Abstract:
An improved telephony system for calling card calls is provided. The system comprises a method and system for allowing preregistered names to be displayed on pager devices when a calling card call is placed to a pager. In the invention, a calling card account number is utilized to retrieve the pre-registered name to be displayed at the pager device. A speed paging option may also be provided. The invention is particularly apt for use in telephony systems having AIN-capable switching devices.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to telephony systems, and more particularly, to an improved telephony system for calling card calls. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As individuals and businesses have continued to increase their use and reliance upon telephony systems, a variety of technologies and related services have been developed by telephony service providers. In particular, many developments have been made to allow telephony system users to be contacted at or to contact others from locations other than that associated with their primary residential or business telephones. 
     By way of example, personal pagers are now relied upon heavily in many service industries to enhance the timeliness of customer service and other business-related communications. More particularly, service/sales personnel can receive a paging signal on a portable unit which indicates that someone is attempting to contact them, wherein the portable paging unit displays a telephone number input by the caller. The paged party may then call the paging party at the displayed telephone number as deemed appropriate by the paged party. In this regard, and as will be appreciated, a paged party may be more likely to respond to paging if the displayed number is recognized, thereby benefiting both the paging and paged parties. 
     Of further particular background interest, telephony services can now be accessed from telephones other than a subscriber&#39;s primary telephone, with charges being applied to a subscriber&#39;s primary telephone account. More particularly, calling card services are now provided by telephony service providers that allow cardholders to dial in a predetermined calling card account number, pursuant to which the caller may then make a long distance or other telephone call with the associated charges being applied to the telephony service account of the caller. By virtue of calling card services, calling card holders need not enter currency into a public telephone or incur charges against a third-party account when utilizing a third-party telephone. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved telephony system for calling card calls, and more particularly to allow calling card callers and their callees to realize greater telephony-related services. In this regard, it is a specific objective to provide enhanced calling card services to calling card holders who attempt to page third-parties, and further, who attempt to page certain parties on a regular basis. 
     Another general objective of the present invention is to enhance communications between parties utilizing calling card services and paging services. 
     The above objectives and additional advantages are realized in the present invention which provides an enhanced method and system for handling calling card calls. In this regard, the present invention is applicable to both (i) prepaid calling card calls (i.e., wherein telephony access service is provided on a prepaid basis with charges debited against a prepaid calling card account until the prepaid amount is exhausted), and (ii) to credit-based calling card calls (i.e., wherein a cardholder&#39;s account is automatically charged in connection with calls placed and the cardholder is subsequently billed on a periodic basis). 
     In accordance with the present invention, the system provides for receiving a calling card call from an originating telephone at a predetermined central office switch in a telephony network. In conjunction with such call, a message is provided to the switch, such message including an originating telephone number. Pursuant to receipt of the calling card call, the inventive system then provides a call processing record that includes the originating telephone number and a preregistered name corresponding with the calling card call. The call is then routed with the call processing record to a paging device for communication of the originating telephone number together with the preregistered name. As will be appreciated, the preregistered name may be designated by the holder of the calling card account and, upon display at a paging device, advantageously allows the paged party to make a determination regarding response to the paging communication with the benefit of knowing the preregistered name. 
     In one aspect of the present invention, the inventive system utilizes a calling card account identifier (e.g., a calling card account no.) to retrieve the preregistered name from a database. Such functionality may be provided by a calling card service control module included within the telephony network. In this regard, the predetermined central office switch may advantageously comprise an AIN-capable switching device (e.g., an Advanced Intelligent Network switch) to suspend call processing while the service control module generates the call processing record for routing the calling card call with the preregistered name. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, the system may further provide for prompting a caller to select from a plurality of functions at the originating phone, including placement of a paging call. Such prompting may, for example, utilize a visual display at the originating phone and/or may employ prerecorded audible messages or dynamically created audible messages using an intelligent peripheral within the telephony network. 
     In an additional aspect of the invention, a function selection may be provided for placing a paging call utilizing speed paging. More particularly, the system may allow a caller to input a predetermined designation corresponding with a predetermined paging number, pursuant to which a calling card service control module will act to retrieve the predetermined paging number based on the inputted predetermined designation. Thereafter, the call processing record is provided to include the predetermined paging number without requiring the caller to input the same, thereby enhancing user convenience. 
