Abstract:
A caller identification availability apparatus located adjacent a caller&#39;s telephone. The caller identification availability apparatus indicates who, among a select group of people, are available to receive telephone calls. Each caller within a select group has a similar apparatus adjacent their telephone. Caller&#39;s within the group are able to indicate availability or nonavailability to each caller within the group by means of their individual apparatus.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to telecommunications devices and more particularly to a device which indicates who within a select group are available to receive telephone calls. 
     A need has been identified in the prior art for a service which will provide people a control over their telephone service to permit work or relaxation without the normal interruptions caused by a ringing telephone. In recent years do-not-disturb services have become available. The basic feature of these services, is that a caller will receive a message from the call recipient&#39;s telephone that the recipient is not available for calls or is not available for calls until a certain time. 
     While effective to some extent, the prior art telephone screening services do not discern among groups of people, e.g., telemarketers, general public, family groups, friends, business associates, and the like. While the call recipient might wish to block out all telemarketing calls and general public calls after a certain time, the call recipient may wish to receive calls from a family group anytime, and from friends during time periods different than those from the family group and/or telemarketers and/or general public calls. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention addresses the above problems by providing an apparatus which indicates to other callers within a select group a call recipient availability to receive telephone calls. The instant invention provides a caller identification availability apparatus located adjacent a caller&#39;s telephone and indicates who, among a select group of people, are available to receive telephone calls. Each caller within a select group has a caller identification availability apparatus adjacent their telephone. Caller&#39;s within the group are able to indicate availability or nonavailability to each caller within the group by means of their individual apparatus. 
     These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a called identification availability apparatus. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the main electronic components of the caller identification availability apparatus. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network in which the instant invention is used. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like elements are indicated by like numerals, there is shown a caller identification availability apparatus  9 . The apparatus  9  is comprised of a housing  10  with a display  20 . The housing  10  has a front  11 , rear (not shown), top  13 , bottom  14 , and two opposite sides  15 . The housing  10  has two standard telephone jacks  16 ,  17 , a first jack  16  adapted to receive a telephone line connected to an-external telephone outlet  1  connected to a telephone network, and a second jack  17  adapted to receive a telephone line connected to a telephone  2 . The housing  10  has a power input jack  18  adapted to receive electrical power from a power adapter or from a standard power outlet. The housing  10  may optionally be powered either solely or in an interrupt mode by batteries enclosed within the housing  10 . 
     The housing front  11  contains a display  20  and a plurality of control function buttons for indicating and controlling the apparatus functions. The display  20  is oriented with a top portion  21 , bottom portion  22 , left side portion  23  and right side portion  24 . A time/date subdisplay  30  is positioned centrally in the display top portion  21  near the housing top  13 . Just below the time/date subdisplay  30  is a personal subdisplay  31  indicating the user&#39;s name. Two lighted switches, an “on” button  40 , and an “off” button  41 , are positioned beside the personal subdisplay  31 . When the user is available for telephone calls, the “on” button  40  is activated. If the user is not available to receive telephone calls, the “off” button  41  is activated. The activated button  40 ,  41  is lighted. 
     Still in the display top portion  21 , but beneath the personal subdisplay  31 , is a select group member strip subdisplay  32  having from left to right, an availability light  33 , member name  34 , member&#39;s telephone number  35 , and member&#39;s time of day  36 . Beneath the strip subdisplay  32  are two side-by-side scroll buttons, one “up”  42  and one “down”  43 . The availability light  33  indicates whether or not the particular member  34  indicated on the subdisplay  32  is available to receive a telephone call. The availability light  33  is a dual light, i.e., red and green. The availability light  33  lights green when the indicated member is available to receive a telephone call. The availability light  33  lights red when the indicated member is not available to receive a telephone call. The scroll buttons  42 ,  43  allow a user to access various members of the select group. 
     In the approximate middle of the display  20 , just beneath the scroll buttons  42 ,  43 , is a strip subdisplay  37  showing the “caller id” of anyone calling the user. To the right of the caller id subdisplay  37  are three side-by-side buttons, a first button  44  and a second button  45  for scrolling upward and downward through the various calls received, and a third button  46  for erasing caller id records received. 
     In the-lower portion  22  of the display  20 , beneath the caller id strip subdisplay  37 , a pager subdisplay  38  provides means for displaying a brief message from a member. If a message is displayed, the member name  34  would generally also be displayed and could be programmed to blink if a corresponding message is shown in the pager subdisplay  38 . A number of messages could be queued, with each member message being shown as the previous message is deleted. The delete button  55  along the display bottom portion  22  could be used-to delete messages which have been read. 
     Along the bottom display portion  22  are a number of side-by-side buttons controlling the various functions of the apparatus  9 . A first button  50  is labeled “program” and provides an edit function for adding, deleting or changing data in the apparatus  9 . A second button  51  is labeled “set” and provides and acts as an “enter” function. A third button  52  is a select function button permitting a user to select the member name  34  subdisplay. A fourth button  53  is a select function button permitting a user to select the telephone number  35  subdisplay. A fifth button  54  is a select function button permitting a user to select the member time of day  36  subdisplay. A sixth button  55  provides a delete function allowing the user to delete the information shown on a selected subdisplay item. The handset of the telephone  2  acts as a keyboard for entering information for a selected subdisplay item. 
     After the information is entered for each member in a select group, the apparatus  9  enters into an automatic mode. Any time a user changes one of the on/off buttons  40 ,  41  the apparatus  9  automatically contacts each select group member apparatus listed within the originating user&#39;s apparatus and updates a data field controlling that member&#39;s availability light  33 . To prevent telephone handset ringing during the update process, each apparatus transmits a code along with the normal telephone contact. Each apparatus first checks for this code on any incoming calls. If an incoming call has this code, the call is directed into the apparatus for data field updating and the telephone handset ringer is by-passed. If an incoming call does not have this code, then the incoming call is passed to the telephone handset in a normal fashion. 
     Electronically, the housing  10  contains a microprocessor  3  with a hard drive storage area  4 . The microprocessor  3  drives the display  5  comprised of the subdisplays  30 ,  31 ,  34 ,  35 ,  36  and  37 . The availability light  33  is typically comprised of a light emitting diode (LED) driven by the microprocessor. The function buttons comprised of  40 - 43  and  50 - 55 , act as program interrupts to the microprocessor  3 . The apparatus  9  has a controller  6  for determining update codes and for using the telephone handset  2  as an input mechanism during program functions. 
     It is understood that the above-described embodiment is merely illustrative of the application. Other embodiments may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.