Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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I1VIPROVED CALLER IDENTIFICATION
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to telephony, and more particularly to an improved
technique of .
utilizing caller identification information in a telephone network.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Telephone systems utilizing caller identification (ID) have been offered by
various .
equipment manufacturers for several years. Caller ID systems take advantage of
the fact that
between rings of a telephone, there is some idle time within which useful
information can be sent.
2o In caller ID systems, the central office switch sends a signal to the
called telephone, usually in
between the first ring signal and the second ring signal, which identifies the
calling party's
telephone number. The customer premises equipment (CPE) can then utilize this
information in a
variety of manners.
One use of caller ID information is to display the calling telephone number on
a small
display either built into the called party's telephone equipment or located
nearby. Thus, the called
party can determine the calling party's telephone number, and perhaps even who
is calling, prior to
answering the telephone.
Recently, more sophisticated uses of caller ID have become known. For example,
one
available caller ID apparatus, after ascertaining the calling party's
telephone number, will determine
a o the name of the calling party via table look-up and display the name on a
caller identification
apparatus.
Recently, several caller ID systems have become available which can
automatically answer
the telephone if the calling party's number is on a prestored list. These
systems answer the
telephone and provide a predetermined greeting, with the particular greeting
provided being based
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upon the calling party's telephone number. Such a system is described, for
example, in U.S. Patel3t
No. 5,517,557 to Tanaka. The Tanaka arrangement can also connect the incoming
call to a fax
machine or other apparatus, depending upon the telephone number of the calling
party.
A system which fully exploits the ability to automatically answer the
telephone when a call
s arrives from one or more predetermined numbers is not presently available.
Caller ID systems are
still relatively primitive when compared with the potential benefits offered
by the technology.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DL2A'WINGS
Figure 1 is an exemplary caller identification arrangement, with a service
bureau apparatus,
Zo showing portions of the telephone network and the data network utilized
with the invention as well;
Figure 2 shows a flow chart which can be utilized at a service bureau computer
for
implementing the present invention; and
Figure 3 is a conceptual diagram of an exemplary apparatus of the present
invention.
15 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The above and other problems of the prior art are overcome in accordance with
the present
invention which relates to a caller ID apparatus which (i) automatically
answers the telephone
based upon the caller ID information, (ii) conveys information desired by a
user, and (iii) then
hangs up. In one embodiment, the answering of the telephone can be
accomplished without any
2 o ring, but only for specific calling parties.
In a preferred embodiment, a service provider may be included in the
predefined list of
calling parties for which the telephone is answered. In this manner, when the
service provider calls,
the phone will automatically go ofFhook without ringing. The service provider
may have specified
information, which it can download to the user through voice synthesis,
without even ringing the
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telephone. Additionally, the service provider can be connected to a data
network, and programmed
to gather information based upon certain events (i.e.; stock prices, company
announcements, etc.)
In this manner, a user's telephone can announce critical events, without
ringing, as these events
occur, shortly thereafl:er, or perhaps at user defined intervals.
s Preferably, the events to be announced are user defined by a filter means,
for example. The
user specifies certain conditions which are to trigger notification. When the
service provider
obtains information indicating that those conditions are met, it may
automatically announce the _
information to the user, over the telephone, without even causing the
telephone to ring.
Figure 1 shows an exemplary system diagram of two networks and the component
parts
s o utilized in order to implement an exemplary embodiment of the present
invention. The
arrangement of Figure 1 shows the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 101
and a data
network 110, each connected to a plurality of users. The data network 110 is
connected to a service
provider computer 102 as well as a stock market computer 108. The connections
between the data
network 110 and computer 102 and 108 may use any of a variety of well-known
techniques, but
15 preferably use standard TCP/IP protocols.
PSTN 101 is shown as interconnecting a plurality of telephones and telephone
terminals,
several of which are shown. Terminal 106 may be a modem fox example.
Telephones 104, 105,
and 107 are also shown, with an exemplary caller ID unit 111 shown as being
connected to
telephone terminal 107. It is noted that the caller ID unit 111 can be formed
as an integrated unit
a o with the telephone 107 to provide a voice terminal.
Service provider 102 includes a telephone connection 112 with a corresponding
telephone
number, as well as a data network connection 113. While the data network
connection 113 may
actually be a physical telephone dial up line, it is noted that the logical
address of connection 113 is
a data address on the data network, and the logical address of connection 112
is a telephone
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number..
The present invention is directed to a technique for automatically allowing an
announcement to be made at a user's telephone terminal when particular events
in which the user is
interested occur. For example, consider a user who is interested in closely
monitoring the price of a
s particular stock. The user would like to know if the particular stock has
fallen below a certain
value.
The user accesses the service provider via the touchtone telephone and
telephone ,
connection 112 or via his computer terminal over data network 110. The
Internet for example,
could easily be utilized as a technique for accessing service provider
computer 102.
2o The user enters the particular stock quote in which he is interested,
perhaps by typing in the
stock exchange symbol for that company, as well as the particular price. The
user then specifies
that it is desired that he be notified should the stock price go below the
specified value. Various
user interfaces for permitting the user to make such entry into service
provider 102 will be apparent
to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, one could design a WINDOWS
based system
Z5 where the user clicks on particular company symbols, particular prices, as
well as conditions such
as "notify if below," "notify if above," etc. A variety of templates can be
designed for the user to
enter such information and send it over the Internet to service provider 102,
and the particular
technique utilized is not critical.
