Bellsouth Corporation

Ronald S Reuss

Janine M Irwin

The present invention provides for a method of restricting access to authorized users of telephone service from a telephone at a particular location which telephone is accessible by more than one individual. The present invention provides for a method of activating a telephone line by entering a valid access code and deactivating the telephone line by entering a second valid code. Calls may not generally be placed from the telephone when the telephone line deactivated. Calls made from the telephone line after the telephone line has been activated by a valid access code will be attributed to the user associated with the access code. The present invention also provides for a method of routing calls which have been designated as escape codes or priority numbers although the telephone line is in a deactivated state. The present invention also provides a method for activating the telephone line by first entering a logon code followed by an access code which is associated with a user. The access codes may be further used to identify users for which toll calls are not permitted. If an authorized user's access code contains a toll restriction indicator, toll calls attempted by the authorized user when logged in under the user's access code will not be routed.

Growing community of inventors

Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Ronald S Reuss