WO2002025911A2 - Appareil et procede telephonique a appel direct - Google Patents

Appareil et procede telephonique a appel direct Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2002025911A2
WO2002025911A2 PCT/US2001/029215 US0129215W WO0225911A2 WO 2002025911 A2 WO2002025911 A2 WO 2002025911A2 US 0129215 W US0129215 W US 0129215W WO 0225911 A2 WO0225911 A2 WO 0225911A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
telephone
automated
outpulse
extension
incoming call
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2001/029215
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
WO2002025911A3 (fr
Inventor
Robert G. Meldrum
James R. Cheshire
Original Assignee
Simulring, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Simulring, Inc. filed Critical Simulring, Inc.
Priority to AU2001292768A priority Critical patent/AU2001292768A1/en
Publication of WO2002025911A2 publication Critical patent/WO2002025911A2/fr
Publication of WO2002025911A3 publication Critical patent/WO2002025911A3/fr

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/64—Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations
    • H04M1/65—Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party
    • H04M1/654—Telephone line monitoring circuits therefor, e.g. ring detectors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/71—Substation extension arrangements
    • H04M1/715—Substation extension arrangements using two or more extensions per line
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/527—Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/42314—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in private branch exchanges
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/42314—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in private branch exchanges
    • H04M3/42331—Direct inward dialling

