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EP0498593A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Call forwarding system

Assignee: AT&T Inc
•
Filing: 1992-02-03
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2012-02-03
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Abstract

Abstract A call-forwarding system interfaces with a plurality of telephones (104-107,109). A customer can set up a list of destination numbers at a service control processor (103), each destination number having a weight x, which is the maximum permitted number of rings for that number. When a call is placed to a certain number and the call is not answered within x rings or the number is busy, the call is forwarded to the next number on the list, and so on until the call is answered or the end of the list is reached. A number may be the same as one of the earlier numbers, but with a different x, so as to activate an answering machine. The call routing information may depend on the calling number if this is available. A recorded message (108) may be used to inform a caller that the call is being forwarded.

Inventors

  • 👤 Manivakkam P. Krishnan
  • 👤 Vasant C. Ramkumar

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-27 22:52
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/46; H04M3/54; H04Q; H04Q3/00; H04Q3/0016; H04Q3/0029; H04Q2213/00; H04Q2213/13282; H04Q2213/13541

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim 86 words
A call forwarding system adapted to interface with a plurality of telephones comprising: a first on premises switch located at a first central office; means coupled to said on premises switch to cause a first telephone to ring a predetermined number of times, said second telephone to ring a predetermined number of times if the first telephone indicates a busy or no answer condition, and said third telephone to ring a predetermined number of times if the second telephone indicates a busy or no answer condition.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 51 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said means further comprises: means to identify the telephone number of a calling telephone, and means for selecting which of said first, second or third telephones are to ring and the number of rimes each telephone is to ring based upon said calling telephone number.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 28 words
The system of claim 2 further comprising: means coupled to said on premises switch for recording an audible message and for transmitting said audible message to a caller.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 26 words
The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein said means further comprises means to enable a telephone to be polled twice during a call forwarding sequence.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 28 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said means further comprises means to select the number of rimes each telephone is allowed to ring during a call forwarding sequence.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 34 words
The system of claim 5 wherein said means to select the number of rimes each telephone is allowed to ring further comprises means to enable each telephone to have a different number of rings.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 25 words
The system of claim 5 wherein said means further comprises means to enable a single telephone to be polled twice during a call forwarding sequence.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 40 words
The system of claim 1 further comprising a second on premises switch located at a second central office coupled to said means to enable a call to be forwarded to telephones coupled to said first and second on premises switches.

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