Extended telephone services via telephone lines shared for standard telephony and internet access
US6278704A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 4, 1997 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 4, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M1/57
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention affords a predefined class of authorized users of the PSTN (public switched telephone network) access to extended telephone services through public communication networks external to the PSTN, the latter networks including the web and Internet, in situations wherein the users have only a single telephone line that is shared for receiving both extended telephone services and standard telephone services, and wherein the extended services are deliverable while the shared line is connected to the external network. The shared line can be a line serving a residence or business establishment containing equipment for communicating through the external network(s) and equipment used in standard telephony (e.g. standard telephones, standard facsimile receivers, standard computer fax modems, etc.). The extended services can be activated automatically, by interaction between users and computer intelligence in the PSTN, without assistance from human representatives of the PSTN. Resource management intelligence of the PSTN is adapted to link to the external networks for communicating with and delivering extended telephone services to authorized users. Extended telephone serv…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.