ANONYMOUS INTERACTIVE TELEPHONE SYSTEM

SYSTEME TELEPHONIQUE INTERACTIF CONSERVANT L'ANONYMAT

English Abstract

An anonymous interactive telephone system (10)
for connecting a caller (16) to a suscriber (14) without
divulging the identity or telephone number of either
unless voluntarily revealed. The suscriber publishes
an advertisement together with a telephone number
of a system controller station (18). A suscriber
reference number is embedded within the telephone
number of the system controller station as a DID
number. The suscriber also supplies information to the
system controller station related to time periods during
which calls may be directly forwarded to the suscriber
or intercepted by the system controller. The system
controller repeatedly accesses a switching station of
the public telephone company (11) to activate and de-
activate the call forwarding function of the switching
station for controlling call forwarding to the suscriber
on the basis of the embodiment published DID number.
In a second embodiment, a call screening service
for persons having unpublished telephone numbers is
provided. In a third embodiment, a caller ID blocking
is provided. In another embodiment, a call screening
system having another machine style interfacing is
provided.

French Abstract

Système téléphonique interactif et anonyme (10) permettant de connecter un appelant (16) à un abonné (14) sans révéler l'identité ni le numéro de téléphone de l'un ou de l'autre à moins que ce soit volontaire. L'abonné publie une annonce ainsi qu'un numéro de téléphone d'une station (18) contrôleur du système. Un numéro de référence d'abonné est incorporé au numéro de téléphone de la station contrôleur sous forme d'un numéro d'accès direct au poste (DID). L'abonné fournit également des données à la station contrôleur, se rapportant aux périodes durant lesquelles les appels peuvent être directement renvoyés à l'abonné ou interceptés par le contrôleur de système. Le contrôleur de système accède de manière répétée à une station de commutation de la compagnie téléphonique (11), afin d'activer et de désactiver la fonction de renvoi automatique d'appels de la station de commutation et afin de réguler le renvoi d'appels vers l'abonné en fonction du numéro DID publié. Selon un second mode de réalisation, un service de filtrage d'appels est prévu pour des personnes dont les numéros de téléphone ne sont pas publiés. Selon un troisième mode de réalisation, un système de blocage d'identification d'appelant est décrit. Selon une autre variante, un système de filtrage d'appels à interface du type répondeur est décrit.

Claims

We claim

1. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of respective subscriber stations, such data
including a
private telephone number of each subscriber station;
providing a public telephone number for each of said subscriber stations, each
of said'
public telephone numbers terminating at said system controller station;
indexing each public telephone number to its corresponding private telephone
number
in said system controller station;
receiving a call at said system controller station from a caller who dials a
particular
public telephone number for a particular subscriber;
identifying the particular public telephone number for the particular
subscriber;
retrieving the private telephone number of the particular subscriber on the
basis of the
particular public telephone number;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the particular
subscriber
private telephone number;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
system
controller station and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber picks up the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
connecting the caller and the particular subscriber for full two-way
communication
upon the authorization of the particular subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of recording; the
message of
the caller for later playback to the particular subscriber if the particular
subscriber
does not pick up the second call from the system controller station.

3. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of.
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of respective subscriber stations, such data
including a
private telephone number of each subscriber station;
providing a public telephone number for each of said subscriber stations, each
of said
public telephone numbers terminating at said system controller station via a
telephone


company switching station;
indexing each public telephone number to its corresponding subscriber station
private
telephone number in said system controller station;
receiving a call at said system controller station from a caller who dials a
particular
public telephone number for a particular subscriber;
identifying the particular public telephone number for the particular
subscriber;
retrieving the private telephone number of the particular subscriber on the
basis of the
particular public telephone number;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the private
telephone
number of the particular subscriber;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
system
controller station and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber picks up the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
commanding the telephone company switching station to connect the caller and
the
particular subscriber for full two-way communication upon the authorization of
the
particular subscriber, a static connection between the caller and the
particular
subscriber being maintained by the telephone company switching station.

4. The method of claim 3, and further comprising the step of recording the
message of
the caller for later playback to the particular subscriber if the particular
subscriber
does not pick up the second call from the system controller station.

5. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of respective subscriber stations, such data
including a
private telephone number of each subscriber station;
providing a public telephone number for each of said subscriber stations, each
of said
public telephone numbers terminating at said system controller station via a
telephone
company switching station having three-way conference capability;
indexing each subscriber station public telephone number to its corresponding
private
telephone number in said system controller station;
receiving a call at said system controller station from a caller who dials a
particular
public telephone number for a particular subscriber and identifying the
particular
public telephone number for said particular subscriber;




providing a single ringback to the caller who dials the particular public
telephone
number;
placing the caller on hold at said system controller station after the single
ringback;
dialing a telephone number of a second port of said system controller station
from a
first port of said system controller station while said caller is placed on
hold so that
the first and second ports of the system controller station are connected
together via a
telephone company switch;
hook flashing a first trunk connecting the second port of the system
controller station
to the telephone company switching station to place the call between the first
and
second ports on hold;
hook flashing a second trunk connecting the first port of the system
controller station
with the telephone company switch to set up a three-way conference call
between the
caller connecting to the system controller station at the first port and the
second port
of the system controller station;
retrieving the private telephone number of the particular subscriber on the
basis of the
particular public telephone number;
making a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the private
telephone
number;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
system
controller station and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber answers the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
commanding the telephone company switching station to connect the caller and
the
particular subscriber for full two-way communication upon authorization of the
particular subscriber, a static connection between the caller and the
particular
subscriber being maintained by the telephone company switching station.

6. The method of claim 5, and further comprising the step of recording the
message of
the caller for later playback to the particular subscriber if the particular
subscriber
does not answer the second call from the system controller station.

7. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing data in a database that is received from a plurality of subscribers at
a plurality
of respective subscriber stations, such data including a private telephone
number of
each subscriber station;



providing a public telephone number for each of said subscriber stations, each
of said
public telephone numbers terminating at a telephone company switch;
indexing each public telephone number to its corresponding private telephone
number
in said database;
receiving a call at said telephone company switch from a caller who dials the
particular public telephone number for a particular subscriber;
polling a service control point with an associated database to determine the
identity of
a particular service control point and associated database storing the private
telephone
number of the particular subscriber;
returning an address of the particular service control point and associated
database,
which database is determined to store the private telephone number of the
particular
subscriber;
polling the particular service control point and associated database to obtain
a location
of a telephone company switch which has an associated intelligent peripheral;
routing the call of the caller to the telephone company switch with the
associated
intelligent peripheral;
polling the particular service control point and associated database for the
private
telephone number of the particular subscriber;
returning the private telephone number of the particular subscriber on the
basis of the
public telephone number for the particular subscriber;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the private
telephone
number from said intelligent peripheral;
playing an introductory message to a caller in communication with said
intelligent
peripheral and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber answers the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
connecting the caller and the particular subscriber for full two-way
communication
upon the authorization of the particular subscriber, a static connection
between the
caller and the particular subscriber being maintained by the telephone company
switch.

8. The method of claim 7, and further comprising the step of recording the
message of
the caller for later playback to the particular subscriber if the particular
subscriber
does not answer the second call.

9. The method of claim 7, and further comprising the steps of recognizing the



telephone number of a caller, and denying a caller access to a particular
subscriber
station of a particular subscriber on the basis of the telephone number of
said caller.

10. The method of claim 7, and further comprising the steps of:
recognizing the telephone number of a caller in communication with said
telephone
company switch;
receiving an instruction from a subscriber to direct the caller directly to
the subscriber
the next time the caller calls the subscriber based on the caller's telephone
number;
and
directing the call from the caller to the subscriber at a subsequent call by
the caller.

11. The method of claim 7, and further comprising the step of recognizing the
telephone number of a caller in communication with the telephone company
switch
but who does not reach the desired subscriber, storing the telephone number of
the
caller in the intelligent peripheral, and permitting the desired subscriber to
automatically call the caller on the basis of the telephone number stored in
the
intelligent peripheral.

12. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing data at an intelligent peripheral of a telephone company switch, said
data
being received from a plurality of subscribers at a plurality of respective
subscriber
stations and including call processing instructions for each subscriber
station;
providing a public telephone number for each of said subscriber stations;
which
telephone numbers terminate at said telephone company switch;
receiving a call at said telephone company switch from a caller who dials a
particular
public telephone number for a particular subscriber;
recognizing that the call is for a particular one of said plurality of
subscribers based
on data stored at said intelligent peripheral;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber from said telephone company
switch;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
telephone
company switch and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber answers the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
connecting the caller and the particular subscriber for full two-way
communication
upon the authorization of the particular subscriber.


13. The method of claim 12, and further comprising the step of recording the
message
of the caller at said intelligent peripheral for later playback to the
particular subscriber
if the particular subscriber does not answer the second call.

14. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of
storing data in a database that is received from a plurality of subscribers at
a plurality
of respective subscriber stations, such data including a public telephone
number of
each subscriber station which terminates at a telephone company switch;
receiving a call at said telephone company switch from a caller who dials a
particular
public telephone number for a particular subscriber;
polling a service control point with an associated database to determine the
location of
the database storing call processing instructions which designate that a call
should be
routed to an intelligent peripheral associated with a telephone company
switch;
returning the address of the particular service control point and associated
database,
which database is determined to store call processing instructions of the
particular
subscriber;
polling the particular service control point and associated database to obtain
the
address of a telephone company switch which has the associated intelligent
peripheral;
routing the call of the caller to the telephone company switching station with
the
associated intelligent peripheral;
calling the particular subscriber at the corresponding particular subscriber
station by
dialing the particular public telephone number from the telephone company
switch
with said intelligent peripheral;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
intelligent
peripheral and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber answers the call, providing a one-way voice path
between
the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular subscriber may
hear the
caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that the:
particular
subscriber is listening; and
connecting the caller and the particular subscriber for full two-way
communication
upon the authorization of the particular subscriber, a static connection
between the
caller and the particular subscriber being maintained by the telephone company
switching station.

15. A call screening telephone communication method for connecting a
subscriber
with a caller over the public telephone lines, the method including the steps
of
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of



subscribers at a plurality of subscriber stations, such data including the
telephone
number of each subscriber station and corresponding subscriber identifier
information;
receiving a call from a caller at a caller station to said system controller
station and
receiving subscriber identifier information for identifying a particular
subscriber with
whom communication is desired;
recognizing the telephone number of the caller;
matching the subscriber identifier information with the telephone number of
the
particular subscriber;
calling said particular subscriber;
playing a message to said particular subscriber which,includes announcing the
telephone number of the caller; and
connecting the caller to said particular subscriber upon authorization of said
particular
subscriber.

16. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of respective subscriber stations, such data
including a
private telephone number for each subscriber station;
receiving a call at said system controller station from a caller who dials a
public
telephone number for a particular subscriber;
identifying the private telephone number for the particular subscriber;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the particular
subscriber's
private telephone number;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with ;paid
system
controller station and prompting the caller to leave a message;
if the particular subscriber picks up the second call, providing a one-way
voice path
between the caller and the particular subscriber so that the particular
subscriber may
hear the caller leave the message but the caller does not hear or know that
the
particular subscriber is listening; and
commanding a telephone company switch to connect the caller and the particular
subscriber for full two-way communication upon the authorization of the
particular
subscriber, a static connection between the caller and the particular
subscriber being
maintained by the telephone company switch.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the public telephone number of each of the




subscribers corresponds to a pre-existing private telephone number which is
made
public and a new private telephone number is given to each person who becomes
a
subscriber, and further comprising the step of programming the telephone
company
switch to forward calls dialed to said pre-existing private number to an
intelligent
peripheral.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of programming the telephone
company
switch to forward calls dialed to said pre-existing private number to said
intelligent
peripheral comprises the step of utilizing a remote call forwarding function
of the
telephone company switch.

19. The method of claim 16, and further comprising the steps of:
storing in said telephone company switch an authorization list of telephone
numbers
of callers for each subscriber which are to be forwarded directly to the
subscriber,
callers calling from telephone numbers not on said authorization list being
forwarded
to said system controller station;
recognizing the telephone number of a caller at said telephone company switch
when
a caller dials the telephone number of a particular subscriber;
comparing the telephone number of a caller in communication with the telephone
company switch with entries in the authorization list for the particular
subscriber; and
forwarding a call directly to the particular subscriber for callers having
telephone
numbers on the authorization list for the particular subscriber.

20. The method of claim 16, and further comprising the steps of
recognizing the telephone number of a caller in communication with said
telephone
company switch;
receiving an instruction from a subscriber to direct the caller directly to
the subscriber
the next time the caller calls the subscriber; and
directing the call from the caller to the subscriber at a subsequent call by
the caller.

21. The method of claim 16, and further comprising the steps of recognizing
the
telephone number of a caller, and denying a caller access to a particular
subscriber
station of a particular subscriber on the basis of the telephone number of
said caller.

22. The method of claim 16, and further comprising the steps of recognizing
the
telephone number of a caller in communication with the telephone company
switch
but who does not reach the desired subscriber, storing the telephone number of
the
caller in a database, and permitting the desired subscriber to automatically
call the
caller on the basis of the telephone number stored in the database.

23. A call screening telephone communication method for connecting a
subscriber
with a caller over the public telephone lines controlled by a telephone
company
central switching station having call forwarding capabilities, the method
including the


steps of:
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of subscriber stations, such data including the
telephone
number of each subscriber station;
storing instruction information related to the desire of each of the
subscribers to
receive calls directly;
determining whether a particular subscriber is to receive calls directly based
on the
instruction information;
receiving a call at the system controller station from a caller at a caller
station and
receiving identifier information for identifying the particular subscriber
with whom
communication is desired;
recording a message from said caller in communication with the system
controller
station, said message including information such as name, purpose for the
call,and the
telephone number of said caller;
matching the identifier information with the telephone number of the
particular
subscriber;
calling said particular subscriber;
playing said recorded message to said particular subscriber; and
connecting the caller to said particular subscriber upon authorization of said
particular
subscriber.

24. A call screening telephone communication method for connecting a
subscriber
with a caller over the public telephone lines, the method including the steps
of:
storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of subscriber stations, such data including the
telephone
number of each subscriber station and a cross-reference to subscriber
identifier
information;
receiving a call at said system controller station from a caller at a caller
station and
receiving subscriber identifier information for identifying a particular
subscriber with
whom communication is desired;
recording a message from said caller in communication with the system
controller
station, said message including information such as name, purpose for the
call, and
the telephone number of said caller;
matching the received subscriber identifier information with the telephone
number of
the particular subscriber;
calling said particular subscriber;




playing said recorded message to said particular subscriber; and
connecting the caller to said particular subscriber upon authorization of said
particular
subscriber.

25. The method of claim 24, and further comprising the steps of
recognizing the telephone number of the caller who calls the system controller
station;
and
denying access to a voice mail of a particular subscriber depending on the
telephone
number of the caller.

26. A call screening method for allowing a subscriber to screen calls made to
him/her
from callers, the method comprising the steps of:
storing in a telephone company switch an authorization list of telephone
numbers of
callers for each subscriber which are to be passed directly to the subscriber,
callers
calling from telephone numbers not on said authorization list being forwarded
to a
number for said subscriber at a system controller station;

storing data at a system controller station that is received from a plurality
of
subscribers at a plurality of respective subscriber stations, such data
including a
telephone number for each subscriber station;

recognizing the telephone number of a caller at said telephone company switch
when
a caller dials a telephone number of a particular subscriber;

comparing the telephone number of a caller in communication with the telephone
company switch with entries in the authorization list for the particular
subscriber; and
passing a call directly to the particular subscriber for callers having
telephone
numbers on the authorization list for the particular subscriber but for
callers having
telephone numbers not on the authorization list for the particular subscriber
the further
steps of
forwarding the call to said system controller station from the switch;
passing a call at said system controller station along with the telephone
number of the
subscriber from a caller who dials the telephone number of the particular
subscriber;
placing a second call to the particular subscriber by dialing the telephone;
number of
the particular subscriber;
playing an introductory message to the caller in communication with said
system
controller station and prompting the caller to record a message identifying
the caller;
if the particular subscriber picks up the second call, playing the calling
message so
that the particular subscriber may hear the caller's message but the caller
does not hear


or know that the particular subscriber is hearing the message; and
connecting the caller and the particular subscriber for full two-way
communication
upon the authorization of the particular subscriber.

Description

CA 02165553 2002-12-18
WO 95/01037 PLTlUS93l05795
1
ANONYMOUS INTERACTIVE TELEPIiONE SYBTEM
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application
relates to U.S. Patent Nos.
4,878,239 and 4,847,890.


~,ACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.


The aforementioned '890 patent introduces and


discloses a telephone system "personals" service and


classified advertising service whereby ads are: placed


and published as previously known. A person reading
an


ad, the caller, and interested in establishing a


personal relationship with the person who placed the


ad, or purchasing an item for sale from that person,


the subscriber, calls a telephone number published in


the "personals " column, or in the case of a classified


advertisement, the classified section. The number


called is that of a central computer based system, and


the caller is prompted to enter the subsc:riber's


reference number (SRN furnished in the ad and unique


to the subscriber. The computer then uses the


subscriber reference number as an index to locate the


subscriber's telephone number, and automatically


connects the caller to the subscriber. Only the


computer is aware of the identity of the subsCr_iber
and


the subscriber's telephone number, and hence the


parties can communicate with one another while being


mutually anonymous for as long as they desire.


