MXPA98000470A - Telefon central - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a telephone exchange that transmits audible signals to a subscriber line to indicate the central or network conditions. The audible signals to be transmitted to the subscriber line are selected (means 15) from one or more available audible signal sources (14, 16, 17, 18, 19) according to the contents of a storage enclosure (20) for that subscriber line. Additional storage locations (25) are provided for each subscriber line to allow selection (means 21) of additional audible signal sources (22, 23, 24) dependent on the condition. The subscriber can alter the contents of their storage accommodation (20, 25) by entering a specific code.

Description

TELEPHONE EXCHANGE The present invention relates to telephone exchanges and more particularly to audible signals to be transmitted by the telephone exchange to a subscriber line to the exchange or network conditions, for example that dialing is possible and to indicate an attempt to establish a connection desired. US Patent 4,510,349 discloses a system in which the announcement or other type of message can be directed to a subscriber's line by making a call during periods in which call progress signals such as ringing tone would normally be present. In U.S. Patent 4,941,167, an information message may be directed to the line of a calling subscriber in the event that a call for a subscriber line to which a particular subscriber is unsuccessful, the information message that has been selected. or recorded by the so-called private subscriber. The International Patent Application WO 93/00763 discloses a telephone marketing system in which a pre-recorded announcement can be reproduced for a called subscriber instead of at least a portion of a call progress signal, the dial tone or the particular coupling tone. British Patent Application GB 2,206,265 describes an interurban telephone service in which a subscriber can no longer choose to listen to the warning messages while his call to a called subscriber line is being established, in return for a more call fee low. The calling process can be suspended at the local telephone exchange of the caller until the completion of the message or warning messages. According to one aspect of the present invention, a telephone exchange is provided comprising: (a) storage means having, for example, for each of the plurality of subscriber lines connected to the telephone exchange, a storage enclosure , to contain a code word identifying one of a plurality of audio sources; (b) control means responsive to a hung condition of a subscriber line to interrogate the corresponding storage location and to direct the corresponding audio source to the subscriber line to indicate that tampering is possible; (c) means operable in response to the marked signals assigned from a subscriber line to change the code word in the corresponding storage location to change the audio source and to be selected for subsequent subscriber conditions of that subscriber without changing another way the answer of the telephone exchange for that subscriber. According to another aspect of the invention, a telephone exchange is provided which has: (a) storage means having, for each plurality of subscriber lines connected to the telephone exchange, a storage location for containing a codeword that identifies one of a plurality of audio sources; (b) operable control means for recognizing a condition that refers to the addressing of a call from a subscriber line connected to the telephone exchange to another subscriber line for which a call is made and in response thereto to interrogate the corresponding storage means for the call subscriber line and for directing the call subscriber line to the audio source identified by the code word therein; (c) means operable in response to the marked signals, assigned from a subscriber line to change the code word in corresponding storage location to change the audio source to be selected for subsequent call attempts of that subscriber. In a preferred arrangement, the control means are operable by following the receipt of the calling subscriber line from the dialed digits corresponding to the subscriber's line for which a call is made to store the dialed digits., the condition being the storage of the dialed digits, and the control means are further operable, in response to the termination of the signals from the audio source or the early presence or absence of an acceptance / rejection signal coded from the line calling subscriber, to release the dialed digits, stored for call set-up. In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a telephone exchange having control means operable following reception from one. subscriber line of dialed digits to establish a call to a subscriber line called: (i) direct the subscriber line that calls an audio signal source for recognized reception of digits; (ii) sending to the subscriber line called telephone exchange a signal instructing it to stop the application of certain sound current for the subscriber line 11 loved; (iii) recognizing a network condition that corresponds to the successful routing of a call from the calling subscriber's line to the called subscriber's line and over it, in response to the termination of the signals from the audio source or the presence or early absence of a coded acceptance / rejection signal from the calling subscriber line, to send it to the subscriber's telephone line called a signal to release the application of the sound stream to the called subscriber's line. Some embodiments of the invention are now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a digital local telephone exchange Figure 2 shows the construction of a digital concentrator, Figures 3 to 7 they are flow diagrams showing the operation of the control unit 13 of Figure 2 for each of the following modalities: Figure 3 replacing the tone of the "marked" with an audio source selectable by the subscriber; Figure 4 basic substitution of ring tone with an audio source selectable by the subscriber, Figure 5 reproduction of an audio advertisement selectable by the subscriber as long as they are maintained the dialed digits; Figure 6, reproduction of an audio ad selectable by the subscriber while the dialed digits are retained, with the additional facility of selecting additional audio information linked to the initial audio announcement; an audio announcement selectable by the subscriber while maintaining the call current to a subscriber line called Referring to Figure 1, a digital switch 