nd~c~tor means, and optlon~lly inter~e~L
a call directed to one or more of ~he communication devi.ces in the distributed telerhs~P system.

m e .communication device may be a voice communication device such as a telPrho~P or pager, and could include a video display unit or video camera ~o that the cc~munication device may receive or transmit video calls.

In accor~nce with a preferred embo~Pnt of the s invention, the remote monitoring station has call interception means to permit an operator to selectively receive call6 directed to at least one of the communication devices or teler~oneR in the distributed teler~on~ network. In this embo~;m~nt the comm~n~cation means between the distributed teler~o~e network and the remote monitoring st~At~n includes signal sPp~rAt;on mean6 wh.ereby a data signal associated with call statu6 info~r~t~9n iB cc~lm~n;c~t~ separately from a voice and/or video signal associated with the call inte.c~Lion means.
This may include a single cc~tmunic~ti Q~ ch~nnel involving time division multiplexing, bit-robbing or other known techn~ques for multiplexing the data signal and v.oice signals on a single line. A~ an al~r~At;ve, two separate - cc~munication ~hann~ls may be employed, one of which, preferably a digital connection, permits the use of digital term;n~l~ including computers.

In accor~nce with a c~-o~ A~pec~ of the invent; 9n there ifi~ provided a metbLod for the remote monitoring of the status of one or more commun;~ Qn devices in a di.Rtr~te~ telephone net~ork, the method cc~prising the st.eps of: ra~t~ an incoming call t~ yh the distr~t~
telephone network to a CC~n~ CA~ Qn device; acquiring caLll status information from the distributed telephone network regarding the indoming call directed to said cc~nunication device; 6Pn~ ng from the distributed telPr~onP ne~ro h to a remote location a data signal ~egar~ing the call status informat~o~; and displaying the call status on an indicator at the remote location.

Preferably, the steps of acquiring, 8~n~ and displaying the call status information are es~en~Ally simult~neo~, 80 that the operator at the remote location may monitor calls and respond if ~PreRsary to the call 6tatus infonmation with no undue delay. For ~Y~rle, if the call status indication of a commNnication device such as a te'lerh9ne i8 busy, then the operator will know not to call that PYtPn~ion.

When the remote location has call answering means the method also includes the further step of intercepting the call and, if a~ o~iate, intro~l~cing call features such as conference, call-on-hold, or switch to voice mail.

In the case where the remote location has call inten~e~ion means for intercepting the ~ncQming call, the method may include re~ng a vo~ce signal regarding the incoming call from the aistributed telerhonP neL.~oLh to the ,~w~e location, 80 that the call may be intercepted at the remote location. An operator may then pick up the call after a predetermined number of rings.

In, one emko~ of the invention, the data and voice 8i~n~l R are multiplexed 80 that these may communicAted o~er one comm~nication ~h~nn~l~ rAth~r than, for example two ch~nn~l8.

~c~ording to a preferred method the status indication at the remote locat~on i8 ~r~At~ if and when the call is answered at the communication device or tel~rhn~e p~rtenRiOn .

~ CA 02235459 1998-04-21 Brief Descript1 nn of the Drawing~

The invention will now be fur~ther described by way of ~mrle, with reference-to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a prior art line monitoring swit~hho~d;

Figure 2 iB a block diagram of a remote monitoring system accor~ing to the present invention;

Figure 3 illustrates an al~srn~tive ~o~;ment of the remote monitoring station; and - Figure 4 is a flow chart of a call-hAnAling process - using the remote monitoring station.

Figure 1 illustrate~ a line monitoring system according to the prior art. Telerh~ns call~ originating from the Public Swit~hed Tel~r~9 Network (PSTN) are directed to a swi~rh~ ng system 10 by way of a so-called "central office~ (C0) line 11, alRo called a trunk line. A
Le~ Rt at console 13 ~witches or transfers t_e call to the ~ o~.late ~Yt~nPion phone 14. Assoc~At~ with each ~YtenQion is a monitoring ~ean_ which may be in the form of a lamp or other ~r1AY means as shown in relAttnn to telerho~es 16, 18 or 20. The status of each line may be ~r~r~n~e~ by way of a distinctive in~ication at the monitoring means. As shown in Figure 1 the display on tel~rho~ 16, being partially illum~n~eA, repre.-~tF-an incoming call. The in~icator on rhon~ 18 is shown in complete cross-hatching to indicate full illumination repre8~nt~ ng that the e~t~nRion is busy or in use. The 3s in~icator on telephQ~? 20 i8 blank which in~icates that the e~ten~ion is on-hook or idle.

