Abstract:
Systems and methods are disclosed which allow a person to pre-set preferred calling times for receiving incoming calls. During these pre-set times (which could vary from day to day) calls that arrive are interrupted such that ringing tone is not applied to at least some of the telephones at the user&#39;s premises. The caller is informed that the user prefers not to receive calls until the pre-set time. In one embodiment, the caller is given the option of leaving a message or, if the caller desires, completing the call. The system can be implemented by a call answer machine at the customer&#39;s premises while in another embodiment the interrupt occurs at a central switching point.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to telephone systems and more particularly to systems and methods for selective telephone ringing-signal interruption. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is 9:01 AM Sunday morning. You are sound asleep. It has been a hard week and this is your one day to catch up on some needed sleep. The phone rings. And rings! Slowly you sit up. The phone rings again. Impatient. You pick up the receiver, forcing civility into your voice. The caller, a neighbor, wants to know if he could borrow a ladder. “Why are you calling so early”, you either ask, or at least think. The answer is simple. The caller did not realize that you preferred to sleep Sunday mornings. 
     This scenario is played over and over, only the time and days of the week change. It is particularly troublesome for those who work non-standard shifts and are thus sleeping when most other people are awake. The temptation is to block calls (which is not an easy task) for certain hours, but then emergency or other important calls cannot get through. Often people have separate numbers for such emergencies, special codes programmed into their telephone systems so only a few people can get through, or they rely on caller ID to allow certain callers through while blocking other callers. None of these systems solve the problem particularly well. 
     It is now 9:30 PM Tuesday evening. You have a plane to catch at 6:00 AM and your alarm is set for 3:00 AM. You will be making a major presentation later in the day at your destination. The phone rings, waking you from a deep sleep. It is your neighbor again, wanting to know why you were so grumpy on Sunday. There must be a better solution to this problem than taking the phone off the hook—or finding a new home away from friendly neighbors. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Systems and methods are disclosed which allow a person to pre-set preferred calling times for receiving incoming calls. During these pre-set times (which could vary from day to day) calls that arrive are interrupted such that ringing tone is not applied to at least some of the telephones at the user&#39;s premises. The caller is informed that the user prefers not to receive calls until the pre-set time. In one embodiment, the caller is given the option of leaving a message or, if the caller desires, completing the call. The system can be implemented by a call answer machine at the customer&#39;s premises while in another embodiment the interrupt occurs at a central switching point. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of a system employing the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 2  shows one embodiment of a control unit for controlling ringing intercept; 
         FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of a unit for blocking ringing signals at a telephone connection point; 
         FIG. 4  shows one embodiment of a central network controlled system and method; and 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  show an embodiment of a method of operation of the concepts of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of system  10  employing the inventive concept in which calling party  11  places a call to a telephone number associated with customer premises  12 . In the embodiment shown, the telephone line at premises  12  is line  120  to which a plurality of telephones  20 - 1 ,  20 - 2 ,  30 - 1 , and  13 - 1  are connected. While in the embodiment the called telephone is located at a premises, the called telephone can be any telephone, including a wireless telephone. 
     In operation, the call would be placed from device  11  (wireless or wireline) via communication path  100  and would pass through one or more switching centers  40  and would be routed to the called telephone via a connection, such as connection  101 . Connection  101  can be wireline or wireless, as desired. In the typical situation, the switching center(s) will identify the location of the called telephone and then will send some form of ringing signals to the telephone to alert the user at the called telephone that an incoming call is available for answering. The exact operation at this point depends upon whether the call is wireline or wireless, but in any situation, ringing signals eventually are directed to the dialed telephone. These signals can be the actual ringing voltage (the traditional ringing that we are all familiar with), or they can be one or more codes instructing the telephone to commence ringing (alerting the called party that a call is available to be answered), or the ringing signals can be a musical tune (or other distinctive sound) sent from the switching center, or activated by a control signal. 
     In one embodiment, control unit  20  at customer premises  12  (or within the called phone) detects the applied ringing signal and, assuming this is a non-preferred calling time, intercepts or blocks the ringing signals, thereby preventing the ringing signals from causing the called telephone ringer (or speaker) from sounding an audible alarm to the called party. One embodiment of control unit  20  will be discussed in more detail with respect to  FIG. 2 . Control unit  20 , upon intercepting the incoming call, then provides the caller with the opportunity to leave a message for the called party, or if the calling party desires, allows the calling party to be connected through to the called party thereby effectively overriding the intercept. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , line  120  at customer premises  12  is a traditional telephone line having many connections throughout the user&#39;s premises. Thus, control unit  20  can be attached at one point while auxiliary unit  30  can be connected at another point, and telephone  13 - 1  can be connected at another point. Control unit  20  can, for example, be connected to telephone  20 - 1  by wireline and connected to telephone  20 - 2  wirelessly. Note, control unit  20  (or at least some portions thereof) can be within a telephone, if desired. Note also, not all telephones at premises  12  need have their ringing signals intercepted. For example, telephone  13 - 1  is connected directly to telephone line  120  and thus, in the embodiment shown, will ring when ringing signals are applied to the line. Telephones  20 - 1  and  20 - 2  will ring only when allowed to (or not inhibited from ringing) by control unit  20 . The ringing to telephone  30 - 1  is controlled by auxiliary unit  30  which, in the embodiment shown, operates (as will be discussed) from signals sent from control unit  20 . 
