Subscriber control of access restrictions on a plurality of the subscriber's telephone lines

A method of controlling provision of communication services over an identified group of subscriber telephone lines assigned to one subscriber, said subscriber telephones lines connecting to a public switched telephone network, said method comprising:

• remotely programing into a centralized data base information sent from a subscriber telephone line via common channel interoffice signaling line to said central control by the subscriber identifying a period of time when the communication services provided over the group of subscriber telephone lines should be active and an authorization code;
• storing the received information in the centralized database within the public telephone switched network and setting a trigger in each telephone switching office associated with each subscriber telephone line of said group in accordance with said information programmed by said subscriber;
• detecting an attempt to initiate a call on one of the lines of the group:
• receiving information from a caller on the one line of the group;
• and
• providing a connection from the one line of the group to a destination telephone only if the attempt to initiate a call was detected within the period and the information from the caller includes information corresponding to the authorization code.

A telecommunication system comprising:

• a plurality of switching offices for selectively providing switched communication services to a plurality of communication lines connected thereto;
• a central control separate from the plurality of switching offices, said central control sending data to and receiving data from one or more of the switching offices to control at least some switching operations thereof;
• a group of communication lines connected to at least one of the switching offices, all of said group of communication lines being assigned to one subscriber;
• means for remotely programming information sent from a subscriber telephone line via a common channel interoffice signaling line to said central control by the subscriber, specifying criteria under which the subscriber wishes to offer communication services over the group of lines to one or more of the subscriber's customers;
• and
• means for storing the programmed information in a database in the central control, and means for setting a trigger in each telephone switching office associated with each subscriber telephone line of said group in accordance with said information programmed by said subscriber,
• wherein when a caller attempts to obtain a communication service over one of the communication lines in said group:
• a switching office connected to the one communication line transmits information characterizing the attempt to obtain a communication service to the central control,
• the central control accesses the information defining criteria stored in the database and instructs the switching office connected to the one communication line to provide switched communication service over the one line if the information characterizing the attempt to obtain a communication service meets the criteria.

A method of controlling provision of communication services over an identified group of communication lines assigned to one subscriber, said communication lines connecting to a switched communication network having a plurality of switching offices, said method comprising:

• remotely programming into a central data base sent from a subscriber telephone line via a common channel interoffice signaling line to said central control by the one subscriber, information defining criteria under which the one subscriber wishes to offer communication services over the group of lines to one or more persons;
• storing the programmed information in a centralized database in the switched communication network separate from the plurality of switching offices and setting a trigger in each telephone switching office associated with each subscriber telephone line of said group in accordance with said information programmed by said subscriber;
• detecting an attempt by one of the persons to obtain a communication service over one of the communication lines in said group;
• transmitting information characterizing the attempt to obtain a communication service from a switching office connected to the one communication line to the centralized database;
• accessing the information defining criteria stored in the centralized database;
• and
• providing a communication service on said one of the lines of the group if the information characterizing the attempt to obtain a communication service meets the criteria.