1, is shown with connections 2 to other central and / or interurban exchanges of a network telephone and connections 3 by means of digital concentrators 4 (and, if desired, remote concentrators 5), to the lines of their analogous cryptor 6. Figure 2 shows the subscriber line 6 connected to a number of subscriber line modules 7 within a digital hub 4, each line module 7 including call current injection, wire 2 conversion to wire 4 and converters from analog to digital and from digital to analog. Each line module 7 has a digital input and output connected to one of a number of digital switches 8, 9. The output signals from a switch 8 are passed by means of a tone injection unit 10 and thence to a digital switch 1, receivers 11 for call signaling 11 (DTMF) are also connected at this point. Similarly, the input signals pass from the switch 1 via the tone injection circuit 12. All of those units 7-12 are connected to a concentrator control unit 13 in the form of a program-controlled processor. stored. When a subscriber is "off-hook" this is recognized by the line module 7 that triggers the processes in the control unit 13 to direct the connections by means of the switches 8, 9 and to house one of the DTMF detectors 11 to recognize " the call "by the subscriber. The fact that the subscriber is able to call is signaled to the subscriber by the control unit 13 which allows the call tone to pass from a tone generator 14 by means of a switch 15 and the tone injection unit 12. The telephone exchange, as it will be described later, is conventional, since it is the response of the exchange to the detection of the normal call. The telephone exchange differs from conventional stations in the provision of substitute audio sources that provide signals, for example: Unit 16 - music source Unit 17 - a recorded news source Unit 18 - weather information. A full variety of audio sources is possible, of course, such as local information lines, "what" is happening with the so-called weather forecasts, product information and so on.Other sources, for example, the unit 19 provide interrupted ringing tone that can be provided to indicate a particular state of the subscriber line, for example, that of call forwarding that is in progress.It will be appreciated that all those sources serve to provide a sound that the subscriber will hear when lifting Your headset, that is, the response of the PBX to a hang-up condition, so that the subscriber can select which source is going to be heard, the hub module 4 includes a storage 20 containing the storage location for each line of the subscriber, so that a code number stored therein can be challenged by the control unit 13 to identify the current preference of the subscriber. It is contemplated that the subscriber can change his selection preference at any time by typing a special code (for example * 1, * 2 etc), which is received by the DTMF detector 11 and recognized by the control unit 13 which then writes the corresponding code number within the relevant location of the storage 20. The next time the subscriber is off-hook, the The new code number gcr is present in the storage 20 and the new preference is provided. It is important to note that the change of code numbers in the storage 20 serves only to select the desired or replacement ring tone and does not otherwise affect the service provided by the exchange to the subscriber. With further reference to Figure 3, the operation of the control unit 13 will now be described in greater detail for the case of a subscriber who is off-hook, in which it is assumed that the code numbers recorded in the storage II are numbers 14 and 16 to 18 used in Figure 2. The next detection of the subscriber's off-hook condition by the line module 7 and the location of a hub switch and a DTMF equipment, a check is made to determine whether the Call forwarding is activated for that subscriber line. If so, the interrupted ring tone unit 19 is selected and the audio source addressed to the subscriber by means of the switch 15 and the tone injection unit 12. If the call diversion is not activated, the control unit 13 is activated. reads the contents of the subscriber storage location in storage 20 and selects the audio source unit identified therein. This can be the normal ring tone unit 14 or one of the substitution audio sources, the units 16 to 18. The selected audio source is directed to the subscriber by means of the switch 15 and the tone injection unit 12. The hosted DTMF equipment monitors the subscriber line for any code number or code as long as the audio source is playing. If a replacement audio source of the units 16 to 18 terminates playback before detection of a DTMF signal on the subscriber line, the ring tone unit 14 will be selected and the marked tone will be played. As long as the call tone is selected, it operates a waiting time in the normal way until either a DTMF signal is detected on the subscriber line or the waiting time is ended, in the latter case the call attempt will be terminated by the control unit 13. The detection of DTMF whether the subscriber has initiated the dialing of the number of a so-called intended subscriber, or that a special code is dialed to change the contents of a storage location. The DTMF detection will immediately suspend playback of the currently selected audio source. If the subscriber dials the special code "* 0", the control unit 13 will play a help announcement, listing the available audio sources and the corresponding codes to be recorded. The registration of a valid code will update the storage location of the subscriber in storage 20 to indicate the new preference and an announcement will be reproduced for n confirm the identity of the selected audio source. The ring tone from the "unit 14" will then be reproduced until the subscriber registers another special code or calls a telephone number or until the waiting time expires In another embodiment of the invention, an alternate selectable audio source for the subscriber can be reproduced after calling the called subscriber number intended instead of as before, that is, an alternative to the call tone.A conventional provision, the digits dialed to fix a telephone call are directed by means of switch 1, and the network to the called subscriber exchange (or, for a call to a subscriber on the same exchange for switch 1) When the called exchange has succeeded in establishing a connection and applied call current to the subscriber line called , this signal is fed back to the originating exchange where the control unit 13 causes the injection