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to telephone communication systems, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a direct ring telephone system and method.
  • a direct ring telephone system and method that automatically navigates through the prompts required by an automated telephone answering machine so that a caller is effectively directly connected to a person they wish to reach is therefore needed.
  • the present invention relates to a direct ring telephone system and method.
  • the system comprises a direct ring system configured to provide a telephone extension number and an outpulse character string to an automated telephone answering system so that an incoming call is directly connected to the telephone corresponding to the telephone extension number.
  • the outpulse character string and extension number automatically navigates through the prompts required by the automated telephone answering system transparent to the caller so that a caller is in effect "directly" connected to a person they wish to reach.
  • Figure 1 is a diagram of a telephone communication system including the direct ring system of the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of the direct ring system according to the present invention.
  • Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the direct ring system of the present invention.
  • Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of a simultaneous ring and a direct ring system according to the present invention.
  • the direct ring system 10 is coupled to an organization 12 through a telephone line 14 and a standard telephone network 16.
  • the organization includes an automated answering system 18 coupled between the telephone network 16 and a plurality of telephone extensions 20a- 20n (i.e., Joe is at extension 30, Tom at extension 31 and Mary at extension 39).
  • the telephone line 14 is a Primary Rate Interface (PRI) service between the telephone network 12 and the direct ring system 10.
  • PRI Primary Rate Interface
  • a large number of telephone numbers i.e., 500 or more
  • Telephone calls received by the telephone network 12 corresponding to the PRI telephone numbers are thus forwarded to the direct ring system 10.
  • each extension 20a -20n within organization 12 is assigned to one of the PRI telephone numbers.
  • One telephone line 14 can therefore service one organization provided it has fewer extensions 20 than offered by the PRI service. Otherwise additional PRI lines may be needed.
  • one PRI line can be used to service a number of organizations if the total number of extensions does not exceed the number of telephone numbers associated with the PRI line.
  • the automated answering system 18 can be any type of automatic phone answering system, such as those made by Lucent Technologies, Active Voice or Nortel.
  • the telephone network 16 can be any type of public or private telephone network such as US West, Nextlink Communications and MCI Communications.
  • the direct ring system 10 includes a storage device (not shown) that maintains a database 30 with a plurality of records 32a - 32n.
  • Each record 32 includes fields for a direct ring number that corresponds to one of the PRI numbers associated with line 14, the phone number of the associated organization 12, the extension 20 associated with the direct ring number, the name of the party at the extension 20, and the outpulse character string required to navigate through the automated answering system 18.
  • the fields in record 32a for example include the direct ring number (650) 555-1000, the organization number (650)716-5000, extension 30, the name "Joe” and an outpulse character string (1, #, *...) respectively.
  • the outpulse character string includes the characters required to navigate through the automated answering system 18 to a specific extension 20.
  • one embodiment of the present invention uses a colon ( : ) character to represent a pause while waiting for the subscriber's automated answering system to receive the call.
  • a comma ( , ) indicates a two-second pause.
  • the subscriber name in this example, Joe
  • the asterisk ( * ) and pound sign ( # ) characters are outpulsed as their counterparts on a Touch-Tone keypad.
  • the dial string would appear as 6507165000:,30#.
  • the direct ring system 10 includes a voice card 40 coupled to the telephone line 14, a server 42, direct ring software for controlling the operation of the direct ring system 10 as described below, a hardware driver 46 for interfacing between the voice card 40 and the server 42, and a storage device 48 for maintaining the database 30.
  • the voice card is a model D480/SC- 2T, from Intel Corporation's subsidiary Dialogic.
  • the telephone line 14 is an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line with Two B-Channel transfer capability.
  • ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
  • the user telephone line 14 may be a "primary" twenty-three B-Channel and one D-Channel line with six lines used for incoming calls and seventeen lines used for outgoing calls.
  • other types of user telephone lines 14 may be used, such as the ISDN PRI European standard and ISDN Basic Rate Interface PRI).
  • the number of channels provided on the telephone line 14 may vary depending on the number of organizations and extensions using the direct ring system 10 and the amount of telephone call traffic. In the situations where the number of organizations, extensions and call traffic is high, multiple telephone lines 14 and voice cards 40 may be needed.
  • a flow diagram 50 illustrating the operation of the direct ring system of the present invention is shown.
  • the server 42 causes a ringing signal to be generated (step 54) so the caller hears a ringing signal.
  • the server 42 accesses the database 30 on storage device 48 (step 56) and determines if the incoming call is associated with a direct ring number (decision diamond 57). If no, the sequence terminates. If yes, the direct dial system places a call to the organization using the associated organization phone number (step 58) and waits for the automated answering system 18 to answer (step 60).
  • the server 42 then generates the outpulse character string (62) and the extension (step 64) to navigate through the automated answering system 18 and to cause the phone associated with the extension to ring. Eventually the phone is answered by being picked up or by a voice mail system (step 66). When this occurs, the server 42 causes a Two-B channel transfer between the incoming caller and the connected extension (step 68).
  • the direct ring system 10 is therefore switched out of the connection and does not perform conferencing or bridging.
  • the direct ring system 10 may maintain the connection between the caller and the target extension number for the duration of the call if conferencing or bridging is desired.
  • a simultaneous ring system is disclosed.
  • a simultaneous ring system configured to be coupled to the end-user line of the telephone network.
  • the simultaneous ring system In response to receiving an incoming call on the user-line, the simultaneous ring system simultaneously rings target phone numbers and then transfers the telephone call to the telephone network if a connection to one of the target phone numbers is made.
  • the system includes features for introducing dynamic and/or configurable delays between the placement of phone calls to ensure that all the target phones ring substantially simultaneously and a way for a default target number to be selected so that a caller can leave a voice mail message or the like if none of the target numbers are answered after a predetermined period of time.
  • FIG 4 is a flow diagram 80 illustrating the operation of a simultaneous ring 30 and a direct ring system according to the present invention. Steps 52 through 57 are essentially the same as described above, and therefore are not described in detail herein. If it is determined that the received call is for a direct dial/simultaneous ring number (step 82), then an optional dynamic and/or a static delay is introduced as the calls are made to ensure that all ring substantially simultaneously (step 84). The system then waits to determine if one of the calls is answered (decision diamond 86). If answered by one of the targets (step 88), then a Two-B transfer occurs, all the other calls are terminated (step 90), and the sequence is done (step 92).
  • step 94 if the direct dial phone is answered first (step 94), then steps 60 through 70 are performed as described above and all calls to other targets are terminated. In situations where none of the phones are answered, control would be transferred to the default number, regardless if it is a target or a direct phone number.

Abstract

Cette invention concerne un procédé et un appareil pour système d'appel direct conçus pour fournir un numéro interne et une chaîne de caractères pulsés à un système de réponse par téléphone automatisé de telle sorte qu'un appel entrant soit automatiquement connecté à l'appareil téléphonique correspondant au numéro interne demandé. La chaîne de caractères pulsés et le numéro interne naviguent automatiquement entre les invites requises par le système de réponse téléphonique automatisé transparent pour le demandeur de sorte que ce dernier est effectivement mis « directement » en contact avec la personne qu'il souhaite atteindre.
PCT/US2001/029215 2000-09-20 2001-09-20 Appareil et procede telephonique a appel direct WO2002025911A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2001292768A AU2001292768A1 (en) 2000-09-20 2001-09-20 Direct ring telephone apparatus and method