The full text and teachings of the


aforementioned patent are incorporated herein by


reference:


The aforementioned '239 patent discloses


certain cost saving refinements made to the basic


system first disclosed in the '890 patent, using


available features of the public telephone company (in


Ci 1~CT1'~"~ i'~ ~ ~~ =~ G ~'~~ !~ F ~~1



WO 95/01037 ~ ~ PCT/US93/05795
2
particular, a feature of a service sometimes called the
"Centrex" telephone service) to connect a caller to a
subscriber. Briefly, the caller is placed on hold at
the telephone company's central office switching
equipment and, concurrently, the subscriber's telephone
number is located in the interactive system's memory.
The subscriber is then called and also put on hold at
the central office switching equipment. Finally, by
hook flashing or some other means, the interactive
system makes a connection between the caller and the
subscriber at the telephone company's central office
switching equipment, and disconnects the system from
the line that originally was occupied by the caller,
thus making the line available for the next incoming
call. Utilizing this technique, the total number of
lines required by the interactive system to provide
adequate service to all callers and subscribers is
minimized, for the system needs only enough lines to
simultaneously process a peak number of calls that are
expected at the same time, without having to consider
the unknown and uncontrollable length of time that a
caller and a subscriber may want to talk to one
another.
The co-pending patent application discloses
even further refinements to the system disclosed in the
'890 and '239 patents. Specifically, this related
application discloses the use of Direct Inward Dialing
(DID) services to expedite anonymous connection. This
prior application also discloses other aspects, such as
a method and a system for enabling limited and
automated contact with persons having unpublished
telephone numbers, such as and for example, to enable
facilitated and automated contact with individuals who
do not wish that their telephone numbers be published
SURSTBTU T E ~3 E'T (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 ~ ~ PCTIUS93l05795
3
and would like to screen such phone calls, and with
' groups such as physicians "on-call."
Another variation on this method utilizes a
4 feature sometimes called auto three-way conference.
After the caller is put on hold at the telephone
company central office, the interactive system looks up
the subscriber's telephone number and then calls the
subscriber. The caller, subscriber and interactive
system are automatically connected. The interactive
system then hangs up.
While the aforementioned patents provide many
features never before available in a classified
advertisement system, and while the aforementioned
patent application has improved the efficiency of such
a system, there is still a need to simplify the system
to minimize unnecessary system interaction and to speed
the procedure of anonymous connection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a further
refinement of the interactive telephone system in which
mutually anonymous parties may conduct telephone
communication with each other, without delay, and with
minimal intervening steps, and maintain such anonymous
communication for as long as they desire. In other
embodiments, the present invention relates to an
interactive telephone system of similar function, but
wherein contact is made possible without the need to
divulge the telephone number of the person to whom a
call is placed or the telephone number of the person
_ 30 originating the call.
Specifically, the present invention, in a
first embodiment, is directed to a modification of the
basic system first disclosed in the '890 patent. That
is, the present invention takes advantage and use of
the call forwarding feature of a service of the public
SUQSTiTUTE ~~EET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
4
telephone facilities, one of many services available as
part of a special service package sometimes referred to
as "Centrex. " Call forwarding may also be purchased as
a feature separate from Centrex services.
The call forwarding feature of the public
telephone service is activated and de-activated by the
system of the present invention for each subscriber.
In this manner, calls placed by callers to a particular
subscriber, during times when that particular
subscriber has informed the system that he/she wishes
to receive calls, are forwarded directly by the public
telephone system to the particular subscriber. As a
result, the system need not become involved in the
processing of these calls. On the other hand, during
times when the subscriber informs the system that
he/she will not be available, or otherwise desires the
system to intervene, calls from callers to that
particular subscriber are directed to the system since
the call forwarding feature at the public telephone
central switching office will be de-activated for that
particular subscriber.
A primary object of the present invention is
to minimize processing of the system controller and to
avoid the maintenance of static connections_ between
callers and subscribers.
Other aspects disclosed in the prior related
patents and application may also be used in combination
with the present invention. In particular, the DID
feature and message recording capabilities, for
example, are envisioned to be used in accordance with
the present invention. Additionally, the unpublished
telephone number service disclosed in the
aforementioned pending application is refined according
to a second embodiment of this invention. A caller ID
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCTIUS93105795
~165~~~
blocking service is also disclosed pursuant to a third
embodiment.
Furthermore, in accordance with a fourth
embodiment, various configurations are disclosed in
5 which telephone company switching equipment is used to
perform the anonymous telephone interaction system.
In a fifth embodiment, four methods for
implementing call screening with an answer machine
style interface in a voice mail type of system are
disclosed.
In addition, a privacy hours function is
provided to allow subscribers to program a block of
time during which calls are to be intercepted and not
directed to the subscriber.
The above and other objects and advantages
will become more readily apparent when reference is
made to the following description taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating the
anonymous interactive telephone system according to the
present invention.
Figure 2 is a general flow chart diagram
illustrating the improvement of the present invention.
Figures 3 and 4 are flow chart diagrams
illustrating in greater detail the system
implementation programs corresponding to the
improvement illustrated in Figure 2.
" Figure 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating
the caller interfacing program according to the present
invention.
Figure 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating
a subscriber interfacing program according to the
present invention.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
6
Figure 7 is a flow diagram of the subscriber
instruction program according to the present invention.
Figure 8 is a flow diagram of the second
embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 9 and 10 are flow chart diagrams
illustrating in greater detail portions of the
interfacing programs associated with the second
embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 11 is a flow chart illustrating the
third embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 12-14 are block diagrams illustrating
several variations of configurations using public
telephone facilities to implement the anonymous
interactive telephone system according to the fourth
embodiment of this invention.
Figures 15-18 are diagrams depicting methods
for implementing the anonymous interactive telephone
system according to the fourth embodiment.
Figures 19-23 are block diagrams illustrating
steps for performing call screening of a first method
in a voice mail system in accordance with the fifth
embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 24 is a block diagram illustrating a
final step of a second method for performing call
screening in a voice mail system in accordance with the
fifth embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 25-30 are block diagrams illustrating
steps of a third method for performing call screening
in a voice mail system in accordance with the fifth
embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 31A and 31B depict a fourth method for
performing call screening in a voice mail system in
accordance with the fifth embodiment of the present
invention.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RUB 26)



WO 95/01037 PCTIUS93/05795
7
Figures 32 and 33 are block diagrams depicting
intermediate and direct telephone number arrangements
in accordance with the fifth embodiment of the present
invention.
Figures 34 and 35 are flow chart diagrams
depicting privacy hours routines which control the
times during which the subscriber designates calls to
be processed in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For purposes of disclosure, the present
invention will be described, in one embodiment, as an
interactive telephone system of the "personals" or
classified advertisement services type. It should be
understood, however, that the system finds use in other
advertising environments as well as other interactive
telephone systems such as a call screening service.
Referring first to Figure 1, the anonymous
interactive telephone system is generally shown at 10.
A detailed description of the basic operation of this
system is not made here as such a description may be
found in either the aforementioned patents or
aforementioned co-pending patent application. The
components of the invention shown in Figure 1 are
similar to those shown in the Figures of the
predecessor patents, but are enclosed in blocks
according to current telephone network nomenclature.
Generally, the interactive telephone system involves
the inter-linking through the public telephone service
(enclosed by dotted lines and referred to by reference
number 11) of a subscriber to the "personals" or
classified advertisement service and an interested
party (the caller). The subscriber has a telephone at
a subscriber station 14 , and the caller has a telephone
at a caller station 16. The caller and subscriber are
connected to the public telephone network 11 via ports
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26}



