American Telephone and Telegraph Company and At&t Information Systems

Anna M Tolaini

Chester A Berry, Iii

This invention provides an audible indication to a held party indicating when a call is removed from the hold state. Heretofore, when two parties on a call are in a talk state and a first party puts a second party on hold, the held party must aurally monitor the receiver on the station set for the first party's voice to detect when the talk state is resumed. The voice of the first party provides the only indication that the hold condition has been removed. This requires the held party to monitor the receiver for the duration of the hold state and prevents the held party from easily pursuing any other activities. The subject arrangement overcomes this problem by providing a 'ring-ping' signal to the held party when the hold condition is removed. In particular, following the activation of the hold condition by the first party, the held party leaves the receiver off-hook and can then pursue other activities. Call processing software monitors the station set of the first party to detect the removal of the hold condition. In response to the detection of the removal of the hold condition, a 'ring-ping' signal (a short burst of ringing) is applied to the hold party's station set to indicate that the call is no longer on hold. The talk state can then resume as soon as the held party retrieves the receiver. The above-described arrangement eliminates the need for the held party to aurally monitor the station set receiver for the duration of the hold condition.

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Marina Di Massa, Italy

Anna M Tolaini