US 5,978,806 AGranted

Method and apparatus for communicating information about a called party to a calling party

AssigneeAmeritech Corporation

InventorArnold M. Lund

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for automatically retrieving and displaying supplemental information about a called party on the customer premise equipment (CPE) of a calling party. When a caller places a call, the number called is used to look up and return to the caller the Universal Resource Locator (URL) of the called party. Application software resident in the caller's CPE uses the URL to retrieve the home page of the called party from the Internet.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A method of communicating information about a called party to a calling party comprising a sequence of the following steps:

collecting a number of the called party;
accessing a database to retrieve an address for locating a customized file of the called party;
transmitting the address to a telephone at the calling party's premises, the telephone including a keyboard for entering said number and a display for displaying said customized file;
retrieving the customized file for use by the calling party's telephone;
and
connecting the called party with the calling party over a telephone network using the number of the party called.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/884,830Filed 30 Jun 1997 · continuation in part
Priority: 18 Feb 1997
Granted: 2 Nov 1999
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification33 codes

H04M 3/42093
Called party identification service: notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
H04M 1/247
Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers: telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use
H04M 1/2478
Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use: telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice…
H04M 1/56
Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers: arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set

Family

Serial801,880Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 18 Feb 1997
US 5,978,806 AThis patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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Abstract

Facts

Application

08/884,830Filed 30 Jun 1997 · continuation in part

Priority

18 Feb 1997

Granted

2 Nov 1999

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification33 codes

H04M 3/42093
Called party identification service: notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
H04M 1/247
Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers: telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use
H04M 1/2478
Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use: telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice…
H04M 1/56
Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers: arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set