Handling of dialled digits in a wireless telecommunications system

Abstract

The present invention provides a digit handling system and digit handling method for a subscriber terminal of a wireless telecommunications system, the subscriber terminal being arranged to have an item of telecommunications equipment connected thereto and being connectable to a central terminal of the wireless telecommunications system via a radio resource to enable a call to be routed between the item of telecommunications equipment and an exchange coupled to the central terminal. The digit handling system comprises a detector for detecting when the item of telecommunications equipment enters an off-hook state, a dial tone generator for generating a fake dial tone to the item of telecommunications equipment upon detection of the off-hook state, and a radio manager, responsive to detection of the off-hook state, for seeking acquisition of a communication channel of the radio resource over which to pass call data. Further, a switching element is provided for controlling the routing of digits through the subscriber terminal, the switching element being arranged to pass to a storage digits received from the item of telecommunications equipment following the detection of the off-hook state. A digit regenerator is then responsive to an indication that the communication channel has been acquired, to regenerate each digit stored in the storage and to output the regenerated digits over the radio resource to the central terminal. The switching element is arranged, upon determination that the storage contains no further digits, to route any further digits received from the item of telecommunications equipment for output over the radio resource to the central terminal without being stored in the storage. This approach provides a particularly efficient technique for the handling of digits generated by the item of telecommunications equipment following that equipment entering an off-hook state.