Clerk paging system

US4741020A · kind A · utility

Inventors

• Steven Deal · San Diego, US
• Richard J. Manning · San Diego, US
• Jeffrey Stevko · Lemon Grove, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 20, 1987
• Grant date: Apr 26, 1988
• Expiry date: Jan 20, 2007

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04M11/022
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A clerk paging system for retail stores wherein a customer can push a "help" button on a call box, there being a call box in each department of the store, and the system automatically provides a stored, paging message to the store's existing paging system, including public address systems and radio systems, the message asking for help at the department in which the customer pushed the "help" button. The system automatically repeats the message with a preset time interval between messages, but only until a clerk pushes a "reset" switch on the same call box upon which the "help" button was pushed. To assist telephoning customers, clerks are paged using a two-part message. The first part of the message, typically a department name, is determined by a button pushed by the store's telephone operator. The system automatically determines the second part of the message, consisting of the telephone line number, by monitoring phone line status. A typical resulting message would be "Plumbing, Line Two". The system automatically repeats the message with a preset time interval between messages, but only so long as the customer is on the phone line waiting for service.