of the call tone by means of the injection unit 12. In the simplest version of ring tone substitution, an audio signal to indicate that the call is selected by the control unit 13 by means of the switch 21 from alternative sources 22 (conventional ring tone) 23 (music) or 24 (ads). The current selection is indicated by a code stored in a storage 25 with a location for each subscriber analogous to storage 20 (in fact an individual storage can be used, or the functions of storage 20 and 25 must be executed by areas housed in a storage of general purpose in the control unit 13 my sma). The operation of the control unit 13 under those circumstances is shown in the flow diagram of Figure 4. Note from Figure 4 that the opportunity is provided for the subscriber, by marking one of an additional set of special codes, alter the contents of your storage location in storage 25 to indicate a preference for one of the audio sources 22 through 24, to be reproduced following the dialing of the subscriber's telephone number called intended. The help announcement described with reference to Figure 3 can be additionally placed to include, in the list of available audio sources, the choice of audio source units of selection 22 to 24 to be used after calling the subscriber number called. A disadvantage of the simple version of the ringtone substitution described above is that the calling subscriber listens to the selected sound only as long as it takes for the called subscriber to respond. It is therefore preferred to terminate the call that can be deliberately delayed to allow the caller to hear the desired message. This could be achieved by either sending the digits dialed in the originating station (for example in a temporary memory 26) to the temporary memory, or allowing the continuation of the call establishment process to the point where the called exchange has verified that the line called subscriber is available to accept the call; while the remote control unit waits for free space before sending the call current to the called line. To avoid the delay of urgent or emergency calls, it is highly desirable not only that the calling subscriber be able to intersperse this delay, but that the called subscriber should not be inhibited from making or receiving other calls as a first subscriber that Llama is listening to a replacement announcement before proceeding to terminate the call. Therefore, according to another embodiment of the invention for which the operation of the control unit 13 is shown in Figure 5, the calling process is suspended within the exchange which originates the call of the subscriber after dialing the telephone number of a so-called intended subscriber, the dialed digits being temporarily stored in a temporary memory 26 as long as an audio source is played. The audio source is selected, according to the contents of a storage location for that calling subscriber line within the storage 25 from the available audio source units 22 or 23 shown in Figure 2 for this example. According to FIG. 5, after the temporary storage of the dialed digits, the control unit 13 reads the storage location of the subscriber in storage 25. If the conventional audio source unit 22 is indicated, then the stored digits temporarily they will be released immediately to the network so that the call proceeds normally, the conventional ringing tone being directed to the subscriber or • caller if the called subscriber line is available to receive the call attempt. If the substitute audio source unit 23 is indicated, the control unit 13 will be directed from the audio announcement to the subscriber line by means of the switch 21 and the tone injection unit 12. In the meantime, the hosted DTMF detector will monitor the Subscriber line for any code number or code as long as the audio source is played. If the audio source unit 23 terminates playback before detection of a DTMF signal on the subscriber's line, the temporarily stored digits will be released to the network and the call attempt will proceed normally. However, if the subscriber dials a special code, for example, "#" then the selected ad will be immediately suspended and the dialed digits released to the network. A variation of this mode is described with reference to Figure 6 in which the control unit 13 is set to allow a calling subscriber to listen to a two-part advertisement, the second part being selected following the registration of a special code . In this example, the audio source unit 24 (announcement) of Figure 2 provides a two-part advertisement. While the first part of the announcement is played, the DTMF detector monitors the subscriber line for any code or code number. The call of a "#" will abort the announcement and will clear the marked digits towards the network so that the call proceeds normally. Otherwise, the first part of the announcement tells the subscriber to register a code, "* 7", for example, if he wants to hear additional announcements. For example, "Bloggs Foodstores offers you a 5% discount on the cost of this call, pressing * 7 to accept - and listen to your details of this grocery offer of the week." If the user types "* 7" then the source will play the announcement. When the announcement is over, the temporarily stored digits are released to the network and the call proceeds normally. If the user does not do anything after the first part, the announcement and temporarily stored digits are released after a predetermined timeout. Again, if required, an advertisement can be aborted at any stage by the subscriber who registers a "#" although in this example, the abortion of the second part of the advertisement before the termination can be registered by the control unit 13 and the authorization to take out the offered call discount. In another embodiment of the invention, in which the dialed digits are not stored temporarily, but are passed to the central (remote) to direct the call, those digits will be accompanied by an instruction for the central to stop (as long as that otherwise processes the call normally) to apply the call current to the called subscriber line. Once the called exchange has signaled to the exchange that it is called, it is ready to proceed, the latter reproduces for the subscriber calling the audio source selected by the contents of the subscriber storage location calling in storage 25 and, Upon termination of the announcement or abortion by the calling subscriber, the signals for the called exchange release the call and apply the normal ringing tone (or some other selected sound) to the calling line.

