Back to results
US 7,127,053 B1Granted
Call scheduling on a telephone network using a telephony interface
AssigneeBellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
InventorGhulam Abbas Laljiani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeBellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
InventorGhulam Abbas Laljiani
Estimating the term…
A system and method to allow telephone subscribers to schedule calls for future placement on a telephone network using a telephone interface. In an illustrative implementation, a telephone subscriber part of an AIN telephone network is offered a call scheduling service whereby the subscriber may schedule future placed calls according to various parameters (e.g. telephone number(s) to call, the time of the scheduled call, and the frequency of the call, i.e. every day, month, week, or year) by inputting parameters using a telephone interface of a telephone station that is connected to the AIN telephone network. In operation, a participating user would connect to the service switch point (SSP) of the AIN telephone network using his/her telephone station. The SSP communicates this request to a service control point (SCP) having an administrative application and a call scheduling application. The SCP verifies that the requesting party is a subscriber to the call scheduling service and cooperates with a service node (SN) to prompt the participating user to input information indicative of the desired scheduled calls. The call schedule information is stored in a SCP cooperating database. When the scheduled time for a scheduled call arrives, the SCP cooperates with the SN to notify the participating user (e.g. by calling the subscriber's listed telephone) that the time for the scheduled call has arrived. If prompted by the participating user, the SCP proceeds to cooperate with the SN to place the scheduled call.
A system to schedule placement of outgoing calls comprising:
In an advanced intelligent network (AIN) comprising a service switching point (SSP) connected to a first telephone station from which outgoing calls are to be placed, a plurality of service nodes (SN) each having interactive data systems, a service control point (SCP) containing a database, and at least one telephone station, a method of call scheduling from a first telephone station to schedule the outgoing calls to at least one other telephone station to which the outgoing calls are to be placed, comprising at least the following:
A method of completing outgoing telephone calls comprising at least the following:
A system of connecting a scheduled outgoing telephone call using an automated telephone network, the system comprising:
A method for scheduling an outgoing telephone call, the method comprising
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers: arrangements for calling back a calling subscriber
Related to features of supplementary services: schedules, e.g. personal calendars
Type of exchange or network, i.e. telephonic medium, in which the telephonic communication takes place: intelligent networks
Telephonic communication
Term ended 20 Mar 2022 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This application cross-references U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/873,709, entitled, “SYSTEMS AND MEHTODS FOR SETTING FUTURE TELECONFERENCE CALLS”, filed on Jun. 4, 2001.
The present invention generally relates to the field of telecommunications and to an apparatus and method for scheduling calls. More particularly, the present invention relates to an intelligent or advanced application, such as an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) application, for call scheduling within a telephone network.
In conventional telephone networks, parties place telephone calls on a regular basis, often, according to a predefined or predetermined schedule. In such cases, the party placing these repetitive calls is relegated to keeping an independent schedule to remind him/herself to place the calls and, moreover has to physically place the call at the scheduled time. As such, the calling party expends valuable time and resources in tracking and performing these scheduled calls. The burden of maintaining and following schedule can lead to missed calls that can spell disaster in certain critical situations. Moreover, tracking, scheduling, and placing these periodic and important phone calls takes up the party's time which could otherwise be used for other purposes.
The present invention is further described in the detailed description that follows, by reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way of non-limiting examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a general block diagram form showing an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)-based system for implementing intelligent network management features, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram, illustrating in more detail, elements of a call scheduling system in accordance with the present invention;
AIN Overview:
According to an aspect of the present invention, an apparatus and method providing a call scheduling service may be implemented using an advanced intelligent network (AIN) or AIN-type network. AIN systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,301, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In particular, an AIN network with at least AIN Release 0.2 and advanced intelligent network capabilities may be utilized to implement the various features and aspects of the invention. It should be noted, however, that the implementation of the present invention is not limited to AIN-based networks and other advanced or intelligent networks and arrangements may be used to implement the invention.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an AIN-based network arrangement incorporating the various features of the invention, as further described below. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a telephone network within local access and transport area (LATA) 61 is provided that defines a calling service area. LATA 61 includes stations, e.g., stations 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B, 15A, 15B, 16A, 16B, 17A and 17B, and corresponding switches, e.g., service switching points (SSP) (also known as central offices (CO)) 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. COs 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 may comprise, for example, 1AESS or 5ESS switches. These switches may be manufactured by, for example, Lucent Technologies, Inc., having AIN Release 0.2 capabilities and protocols, or DMS-100 switches manufactured by, for example, Nortel having AIN Release 0.2 capabilities and protocols, or in the case of the 1AESS, additionally having AIN Release 0.0 and AIN Release 0.1 capabilities and protocols. Additionally, it may be possible for the DMS-100 and 5ESS switches to have AIN release 0.0 and AIN Release 0.1 capabilities and protocols. Further, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, as new AIN Releases and protocols (e.g., AIN Release 0.3) are introduced, the capabilities of the SSPs and the service logic of the present invention may be upgraded accordingly.