US3870823A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Telephone exchange metering system
Assignee: HARANN Inc SIOUX CITY IOWA
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Filing: 1973-10-10
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Granted: 1975-03-11
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Expires: 1993-10-10
Abstract
Abstract Disclosed is an automatic telephone metering system for use with private automatic branch exchanges (PABX) in connection with direct distance dialed (DDD), wide area telephone service (WATS), and extended area service (EAS). The system records usage information in the form of the trunk number, the line or extension number, the called number, date, time of call start and duration of call. That usage information is acquired by a sampling system which samples the trunk lines of the exchange during the signaling portion of call placement. The trunk lines, when sampled, are analyzed by receivers assigned by a central processing unit to busy trunks. Each of the trunks has a trunk address (TA) and each receiver has a receiver address (RA). The receivers are associatd with trunks by sample addresses (SA). A memory for storing the usage information for each busy trunk is addressed by the trunk address.
Inventors
- 👤 Winston D Gayler
- 👤 James E Ahern
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 02:54
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M15/00; H04M15/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
124 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improvement comprising, means for addressing said trunk lines with a sample address SA, a plurality of aDdressable receivers for connection when addressed to said trunk lines, each of said receivers including means to sample and analyze signals on a connected trunk line to produce output information, means for addressing said receivers with a receiver address RA, means for stepping said sample address SA and said receiver address RA in synchronism whereby trunk lines addressed by said sample address are sampled and analyzed by receivers addressed by said receiver address, respectively, means for storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
124 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improvement comprising, means for addressing said trunk lines with a sample address SA, a plurality of aDdressable receivers for connection when addressed to said trunk lines, each of said receivers including means to sample and analyze signals on a connected trunk line to produce output information, means for addressing said receivers with a receiver address RA, means for stepping said sample address SA and said receiver address RA in synchronism whereby trunk lines addressed by said sample address are sampled and analyzed by receivers addressed by said receiver address, respectively, means for storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
124 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improvement comprising, means for addressing said trunk lines with a sample address SA, a plurality of aDdressable receivers for connection when addressed to said trunk lines, each of said receivers including means to sample and analyze signals on a connected trunk line to produce output information, means for addressing said receivers with a receiver address RA, means for stepping said sample address SA and said receiver address RA in synchronism whereby trunk lines addressed by said sample address are sampled and analyzed by receivers addressed by said receiver address, respectively, means for storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
124 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improvement comprising, means for addressing said trunk lines with a sample address SA, a plurality of aDdressable receivers for connection when addressed to said trunk lines, each of said receivers including means to sample and analyze signals on a connected trunk line to produce output information, means for addressing said receivers with a receiver address RA, means for stepping said sample address SA and said receiver address RA in synchronism whereby trunk lines addressed by said sample address are sampled and analyzed by receivers addressed by said receiver address, respectively, means for storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
The apparatus of claim 1 further including means for changing said receiver address relative to said sample address whereby trunk lines are connected to different receivers.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus of claim 1 further including assign logic means for assigning receivers to busy trunks.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 1 further including drop logic means for dropping unneeded receivers.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 4 including means for dropping daid receivers after a timed duration.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
132 words
A message metering apparatus for detecting and storing information relating to telephone station usage of trunk lines where the station lines are connected to the trunk lines through a switching exchange, the improvement comprising, trunk means for addressing said trunk lines with trunk addresses for detecting the busy condition of the trunk lines, sample means for addressing the trunk lines with sample addresses for sampling the information on busy trunk lines, a plurality of receivers addressable by receiver addresses for storing information sampled by said sample means, means for stepping said sample addresses and said receiver addresses in synchronism, trunk memory means having unique storage locations associated with each trunk address for storing data, store means for storing information from said receivers into said memory at locations defined by said trunk addresses.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
132 words
A message metering apparatus for detecting and storing information relating to telephone station usage of trunk lines where the station lines are connected to the trunk lines through a switching exchange, the improvement comprising, trunk means for addressing said trunk lines with trunk addresses for detecting the busy condition of the trunk lines, sample means for addressing the trunk lines with sample addresses for sampling the information on busy trunk lines, a plurality of receivers addressable by receiver addresses for storing information sampled by said sample means, means for stepping said sample addresses and said receiver addresses in synchronism, trunk memory means having unique storage locations associated with each trunk address for storing data, store means for storing information from said receivers into said memory at locations defined by said trunk addresses.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