WO 95/01037 PCT/L1S93I05795
~~16~~~3
8
A and B, respectively, to the telephone company switch
17. The switch 17 interconnects with other switches
and stations.
The heart of the present invention is the
intelligent peripheral (I/P) 18. The I/P 18 includes
a telephone network interface unit 20, a voice
prompt/record and control unit 22 and a system
controller with memories 24. Path 26 represents the
bi-directional audiopath and path 28 represents the
signalling path between the I/P 18 and the public
telephone network 11. Port S is the interface between
the telephone network interface unit 20 and path 26.
The audio path 26 could be analog lines, analog trunks,
digital lines, or digital trunks in the form of Tl, T3,
ISDN BRI, ISDN PRI, or some other digital format: The
signalling path 28 connecting the two systems could be
entirely separate, travelling over different mediums,
from the audio path or travelling over the same
physical path and be distinguished from the audio by
time division, frequency division, or some other
multiplexing method. For example, path 26 could be in
the form of release link trunks delivered in the
digital form T1. In this case the DTMF station address
signalling, on-hook/off-hook information and ringing is
delivered over the same audio path as the voice.
Generally, when a caller calls a subscriber by
dialing a number associated with the I/P 18, switch 17
sets up an audio path between port A and port C. _
Switch 17 then signals I/P 18 that there is an incoming
call via port C, I/P 18 acknowledges via the network
interface unit 20 and then switch 17 sends the station
address to I/P 18. I/P 18 then places the call on hold
by hook flashing. Next, I/P 18 transmits the station
address of the subscriber to switch 17 and an audio
path is set up between port C and port B. I/P 18 then
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 ~ PCT/US93/05795
9
hook flashes to set up a three-way connection between
port A, B, and C. However, if switch 17 has the
feature of auto three-way conference, all three ports
would automatically be connected. After the three-way
conference is set up, I/P 18 would hang up and the
connection between port A and port B would be held as
long as the caller and subscriber wished to converse.
The parties located at the respective stations 14 and
16 are mutually anonymous, but both are aware of
respective distinct telephone numbers of the I/P 18
through which communication with complete
confidentiality is assured, all of which will be
explained in detail hereinafter. The details of a
billing terminal, credit authorization facility, and
all other various details may be found in the
aforementioned patents.
Referring to Figure 2, the improvement to the
anonymous interactive telephone system is generally
shown by way of a flow chart illustrating the call
forwarding supervisory task performed by the system
controller 24. Each subscriber communicates with the
system controller 24 by telephone to program the system
to perform specific tasks. The subscriber interfacing
program will be described in more detail hereinafter.
One of these tasks relates to the active times during
which the subscriber desires to have calls from
callers, who desire to communicate with that particular
subscriber, forwarded by the system directly to the
particular subscriber to allow communication between
desirable callers of the particular subscriber. This
. information is stored for each subscriber in a
subscriber file in the system controller 20. Also,
subscribers may program when calls are to be intervened
by the I/P 18, during times called inactive times.
SUBSTITUTE SI~E~' ~~ULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/LTS93/05795
The call forwarding supervisory task program
begins at step 30 by opening the subscriber file for a
particular subscriber. The system is constantly
scanning each subscriber file. Information related to
5 the activation and de-activation of call forwarding is
processed for each subscriber file. In step 32, a scan
is made to detenaine if there are subscriber programmed
times during which the subscriber has indicated that
calls from callers are to be diverted to voice mail (or
10 another message service) at the specified time. If so,
the system turns the call forwarding feature off for
that particular subscriber in step 34 by interacting
with the public telephone system. In step 36, a scan
of the subscriber's file is made to determine if it is
the time at which the subscriber desires to receive
calls directly from callers. If so, the system turns
the call forwarding feature on for that particular
subscriber by interaction with the public telephone
company network in step 38. The program then continues
to the next subscriber at step 40. The time data is
stored for each day of the week and may be changed by
subscribers as often as desired. Additionally, these
times may be published with the subscriber's
advertisement. _
Figure 3 illustrates the system program 38 by
which the system controller activates the call
forwarding feature at the public telephone network
switch 17 for a particular subscriber. Reference is
also made to Figure 1. The manner in which call
forwarding is remotely controlled depends on the
particular public telephone company services which are _
available to the I/P 18. Specifically, should the I/P
18 have trunk access to the central office, indicative
of DID capability, it is necessary to supply a
subscriber reference number (SRN) to the central
SUBSTfTUTE SHEET RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/LTS93105795
11
office. This decision is depicted at step 105, but is
not an actual step performed in the procedure. The
actual step performed is step 107, which is necessary
because the subscriber reference number (SRN) is
embedded in the telephone number dialed by callers: a
unique incoming line to the I/P 18 is not assigned to
each subscriber. The I/P 18 could place the call to
the central office via any one of a plurality of branch
lines. On the other hand, if the I/P 18 does not have
trunk access to the central office, but instead
subscribes to Centrex services in which a plurality of
lines connect directly between the I/P 18 and the
central office, then at step 110, the I/P 18 need only
dial a call forwarding activation code. This is
because the particular subscriber for which call
forwarding is being controlled is assigned a unique
direct line from the central office. Thus, the central
office will know for which subscriber to activate call
forwarding upon processing the call made from the I/P
18 on that particular direct line. The following
description relates to use with an AT&T lAESS end
office switch implementing Centrex services, or to
configurations in which the I/P 18 has trunk access to -
the central office.
Initially, in step 90, the voice prompt/record
and control unit 22 goes off-hook at port C in an
attempt to obtain a dial tone on the line. The digital
switch 17 returns dial tone on the line in step 100.
_ Next, in steps 105, 107 and 110, the .voice
prompt/record and control unit 22 (under command of the
system controller 24) dials a call forwarding
activation code either with or without the SRN,
depending on the type of telephone services subscribed
to by I/P 18, as explained above. The call forwarding
activation code could be any number of digits, but is
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~1~5~~~
12
typically three digits. With a Centrex type of call
forwarding system described above, the digital switch
17 returns a stutter dial tone at step 120
acknowledging access into the call forwarding service.
Thereafter, the voice prompt/record and control unit 22
dials the subscriber telephone number at step 130.
The system controller 24, through control unit
22, monitors the response in step 140 and if the
subscriber answers at step 150, the voice prompt/record
and control unit 22 announces to that particular
subscriber that calls directed to the I/P 18 for
him/her are being forwarded directly to the subscriber.
The control unit 22 then hangs up in step 170 and the
digital switch 17 is thereby programmed in step 180 to
forward calls directly to the subscriber in response to
receiving a call dialed to the corresponding published
subscriber reference number.
If the subscriber's line is busy or the
subscriber does not answer, the voice prompt/record and
control unit 22 hangs up in step 190 and may make
subsequent attempts to reach the subscriber, and thus
enabling call forwarding. Call forwarding is activated
after the second forwarding attempt is made to a busy
number. This occurs if the second call forwarding
activation attempt is made less than two minutes from
the first attempt as shown in steps 200 and 210. Steps
190, 200 and 210 may not be necessary when interacting
with certain telephone systems; through interaction
with the switch 17 at steps 110 and 130, the switch 17
would be programmed to forward calls to the subscriber
without requiring prior contact with the subscriber.
In this regard, the digital switch 17 could signal
acknowledgement of a particular step in this procedure
in a number of ways including one or more tones or
other signals.
SUBSTITUTE S~(~~ T (RULE 26)



- WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~1~~5~~
13
Figure 4 illustrates the system program 34 for
deactivating the call forwarding feature. The voice
prompt/record and control unit 22 goes off hook at step
220 and the digital switch 17 returns a dial tone at
step 240. The control unit 22 then dials the call
forwarding de-activation code in step 260 (possibly
together with the subscriber's reference number
depending on the type of telephone service subscribed
to by the I/P 18) to deactivate call forwarding for
that particular subscriber. The digital switch then
may respond with an acknowledgement tone in step 280.
The control unit 22 then hangs up in step 300.
With reference to Figure 5, taken in
conjunction with Figure 1, a detailed description of
the operation of the I/P 18 during interaction with a
caller follows. The caller initiates the process by
calling the I/P 18 at step 310. Steps 320, 330, and
335 which are not part of the system program but are
shown for explanatory purposes, depict the manner in
which the digital switch 17 handles the call made by
the caller. If the call forwarding feature is
activated at the time of the call, the call is
forwarded directly to the subscriber as shown by step
330. Otherwise, the call is allowed to pass via the
digital switch 17 to the I/P 18 where the line will
ring at step 340. The call is received by the I/P 18
at step 360 together with the published subscriber
reference number (which is embedded in the telephone
number in accordance with the DID feature). At step
380, the subscriber reference number is used to access
the corresponding subscriber file to determine in step
400 whether this subscriber is active. (Both the
system and the subscriber can make the reference number
inactive.) If the reference number is not active or is
otherwise an invalid number, a message is announced to
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~16~5~3
14
the caller at step 410. Otherwise, the procedure
continues to step 420.
If the subscriber reference number is active,
the system, via the voice prompt/record and control
unit 22, plays a message to the caller at step 420.
This message may include one or more of the following:
( 1 ) an announcement that the caller should cal l back
after a certain time; (2) an announcement that the item
for sale has been sold; (3) a message describing the
item for sale; (4) a message to prompt the caller to
leave a message for voice mail. Meanwhile, the system
controller 24 then determines, based on the data in the
subscriber's file, if the subscriber is taking
messages, at step 430. If so, the voice mail mode is
entered at step 440. As described in the prior related
patents, a call back reference number is assigned to
the message to permit anonymous subscriber retrieval of
the message. Otherwise, the caller is given an
opportunity to be connected to the subscriber at step
450.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of
the present invention, subscribers may program the I/P
18 to intercept calls even if they are otherwise
available to receive them. For example, a subscriber is
able to record a further advertising message for
his/her product or service. This message is played to
the caller at step 420. The subscriber may program the
system to then provide the option to the caller in step
450 to be connected with the subscriber in steps 460
and 470. If the caller declines this option, the
caller is disconnected from the system in steps 480 and
490. Moreover, as will be described in conjunction
with Figures 34 and 35, the subscriber may designate a
block of time as privacy hours during which he/she
wishes not to receive calls.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26~