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US66571700A 2000-09-20 2000-09-20
US09/665,717 2000-09-20

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2002025911A2 true WO2002025911A2 (fr) 2002-03-28
WO2002025911A3 WO2002025911A3 (fr) 2002-12-27

Family

ID=24671290

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2001/029215 WO2002025911A2 (fr) 2000-09-20 2001-09-20 Appareil et procede telephonique a appel direct

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU2001292768A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2002025911A2 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4696028A (en) * 1984-03-26 1987-09-22 Dytel Corporation PBX Intercept and caller interactive attendant bypass system
US4792967A (en) * 1986-02-20 1988-12-20 Opcom PBX DID and E and M tie trunk integration adapter and method
US5752191A (en) * 1984-09-14 1998-05-12 Accessline Technologies, Inc. Telephone control system which connects a caller with a subscriber AT A telephone address

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4696028A (en) * 1984-03-26 1987-09-22 Dytel Corporation PBX Intercept and caller interactive attendant bypass system
US5752191A (en) * 1984-09-14 1998-05-12 Accessline Technologies, Inc. Telephone control system which connects a caller with a subscriber AT A telephone address
US4792967A (en) * 1986-02-20 1988-12-20 Opcom PBX DID and E and M tie trunk integration adapter and method

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
NOTTNAGEL W: "DURCHWAHL IN FERNSPRECH-NEBENSTELLENANLAGEN" TELEFON REPORT SIEMENS, SIEMENS AG. MUNCHEN, DE, vol. 9, no. 4, March 1974 (1974-03), pages 175-179,1, XP000836274 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU2001292768A1 (en) 2002-04-02
WO2002025911A3 (fr) 2002-12-27

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6041114A (en) Telecommute server
US6542591B1 (en) Method and system for caller identification callback lists
US6473612B1 (en) Method for providing directory assistance services via an alphanumeric page
US5850435A (en) Method for audible caller name announcement with call list feature
CA1321666C (fr) Repondeur telephonique a memoire de messages vocaux et de messages ecrits
US7016483B2 (en) Call programming apparatus and method
US5657383A (en) Flexible customer controlled telecommunications handling
US5027384A (en) Personalized automatic call routing
US5161181A (en) Automatic number identification blocking system
JP3194571B2 (ja) 電話システムの発呼者を被呼者に接続する方法
CA2090165A1 (fr) Gestion des appels vers l'exterieur dans un reseau
US5809130A (en) System and method for selectively retrieving communications from any selected location
US6631182B1 (en) Call screening apparatus and method
KR950035263A (ko) 착신 전화 호출을 선택적으로 스크린하는 방법 및 장치
WO2002025912A2 (fr) Appareil de sonnerie telephonique simultanee, et procede associe
WO1994029992A1 (fr) Procede et appareil permettant d'obtenir des services de gestion d'appel commandes par l'utilisateur
JP3510492B2 (ja) 付属装置と交換システムの間で呼を調整するシステム
CA2191155C (fr) Systeme de telecommunication a fonctions de prise d'appel a distance
KR100600904B1 (ko) 착신전화응답지연방법
US7110520B1 (en) Method and system for directory assistance services
US7555521B1 (en) System and method for accepting text calls on voice telephones at call centers or other locations
US7881442B2 (en) Call announcement service
EP1071266A1 (fr) Systèmes d'enregistrement téléphoniques
GB2298761A (en) Voice services system including a network database
WO2002025911A2 (fr) Appareil et procede telephonique a appel direct

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY BZ CA CH CN CO CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EC EE ES FI GB GD GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX MZ NO NZ PH PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT TZ UA UG US UZ VN YU ZA ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW MZ SD SL SZ TZ UG ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE TR BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GQ GW ML MR NE SN TD TG

121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application
AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: A3

Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY BZ CA CH CN CO CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EC EE ES FI GB GD GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX MZ NO NZ PH PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT TZ UA UG US UZ VN YU ZA ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: A3

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW MZ SD SL SZ TZ UG ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE TR BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GQ GW ML MR NE SN TD TG

REG Reference to national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: 8642

122 Ep: pct application non-entry in european phase
NENP Non-entry into the national phase

Ref country code: JP