~ CA 02235459 1998-04-21 Such prior art systems have been, however, widely rerl~c~
with private branch ~Yrh~n~e (PBX) systems. The present invention applies to such PBX systems and a particular Pmbo~ment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 2.
.

In this embodiment tel~pho~ call6 are directed from a central office 12 of the public switching telPpho~P
network (PSTN) to a PBX 32 sited in an office environment illustrated generally at 30. The PBX 32 directs t~lerhnn~
calls to individual PYt~n~ions 14 in accor~~nc~ with the so~tware ~LOYLamS instA~ in the PBX. As is known a call may be directed to several extensions or, ;n~Pe~-, any indiv~ extension can receive call status information re~pecting several calls. In this way, a recept~o~;Qt or secretary lo~te~ within the office 30 is able to detenmine the status of several ~Y~PnRions by ob8erving the status indicator at their ter~;n~l. r~ll features such as caller i ~nt~ fication allows the secretary or recept~o~;~t to screen calls and to make determination as to whether it is l~ely to be of an urgent nature or whether it may be ignored.

It is frequen~ly ~ r~hl9 or n~e~F~ry for a recept~ ~ni fit 2S or secretary to work a~ home-or at another remote oc~t~on. In such circum~n~e~, however, the ability of the secretary or receptionist to monitor and/or pick up calls dire~A to one or more tele~ones within the distr~tio~ rhnne network, such as a PBX, without the calling party being aware of the special a ~.yement has heretofore not been possible. The present inv~nt~on pro~ides for this service by means of a remote monitoring station 50 as shown in Figure 2. ~nl ~ke the previously discussed patent document US 4,682,354 the system of the present invention makes use of the public switched telepho~e network (PSTN) to pro~ide commNnication.

~ CA 02235459 1998-04-21 According to the invention, call status information a~
generated by the PBX 32 is transferred back to the central office 12 via trunk 11 and subsequently rerouted to the remote location 50 on CO line 52. The PBX therefore include6 Acce~ means conn~cted to the distributed ~ telerh~e network for acquiring the call statu~
information. The acces~ means associated with th.e PBX i8 able to combine, or multiplex, digital signal~ for call ~ status display and analog signal~ for voice messaging through the communic~tiQn line between the PBX and remote monitoring station, for ~x~ le by packet switching.

After routing to the remote monitoring station 50 via the central office 12, the call statu~ is proce~sed and displayed on one or more.indicator~ 58 on ~rl~y co~ole 56 at the remote loc~t~nn. Con~ole 56 may simply be a line indicator on telepho~e 60 or it may be a separate adjunct serially conn~ted between the central office 12 and the terminal 60 (for example a PC connected via a data call).
It. is, of course, preferable that the secretary or - receptionist located at remote station 50 be able to selectively intercept calls ~rected to one or more ~*t~n~ions 14. In this case it is n~ccr-~ry that line 52 be cAr~hle of carrying both digital 8~gn~l fi a880~ eA
w~th the call status ~n~ t:~nn and audio or voice ~
relating to u~e of the telerhon~. If a single purpose rh~nn-l is used the remote tel~ o.~e cannot be used while the remote station iB monitoring calls at office 30.
It is anticipated that ~o,- ~-lt-~ cation rh~nn~l 52 will comprise two separate lines, one for digital status infonmation and the serQ~A for analog voice traffic. In a preferred emb~mnnt the digital ch~nnPl will be a h~h~r speed link such as an IS.DN. AltPrn~t~vely, a single data/voice ~h~nnel may be used in which case time division g multiplPY;n~ or bit-robbing i8 necessary in order to multiplex voice and data on the single line. It is also possibie to use a DSVD m~APm (simultaneous voice and data).
Figure 3 illustrates a further variation of the remote monitoring station. In this instance the remote station 50 incorporates a computer such as a PC in place of the display console. The control f~lnct; Q~ are impler~nt~A by the receptionist using the computer 100 and the voice functions are implemented using the rhsn~ 60. The PC 100 has the A~;t;onAl advantage of providing extra memory and proce~;ng c~r~h;llty 80 as to permit the introduction of more ~rh~Rticated call features i.e. list ;ncor;n~ calls;
calls-in-~rcyL~ and free lines. Further inforr-t;sn such as sch~ les, ava~l~h~lity, do not disturb, call-forward, etc. may also be provided by the-computer 100. The addi~ionAl ~oce~ing capabiiities of the computer ~YtPnA~
the potential funct~on-l;ty of the home office environment. By AccPRsing the dedicated-digital line it iE also possible for the receptionist/secretary to send and receive written cOrreRron~Pnc~ by use of modems or - other high-speed links. This communicat;s~ does not inherently interfere with the recept~Qn~Rt's ability to monitor the tel~r~one ~r~gc and to intercept calls as required.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram for a basic remote monitoring and/or answering ~rG~ecR. As indicated an incoming call to the PBX is directed to the eYt~n~ion and the alerter i~ activated. Simultaneously, data r~lAt;n~ to the call i~ dir~ct~ to the remote sta~n where it is shown on the a~Lo~riate monitoring means. If the call is answered at the PYt~n~ion the display on the remote terr~ n~l is updated to indicate that the call has been answered and the remote call answer provision is ~Ahled. If the extension is not answered and if the remote ~tation is unable to, or is instructed not to, pick up the call it wil,l, of course, go to voice mail or will simply continue to ring until the calling party goes on-hook. If the remote station has instructions to pick up an unanswered call the r,emote att~nA~nt may do 80 a~ter the ~L~iate number of rings have been received.