WO 95/01037
PCT/US93/05795
Figure 6 illustrates the subscriber
interfacing program in accordance with the present
invention. This program is initiated by an incoming
call from a subscriber station 14. Such an incoming
5 call is met by a greeting at step 216 originating from
the voice prompt/record and control unit 22. The
subscriber, who at this point of the communication is
not identified by the system as a subscriber, is
prompted to enter by Touch-Tone input, an access code
10 which is either the same as the published subscriber
reference number, or if more security is desired, an
unpublished code which is given to the subscriber when
initiating the service, or the subscriber's own private
telephone number. The access code is then verified at
15 218 and at this time the system is apprised that the
party is a subscriber.
Upon verification of the access code of the
subscriber, the subscriber may make a selection from a
variety of services pursuant to a service selection
program 221. In accordance with the embodiment
illustrated in Figure 6, the menu of services includes
a contact caller service 224, a message review or voice
mail service 226, an instruction entry service 228 and
a message statistic service 231. After the selected
services are performed, the program continues as
indicated at 232 to a disconnect operation 234. This
is followed by a charge computing step 236 and a system
administration step 238. It is noted that the I/P 18
may receive and process multiple calls from subscribers
simultaneously.
Many of the programs for performing the
services shown in Figure 6 have been described in
detail in the prior related patents. Save for
instructions service 228, these programs remain the
same in the instant invention.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
16
Specifically, the custom message service of
the present invention permits subscribers to leave
original messages in their own voices or direct the
system to leave a particular message in a voice
generated or recorded by the I/P 18. This is used in
step 420 of Figure 5 when a caller has been directed to
the I/P 18 during such times specified by a subscriber.
The custom message may, for example, comprise a further
description of an advertised product or service or a
personal greeting.
Figure 7 illustrates the instruction program
228 in more detail. In accordance with present
invention, subscribers are able to telephone the I/P 18
to program the system to respond to callers. In step
500, the subscriber is prompted to enter instructions
for selecting the parameter which he/she desires to
program. This choice is entered by the subscriber in
step 510. A program is then executed at step 52o to
access the choice selected by the subscriber for that
subscriber's file. Such choices include a call
handling program 540 which defines the manner in which
calls are handled for the subscriber. Such call
handling options could be, for example, to block or
allow calls from a telephone number which left a
particular message, or to automatically dial a number
from which a particular message was left. Another
option under the call handling program 540 may include
the choice of callers being told to leave a message,
all calls should be screened, all calls should be put
through, to block the last caller, put the last caller
through without screening, or call the last caller
back. The third option is special features 550 which
can include a variety of different choices. One choice
is for selecting a standard system voice greeting or
recording a personal custom greeting which callers
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)


WO 95/01037 ~ ~ ~ PCTIUS93/05795
17
would hear. Another choice is for activating,
deactivating, and selecting privacy hours which are
times when callers are not to be disturbed. The
privacy hours function is described below in
conjunction with Figures 34 and 35. Other choices
under special features include wake up call, and
message delivery: the latter being when the subscriber
is called and played any messages they have. The
subscriber can activate, deactivate, or enter a time
for which these two actions are to occur. Two other
choices are call forwarding and find me. Find me is a
variation on call forwarding in which a list of phone
numbers is called to locate the subscriber. Both
choices can be activated or deactivated and require the
entry of telephone numbers. Should the subscriber
choose an incorrect parameter, an error is detected in
step 560 and the program starts over from step 500.
Based upon this information, the I/P 18 is able to
activate and de-activate the call forwarding function
at the public telephone central switching station
pursuant to the procedures shown in Figures 2-4.
Figures 34 and 35 illustrate in detail the
routines which control the times during which the
subscriber designates calls to be processed. These
functions are referred to as the privacy hours
function. The privacy hours of a subscriber is the
block of hours during which the subscriber does not
want calls to be forwarded (directly by call forwarding
or indirectly via the I/P 18) to his/her telephone
number, but rather for the I/P 18 to intervene and
process the call according to the instructions
programmed by that subscriber. The block of time is
designated by a start time and an end time. Calls will
be intercepted during the block of time beginning with
the start time and ending with the end time. In this
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~16~~
18
regard, the block of time is referred to as the
subscriber's privacy hours. This block of time is
respected by the system every day until the subscriber
changes the start and end time of the privacy hours.
The subscriber need not call into the system again,
unless he/she wishes to change the privacy hours.
Figure 34 illustrates the routine which
prompts the subscriber to set his/her desired privacy
hours. In step 1000, the subscriber is asked if he/she
desires to change his/her privacy hours. If so, then
in step 1010, the system announces the prior designated
start time (or a default start time such as 12:00 PM if
no prior time has been designated). In step 1020, the
subscriber is asked if the start time should be
decreased (to previous hours). If so, then in step
1030, the start time is decreased automatically by one
hour, and the routine jumps to step 1060. If the
subscriber desires to increase the start time, then in
step 1040, the system asks to increase the start time
and does so by one hour in step 1050. In step 1060,
after the start time is either increased or decreased
by one hour, the subscriber is asked if this new start
time is proper. If not, steps 1020-1050 are repeated
until the desired start time is achieved.
Similarly, in step 1070, the prior or a
default end time is announced to the subscriber. Steps
1080-1120 proceed in a manner similar to steps
1020-1060 to change the end time. The response of the
subscriber may be a certain Touch Tone key on the
telephone or a voice response such as "Yes" or "No"
which is recognized by the system. Finally, in step
1130, the privacy hours are announced to the subscriber
as beginning at "start time" and ending at "end time."
Figure 35 illustrates the manner in which the
system considers the privacy hours when processing a
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93105795
19
phone call to a subscriber. The reception of a call
for a subscriber is depicted in step 1140. The
subscriber's file is then opened in step 1150. Next,
in step 1160, the system checks in the subscriber's
file to determine if the privacy hours service is on
for that particular subscriber. If not, then the call
to the subscriber may be screened as shown at step
1180, and possibly the caller connected with the
subscriber upon subscriber authorization.
If privacy hours is on for the subscriber, the
system controller determines in step 1170 whether the
time that the call is received is during the privacy
hours. If so, then the caller is prompted to leave a
message in step 1190. If it is determined that the
call is not received during the privacy hours, then the
call may be processed as shown at step 1180.
The privacy hours function may be implemented
in the first embodiment, whereby call forwarding
activation and deactivation times are taken from the
same data in a subscriber file.
In the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, the DID feature is employed as disclosed in
the prior application. That is, the subscriber
reference number is embedded in the number published
and dialed by the caller to reach the I/P 18. This is
also the same telephone number which is recognized at
the digital switch 17 to forward (or not to forward)
calls directly to the subscriber.
Turning now to Figures 8-10, the second
embodiment of the present invention will be described.
As disclosed in the copending related application, the
anonymous interactive telephone system can perform a
connecting service for persons with unpublished
telephone numbers. In a more general sense, as
described in the co-pending application and in the
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 2fi~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~16~~53
present application, this embodiment relates to a call
screening method which allows subscribers to screen
calls before accepting them. One such application
involves subscribers (who may have unpublished numbers
5 but want to be contacted) who may subscribe to the
system of the present invention, which provides an
automated call screening function for the subscriber.
The following is a brief description of this service
with reference to Figure 8 while a more detailed
10 description of how this service can be adapted to
incorporate the call forwarding feature will thereafter
be provided with reference to Figure 9.
One example of the unpublished telephone
number service is shown in Figure 8. A doctor acting
15 as a subscriber having an office 600 and home 610,
supplies his/her unpublished (or published) number of
the home 610 to the I/P 18. Patients are given the
number of the system by the doctor, or if the doctor
has call forwarding, the switch 620 (part of the public
20 telephone system) switches the call from the office, to
the I/P 18. (In this manner, the patient needs to know
only one number for 24-hour access to the subscribing
doctor.) In either case, the I/P 18 communicates with
the switch 620 to activate and de-activate call
forwarding with respect to 'the doctor's office
telephone number or the telephone number of the,I/P~18
given to patients. It is to be noted, however, that
there is in essence two layers of call forwarding. One
which the doctor directly controls in switch 620 to
forward calls dialed for his office to the I/P 18. The
second is that which the I/P 18 activates or
de-activates possibly in a different switch 625.
Moreover, it is switch 625 through which the I/P 18
responds to the published DID telephone number
corresponding to the doctor's home. Thus, during
S~_~~~T~T~T~ ~~ic~T (R~3L.E 26~



