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AssigneeAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorsDavid J. Ahnen, Charles O. Akanbi, Ian D. Bruce, Jacqueline C. Kramer, Carolyn D. Larson, Wei-Chen Ni, Annetta T. Owens
Estimating the term…
A distributed control switching system where calls, to and from a directory number that is shared by a key-system group of terminals, are processed cooperatiavely by multiple, distributed control units but in response to busy/idle data for the shared directory number stored advantageously by only a lead one of the control units. In addition to processing a call, for example to complete a connection to or from one of the terminals of the group, the multiple control units also cooperate as the call progresses to inform each of the group terminals of the call status as though the terminals were connected in parallel to a central office line as in an electromechanical key system.
In a distributed control switching system connectable to a plurality of terminals, said system comprising a plurality of control units each associated with a different subset of said terminals and for controlling connections to and from its associated subset of said terminals, a method of processing calls to and from a directory number shared by a key-system group of said terminals associated with multiple ones of said control units, said method comprising
A distributed control switching system connectable to a plurality of terminals,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.