       FIG. 2  shows one embodiment of control unit  20  for controlling ringing intercept with respect to particular telephones. As shown, ring detect  201  monitors telephone line  120  for ringing signals. When such ringing signals are present CPU  202  is notified. CPU then determines whether the current time, for example, as obtained from clock  203 , is within or outside of a preferred time. The preferred time having been previously established by one or more users of the telephones connected to line  120 . Since in the premises situation it is the telephone line that is called, any number of telephones can be installed, (as shown in  FIG. 1 ), the discussion herein will focus on the calling line as being the same as the called telephone number. Of course, in the situation of wireless or other systems where the called number only reaches one terminating device, the operation will vary, but will be essentially the same as that discussed with respect to telephone  20 - 1  (or  20 - 2 ) where control unit  20  intercepts the ringing signals. In such a situation, the control unit will be within the called device. 
     Once CPU  202  determines that a call is arriving at a time when the user does not wish to receive calls (this can be thought of as the non-preferred time), the CPU operates to enable play message control  207  to send a message to the calling party telling the calling party of this fact and requesting the calling party to either leave a message (if that option is available), or to override the intercept and allow the call to be placed to the called telephone. For example, the calling party can be instructed to dial (or speak) one to ring the called party. Upon receipt of an override command from the calling party, CPU  202  then instructs ring control  204  (wirelessly), or ring control  205  (over the wireline) to send a command to auxiliary unit  30  to allow (or apply) ringing tone to the called telephone. At the same time, for telephones connected directly to control unit  20 , a similar signal is sent to telephone  20 - 1  or  20 - 2  via unit  206 . When the user at any of these telephones answers the incoming call, the called telephone is then connected to calling line  120  for communication with the calling party. 
     If the calling telephone user opts to leave a message, then message recorder  208  is connected to the calling line. 
       FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of auxiliary unit  30  for blocking ringing signals at a telephone connection point. Unit  30  would be used, for example, in situations where it is not practical to connect all telephones through a common point, such as, through control unit  20 . Ringing signal blocker circuit  301  is set up to not allow ringing signals to pass unless a signal is received from circuit  302 . Alternatively, the system can work just the reverse, such that only when a signal has been received will the unit block ringing signals. In such a situation, then it would be possible for control unit  20  to send out a signal during the non-preferred times that would cause the ringing signals to be blocked. An all-clear signal would then be sent during the “do not care” or preferred period. Note that in the context of this discussion, it is not important whether it is thought of as intercepting ringing during non-preferred times or allowing ringing during preferred times. The result is the same. 
       FIG. 4  shows one embodiment of a central network controlled system which can be located away from the customer&#39;s premise. Switching center  40  contains translator switches  401  which may be spread out over several centers but which function to route a calling connection incoming from a calling line to a particular called line, such as connection  101  which is identified with the called number. As discussed above, this line can be wireline or wireless. Routing control CPU  402  serves roughly the same function as does control unit  20  ( FIG. 2 ) in that when a call is directed to connection  101  during a non-preferred time the CPU acts to block the call (or at least the ringing signals) from going to connection  101  and instead plays a message to the calling line via play message unit  403  and records a message from the calling line via record message unit  404 . If the calling party overrides the intercept, for example by pressing the “1” key (or by voice response by saying, for example, “override”), then CPU  402  enables (or disables) switch  405  thereby allowing ringing signals to be applied to the called telephone. Note that if the original ringing signals have ceased, then unit  405  (or unit  20  for the premises controlled embodiment) can reapply the ringing signals. 
       FIG. 5A  shows one embodiment  50  of method of operation of the concepts of the invention, such that, when an incoming call is detected via process  501 , the CPU, or other control device, consults a time of day clock (process  502 ) and compares the incoming call time (process  503 ) with non-preferred times as previously received from the user of the called telephone line and stored in memory (not shown). 
     If this is not a special (i.e non-preferred) time, then ringing is allowed to proceed in the normal manner, as shown by process  504 . However, if this is a non-preferred time, then process  505  blocks the application of ringing signals to the telephone line and plays a message to the caller informing the caller that this is a non-preferred time. The exact wording of the message is optional. For example, the message can give the preferred times, or it might just say that this time is a non-preferred time. In any event, the caller can be instructed to either remain on the line and the call will go through (not a preferred method), or the caller can be asked to press a number, such as “1”, on the keypad if the caller wishes the call to go through regardless of the called party&#39;s desires. Also, the caller can answer by voice response by saying, for example, “override”. Or the caller can say “put me thorough anyway”. In such a situation, when an override is requested (process  506 ), enables process  507 , and the call is put through to the called party by sending ringing signals to the called line. 
     In situations where the calling party does not wish to override the called party&#39;s desires, then the calling party can be given the opportunity to leave a message (process  508 ). After the message is complete, processes  510  and  511 , the call is terminated, process  512 . Also, if desired, automatic number identification (ANI) can be used to record the calling number so that the calling party can know who called during the non-preferred hours. The called party can retrieve the messages in the well-known manner. 
     Note that the non-preferred hours can be various times of the day or night, and can vary from day to day. If desired, the times can be only temporary, and thus, as shown in  FIG. 5B , will be eliminated after a certain number of days or at a certain time as controlled by processes  510 ,  511 , and  512 . 
     Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.