- WO 95/01037
PCT/US93/05795
21
certain programmed times, calls will be directly
forwarded to the doctor (at home) and at other times,
the I/P 18 wil l intervene. These parameters are
programmed remotely by the doctor, as previously
described in conjunction with Figure 6, and are carried
out by the I/P 18 as previously described. In the
latter case when the call forwarding feature is
de-activated for a particular doctor, a patient
desiring to contact the doctor who calls the office (or
directly to the system) is directed to the I/P 18 and
announces his name, the purpose of his call, and
possible his telephone number. The telephone number of
the caller may also be obtained by ANI, also known as
caller ID. The system by indexing the DID telephone
number dialed by the patient to reach the doctor, calls
the doctor to play the patient's message. The doctor
therefore immediately receives the patient's message,
without actually speaking to the patient, and can then
call the patient when appropriate or chooses to be
connected to the caller directly by hitting a key on
his/her telephone keypad. On the other hand, if the
doctor is not available to take the call (during such
programmed times by the doctor or if the forwarded call
is not answered) , the system calls the requested doctor
through an alternate telephone number, calls the next
doctor "on call", etc., until a doctor is reached, or
informs the caller of the unavailability of the doctor.
Figure 9 illustrates the details of the second
embodiment. The caller who desires to contact a
subscriber (doctor) with an unpublished telephone
number, dials the telephone number of the I/P 18 at
step 630 either directly or via a call forwarding
feature. If the subscriber has programmed the I/P 18
to command 'the central switching office to directly
forward calls to his/her home at the time of the
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~16~~~
22
caller's call, then the caller is forwarded directly to
the subscriber by the central switching office as shown
by steps 640 and 650. Otherwise, the caller will be
connected to the I/P 18 in step 660. (Steps 640 and
650 are shown only for explanatory purposes and are not
actual steps of the program of Figure 9 implemented by
the system controller 24.) The subscriber's reference
number (embedded in the called telephone number) is
recognized, and the subscriber's corresponding and
actual telephone number is found in memory. This is
accomplished at step 670.
Once connected to the I/P 18, the caller is
prompted to state his name, telephone number, and the
purpose for his call at step 680. The voice
prompt/record and control unit 22 records this message.
Then, the subscriber's telephone number is called at
step 690 and if the subscriber is available, as
determined at step 700 at which the subscriber may be
requested to enter a verification code, the caller's
recorded message is played to the subscriber at step
710. Otherwise, a message announcing to the caller
that the subscriber is unavailable is issued at step
720.
After the subscriber hears the caller's
message, he then decides whether or not to take the
call at step 730. If he so chooses (as by responding
to a voice prompt by Touch Tone), the system connects
the subscriber to the caller at step 740. Otherwise, at
step 750, a message is announced to the caller saying
that the subscriber is not available to communicate
with the caller.
As shown in Figure 10, if the subscriber is
not available when contact is attempted through the
screening steps 670-700, the caller's message,
including the caller's telephone number announced by
~~385'~i~'~~ '~~'~"~"T ~~.~.~~ ~ 2~.~



WO 95/01037 PCT/iJS93/05795
23
the caller, is recorded. The message may be stored at
step 760. The subscriber may periodically call in to
the system as shown at step 800 to check for messages
which are indexed and in a subscriber message database
as described in the aforementioned patent. In
addition, the system may periodically call the
subscriber, or try in priority several alternative
subscriber numbers, until the recorded message is
played to the subscriber. This might be necessary
since persons with unpublished numbers do not typically
know or suspect when somebody would try to contact
them. Thus, as shown in Figure 10, the caller's
message is stored at step 760 and after the initial
contact attempt, and a predetermined period of time
indicated by step 770, the subscriber is called by the
system at step 780. If the subscriber is available,
the caller's message together with an introduction
prompt is played to the subscriber at step 790. Steps
770 and 780 are repeated until the subscriber is
finally reached.
Figure 11 illustrates a service according to
the third embodiment of the present invention which
preserves anonymity of outgoing calls of a calling _
party to a receiving party. The service is designed
for persons who want to place telephone calls through
the public telephone network without revealing any
caller identification information to the called party,
such as an ANI number (Caller ID). The calling party
calls the system at step 820 and enters his/her
security code at step 830. Although not specifically
shown as such, if the security code is invalid, the
process terminates. Otherwise, the telephone number
for which the calling party wishes to communicate is
specified at step 840 by allowing the calling party to
enter the actual telephone number or a speed dialing
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 2G~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
24
option of the person with whom he/she wishes to
communicate. Thereafter, the number is called at step
850. As the call is being processed, the system stores
information including the number dialed, date and time
the call is made at step 860.
By this arrangement, the calling party
maintains his/her anonymity even if the receiving party
has a service such as that provided by ANI or caller ID
by which the originating number is made available to
the receiver of the call. However, should a person
receive any threatening or obscene telephone calls, the
system has information of the time, date and originator
of the call so that proper action by the law
enforcement authorities can be taken.
In accordance with another aspect of the
present invention, the I/P 18 may be embodied as part
of equipment in a public telephone company system.
Figure 12 illustrates that the I/P 18' may be part of
a larger telephone company operated facility and a
peripheral to the switch 17 within the telephone
network. Certain of the functions are performed by one
or more pieces of telephone company equipment.
In particular, Figure 13 illustrates a
configuration in which the I/P 18' is formed as (or
part of) an end office switch in a local exchange.
This switch may be one of several end office switches
known in the art, such as an AT&T 5ESS, a Northern
Telecom DMS-100, or a Northern Telecom SuperNode. ~nd
office three is the only part of the network shown in
Figure 13 that needs to be added to implement the
anonymous interactive telephone system and all of the
functions of the I/P 18' previously described are
performed by this office. The communication paths
connecting the switches may be analog trunks, digital
trunks, analog lines, or other digital communication
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



~~WO 95/01037 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US93/OS795
paths. In operation, when a caller at caller station
16 wishes to contact a subscriber at subscriber station
_ 14, the telephone call from the caller travels to the
end office switch two 904, to the end office switch
5 18' , to end office switch one 902 and to the subscriber
station 14. The call could also be routed through the
tandem 900 should any of the direct communication paths
between end offices one, two or three be completely
utilized. The I/P 18' also could be embodied as a
10 tandem switch in the form of a Northern Telecom
SuperNode, a special services switch such as a Summa
Four SDS-1000, or in a toll switch such as an AT&T 4ESS
which would be part of a long distance network such as
that owned by AT&T. These are only three examples of
15 the potential switches that could be used.
Figure 14 illustrates a system which is
similar to that shown in Figure 13, but further
includes an overlay network implementing common channel
interoffice signalling (CCIS). CCIS is a network in
20 which digital switches interact with each other, or
other devices, utilizing data packets that travel over
communication channels separate from the channels
supporting the actual voice conversations. A remote
database at Service Control Point (SCP) 906, contains
25 the unique call processing instructions for
implementing anonymous interactive communication.- An
SCP may be embodied, for example, by an AT&T 3B series
computer. There may be several SCP's in a particular
network, in which case each SCP stores information
which identifies the address of other SCP's which
store call processing instructions. In this manner,
all the SCP's in the network know what each SCP stores.
One other additional piece of equipment is an
intelligent peripheral voice prompt/record unit to
perform voice prompting, recording, recognition and the
SUBSTITU T E SKEET (RULE 2~'



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
26
recognition of Touch Tone digits. The intelligent
peripheral could also be connected to an SCP is a
dedicated link not on the CCIS network. Also included
in this system, though not shown for the sake of
simplicity, are packet switches called Signal Transfer
Points (STP) which route packets of information between
SCP's and telephone company switches.
In this system, when a caller at caller
station 16 wishes to anonymously contact a subscriber
at station 14, he/she dials a telephone number with the
appropriate embedded subscriber reference number. When
end office two 904 receives the dialed number, it
recognizes that special routing instructions are needed
to complete the call for that dialed number. End
office two 904 then sends a data packet to the database
at the SCP 906 which, among other things, contains the
number that caller station 16 dialed. Assuming the
subscriber is taking calls, database 906 sends a data
packet to end office two 904 which contains the
subscriber's actual telephone number. End office two
sends a data packet, via CCIS, to end office one 902
indicating a call is to be routed to end office one.
End office one then sends an acknowledgement packet to
end office two. End office two then seizes a trunk to
end office one. End office one 902, after some
additional handshaking packets have been exchanged,
sends an acknowledgement message back to end office two
indicating the connection between the two switches is
complete. End office one 902 then rings subscriber
station 14.
The following is a description of how a
subscriber at subscriber station 14 would prevent calls
from being put through, cause messages to be played to
a caller, or allow a caller to record messages. The
subscriber dials a system access number that terminates
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)