52 words
The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said trunk means connect to tip, ring and sleeve lines for each trunk and said trunk means further include means for detecting the order in which the tip and ring lines become busy relative to the sleeve line to distinguish between incoming and outgoing trunks calls.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
60 words
The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said sample means include means for forming analog samples and means for forming dial pulse samples , and wherein said plurality of receivers include ringback tone receivers and dial pulse receivers wherein said dial pulse samples are connected to said dial pulse receivers and said analog samples are connected to said ringback tone receivers.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further including assign means for assigning receivers to busy trunk lines , drop means for dropping receivers whereby said receivers become available for reassignment.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
81 words
The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said assign means includes a receiver memory addressed with said receiver address, includes means for storing the busy status of each of said receivers, includes means for setting said receiver memory busy in response to the assignment of a particular receiver at a location in said receiver memory corresponding to the receiver address, and wherein said drop means includes means for resetting said location not busy in response to the dropping of said particular receiver.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
146 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further including, master clock means, a receiver address counter for counting down said master clock and having an output for providing said receiver addresses, a character counter for counting down the output from said master clock means to define a plurality of characters, a trunk address counter receiving the output from said character counter for providing said trunk addresses, a receiver memory for storing a busy bit and storing a sample address for each of said receivers and including means for circulating said receiver memory in synchronism with Said receiver address counter, means for loading trunk addressed from said trunk address counter into said receiver memory at locations corresponding to specific receivers whereby a trunk address becomes associated with a corresponding receiver to define a sample address, output means for said receiver memory for connecting sample addresses to said sample means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus of claim 11 further including a plurality of devices addressable by said character counter for providing information to said trunk memory means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
56 words
The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said store means further includes a receiver buffer for receiving information from said receivers for gating to a data bus and wherein said apparatus includes selection means responsive to said character counter for gating said data bus to a memory bus connected as an input to said trunk memory means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
143 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information relating to telephone station usage of outgoing trunk lines where the station lines are connected to the trunk lines through a switching exchange, the improvement comprising, trunk address means for addressing said trunk lines with a trunk addresses for detecting the outgoing busy condition of the Trunk lines, sample means for addressing the trunk lines with sample addresses for sampling the information on the trunk lines, a plurality of receivers including dial pulse, multi-frequency and ringback tone receivers addressable by receiver addresses for storing information sampled by said sample means, means for stepping said storage addresses and said receiver addresses in synchronism, a storage means having unique storage locations associated with each trunk address, means for addressing said storage means by said trunk addresses, means for reading information from said receivers into said memory.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
143 words
A message metering system for detecting and storing information relating to telephone station usage of outgoing trunk lines where the station lines are connected to the trunk lines through a switching exchange, the improvement comprising, trunk address means for addressing said trunk lines with a trunk addresses for detecting the outgoing busy condition of the Trunk lines, sample means for addressing the trunk lines with sample addresses for sampling the information on the trunk lines, a plurality of receivers including dial pulse, multi-frequency and ringback tone receivers addressable by receiver addresses for storing information sampled by said sample means, means for stepping said storage addresses and said receiver addresses in synchronism, a storage means having unique storage locations associated with each trunk address, means for addressing said storage means by said trunk addresses, means for reading information from said receivers into said memory.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
86 words
In a message metering system including receivers for detecting and analyzing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improved method comprising the steps of, addressing said trunk lines with sample addresses, addressing receivers with receiver addresses, stepping said storage addresses and said receiver address in synchronism whereby the trunk lines at said sample addresses are connected to be sampled and analyzed by assigned receivers at said receiver addresses, respectively, storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
86 words
In a message metering system including receivers for detecting and analyzing information concerning station usage of outgoing trunk lines, the improved method comprising the steps of, addressing said trunk lines with sample addresses, addressing receivers with receiver addresses, stepping said storage addresses and said receiver address in synchronism whereby the trunk lines at said sample addresses are connected to be sampled and analyzed by assigned receivers at said receiver addresses, respectively, storing the information from said receivers in a memory location unique to each trunk line.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-03-10 | 1978-09-09 | 1979-03-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-03-10 | 1982-09-09 | 1983-03-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-03-10 | 1986-09-09 | 1987-03-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |