On-premise paystation adapter

Claim 2

A telephone paystation adapter for modifying a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein said paystation telephone apparatus has a hook switch, dial impulse spring means connected to said hook switch, and a talking pair of signal transmitting conductors that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective by the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors in parallel with said paystation telephone apparatus to provide a shunt across the dial impulse spring means and the hook switch of said telephone apparatus, said blocking means upon being bridged across said conductors being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, and means rendered effective by the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office.

Claim 3

The telephone paystation adapter defined in claim 1 wherein said blocking means comprises electrical resistance means having a pre-selected value that enables conversation to take place via said talking pair of conductors while preventing the transmittal of dialing pulses over said talking pair of conductors.

Claim 4

The telephone paystation adapter defined in claim 1 comprising means for removing said blocking means from bridging relation across said conductors when said telephone apparatus is in its on-hook condition.

Claim 5

The telephone paystation adapter defined in claim 1 comprising means responsive to a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at said paystation for completing a circuit that re-bridges said blocking means across said conductors in parallel with said paystation telephone apparatus to re-establish said shunt.

Claim 6

An adapter for converting a postpay type telephone paystation into a type of paystation that requires prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, said adapter comprising: a. a pair of terminals adapted to respectively be connected through a telephone talking pair of conductors to a hook switch in the telephone in said paystation; b. a normally disconnected dial pulse blocking means; and c. means responsive to a current flow that is caused by closure to said hook switch for completing a circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said terminals and thus across said talking pair of conductors in parallel circuit relation with said telephone to block the transmission of dial pulses from said telephone.

Claim 7

An adapter for converting a postpay type telephone paystation into a type of paystation that requires prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, said adapter comprising: a. a pair of terminals adapted to respectively be connected through a telephone talking pair of conductors to a hook switch in the telephone in said paystation; b. a normally disconnected dial pulse blocking means; and c. means responsive to a current flow that is caused by closure to said hook switch for completing a circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said terminals and thus across said talking pair of conductors in parallel circuit relation with said telephone to block the transmission of dial pulses from said telephone.

Claim 8

The adapter defined in claim 5 wherein said dial pulse blocking means is a resistor having a preselected value that enables conversation to take place via said talking pair of conductors while blocking the transmittal of dialing pulses over said talking pair of conductors.

Claim 9

The adapter defined in claim 5 comprising means responsive to the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin in said paystation for interrupting that circuit which causes said pulse blocking means to bridge across said talking pair, so as to enable dial pulses to be transmitted from said telephone to the central office.

Claim 10

An adapter for converting a post-pay type telephone paystation into a type of paystation that requires prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, said adapter comprising: a pair of terminals adapted to respectively be connected through a telephone talking pair of conductors to a hook switch in the telephone in said paystation; a normally disconnected dial pulse blocking means; means responsive to a current flow that is caused by closure of said hook switch for completing a circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said terminals and thus across said talking pair of conductors to block the transmission of dial pulses from said telephone, means responsive to the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin in said paystation for interrupting that circuit which causes said pulse blocking means to bridge across said talking pair, so as to enable dial pulses to be transmitted from said telephone to the central office, a bistable storage device having a coin refund state and a coin collect state, said bi-stable storage device being in its refund state prior to the answering of a call by a dialed party, means rendered effective upon the occurrence of reverse talking battery polarity for switching said bi-stable storage device to its coin collect state, means rendered effective upon the opening of said hook switch for collecting deposited coins only when said bi-stable storage device is in its coin collect state, and means under the control of said bi-stable storage device for refunding the deposited coins upon opening said hook switch if said bi-stable storage device is in its refund state upon the return of said telephone to its on-hook condition.

Claim 11

An adapter for converting a post-pay type telephone paystation into a type of paystation that requires prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, said adapter comprising: a pair of terminals adapted to respectively be connected through a telephone talking pair of conductors to a hook switch in the telephone in said paystation; a normally disconnected dial pulse blocking means; means responsive to a current flow that is caused by closure of said hook switch for completing a circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said terminals and thus across said talking pair of conductors to block the transmission of dial pulses from said telephone, means responsive to the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin in said paystation for interrupting that circuit which causes said pulse blocking means to bridge across said talking pair, so as to enable dial pulses to be transmitted from said telephone to the central office, a bistable storage device having a coin refund state and a coin collect state, said bi-stable storage device being in its refund state prior to the answering of a call by a dialed party, means rendered effective upon the occurrence of reverse talking battery polarity for switching said bi-stable storage device to its coin collect state, means rendered effective upon the opening of said hook switch for collecting deposited coins only when said bi-stable storage device is in its coin collect state, and means under the control of said bi-stable storage device for refunding the deposited coins upon opening said hook switch if said bi-stable storage device is in its refund state upon the return of said telephone to its on-hook condition.

Claim 12

A telephone paystation adapter for modifying a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein said paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting conductors that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective by the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors, said blocking means upon being bridged across said conductors being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective by the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, and means responsive to a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at the paystation for completing a circuit that re-bridges said blocking means across said conductors.

Claim 13

A telephone paystation adapter for modifying a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein said paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting conductors that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective by the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors, said blocking means upon being bridged across said conductors being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective by the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, and means responsive to a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at the paystation for completing a circuit that re-bridges said blocking means across said conductors.

Claim 14

The telephone paystation adapter defined in claim 9 comprising means for providing a predetermined signal in response to the return of said telephone apparatus to its on-hook condition following the completion of a call to the dialed party, said means responsive to said predetermined condition comprising circuit means, and said circuit means being conditioned by said predetermined signal to interrupt the circuit that was completed by said predetermined condition-responsive means.

Claim 15

The telephone paystation adapter defined in claim 10 wherein said circuit means comprises bistable means, and wherein said predetermined signal is in the form of a pulse for switching said bistable means from one of its bistable states to the other of its bistable states.

Claim 16

The adapter defined in claim 8 wherein said means for completing the circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said talking pair comprises contact means in series with said dial pulse blocking means, and relay means operated by closure of said hook switch only when said storage device is in its refund state to close said contact means to complete the circuit that bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said talking pair.

Claim 17

The adapted defined in claim 8 comprising means effective upon the opening of said hook switch for resetting said storage device to its refund state if it is in its collect state when said telephone is returned to its on-hook condition.

Claim 18

An adapter as described in claim 7 wherein a tone receiver is connected across the talking pair and also to a means for refunding said coins, said refunding means being responsive to an electrical signal produced by said tone receiver in response to a plurality of predetermined tones from the central office for refunding deposited coins.

Claim 19

A telephone paystation adapter circuit adapted to be located at a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus for modifying said telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein said paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting leads that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter circuit comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective upon the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads, said blocking means upon being bridged across said leads being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective upon the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, means for detecting a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at said paystation, means rendered effective by said detecting means upon detection of said predetermined condition for completing a circuit that re-bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said leads, and means rendered effective upon the return of said telephone apparatus to its on-hook condition for removing said dial pulse blocking means from bridging relation across said leads if said dial pulse blocking means is bridged across said leads at the time when said telephone apparatus is returned to its on-hook condition.

Claim 20

A telephone paystation adapter circuit adapted to be located at a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus for modifying said telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein said paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting leads that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter circuit comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective upon the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads, said blocking means upon being bridged across said leads being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective upon the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, means for detecting a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at said paystation, means rendered effective by said detecting means upon detection of said predetermined condition for completing a circuit that re-bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said leads, and means rendered effective upon the return of said telephone apparatus to its on-hook condition for removing said dial pulse blocking means from bridging relation across said leads if said dial pulse blocking means is bridged across said leads at the time when said telephone apparatus is returned to its on-hook condition.

Claim 21

A telephone paystation adapter circuit adapted to be located at a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus for modifying said telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein say paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting leads that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter circuit comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective upon the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads, said blocking means upon being bridged across said leads being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective upon the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, means for detecting a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at said paystation, means rendered effective by said detecting means upon detection of said predetermined condition for completing a circuit that re-bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said leads, and means rendered effective upon the return of said telephone apparatus to its on-hook state for (a) removing said dial pulse blocking means from bridging relation across said leads if said dial pulse blocking means is bridged across said leads at the time when said telephone aPparatus is returned to its on-hook state, (b) collecting the deposited coins in the event that said predetermined condition is detected by said detecting means and (c) refunding the deposited coins in the event that said predetermined condition is not detected by said detecting means.

Claim 22

A telephone paystation adapter circuit adapted to be located at a postpay type paystation telephone apparatus for modifying said telephone apparatus to require prepayment before dialing pulses can be transmitted to a central office, wherein say paystation telephone apparatus has a talking pair of signal transmitting leads that are adapted to be connected to a central office, said adapter circuit comprising dialing pulse blocking means, means rendered effective upon the transfer of said paystation telephone apparatus from its on-hook condition to its off-hook condition for completing a circuit that bridges said blocking means across said leads, said blocking means upon being bridged across said leads being effective to prevent dialing pulses from being transmitted to said central office, means rendered effective upon the deposit of a predetermined amount of money in coin at the paystation for interrupting the circuit that bridges said blocking means across said conductors to enable dialing pulses to be transmitted to said central office, means for detecting a predetermined condition that is established when a dialed party answers a call placed at said paystation, means rendered effective by said detecting means upon detection of said predetermined condition for completing a circuit that re-bridges said dial pulse blocking means across said leads, and means rendered effective upon the return of said telephone apparatus to its on-hook state for (a) removing said dial pulse blocking means from bridging relation across said leads if said dial pulse blocking means is bridged across said leads at the time when said telephone aPparatus is returned to its on-hook state, (b) collecting the deposited coins in the event that said predetermined condition is detected by said detecting means and (c) refunding the deposited coins in the event that said predetermined condition is not detected by said detecting means.