~~ WO 95/01037 ~ ~ 3 PCT/US93/05795
27
in end office three 908 where the intelligent
peripheral 18 resides. The subscriber is then given
the option of specifying that a caller would hear, for
example, a "call back later" message, an "item has been
sold" message, or a "description of the item for sale"
message. The subscriber/advertiser could make the
selection by either using Touch Tones or spoken words,
both of which the intelligent peripheral 18 could
interpret. The choice selected is stored in the
database at SCP 906. When a caller at caller station
16 telephones the number in the advertisement, end
office two 904 queries the database at SCP 906 which
returns a telephone number at end office three 908.
Upon the call reaching end of f ice three 908 , the caller
is then played a message and may also be allowed to
leave a voice mail message via I/P 18. If the caller
subsequently is to be connected through to the
subscriber, end office three 908 queries and is
instructed by the database at SCP 906 to route the call
to the subscriber station 14. If the caller is not to
be connected through to the subscriber, end office
three 908 is instructed by the database at SCP 906 to
end the call (hang up). Furthermore, if the subscriber
has chosen to have calls blocked for a specified number
of hours, the database at SCP 906 would at the
appropriate times route calls to the I/P 18 rather than
to the subscriber station 14.
Figure 15 illustrates in detail the steps that
_ occur in the network shown in Figure 14 when a caller
dials a telephone number with an embedded subscriber
reference number for a particular subscriber. In this
procedure, a call is placed directly from a caller to
a subscriber. Initially, the caller goes off hook upon
which the central office 904 returns dial tone. The
caller then dials a telephone number with an embedded
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93105795
~~~ a~~3
28
subscriber reference number. The originating central
office 904 examines the dialed digits and polls the SCP
906 to obtain routing instructions for the call by
sending a data packet over the CCIS network which
includes the dialed number as part of the routing
address. The SCP 906 receives the packet and returns
a packet that contains the routing address of the SCP
that has the call processing instructions for this
particular call. Next, the central office 904 polls
l0 the appropriate SCP that is to route the call. In this
example, this is SCP 906. It is more likely that
another SCP would be the one which contains the actual
call routing instructions, but only one SCP is shown
for explanatory purposes. The SCP 906 then returns the
real telephone number of the subscriber. After this
step, the call is processed in the same manner as if
the subscriber had been telephoned directly.
Specifically, a call is set up to the end
office 902 from the end office 904. The end office 902
rings the subscriber's telephone and supplies a
ringback to the caller. When the caller answers,
central office 902 stops supplying ringing voltage to
the subscriber's telephone and also ends audible
ringback. The caller and the subscriber are now in
communication to talk. When one or both parties hang
up, both central offices disconnect the voice path
between the two switches.
When a caller is to hear a recorded message,
calls to the subscriber are routed to an intelligent
peripheral (I/P) 18 associated with an end office 908.
Calls to a subscriber are also routed to an I/P when
the subscriber reference number is not included as part
of the telephone number published in the ad, but is a
separate number that appears in the ad. Figure 16
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26~



WO 95/01037 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US93/05795
29
depicts the steps that occur when a call routes to I/P
18 shown in Figure 14.
The first six steps in Figure 16 are the same
as those in Figure 15. Subsequent to these steps, the
SCP 906 returns the destination address of the central
office that has the associated I/P. Then, the
originating central office routes the call to the end
office with the associated I/P for processing the call..
That end office polls the SCP for appropriate
instructions to process the call. The SCP returns the
call processing instructions to the requesting central
office. Additional call processing instructions may be
downloaded from the SCP to the I/P while the caller and
I/P are interacting. Multiple queries to the SCP may
not be necessary because all the information needed to
process the call may have been retained in a single
query. Also, during the call, the I/P may return to
the SCP the results of caller interaction with the I/P.
The end of f ice with the associated I/P, or the
I/P 18, returns audible ringback to the caller.
Audible ringback to the caller ceases and the caller
receives service from the I/P 18. At this point,
several scenarios of interaction between the caller
responding to the ad and the I/P are possible:
A. The caller could be played a standard
message by the I/P such as "I'm not available right
now," "The car has been sold," or "The advertiser will
be available after 8:30 p.m. today."
B. The caller responding to the ad may
listen to a voice recording stored in the I/P that
describes the item or service for sale. This
description may be more exhaustive than that which
appears in the ad.
C. If the advertiser is not available, the
caller may leave a message.
SUBSTITUTE Si ~~E~' (RULE 2~~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
D. The caller may be given a menu of options
in which different choices are selected by depressing
the appropriate Touch Tone inputs. For example, if a
caller leaves a message, the caller may be given
5 options for reviewing the message, erasing the message
and rerecording a new message, or saving the message.
E. The I/P may have speech recognition
capabilities to interact with the caller. The caller
may be given a menu of options where different choices
10 are selected by speaking the appropriate menu options.
F. If the subscriber reference number is not
embedded in the published telephone number, the caller
would be prompted to key in the appropriate subscriber
reference number published in the ad. This number is
15 passed to the SCP that is controlling the call. Options
A through E may be employed after the caller keys in
the appropriate SRN.
Following execution of these or other options,
the next steps which occur depend on whether the call
20 should be terminated or routed through to a subscriber.
If the call is over, the I/P hangs up and the
connection between the caller and the I/P ends. This is
depicted in step 13'. Otherwise, if the call is to be
routed through to a subscriber, steps 14 through 20 are
25 executed. Note that step 14 would not occur if end
office 908 were to hold the call. In addition, step l5
would be SCP 906 returning a destination address to end
office three 908. Steps 15-20 are the same as steps
7-12 in Figure 15. The SRN, whether embedded in the
30 dialed telephone number or keyed into the I/P, is used
as an index for the real telephone number of the
advertiser.
When a subscriber wishes to change how calls
are to be routed, he/she dials a special system access
number that is routed to the intelligent peripheral.
SUSSTiTUTE SHEET (RUSE 26)



WO 95/01037 ' ~ PCT/US93/05795
31
The steps to route this call are identical to steps
1-13' in Figure 16, with the exception of step 13.
Rather, the subscriber and I/P interact according to
one of the following or other options:
A. The subscriber may be given a menu of
options where different choices are selected by
depressing the appropriate Touch Tone inputs. For
example, if the advertiser leaves an announcement for
callers to hear, the options of reviewing, erasing and
rerecording the message may be made available.
B. The subscriber, once their product or
service is sold, or is no longer available, may select
the option of having callers routed to a message
informing them that the item is no longer available.
C. The subscriber may select the option of
having callers routed to a message informing them when
to call back.
D. The subscriber may listen to messages _
left by the
callers.
Two other services that utilize the concept of
anonymous telephonic communication are a spoken caller
ID service and a call screening service. Figure 17
illustrates the steps occurring for the implementation
of these services. Steps 1-12 are the same as those
shown in Figure 16. In step 13, the caller and system
interact and the following are examples of the types of
interaction:
A. The caller may be prompted to enter a
short message identifying himself/herself.
B. The caller may be put on hold in the
spoken caller ID service.
C. If the called party (callee) is not
taking calls, the caller is prompted to leave a
message.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 ~ PCT/US93/05795
32
Thereafter, the SCP returns the called party's
real destination address to the central office with the
associated I/P. The call is then set up to the
terminating central office and the called party. The
called party answers the ringing telephone. Next, the
I/P plays an introductory message to the called party
and then the short message left by the caller. In the
spoken caller ID service, the I/P announces the
caller's telephone number and may also include the
caller's message. The called party then chooses to
accept or reject the call by depressing a certain key
to accept or another key to reject. In the event that
the called party is not taking calls, the I/P requests
that the caller leave a detailed message describing
their reason for calling. Otherwise, the caller and
the called party are connected to each other. After
their conversation, the connection between the two
switches is broken when either the caller or called
party hangs up.
Yet another concept for anonymous telephone
communication is personals. The steps depicted in
Figure 18 are those that would be implemented in a
telephone network when a person responding to an ad
telephones the number in the ad. Steps 1-12 and 16-20
are the same as those shown in Figure 16. In step 13,
the caller and advertiser interact according to one of
the following options:
A. The caller is told that the call will cost
a fixed amount of money, for example $4.00. If the
caller decides to stay on the line and accept charges,
then he/she is connected through to the advertiser.
B. If the advertiser is not taking calls, then
the I/P plays a message to the caller who is then
prompted to leave a message.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)


WO 95/01037 ~ PCT/US93I05795
33
In accordance with a fifth embodiment of the
present invention, a call screening system with an
answering machine style interface is provided. call
screening is an important feature of a home answering
machine. The called party with the answering machine
often wishes to know who is calling before conversing
with the caller. Answering machine capabilities are
also provided in a network based voice mail system, in
which persons subscribe to the voice mail system and
retrieve all messages form the system. It is
desireable to provide call screening methods for a
network based voice mail system.
In accordance with this embodiment of the
present invention, when a call is received by the call
