Abstract:
A switching system in which telecommunications features are improved by the proximity status of a predetermined user to a communications terminal. Proximity status information deduces a predetermined user&#39;s presence or absence to answer incoming calls on a communications terminal associated with the predetermined user and silences the audible alert if the predetermined user is absent from the area. The proximity status information may also be used to control security features on a terminal so that only the predetermined user can use the terminal when the predetermined user is deduced to be present.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for use in communications networks. More specifically, the present invention can be utilized to control alert and security functions on a communications system. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It&#39;s good to talk, and the way things are going it has never been easier. Communications have been enormously successful in recent years and we are now living in a highly connected society. With the overwhelming growth of communication networks, there are more communication devices currently in use around the world and the market is growing fast. 
     The social and cultural consequences of this boom in communications, however are often overlooked and are far reaching in today&#39;s society. One such consequence is the irritation and confusion caused by unanswered alerts from communication devices. Heads turn when a phone rings. Indeed, it is uncommon to work in an open-plan office environment without the ring of someone&#39;s communication device sounding. This distraction of an unanswered communication device can reduce concentration and increase stress among workers. All of these factors reduce productivity significantly. As a result of these factors it is becoming increasingly common for office workers to take work home with them to work more productively in uninterrupted silence. 
     While it is often possible to manually change security and alert features on a telephone, it is laborious to do so. It also requires forward planning, and therefore requires the setting up of the feature in advance of leaving the area. Indeed, it is often so complicated to activate these features that people do not bother, or even forget how to activate them. 
     There is one known advanced communication arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,050 issued to W. A. Davidson et al. This utilizes a proximity detector to gather status information to define the presence or absence of a person to a station set without identifying a particular person. However, this arrangement merely detects the presence of any person within the vicinity of a telephone and does not address the problem of identifying the presence a particular person to a communications terminal associated with that person. 
     There may exist other reasons for automating features of communications terminals and networks, for example, enabling and disabling a terminal according to whether the predetermined user is present or absent. One such use may be of particularly utility in security conscious environments. This may also be useful in an environment in which an owner of a particular communications terminal or connection does not want anyone using it while they are away. This would prevent unauthorized users from making calls from other people&#39;s communications terminals. 
     It would, therefore, be desirable for a communications system to automatically control features of a terminal or communications network based on the absence or presence of a predetermined user to receive or make calls. It would also be desirable to automate security features of a terminal based on the presence or absence of a predetermined user to a terminal associated with the predetermined user. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus are provided for controlling an alert function of a communications terminal, the terminal being associated with a pre-determined user for receiving an incoming call over a telecommunications network, the terminal alert function being for presenting to the predetermined user an audible alert of the incoming call. 
     Additionally, a method and apparatus are provided for enabling or disabling a communications terminal, the terminal being associated with a predetermined user for sending an outgoing call or receiving an incoming call over a telecommunications network. 
     The presence and absence of the predetermined user is deduced from indeterminate information. Such indeterminate information may come from, for example, monitoring devices connected to the communications network. 
     An advantage of the alert being controlled according to the presence or absence of the predetermined user is that it can reduce the disturbance caused by the alerts of communication terminals when their user&#39;s are not present to receive incoming calls. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing features of the invention, as well as the invention itself may be more fully understand from the following detailed description of the drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of apparatus arranged to carry out an embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the alert controller for use in the apparatus of FIG. 1 for alerting a predetermined user to an incoming call; and 
     FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of an alert in response to an incoming call signal. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of apparatus arranged to carry out an embodiment of the invention. Referring now to FIG. 1, communication receiver  100  may be provided as a stand alone device connected to a PSTN or a terminal connected to a PABX to alert the predetermined user to an incoming call or message. The exemplary communications terminal  100  of FIG. 1 is for descriptive purposes only. Although the description may refer to terms commonly used in describing particular communications devices, a description and concepts apply equally to other communication devices having architectures dissimilar to that shown in FIG. 1, that alert or notify the person of an incoming call or message. 