The skilled person will appreciate that the invention is applicable to the case where a call is a video call, that isr a call ~ ising both ~--A; o and images. The term "voice signal" as used herein i~ therefore to be understood as including the case where the signal carrying the call i,ncludes both audio and images.

Claims

1. A system for the remote monitoring of the status of one or more communication devices in a distributed telephone network, the system comprising:
a remote monitoring station having indicator means for displaying call status information of at least one of the communication devices in the distributed telephone network;
access means connected to the distributed telephone network for acquiring call status information therefrom;
and communication means between the distributed telephone network and the remote monitoring station for transferring the status information from the distributed telephone network to the remote monitoring station.

2. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring station has call interception means for intercepting a call directed to at least one of the plurality of communication devices in the distributed telephone network.

3. A system as claim in Claim 2, wherein the call interception means allows an operator to selectively receive call directed to at least one of the communication devices in the distributed telephone network.

4. A system as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the call interception means is a terminal that that includes the indicator means.

5. A system as claimed in Claim 2, in which the call interception means includes a telephone.

6. A system as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the communication means is a communication channel for transferring both voice and data signals.

7. A system as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the access means includes multiplexing means for separating the data and voice signals and selecting means at the remote monitoring station for directing the data signal to the indicator means and the voice signal to the-call interception means.

8. A system as claim in Claim 2, wherein the communication means comprises two separate communication channels.

9. A system as claimed in Claim 8, wherein one of the communication channels in an ISDN link for transferring the call status information.

10. A system as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the indicator means is a line indicator console.

11. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the indicator means is a computer having a monitor, processing means and memory means for generating and displaying call status information.

12. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the communication device is a telephone.

13. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring station has call answering means.

14. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the communication device accepts video calls.

15. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the call status information includes busy signals.

16. A system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the call status information includes information relating to voice mail.

17. A method for the remote monitoring of the status of one or more communication devices in a distributed telephone network, the method comprising the steps of:
i) routing an incoming call through the distributed telephone network to a communication device;
ii) acquiring call status information from the distributed telephone network regarding the incoming call directed to said communication device;

iii) sending from the distributed telephone network to a remote location a data signal regarding the call status information; and iv) displaying the call status on an indicator at the remote location.

18. A method as claimed in Claim 17, wherein steps i), ii) and iii) are essentially simultaneous.

19. A method as claimed in Claim 18, wherein the communication device is a telephone, and step iv) includes displaying a busy indicator at the remote location when said telephone is in use.

20. A method as claimed in Claim 19, wherein the remote location has call interception means for intercepting the incoming call, the method comprising the step after step iv) of:
v) sending a voice signal regarding the incoming call from the distributed telephone network to the remote location;
and vi) intercepting the call at the remote location.

21. A method as claimed in Claim 20, wherein step vi) includes picking up the call after a predetermined number of rings.

22. A method as claimed in Claim 21, wherein the steps iii) and v) includes multiplexing the data and voice signals and communicating said signals over a communication channel.