Call appearance reservation arrangement
AssigneeAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T Bell Laboratories
InventorDewey A. Frech
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A call appearance reservation arrangement where any number of the call appearances of a directory number are reservable, and where a reservation type is defined for the directory number such that calls to and from the reserved call appearances are processed in accordance with one of a number of possible reservation types, such types for example including: (1) origination only, (2) termination only, and (3) origination and priority termination only.
Claims31
A method of processing calls to and from one of a plurality of call appearances of a directory number comprising the following steps:
- in response to said calls, determining one of a plurality of reservation types and determining whether said one call appearance is reserved, and
- after a determination that said one call appearance is reserved, denying ones of said calls based on said determined reservation type.
A method of processing a call to a directory number having a plurality of call appearances comprising the following steps:
- in response to said call, determining one of a plurality of reservation types, choosing one of said plurality of call appearances, and determining whether said chosen call appearance is reserved, and
- after a determination that said chosen call appearances is reserved, denying ones of said calls based on said determined reservation type.
A method of processing calls to and from one of a plurality of call appearances of a directory number, wherein said plurality of call appearances comprises N call appearances, N being a positive integer greater than one, said N call appearances being numbered with consecutive integers from one through N, with R highest-numbered of said N call appearances being reserved, R being a positive integer at most equal to N, said method comprising the following steps:
- in response to said calls, determining whether said one call appearance is numbered greater than (N-R), and
- after a determination that said one call appearance is numbered greater than (N-R), processing said calls in accordance with a given reservation type.
An apparatus for processing calls to and from one of a plurality of call appearances of a directory number comprising
- first means responsive to said calls for determining one of a plurality of reservations types,
- second means responsive to said calls for determining whether said one call appearance is reserved, and
- third means, responsive to a determination by said second means that said one call appearance is reserved, for denying ones of said calls based on a reservation type determined by said first means.
An apparatus for processing a call to a directory number having a plurality of call appearances comprising
- first means responsive to said call for determining one of a plurality of reservation types,
- second means responsive to said call for choosing one of said plurality of call appearances,
- third means responsive to said call for determining whether a call appearance chosen by said second means is reserved, and
- fourth means, responsive to a determination by said third means that said chosen call appearance is reserved, for processing said call in accordance with a reservation type determined by said first means.
An apparatus for processing calls to and from one of a plurality of call appearances of a directory number, wherein said plurality of call appearances comprises N call appearances, N being a positive integer greater than one, said N call appearances being numbered with consecutive integers from one through N, with R highest-numbered of said N call appearances being reserved, R being a positive integer at most equal to N, said apparatus comprising
- means responsive to said calls for determining whether said one call appearance is numbered greater than (N-R), and
- means, responsive to a determination by said determining means that said one call appearance is numbered greater than (N-R), for processing said calls in accordance with a given reservation type.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.