Alternatively, the entire user interface may take place over the telephone,
with Dual Tone
a o Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals being entered to specify stock symbols.
This way, a user may
specify what items in which he is interested from any telephone. Moreover, the
user may input the
number to which the announcements should be directed, or the system could, by
default, use the
number from~which the input is entered by ascertaining its called
identification signal.
Service provider 102 is periodically or perhaps continuously in communication
with stock
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market computer 10~ over the data network 110. Numerous hardware and software
arrangements
for periodically accessing information from the computer over a data network
such as the Internet
are already in existence. If, for example, the information is on a web server,
then the server can be
accessed automatically and periodically at predetermined intervals.
s Each time the relevant information is obtained from stock market computer
10~, service
provider 102 checks the user specified condition to determine if it is met. If
so, connection 112 is
utilized to call the user's telephone 107. Caller ID unit 111 determines that
the calling party's
telephone number is that of the service provider and causes an off hook
condition at telephone 107,
before the telephone rings. The automatic answering of the telephone prevents
the phone from
to ringing each time the information is to be announced.
It is noted that while caller ID is discussed, other information regarding the
source and/or
characteristics of an incoming call may be used. For example, if the incoming
call involves
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) or Internet telephony, a variety of
further information
regarding the source may be available. Digital protocols may include a
plethora of information
z5 regarding the calling party identity.
After the telephone apparatus goes off hook, an announcement of the
information is made,
and the telephone hangs up. Thus, by utilizing the techniques of the present
invention, a user can
automatically and audibly be alerted when particular specified events occur.
In a preferred embodiment, an exemplary caller ID box 111 delays the ring
signal from
2 o reaching telephone 107 until the caller ID is checked. If the caller ID
indicates that the calling party
is a service provider on a prestored list, then the telephone line is taken
off hook and an
announcement made, preferably through a speaker in Caller ID unit 111.
Otherwise, the call is
simply passed to telephone 111 as normal.
It is important that the called party's telephone equipment is promptly put
back on hook
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after the announcement is complete. This can be accomplished by a variety of
methods, including
for example, having the service provider transmit a predetermined tone at the
end of the message,
and having the caller ID unit andlor called telephone recognize the tone as
the hang up signal.
Alternatively, the called party's telephone could simply hang up upon
recognition of a silence
s period of a predetermined duration.
While the above example utilizes a stock quote, it is apparent to those of
ordinary skill in
this art that other variations are possible as well. For example, an attorney
could be interested to ,
know of all bankruptcy filings in a particular court. If a courthouse computer
is connected to the
data network, then the attorney's telephone could simply announce, at 12 noon
everyday, "The
1 o following bankruptcy cases were filed in the IVew Jersey Federal Court
today." A text to speech
algorithm could then be used by the service provider to read the names of the
cases via telephone to
the user, and to promptly hang up the telephone.
When the user specifies in which information he is interested and when,
several options
exist for conveying the information when appropriate. For example, the user
could specify that the
15 service provider is to make an audible announcement of particular stock
prices every two hours.
Alternatively, the user could specify that such quote is to be given only if
stock prices vary by a
predetermined amount.
Fig. 3 shows exemplary functional block diagram of an implementation of the
Caller ID
Unit 111 to be utilized in the present invention. The diagram of Fig. 3
includes interfaces 312, 314,
2 o and 330, and the processor 310. The table 311 may be stored in memory in
accordance with well-
known techniques.
In operation, an incoming call is received over line 320 and the calling party
ID is extracted .
by interface 330. A compare processor, which may be implemented as a general
purpose
microprocessor, examines the extracted identification information and compares
it with values
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stored in a table 311. In performing such a comparison, standard table hook-up
or binary search
function may be utilized in order to locate within the table 311 the
information extracted by the
interface 330.
In the simplest form, the extracted information would include simply the phone
number of
s the calling party. However, in more sophisticated digital networks such as
the integrated services
digital network (ISDN) or Internet telephony interfaces, the calling party
identification number may
include a variety of other information such as name, location, status
information, etc.
Once the compare processor 310 determines whether or not the extracted calling
information is included within the table 311, the compare processor 310 then
proceeds to process
z o the call accordingly. The compare processor may simply forward the call
through telephone
interface 312, so that the telephone 107 rings in a conventional manner. The
compare processor
may also instruct the audio interface, a typical speaker, to announce the
information being received
during the telephone call. Thus, a service provider sending information would
simply have the
telephone answered and its information would be conveyed from an audio
interface 314, without
15 telephone 107 ever ringing.
It is also possible that table 311 may include specific parameters as to what
should be done
with various calls based upon the caller identification information. For
example, in certain
instances it may be desirable to both convey the telephone call through
interface 312 to telephone
107, and to convey a separate message to an audio interface 314.
a o Still another mode of operation would provide that a specific audio
announcement is stored
in table 311 for announcement to the user instead of a ring signal. Thus, if a
call is received from a
particular specified calling number, rather than the phone ring, an audio
announcement is read out
of table 311 and conveyed through audio interface 314. The announcement could
be, for example,
"We are about to announce today's Supreme Court decisions." Thereafter, the
caller ID unit 111
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answers the telephone and the audio announcement is conveyed over line 320 and
out of audio
interface 314.
While the foregoing describes the preferred embodiments of the invention, it
is understood
that various additions or modifications will be apparent to those of skill
imthe art. For example, the
s caller ID unit and telephone or similar audio unit may be part of a single
personal computer or other
device. Such modifications and additions are intended to be covered by the
following claims.
