The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 31, 1995
Filed:
May. 27, 1993
Stephan R Bash, New York, NY (US);
Salvatore R Di Rubbo, Port Murray, NJ (US);
Paul F Gibilisco, Morris Township, Morris County, NJ (US);
Richard L Mansdoerfer, Jr, Somerset, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
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.