US 5,475,746 AGranted

Method for permitting subscribers to change call features in real time

AssigneeAT&T Corp.

InventorsEileen O. Miller, James B. Shepard

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Abstract

A telephone subscriber to a long distance telecommunication system is permitted, in accordance with this invention, to enter changes in real time utilizing a conventional Touch-tone telephone to control the routing or handling of incoming calls. A real-time update network control point (RTU NCP) is accessed by subscribers and contains input steps which controls the entry of changes by the subscriber. Upon the completion of the entry by the subscriber of the desired changes in RTU NCP, the latter causes the changes to be transmitted to the subscriber's NCP (SUB NCP) which controls the processing of incoming calls to a directory number associated with the subscriber based on subscriber data stored in the SUB NCP. The SUB NCP data corresponding to the subscriber is modified in accordance with the changes, so that incoming calls will be handled in accordance with the changed subscriber data.

Claims27

Dependent claims

In a telecommunication system that provides selectable call handling features, a method for permitting real time changes to be made by subscribers to the selectable call handling features, the method comprising the steps of:

routing a call from a first subscriber to a first database in said telecommunication system, the first subscriber using said call to change call handling features associated with the first subscriber which controls the way calls to the first subscriber are handled;
validating the authority of the first subscriber seeking to enter the call handling feature change;
upon the authority of said first subscriber being validated, accepting and storing data specifically entered by said first subscriber to cause a change to be made to a call handling feature in said first database;
determining if said stored data in the first database corresponds to a valid, changeable call handling feature based on validation information previously stored in the first database;
upon validation of said stored data, automatically transmitting said data from said first database in said telecommunication network that contains a call handling record corresponding to said first subscriber, said call handling record in the second database controlling the handling of the first subscriber's calls;
modifying said call handling record in said second database based on said data to implement in real time said call handling feature change entered by said first subscriber, whereby subscribers can make changes in real time to call handling features.

3 more elements

In a telecommunication system that provides programmable call routing features, a method for permitting real time changes to be made by subscribers to their respective call routing features, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving and storing at a first database in said telecommunication system, data specifically entered by a first subscriber using a telephone to change a call routing feature that controls the handling of at least certain calls to the first subscriber;
determining if said first subscriber data stored in the first database corresponds to a valid, changeable call handling feature based on information stored in the first database;
if said determining step validates said stored data, automatically transmitting said stored data from said first database to a second database in said telecommunication system that contains a call routing record corresponding to said first subscriber, said call handling record in the second database controlling the handling of the first subscriber's calls;
modifying said call routing record in real time based on said stored data to implement said feature change entered by said first subscriber, whereby subscribers can make changes in real time to call routing features.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.