At+t Corp.

Paul F Gibilisco

John A McMaster

James Kemble

Richard L Mansdoerfer, Jr

Vince Scott Margiotta

Marcus Hickerson

Stephan R Bash

Eric J Linger

Salvatore R Di Rubbo

A method for completing a telephone call originating from a calling party and received by a called party. A menu of options is provided to the calling party during the telephone call. The menu options are announced to the calling party and a response is inputted corresponding to the desired option from the various menus. A comparison is made between the inputted option and a set of valid responses and the responses are processed.

Telephony services suite

AN automatic calling service is provided wherein a subscriber predefines one or more destination telephone numbers, and calls to such number or numbers are billed to the subscriber's local telephone number. Calls are made to such destination numbers through a platform that may be reached via a toll free number. The calling party identifies him/herself as a subscriber, by entering a personal identification number, to authenticate him/herself as a person entitled to make such calls. Based upon the identification provided, a determination is then made as to whether the subscriber has stored one number, or more than one number. If one number is stored, the caller need not identify the destination number, and advantageously, that number is then dialed. If more than one number has been specified, the subscriber is prompted to provide an indication of the particular number desired. The call is then completed to the desired number. In either event, the identity of the subscriber is used to assure that the call is billed to the subscriber's local telephone number. In order to reduce the possibility of unauthorized access, a determination may also be made as to whether to call is originating from an eligible location, as by checking automatic number identification (ANI) information associated with the call.

Telephone calling with automatic billing

When a caller making a collect call encounters a busy called party or one that does not answer after a prescribed time, the telephone network offers the caller the opportunity to store a voice message in a messaging system at no charge to the caller. After the caller stores a message, one or more attempts are made to establish a connection between the messaging system and the called party's telephone. This may be done by periodically alerting the called party's telephone when it is in an on-hook state. When the called party answers, e.g., by going off-hook, the messaging system informs the called party that a collect voice message awaits him and asks if he is willing to pay to receive same. If the called party signals that he is willing to pay to receive the voice message, the messaging system plays the stored voice message from the collect caller and signals the telephone network to charge the account of the called party for supplying the message. If the called party signals that he is unwilling to pay to receive the voice message, the message is not delivered.

Method and apparatus for facilitating the making of collect calls

Growing community of inventors

Morris Township, NJ, United States of America

Paul F Gibilisco