Referring to Figure 7, it can be seen that, after delaying the dialed digits towards the called exchange, and the following receipt of a call termination signal indicating that the called subscriber line is ready to receive a call, the unit control 13 reads the storage location of the calling subscriber in storage 25 and selects the audio source unit indicated therein. If the conventional ring tone unit 22 is selected, the call will proceed immediately in a normal manner. The selection of one of the substitution audio source units 23 or 24 will result in the announcement being reproduced towards the calling subscriber in the same way as in the other modes. Once again, the calling subscriber can abort the announcement and immediately proceed with the call by registering the code "#" at any time while the announcement is playing. To avoid inhibiting the called subscriber from making or receiving calls from other subscribers, while the first calling subscriber hears the selected advertisement, the control unit 13 verifies by a "busy" signal that it is back from the call center that indicates that either the called subscriber line has been left off-hook to make a call or that another incoming call is being received therein. If such a "busy" signal is received, an indicator is set by the control unit 13 to register that the called subscriber line is now "busy". When the announcement ends, or if the calling subscriber aborts after setting the "busy" indicator, the "busy" tone will be directed to the subscriber's line called as normal. If the called subscriber line remains ready to accept the call (the "busy" indicator is not sent), then upon termination of the announcement or abortion by the calling subscriber, the call center signals to the called exchange release the call current and proceed with the call attempt as usual. The concept of alternative substitution audio source for conventional tones can be extended to other tones, for example "busy" or "docked" tones. The control unit 13 would be positioned to allow selection of a substitute audio source by the same method as for the modes described above, using a storage location for each subscriber line within one of the existing stores 20 or 25, or within an additional storage dedicated for the replacement of the "busy" tone.

