Coin telephone non-coin service

Claim 2

An arrangement for providing coin-free telephone service for specifiable digit codes to dial-tone-first coin telephones associated with the network of a serially progressive switching system, comprising means for applying a sequence of call signals representing dialed digits to the network of said switching system, means operative simultaneously with said applying means for registering said sequence of digits, means connected to said registering means for checking a digit of said sequence to determine if it is a valid digit of one of said specifiable digit codes, means responsive to said checking means determining said valid digit for permitting said checking means to check the next generated digit, and means responsive to said checking means determining that a valid one of said specifiable codes has not been generated for disconnecting said calling coin telephone from the switching network of said system.

Claim 3

The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said permitting means comprises means operative a predetermined interval after said digit has been registered for clearing said digit registering means to permit said digit registering means to register the next dialed digit.

Claim 4

The arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising means connected to said registering means for counting the number of digits dialed, said checking means is responsive to the appearance of a predetermined digit in said digit registering means and a predetermined count of said digit counter means to store an indication of a valid digit.

Claim 5

An arrangement for providing coin-free telephone service for specifiable digit codes to dial-tone-first coin telephones associated with the switching network of a serially progressive switching system comprising means for applying a sequence of call signals representing dialed digits to the network of said switching system, means operative simultaneously with said applying means for registering the nth digit of said sequence of digits, means operative at a predetermined interval after said nth digit has been registered for clearing said registering means to permit said registering means to register a subsequent digit of said sequence of digits, means responsive to said clearing means for counting the number of digits dialed when said nth digit has been registered, means responsive to said registering means and said digit counting means for checking said nth digit to determine if it is a valid nth digit of one of said specifiable dial codes, and means responsive to said checking means having failed to determine said valid nth digit for connecting said calling coin telephone to a recorded announcement and for taking down said established connection through said network.

Claim 6

An arrangement for providing coin-free telephone service for specifiable digit codes to dial-tone-first coin telephones associated with the switching network of a serially progressive switching system comprising means for applying a sequence of call signals representing dialed digits to the network of said switching system, means operative simultaneously with said applying means for registering the nth digit of said sequence of digits, means operative at a predetermined interval after said nth digit has been registered for clearing said registering means to permit said registering means to register a subsequent digit of said sequence of digits, means responsive to said clearing means for counting the number of digits dialed when said nth digit has been registered, means responsive to said registering means and said digit counting means for checking said nth digit to determine if it is a valid nth digit of one of said specifiable dial codes, and means responsive to said checking means having failed to determine said valid nth digit for connecting said calling coin telephone to a recorded announcement and for taking down said established connection through said network.

Claim 7

The arrangement according to claim 4, wherein said registering means includes a plurality of output leads and means for energizing predetermined ones of said leads corresponding to respective values of said nth digit, wherein said digit counting means has a plurality of output terminals, one of said terminals being energized to indicate a particular digit count, said checking means including a plurality of OR logic circuits and a plurality of AND logic circuits, one each of said circuit being associated with a respective one of the output terminals of said digit counting means, means for connecting the output terminals of said registering means representing the nth digit of each of said specifiable digit codes to the inputs of the nth digit one of said OR logic circuits, and means for connecting the output terminals of the nth digit one of said OR circuits and the nth digit output lead of said digit counting means to the input of the nth digit one of said AND circuits.

Claim 8

An arrangement for providing coin-free telephone service for specifiable digit codes to dial-tone-first coin telephones having means for generating a sequence of call signals representing dialed digits, said arrangement comprising means for applying said digits to a network of a serially progressive switching system, means for registering a sequence of digits simultaneously as applied to the switching network, means connected to said registering means for counting the number of digits dialed, means connected to said registering means and said counting means for checking a digit of the sequence to determine if it is a valid digit of one of the specifiable digit codes, means responsive to said checking means determining said valid digit for permitting said checking means to check the next generated digit, means responsive to said checking means for indicating that a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied to the network, and coin test means including means alternatively responsive to said indicating means and the presence of a coin at the coin telephone.

Claim 9

An arrangement for providing coin-free telephone service for specifiable digit codes to dial-tone-first coin telephones having means for generating a sequence of call signals representing dialed digits, said arrangement comprising means for applying said digits to a network of a serially progressive switching system, means for registering a sequence of digits simultaneously as applied to the switching network, means connected to said registering means for counting the number of digits dialed, means connected to said registering means and said counting means for checking a digit of the sequence to determine if it is a valid digit of one of the specifiable digit codes, means responsive to said checking means determining said valid digit for permitting said checking means to check the next generated digit, means responsive to said checking means for indicating that a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied to the network, and coin test means including means alternatively responsive to said indicating means and the presence of a coin at the coin telephone.

Claim 10

An arrangement in accordance with claim 6 further comprising means responsive to said coin test means for disabling said registering means and said counting means.

Claim 11

An arrangement in accordance with claim 7 further comprising recorded announcement means and means responsive to said coin test means for connecting said recorded announcement means to the coin telephone.

Claim 12

In a telephone system wherein circuitry is provided for detecting the presence of coins at a coin telephone and wherein coin-free telephone service is provided for the coin telephone station on the application of specifiable dialed digits to a network of a serially progressive switching system, the improvement comprising means for registering a sequence of digits simultaneously as applied to the switching network, means connected to said registering means for counting the number of digits dialed, means responsive to said registering means and said counting means for determining if a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied, and means responsive to said determining means having determined that other than a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied to said switching network to operate said circuitry for detecting the presence of coins at a coin station in the absence of any coins at the coin station.

Claim 13

In a telephone system wherein circuitry is provided for detecting the presence of coins at a coin telephone and wherein coin-free telephone service is provided for the coin telephone station on the application of specifiable dialed digits to a network of a serially progressive switching system, the improvement comprising means for registering a sequence of digits simultaneously as applied to the switching network, means connected to said registering means for counting the number of digits dialed, means responsive to said registering means and said counting means for determining if a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied, and means responsive to said determining means having determined that other than a valid one of said specifiable codes has been applied to said switching network to operate said circuitry for detecting the presence of coins at a coin station in the absence of any coins at the coin station.

Claim 14

In a telephone system, the improvement in accordance with claim 9 further comprising means responsive to said determining means determining a valid one of said specifiable codes for disabling said registering means and said counting means.

Claim 15

In a telephone system, the improvement in accordance with claim 9 wherein said determining means includes means for checking a digit of each sequence to determine if it is a valid digit of one of the specifiable codes and means responsive to said checking means for permitting said determining means to check the next applied digit.