     Numerous additional aspects and advantages will be apparent upon consideration of the further description that follows. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a telephony system embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate steps in one process embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The telephony system embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises an exemplary originating telephone  10 , a central office  20  and calling card service control point  30  within a telephony service network  100 , and an exemplary pager device  60 . As will be appreciated, numerous originating telephones and pager devices interfacing with network  100  would realize the benefits of the present invention in actual implementation. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the originating telephone  10  is a public pay phone. The invention is also applicable to other types of telephones (e.g., a regular residential or business premises phone). As shown in FIG. 1, the originating phone  10  includes a hand-held unit  12  for voice/audible communications, an LED user interface  14  for visual display of function selections and other information to a user, and a user input pad  16   a  for input of user instructions. Phone  10  may also include user function select buttons  16   b  positioned adjacent display lines of LED interface  14  (i.e., for receiving user instructions), and a calling card reader  18  (e.g., for reading a magnetic strip on certain calling cards). Finally, phone  10  includes a currency input assembly  19  for normal pay phone operations. In general, originating phone  10  functions as an originating call switch that launches telephony service messages to central office  20  of the telephony network  100 . 
     In the latter regard, while a single central office  20  is illustrated in FIG. 1, the telephony service network may comprise a number of central offices that collectively serve to complete any given call. By way of example, the telephony service network may include a number of central offices for receiving calls initiated at/directed to telephones within corresponding, different geographic regions, and a number of intermediate central offices that may serve to route calls and interface with service nodes in connection with the handling of a given call. 
     For purposes of simplicity, a single central office  20  is shown in FIG.  1 . Central office  20  includes a plurality of telephony call switching devices, including at least one predetermined calling card service switch  22 , i.e., for handling certain calling card calls from originating phone  10 . That is, predetermined calling card service switch  22  corresponds with a predetermined calling card service number (i.e., associated with a given calling card service provider). Switch  22  may advantageously have AIN (Advanced Intelligent Network) switching capabilities, e.g., wherein switch  22  is capable of directing a call to a station having a station number different from that dialed at an originating telephone  10  to initiate a call and/or for otherwise suspending call processing pending routing/service instructions. 
     In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, predetermined calling card service switch  22  is an AIN switch wherein, upon receipt of a calling card call, the calling card service switch  22  will suspend call processing and will launch a message to a calling card service control point  30 . As will be appreciated, service control point  30  may be maintained by the calling card service provider corresponding with switch  22 . The calling card service control point  30  comprises a service manager  32 , a status and billing module  34 , and a calling cardholder account and ID information database  36  which functions to complete calling card calls. In general, service control point  30  is operable to prompt/receive service request input messages from the originating phone  10 , and to provide a service output message to predetermined calling card service switch  22 . Such responsive output message comprises a call processing record for routing the call at the predetermined calling card service switch  22  to pager device  60  as will be further discussed. 
     The database  36  comprises data records corresponding with various calling card accounts serviced by service control point  30 . More particularly, for a given calling card account number, database  36  may advantageously comprise a corresponding, preregistered PIN #, a corresponding, preregistered name, and optionally, a corresponding listing of speed paging designations and corresponding paging numbers. The preregistered name and optional data are pre-established by the account-holder for the calling card account. 
     The status and billing module  34  is provided to maintain intelligence regarding whether a given calling card account is active (e.g., whether the account is paid up or has been suspended/terminated for nonpayment, or in the case of a prepaid calling card account, whether the amount of prepaid telephony services has been exhausted). Additionally, module  34  is capable of monitoring each given calling card call (e.g., via messages to/from switch  22 ) for account debiting/charge accrual purposes (e.g., by monitoring the duration of the call). Service manager  32  controls the finctioning of module  34  and access to database  36 , as well as prompt messages to, and processing of, messages from originating phone  10 . As will be appreciated, service control point  30  may be software-driven to operate per preprogrammed instructions. 
     In conjunction with the operation of calling card service control point  30 , the service manager  32  thereof may interface with an AIN intelligent peripheral device  40  also included within the telephony service network  100 . Intelligent peripheral  40  can be provided to enhance functional interaction with a user at originating phone  10 . For example, intelligent peripheral  40  may be provided to provide audible messages that prompt a user at originating phone  10  (e.g., via hand-piece  12 ) to enter a calling card account number, to enter a corresponding personal identification number (PIN #), to select a desired call type (e.g., call to telephone, call to pager device, etc.), and to enter the specific pager station number desired. Such prompt messages may also be provided from service control point  30  for visual display at LED interface  14 . In response to such prompts, a user at originating phone  10  may input instructions via use of user inputs  16   a  and/or  16   b.  Alternatively, voice recognition capabilities may be integrated at intelligent peripheral  40  to allow for user voice instruction input via hand-piece  12 . 