Claims (10)

1. A telephone exchange comprising: (a) storage means having, for example, for each of the plurality of subscriber lines connected to the telephone exchange, a storage housing for containing a code word identifying one of a plurality from audio sources; (b) control means that respond to a condition hung from a subscriber line to interrogate the corresponding storage location and to direct the corresponding audio source to the subscriber line to indicate that the marking is possible; (c) means operable in response to the marked signals assigned from a subscriber line to change the code word in the corresponding storage location to change the audio source and to be selected for subsequent subscriber conditions of that subscriber without changing another way the answer of the telephone exchange for that subscriber.

2. A telephone exchange having: (a) storage means having, for example, for each of the plurality of subscriber lines connected to the telephone exchange, a storage accommodation for containing a code word identifying one of a plurality from audio sources; - * - -fb) control means operable to recognize a condition in relation to directing a call from a subscriber line connected to the exchange to another subscriber line for which the call will be made in response thereto to interrogate the location storage corresponding to the calling subscriber line and to direct to the subscriber line calling the audio source identified by means of the code word thereof; (c) means operable in response to the marked signals assigned from a subscriber line to change the codeword in the corresponding storage location to change the audio source and to be selected for subsequent hang conditions of that subscriber.

3. A telephone exchange according to claim 2, wherein the condition is a condition corresponding to the successful addressing of a call from the connected subscriber line of the exchange connected to the called subscriber line.

4. A telephone exchange according to claim 2, wherein the condition is a condition corresponding to a failure in the addressing of a call from the calling subscriber's line connected to the exchange to the called subscriber's line.

5. A telephone exchange according to claim 2, in which the control means are operable, after receipt of the calling subscriber's line from the corresponding dialed digits towards the subscriber's line for which a call is made, to store the dialed digits, the condition being the storage of the dialed digits in which the control means are further operable, in response to the termination of signals from the audio source or the presence or early absence of an encoded acceptance / rejection signal from the calling subscriber line, to release the stored dialed digits to establish the 1 called.

A telephone exchange according to claim 3, wherein: (i) the control means are operable, following the receipt of the calling subscriber line of the dialed digits, to set a call for the subscriber's line I call to send to the central of the subscriber's line called a signal that instructs it to stop the application of the call current to the called subscriber's line, and (ii) the control means are operable, in addition, in response to the termination of signals from the audio source or the presence or early absence of an encoded acceptance / rejection signal from the calling subscriber line, to send to the central subscriber line called a signal to release the application from the call current to subscriber line 1 called.

7. A telephone exchange having control means operable upon receipt of a subscriber line of dialed digits for fixing a call to a subscriber line called: (i) direct subscriber line calling an audio signal source for recognized reception of the digits; (ii) send to the telephone line of the subscriber line called a signal that instructs it to stop the application of certain sound current for the called subscriber line; (iii) recognizing a network condition that corresponds to the successful routing of a call from the calling subscriber's line to the called subscriber's line and over it, in response to the termination of the signals from the audio source or the presence or early absence of a coded acceptance / rejection signal from the calling subscriber line, to send it to the telephone exchange of the called subscriber's line, a signal to release the application of the sound stream towards the called subscriber's line.

8. A telephone exchange according to claim 7, which includes storage means having, for each of the plurality of subscriber lines connected to the exchange, a storage location for containing a code word identifying one of the plurality of subscribers. audio sources, the control means being operable to interrogate the storage housing corresponding to the calling subscriber line and to direct, in step '(ii), to the subscriber's line calling the audio source identified by the code word in it.

9. A telephone exchange according to claim 8, which includes operable means in response to marked signals assigned from a subscriber line to change the code word in the corresponding storage location to change the audio source to be selected for call attempts. subsequent by the subscriber.

10. A telephone exchange substantially as described heretofore, with reference as shown in the accompanying drawings.