screening system (or voice mail system), that system
would immediately telephone the subscriber's home
telephone. When the subscriber answers the telephone,
the subscriber would hear the caller leaving the
message, but the caller would not hear the subscriber.
The subscriber could either hear the caller's message
from the beginning, which is a delayed message, or
actually hear the message in real time. If the
subscriber wishes to converse with the caller, he/she
would depress a key on the Touch Tone pad, for example,
and the caller and subscriber would be connected. To
not talk with the caller, the subscriber would merely
hang up in which case the caller would continue to
leave a message and then hang up.
There are four methods in which the system
described is implemented. Figure 19 depicts one system
for implementing the services described above. This is
the same configuration as shown in Figure 1 with the
addition of trunk 33 connecting switch 17 and I/P 18.
Figures 20-24 depict the steps that switch 17 and I/P
18 would go through to implement this kind of call.
SUBSTlTUIE SHED' (RULE ~6~



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
~1~~~53
34
Referring to Figure 20, the caller would reach the
telephone network interface unit (NIU) 20 and voice
prompt/record and control unit 22 via trunk 26.
Control unit 22 would receive the call and start
playing ringback to the caller. The system controller
with memories 24 would then command the NIU 20 to call
the subscriber using trunk 33, which is depicted in
Figure 21. The caller would hear an introductory
prerecorded message from the subscriber asking them to
leave a message. If the subscriber does not answer,
the caller would just leave a message. If the
subscriber answers, he/she would hear the caller
leaving a message. The one way voice path from the
caller to the subscriber is through the NIU 20, which
is depicted in Figure 22. NIU 20 allows the subscriber
to hear the caller, but the caller does not hear the
subscriber. If the subscriber decides to talk to the
caller, he/she would depress the appropriate key on
their touch tone phone or respond with a verbal command
which I/P 18 would understand utilizing speech
recognition techniques. The call would then be
maintained by trunks 26 and 33 plus NIU 20 in I/P 18,
which is depicted in Figure 23.
In the second method of implementing the above
service, the central office switch 17 would maintain
the connection between the caller and the subscriber.
Figure 19, as above, is the basic system configuration.
Figures 20-22 describe the basic setup of a call from
a caller to a subscriber as described in the above
paragraph. NIU 20 allows the subscriber to hear the
caller leave a message, but does not allow the caller
to hear the subscriber. If the subscriber decides to
accept the call, control unit 22 via the telephone
network interface unit 20 would signal the central
office switch to hook ports A and B together. Unlike
SUBSTITUTE SHEET RULE 26~



WO 95/01037 ' PCTIUS93105795
~16~~~
the embodiment described above, the call is not
maintained by trunks 26, 33, and NIU 20 connecting
switch 17 and I/P 18. Rather, the call is maintained
by switch 17 as depicted in Figure 24: trunks 26, 33
5 and NIU 20 are free to process the next call.
A third method for implementing the service
described above uses two bi-directional trunks 26 and
33 depicted in Figure 25 and the three-way conference
capability of a central office switch. The difference
10 between Figure 25 and Figure 19 is the dual three port
conference capability depicted by the addition of ports
X1 and X2. When a caller 16 reaches trunk 26 and the
NIU 20, the caller is immediately played one ringback
by the voice prompt/record and control unit 22, which
15 is depicted in Figure 26. The caller would then be put
on hold by NIU 20. System 24 would instruct the NIU 20
to immediately dial a number that also belongs to I/P
18 and is another "Centrex" number utilizing trunk 26.
These two steps are depicted in Figure 27 by port A
20 being placed on hold and port C1 connecting to port C2
through ports X1 and X2. This call would be answered
over trunk 3 3 and then NIU 2 0 would hook f lash trunk 3 3
to place this call on hold. NIU 20 would then hook
flash trunk 26 and hence set up a three-way conference
25 call between the caller, trunk 26 which is playing
ringback, and trunk 33 through port X2 which is still
on hold. This is depicted in Figure 28. As soon as
NIU 20 places the call from trunk 26 to 33 on hold, it
would dial the subscriber's real telephone number on
30 trunk 33. This is also depicted in Figure 28 by the
connection between ports C2 and B. After the
subscriber answers, the voice path from the subscriber
to the caller would be carried through NIU 20, which is
depicted in Figure 28. If the subscriber decides to
35 take the call, NIU 20 would hook flash trunk 33 and
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93I05795
36
then immediately hang up. This would connect the
caller and subscriber together as shown in Figure 29.
Trunk 33 is now available for processing more calls.
NIU 20 would then hang up on trunk 26 thus freeing this
trunk to process more calls. This final state is
depicted in Figure 30 where switch 17 maintains the
call. The caller and subscriber could then converse as
long as they desire without utilizing any of the trunks
associated with I/P 18.
The fourth method for implementing the service
described above uses common channel interoffice
signalling (CCIS). Figures 31A and 31B depict the
steps that would occur utilizing the network in Figure
14. Steps 1-7 are similar to the preliminary steps to
reach the I/P. In step 8, the call to the subscriber
is sent to the end office 908 with associated I/P 18.
While audible ringback is played to the caller, end
office 908 sets up a call to the subscriber which is
depicted in step 12. In step 13, the caller and I/P
interact. Steps 14 and 15 depict the interaction
between end office 908, I/P 18, and the subscriber.
Note that steps 14 and 15 could actually occur at the
same time as steps 11 and 13 so that the subscriber
would hear as much of the caller's message as possible.
In step 15, the subscriber hears the caller interacting
with the I/P, but the caller does not hear the
subscriber. If the subscriber does not answer or
chooses not to accept the call, then step 15' would
occur after the caller left a message. Steps 16 and
17 occur if the caller decides to accept the call.
The four system configurations and methods
described above for implementing call screening rely on
the use of an intermediate telephone number. Figure 32
represents a general intermediate telephone number
model for the four systems and methods described above.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



' WO 95/01037 PCTIUS93105795
37
A subscriber station 14 can be called directly by
dialing the actual station address of station 14 which
is a "private" number. This is represented in Figure
32 where caller station 16A reaches the subscriber's
central office directly by dialing the subscriber's
"private" number. Other callers, such as a caller at
caller station 16B, who do not know the subscriber
station 14 "private" number would dial a station
address associated with the call screening service
which would then dial the subscriber's actual "private"
number at station 14. The call would pass through the
call screening service's central office. The published
telephone number of the subscriber is received when
dialed via known DID methods, and is indexed to the
corresponding private telephone number.
To avoid using two telephone numbers for each
subscriber, the call screening function could be
located within each subscriber's central office switch.
This is depicted in Figure 33. If any of the first
three call screening methods described above are used,
the (I/P) call screening service 18 would be
implemented as an integral part of or associated
directly with the subcriber's central office 17. The
I/P 18 mentioned above would be integrated into the end
office 17 associated with subscriber station 20. Thus,
no caller station is able to call a subscriber
directly, circumventing the call screening
function. All calls will be screened. In the CCIS
method of call screening, the call screening function
18 can be implemented using the same method and system
described above under method four employing CCIS; all
of the equipment is a part of the public telephone
network. In connection with this modification, an
existing private number of a subscriber may be made
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)



WO 95/01037 PCT/US93/05795
16553
38
public and be intercepted by an end office switch at
all times.
To implement the intermediate telephone number
method of call screening with a subscriber who already
has a telephone number requires rerouting calls to
their old telephone number to the call screening
service. One method of doing this is using a telephone
company SESS feature called Local Area Signalling
Services (LASS) Selective Call Acceptance (SCA). Using
SCA, a subscriber would specify in an authorization
list stored at a component of the local telephone
network that only calls dialed from preselected
telephone numbers would ring the subscriber's home
telephone number directly. All other calls from
parties not on the authorization list are programmed by
the subscriber to be forwarded to the call screening
service embodied by the I/P 18. Another way of
rerouting calls to the subscriber's home telephone
number is to have the subscriber disassociate their
home telephone number from their home telephone and
have all calls to the old number be forwarded to the
call screening service. A method for doing this is to
use a telephone company service called Remote Call
Forwarding (RCF). All calls to the number that are set
for RCF are forwarded to another telephone number.
This latter method using RCF requires three telephone
numbers.
Thus, there are several possibilities for
reaching the call screening service. One is to have
the subscriber keep his/her pre-existing private number
and obtain a new public number which terminates at the
call screening service, which service is programmed to
know that calls to that new public number are for a
particular subscriber (by DID capabilities, for
example, and comparing the received DID number with
SUBSTITUTE SHEET {RULE 26)



WO 95101037 PCT/US93/05795
~~.~~~~3
39
numbers stored in memory indexed to the corresponding
private number). A second is to make the pre-existing
private number public, and program the local telephone
company switch to forward calls to that number to the
call screening service via remote call forwarding. In
this case, the subscriber may obtain a new private
number. A third is to keep the pre-existing private
number and use remote call forwarding to forward all
calls to the call screening service, or use selective
call acceptance to forward only parties not on the
authorization list to the call screening system, while
parties on the authorization list may directly reach
the subscriber.
The above description is intended by way of
example only and is not intended to limit the present
invention in any way except as set forth in the
following claims.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)

Representative Drawing