Call pickup service for pabx telephone system

Claim 1

A communication system including: a plurality of telephone stations, including a call pickup group, said call pickup group including a called station and another station; a plurality of trunks; an originating calling circuit; signaling means connectable to said called station; a central processor including scanning means; a switching network connected to said plurality of telephone stations and to said originating calling circuit, operated under control of said central processor in response to initiation of a call by said calling circuit, to complete a circuit path for interconnecting said calling circuit and said called station; said central processor further operated to connect said signaling means to called station and to operate said signalling means to signal a subscriber thereat and render said called circuit station busy; said other station operated by another subscriber thereat, in response to detection of a signal at said called station, to transmit a coded signal to said central processor; said central processor in response to said coded signal operated to control said scanning means associated therewith to determine the busy/idle status of all of said telephone stations included in said pickup group; said central processor further operated to detect which of said stations determined as busy by said scanning means is connected to said signaling means, and said scanning means further operated to determine if said signaling means connected to said busy station is operated, thus identifying said called station; and in response to said identification said central processor further operated to control said switching network to complete a circuit path through said network between said calling circuit and said other station.