Patent ID: 6324263
Filing Date: 2001-11-27
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
An apparatus comprising:a computer programmed to automatically route calls based upon caller ID data, said computer having a first bus;a host adapter circuit coupled to said first bus;a switch card circuit coupled to said first bus and coupled to said host adapter by a second bus and including a switching circuit to transfer data between inbound and outbound timeslots, said inbound and outbound timeslots being temporarily or permanently assigned to particular extension telephones, voice mail boxes and one or more incoming telephone lines from a telephone service provider directly or indirectly through a PBX; anda port expansion circuit configured to be coupled to a telephone line from a telephone service provider or PBX and to a plurality of extension telephones or TAPI interface circuits, and coupled to said host adapter by a third bus, said port expansion circuit including a caller ID circuit coupled to said telephone line, and including analog-to-digital converter coupled to said telephone line and coupled to send digital data generated by sampling analog signals on said telephone line to said switch card, and including a digital-to-analog converter for each extension telephone which is coupled to receive digital data from said switch card and transmit the digital data as analog signals to the associated extension telephone;wherein said port expansion circuit includes a ring detector circuit which detects incoming ring signals from incoming telephone calls and generates a control signal indicating an incoming ring;wherein said host adapter circuit includes a microcontroller programmed to detect said control signal indicating an incoming ring and send a message to said computer that the ring signal of an incoming call has been detected;wherein said computer sends a message to said caller ID circuit in said port expansion circuit via said host adapter to arm said caller ID circuit to receive caller ID information;wherein said caller ID circuit detects and stores caller ID data;wherein said microcontroller of said host adapter circuit is programmed to retrieve said caller ID data and transfer it to said computer;wherein said computer uses said caller ID data as a search key to search a routing table to find a predetermined destination taking the form of a telephone extension internal to a PBX, an extension external to a PBX or voice mail box or voice or radio paging devices associated with the caller ID data, said predetermined destination being associated with caller ID data of the incoming call in the routing table, and, if a match is found, sends a command to said switch card to switch the incoming telephone call to the predetermined destination, andwherein said switch card further comprises a digital signal processor programmed to record voice mail messages and to process the data of a voice mail message to remove data containing any DTMF tone command or DTMF mimic.