     As noted, predetermined calling card service switch  22  is operable so as to route calls from originating phone  10  in accordance with the service output message (i.e., comprising a call processing record) received from calling card service control point  30 . Per the illustrated embodiment, such routing may include the routing of a given call to a paging company  50  providing paging services to paging subscribers within a given geographic region. Upon receipt of a call to a given subscriber (i.e., corresponding pager device  60 ), the paging company  50  will transmit a paging signal to the corresponding pager device  60 . In response, the pager device  60  will display information comprising predetermined portions of the transmitted paging signal. In particular, and in accordance with the present invention, such portions may advantageously include a preregistered name corresponding with the calling card account number associated with the call. 
     Operation of the telephony system embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 will now be further explained with reference to the process flow illustrations of FIGS. 2A and 2B. In particular, a calling card cardholder may initiate a calling card call by obtaining a dial tone at originating telephone  10  and dialing a service number corresponding with a calling card service provider (e.g., a 1-800-xxx-xxxx number). The calling card call is then received at the predetermined central office switch  22  corresponding with the service number dialed, whereupon call processing is suspended at the predetermined switch  22  and a message is sent to a calling card service control point  30 . Upon receipt of such message, the service manager  32  at service control point  30  will send a message back to the originating telephone  10  prompting the caller to enter a calling card account number. 
     It should be noted that, in the event the calling card utilized comprises a magnetic strip, it may not be necessary for the calling cardholder to dial the predetermined calling card service number or enter a calling card account number. Rather, in such instances, card reader  18  at originating phone  10  will read an encoded calling card service number and calling card account number from the magnetic strip on the calling card and automatically utilize such data to initiate a call to predetermined calling switch  22  (e.g., with the calling card account number being transmitted to switch  22  and manger  32  with such call). 
     Upon receipt of a calling card account number, the service manager  32  may then send a further message to the originating telephone  10  prompting the caller to input a personal identification number (i.e., PIN #) corresponding with the calling card account. At the same time, the service manager  32  may consult database  36  to retrieve the preregistered PIN # for the calling card account number. Upon receipt of the PIN # input at the originating telephone  10 , the service manager  32  may then compare the input PIN # with the preregistered PIN #, and if the numbers are the same, will proceed with calling card procedures. If not, the service manager  32  can send a message to the originating telephone  10  indicating that an incorrect PIN # was entered and prompting the caller to reenter the PIN #. Alternatively, (e.g., after a predetermined number of reentry attempts) the service manager  30  can send a message to the central office switch  22  that terminates the call. 
     Assuming that the correct PIN # is inputted by the caller, the service manager  32  may consult status module  34  and/or database  36  to confirm that the calling card service is active. If not, a message can be sent by manager  32  to the caller at phone  10  and the call subsequently terminated. If a calling card service is active, service control manager  32  may send another message to the originating telephone  10  to prompt the calling card holder to select a function from options comprising, for example: normal telephone call dialing, speed telephone call dialing, normal paging, or speed paging call dialing. In the event a normal page calling function is desired, the service manager  32  will then transmit another message to originating telephone  10  requesting the caller to input the paging number to be dialed. In the event speed paging is desired, the service manager  32  will prompt the caller to enter a predetermined designation corresponding with a predetermined paging number to be called. In this regard, the predetermined designation may advantageously comprise fewer characters than the paging number to be dialed, thereby providing the caller with enhanced convenience. 
     Upon input or retrieval of the paging number to be called, the service manager  32  may then complete a call processing record for call routing. In this regard, the service manager will utilize the telephone number corresponding with the originating telephone as initially received from central office switch  22  and the paging number to be called. Of importance, service manager  32  will also include within the call processing record, a preregistered name corresponding with the calling card account number. In this regard, service manager  32  will utilize the calling card account number associated with the call to retrieve the preregistered name from database  36 . 
     Upon completion of the call processing record, service manager  32  will then transmit a message to the predetermined central office switch  22  that includes the call processing record, whereupon the central office switch will route the call utilizing the paging number portion of the call processing record. As will be appreciated, the paging company  50  providing service to the paged party will then send a paging signal to the pager device  60  of the paged party. Such paging signal will include that portion of the call processing record corresponding with the telephone number for the originating telephone and the corresponding, retrieved preregistered name. Such information may then be displayed on the pager device  60 . As will be appreciated, the display of such information at pager device  60  will allow the paged party to make a determination regarding placement of a call in response to the page with the benefit of knowing the caller&#39;s likely identity (i.e., the preregistered name). This will be of particular benefit in situations where a paged party does not recognize the telephone number for an originating telephone and may not otherwise prioritize the placement of a return call absent the identification of a known caller. 
     The description provided above is for purposes of illustration only. The various aspects and features of the present invention can be applied in a variety of other embodiments. Such applications and other apparent modifications are intended to be within the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims which follow.