Long distance telephone switching system with enhanced subscriber services

A method of providing enhanced telephone services, to any telephone station on request, comprising the steps of:

• (a) assigning an authorization code to a subscriber for use by a caller desiring to use such services;
• (b) receiving the authorization code at a telephone switching facility from a telephone station at which the caller desires to use such services;
• (c) using the authorization code as a key to gain access to a record of said services;
• (d) causing the presentation of a menu of services to the caller at the telephone station;
• (e) receiving at least one selection from the telephone station as an indication of a listed service desired to be used;
• and
• (f) providing said service to the caller if the subscriber has preselected that service as available for selection.

A method for making certain enhanced telephone services available, on request, to a caller at any telephone station connectable to a telephone system, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) assigning an authorization code to a subscriber;
• (b) selecting the certain enhanced telephone services and associating them with the authorization code;
• (c) receiving, at a point associated with the system, the authorization code provided as an input from the telephone station;
• (d) providing the caller with an audible list of the enhanced telephone services;
• (e) receiving at said point at least one service selection as an input from the telephone station, said service selection being indicative of at least one service from said audible list selected for utilization by said caller;
• (f) making the one selected service available for use by the caller at the telephone station only if the one selected service is one of the certain enhanced telephone services associated with the authorization code;
• and
• (g) repeating steps (d) through (f) upon a reorigination request therefor entered from said telephone station.

A method whereby multiple subscribers for enhanced telephone services can each enable the provision of preselected ones of said enhanced telephone services to any telephone station on request, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a common access number for use by the multiple subscribers for such services;
• (b) providing each subscriber with a card number unique to said subscriber;
• (c) using the access number, entered from a telephone station at which a caller desires to use enhanced services, for routing access of said telephone station to a telephone network facility;
• (d) receiving the card number of said subscriber at said telephone network facility from said telephone station;
• (e) using the card number to derive a key to gain access to a record of the preselected ones of said enhanced services for said subscriber;
• (f) causing a list of enhanced services to be presented at said telephone station;
• (g) receiving a selection from said telephone station as an indication of a listed service desired for use;
• (h) providing said service for use from said telephone station if said service is among those preselected for said subscriber;
• and
• (i) wherein subsequent to step (e) a command for reorigination may be entered from said telephone station to thereby cause step (f) to be carried out and said steps (g) and (h) to become available to be carried out.

In association with the provision of enhanced telephone services to callers regardless of the location of the telephone station from which a call is placed, a method of restricting access to those enhanced telephone services, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving each call placed using a predetermined access number associated with the provision of enhanced telephone services;
• (b) receiving an authorization code entered at the telephone station;
• (c) generating an extended length authorization code by concatenating the received authorization code with at least a portion of the access number;
• (d) determining the validity of the extended length authorization code;
• (e) providing a prompt at the telephone station for selection to be made of a specific enhanced telephone service;
• (f) responding to the selection by accessing information associating the extended length authorization code with a set of enhanced telephone services;
• and
• (g) providing the selected enhanced telephone service if the selected enhanced telephone service is found within the set of enhanced telephone services associated with the extended length authorization code.

For use by multiple subscribers for enhanced telephone services, apparatus usable in connection with a telephone network to allow each subscriber to enable callers to access and use certain ones of said services from any telephone station on request, comprising:

• (a) network means, located at a point within the network, to which calls from said any telephone station are routed upon entry therefrom of an access number common to the multiple subscribers;
• (b) processor means, operable in connection with said network means, for implementing said enhanced telephone services and adapted to receive an authorization code and service selection codes entered from said any telephone, said authorization code being unique to a particular subscriber;
• (c) storage means for storing information in association with the authorization code to define the certain ones of said services, those certain ones having been preselected by the particular subscriber;
• and
• (d) whereby said processing means is operative to extract said information defining said certain services and to make at least one of said services available for use from said any telephone station by entry of at least one of said selection codes.