Call screening system

Abstract

A call screening system to be added onto and used with a PBX or Centrex telephone system having an attendant answering console. The call screening system enables incoming calls for various telephone extensions to be directed to another telephone extension in the system for screening such incoming calls. The call screening system includes a DTMF tone generator and a screening system. The DTMF tone generator is coupled to the attendant answering console for generating a first DTMF coded signal for enabling the attendant answering console to call a screening telephone extension within the telephone system and generating a second DTMF coded signal that provides an indication as to the particular telephone extension within the telephone system for the person that the incoming caller is calling. The screening system is coupled between a single tip/ring line from the PBX or Centrex and a tip/ring line to a screening telephone extension of a user screening incoming calls for other telephone extensions. The screening system receives a call from the attendant answering console when the associated screening telephone extension has been called by a generated first DTMF coded signal for such screening telephone extension, receives a generated second DTMF coded signal generated by said DTMF tone generator for indicating which of the telephone extensions being screened the call is for and generates an indication signal indicating which telephone extension the call is for. After receiving such second DTMF coded signal, the screening system couples the screening telephone extension to the tip/ring line from the PBX or Centrex system for establishing a voice path connection.