At+t Corp.

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Lucent Technology

Jac P Dowens

Cynthia L Spudic

Amy J Rupert

Blake Lane Wattenbarger

Elvis Hernandez

The present invention relates generally to a casual usage alternate billing. More particularly, the invention encompasses a method and an apparatus for casual usage alternate billing. The invention intercepts a call, especially a dial-around call, to either verify the existence of information in a database or to obtain and authenticate a mode of payment prior to allowing the call to proceed.

Casual usage alternate billing

A network may receives tracking information of various emergency services personnel, so that when a security breach has occurred at a residence or place of business, the network receives a surveillance profile from a home computer that is disposed where the detector is located, and dispatch the most geographically appropriate emergency services personnel as determined based on the tracking information. The surveillance profile may include its address, location within the residence of place of business, and a physical description or layout of the premises in which the sensor is located. Then, a verification protocol is initiated by calling a predetermined sequence of telephone numbers set by the subscriber to the security system. Dispatching of the appropriate emergency services personnel includes the network accessing a security platform database to find corresponding emergency services personnel to respond to the detected security breach in accordance with the information received in the surveillance profile.

Home security administration platform

A network may receiving tracking information of various emergency services personnel, so that when a security breach has occurred at a particular location, the network may receive a surveillance profile from a computer that is disposed at the location where the detector is located, and dispatch the most geographically appropriate emergency services personnel as determined based on the tracking information. A verification protocol may be initiated by calling a predetermined sequence of telephone numbers set by the subscriber to the security system. If the subscriber provides the predetermined authorization code, the detected security breach is disregarded as being a false alarm. However, if the call recipient is unable to provide the predetermined authorization code, or if there is no answer at any of the numbers in the predetermined call sequence, the emergency services personnel are dispatched.

The invention provides a telecommunication relay device that relays communication from a first party to at least one second party. The first party and the second party may use terminals of different types such as telephone stations, text telephones, two-way pagers, personal digital assistants with communication capabilities, data network terminals, etc. The telecommunication relay device converts text received from text terminals into voice for voice terminals and converts voice to text and vice versa. The telecommunication relay device also permits the first party to leave messages for other parties. For example, the first party may send an e-mail message using a telephone station or receive an e-mail using a telephone station. In addition, the telecommunication relay device may open a private chat room to allow communication between data network terminals and telephone stations, for example. The telecommunication relay device may also provide conferencing capability where the conferees may use different type terminals.

Method and apparatus for relaying communication

The invention provides a system and method for extending a limit of a pre-paid calling card without disconnecting the communicating parties. When a first party makes a call using a pre-paid calling card and the limit of the calling card is reached, a call extender either queries the called party or launches a call to another party to query if these parties would pay for the remainder of the call or whether the parties would pay for extending the limit by an agreed amount. If a party agrees to pay for one of the above options, the call extender permits the call to continue and bills the accepting party accordingly.

Method and apparatus for extending a pre-paid calling card limit

A system and method are disclosed for recognizing and routing telephone call activity involving a hearing or speech impaired person. A caller places a local, intra-LATA, or inter-LATA telephone call by adding a three digit prefix to a called party number (CPN); the prefix identifies the call as one in need of routing to an Operator Services for the Deaf (OSD) or Tele-communications Relay Services (TRS) center. The call is first routed to a switching network where a query is sent to a Universal Subscriber Data Structure database using the caller's Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and the CPN of the called party. The database responds with the caller's and the called party's profiles. Thereafter, the call is routed to an adjunct which connects the call to an appropriate OSD or TRS center, whereupon the conversation can be relayed between the hearing or speech impaired person and the voice party. During this time, the adjunct can monitor a call for a particular subscriber's feature interaction, and can route the call to an appropriate switch in the network based upon the feature invoked by that party. A second and third database connected to the adjunct can verify feature subscriptions and perform calling card validation, respectively.

System and method for recognizing and routing telephone calls involving

A system and method are disclosed for recognizing and routing telephone call activity involving a hearing or speech impaired person. A long distance party is called direct using standard 1+ calling. The call is routed to a switching network which contains a trigger table of hearing or speech impaired customers. This switch compares the caller's Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and the called party's Dialed Long Distance Number (DLN) with the information contained in the trigger table to determine whether the caller or the called party are hearing or speech impaired. This same switch can also query a Universal Subscriber Data Structure database using the caller's ANI and the called party's DLN to obtain the parties' profiles. Based upon the existence of either the caller's ANI or the called party's DLN in the foregoing trigger table, the call is routed to an adjunct which connects the call to an appropriate AT&T Operator Services for the Deaf (OSD) or Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) center. At the center, the conversation can then be relayed between the hearing or speech impaired party and the voice party. During this time, the adjunct can monitor the call for a particular subscriber's feature interaction and route the call to an appropriate switch in the network based on the feature invoked by that party. A second database connected to the adjunct can verify feature subscriptions. Moreover, an X.25 query protocol between the adjunct and the switching network can be used to perform calling card validation.

A system and method are disclosed for recognizing and routing telephone call activity involving a hearing or speech impaired person. A long distance party is called direct using standard 1+ calling. The caller is first connected to a switching network which sends a query to a Universal Subscriber Data Structure database using the caller's Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and the Dialed Long Distance Number (DLN) of the called party. The database analyzes the ANI and the DLN and responds with the caller's and the called party's profiles. If one of the parties is identified as hearing or speech impaired, the call is routed to an adjunct which connects the call to an appropriate AT&T Operator Services for the Deaf (OSD) or Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) center, whereupon the conversation can be relayed between the hearing or speech impaired party and the voice party. During this time, the adjunct can monitor the call for a particular subscriber's feature interaction and route the call to an appropriate switch in the network based on the feature invoked by that party. A second and third database connected to the adjunct can verify feature subscriptions and perform calling card validation, respectively.

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Red Bank, NJ, United States of America

Jac P Dowens