Allotter circuit for sequential indication of incoming telephone calls

Claim 2

A display lamp control circuit for a plurality of line lamps each associated with a telephone line, comprising a coordinate switching array having a plurality of interconnectable horizontal and vertical conductor paths, said line lamps each being associated with a respective one of said vertical paths; means responsive to a call from one said associated telephone line for automatically interconnecting one of said horizontal conductor paths with the vertical conductor path associated with the line lamp associated with said calling line; first circuit means operable upon the interconnection in said array of said one horizontal and said one vertical conductor paths for preparing an operating path to another of said horizontal paths immediately succeeding said one horizontal path; and second circuit means connected to said horizontal conductor paths for controlling said first circuit means and operable in response to the answering of said call from said calling line for completing an operating path to the one of said line lamps associated with the vertical path of an interconnection in said array which includes said immediately succeeding horizontal path.

Claim 3

A display lamp control circuit in accordance with claim 1, wherein said coordinate switching array comprises a crossbar switch, and wherein each of said horizontal conductor paths comprises a first and a second conductor, said first circuit means includes relay means connected to said first conductor, and said second circuit means includes said second conductor and means controlled by said relay means connected to said first conductor of said one horizontal path for operating said line lamp over said completed path.

Claim 4

A display lamp control circuit for a telephone call allotter circuit including a plurality of telephone lines each having a line lamp associated therewith; a crossbar switch having a plurality of horizontal and vertical conductor paths and horizontal and vertical magnets operable to establish a plurality of interconnections between said horizontal and vertical paths, said vertical conductor paths being associated with respective ones of said lines; and means for lighting one at a time the line lamps associated with calling ones of said lines comprising: means connected to said horizontal conductor paths for selectively operating successive ones of said horizontal magnets of said switch; means responsive to each operation of one of said horizontal magnets for operating the one of said plurality of vertical magnets corresponding to a calling one of said lines; and means operative when one said interconnection established through said switch is released for completing the operating path to one of said plurality of line lamps and for opening the operating path to another of said line lamps assocIated with said telephone lines.

Claim 5

A display lamp control circuit for a telephone call allotter circuit including a plurality of telephone lines each having a line lamp associated therewith; a crossbar switch having a plurality of horizontal and vertical conductor paths and horizontal and vertical magnets operable to establish a plurality of interconnections between said horizontal and vertical paths, said vertical conductor paths being associated with respective ones of said lines; and means for lighting one at a time the line lamps associated with calling ones of said lines comprising: means connected to said horizontal conductor paths for selectively operating successive ones of said horizontal magnets of said switch; means responsive to each operation of one of said horizontal magnets for operating the one of said plurality of vertical magnets corresponding to a calling one of said lines; and means operative when one said interconnection established through said switch is released for completing the operating path to one of said plurality of line lamps and for opening the operating path to another of said line lamps assocIated with said telephone lines.

Claim 6

A display lamp control circuit in accordance with claim 3, wherein said means for selectively operating said horizontal magnets comprises a plurality of relays equal in number to said horizontal magnets and operable sequentially, each of said relays being operable to prevent reoperation of an associated one of said horizontal magnets when the interconnection established by said associated one of said horizontal magnets is released.

Claim 7

A display lamp control circuit in accordance with claim 4, further comprising means responsive to the release of the interconnection established by the last operable one of said horizontal magnets for releasing all of said plurality of relays.

Claim 8

A sequential control circuit comprising a plurality of lines capable of exhibiting service requests, a coordinate switching array having a plurality of horizontal paths and a number of vertical paths equal to the number of said lines, each of said vertical paths corresponding to a particular one of said lines, means for establishing a crosspoint connection in said array between one of said horizontal paths and the vertical path corresponding to a service-requesting one of said lines for each of said lines in the service-requesting condition, a service request display means associated with each of said lines, said display means having its operating path prepared by a crosspoint connection between its corresponding vertical path and a sequentially selected one of said horizontal paths, means controlled by the crosspoint connection established to the first of said sequentially selected horizontal paths for completing the operating path for one of said display means, and means controlled by the release of said last-mentioned crosspoint connection for completing the display device operating path prepared by the next sequentially selected one of said horizontal paths.

Claim 9

A sequential control circuit comprising a plurality of lines capable of exhibiting service requests, a coordinate switching array having a plurality of horizontal paths and a number of vertical paths equal to the number of said lines, each of said vertical paths corresponding to a particular one of said lines, means for establishing a crosspoint connection in said array between one of said horizontal paths and the vertical path corresponding to a service-requesting one of said lines for each of said lines in the service-requesting condition, a service request display means associated with each of said lines, said display means having its operating path prepared by a crosspoint connection between its corresponding vertical path and a sequentially selected one of said horizontal paths, means controlled by the crosspoint connection established to the first of said sequentially selected horizontal paths for completing the operating path for one of said display means, and means controlled by the release of said last-mentioned crosspoint connection for completing the display device operating path prepared by the next sequentially selected one of said horizontal paths.

Claim 10

A telephone call allotter circuit comprising a plurality of telephone lines each having a line lamp associated therewith; a line relay associated with each of said lines, said relay being operable in response to the arrival of a call over a respective one of said lines; a coordinate switching array having a number of horizontal paths equal to the maximum number of calls desired to be held without being answered and a number of vertical conductor paths equal to the number of said telephone lines; means responsive to the operation of each of said line relays for selecting one of said horizontal paths dependent upon the number of said horizontal paths which have previously been selected; means for completing a crosspoint connection in said array at the intersection of said selected one of said horizontal paths with the one of said vertical paths corresponding to said respective one of said lines, each said crosspoint connection being effective to prepare an operating path to the line lamp associated with a respective calling one of said plurality of lines; and means responsive to the release of one of said line relays for completing one of said prepared line lamp operating paths.

Claim 11

A telephone call allotter circuit comprising a plurality of telephone lines each having a line lamp associated therewith; a line relay associated with each of said lines, said relay being operable in response to the arrival of a call over a respective one of said lines; a coordinate switching array having a number of horizontal paths equal to the maximum number of calls desired to be held without being answered and a number of vertical conductor paths equal to the number of said telephone lines; means responsive to the operation of each of said line relays for selecting one of said horizontal paths dependent upon the number of said horizontal paths which have previously been selected; means for completing a crosspoint connection in said array at the intersection of said selected one of said horizontal paths with the one of said vertical paths corresponding to said respective one of said lines, each said crosspoint connection being effective to prepare an operating path to the line lamp associated with a respective calling one of said plurality of lines; and means responsive to the release of one of said line relays for completing one of said prepared line lamp operating paths.