     Communications terminal  100  is coupled to a communications network  110 , which may be provided, for example, as a public switched telephone network. Communications network  110  may also be provided as a private automated branch exchange (PABX) or IP switching system. Communications terminal  100  is connected to communications network  110  by a line  104 . Circuitry  120  for determining whether the predetermined user is present to receive the incoming call is connected to the communications network  110  by a line  124 . A secondary terminal  295  associated with the predetermined user is also connected to the communications network  110  by a line  164 . As may be seen, another terminal associated with the predetermined user, for example, a mobile terminal  150  associated with the predetermined user, is connected to the communications network via base station  140  by a line  144 . An incoming call signal to the predetermined user  218  is carried by the line  174  to the communications network  110 . Alert controller  105  is connected to communications terminal  100  by line  103 . Alert controller  105  may also be connected directly to communications network  110  for controlling alerts on one or a plurality of communications terminals. 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the alert controller for alerting a predetermined user to an incoming call according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Referring now to FIG. 2, the alert controller  105  may be provided as a stand alone device or as an appendage to any communication device such as a telephone, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a computer or any other device connected to a communications network. The exemplary alert controller  105  of FIG. 1 is for descriptive purposes only. Although the description may refer to terms commonly used in describing particular communication devices the description and concepts apply equally to other communication devices and networks having architectures dissimilar to that shown in FIG. 1, that alert a predetermined used to an incoming call. 
     Communications terminal circuitry  210  is coupled by a line  212  to a communications network  110 , which may be provided, for example, as a public switch telephone network (PSTN), a private automated branch exchange (PABX), or an IP switching network. Communications terminal circuitry  210  is connected to alert control circuitry  220  by a line  214 . A physical alert device  250  is connected to alert control circuitry  220  by a line  254 . Physical alerting may take the form of a vibrating attention-getting device that may be worn by the predetermined user or be attached to a piece of furniture, say the user&#39;s chair. A line  234  connects alert control circuitry  220  with an audible alert device  230 . Audible alert device  230  may be implemented using an transducer or a speaker. Other ways of controlling the alert function other than reducing the volume include changing the pitch, tone, sequence of notes, or in the case of the alert being a sound sample such as a recorded message, a change to a different sound sample. 
     Additionally in the preferred embodiment, a visual alert device  240  is connected to alert control circuitry  220  by a line  244 . Visual alert device  240  may be implemented either as part of the communications terminal or external to it, for example, using a light emitting diode, a light bulb, an alpha numeric display, or a message appearing on a computer or communications terminal associated with the predetermined user. 
     As may be seen, circuitry  120  for determining when the predetermined user is present to receive an incoming call is connected to communications network  110  by a line  264 . It should be noted the circuitry  120  for determining whether the predetermined user is present to receive the incoming call may alternatively be connected to communications terminal circuitry  210  and alert control circuitry  220 . The circuitry for determining whether the predetermined user is present is arranged to deduce the presence from indeterminate information about the presence of the predetermined user. 
     A monitoring device  270  is connected to circuitry for determining whether predetermined user is present to receive incoming call  120  by a line  268 . The monitoring device  270  may be provided, for example, as a system that monitors the location and status of a predetermined user. This may report the predetermined user&#39;s location to the circuitry for determining whether the predetermined user is present to receive an incoming call  120 . Examples of this monitoring device  270  are a security system which monitors predetermined user&#39;s locations. This might include image recognition circuitry, voice recognition circuitry, passive or active radio loop circuitry, figure print recognition circuitry, smart card or swipe card circuitry or any other method for positively identifying people. More examples include a terminal connected to a network, reporting the activity status of the predetermined user on that terminal. 
     Circuitry  120  for determining whether the predetermined user is present to receive an incoming call sends a signal indicating the state of the predetermined user to receive an incoming call  216  to the communications network  110  over line  264 . The signal  216  is sent to the alert control circuitry  220  via the communications terminal circuitry  210 . When an incoming call is received, an incoming call signal  218  is transmitted from the communications network  110  to communications terminal circuitry  210  on line  212 . In other embodiments, the line  212  connecting the communications network  110  and the communications terminal circuitry  210  may be a wireless connection. It should also be noted that all other lines represented may be implemented by wireless, optical or electrical links. 
     The alert control circuitry  220  determines whether the predetermined user is absent or present from the signal indicating the state of the predetermined user to receive an incoming call  218  and processes the alert according to parameters in the store for predetermined user&#39;s alert parameters  290  and the store for storing group alert parameters  280 . The parameters in stores  280  and  290  are accessible via the alert control circuitry through the communications network  110  via lines  284  and  294  respectively. For example, if signal  216  indicates the predetermined user is not present to receive incoming call then the alert control circuitry  220  will control the alert according to parameters in stores  280  and  290 . Examples of group parameter include time, location, rank of user in the organization or any other prioritization factors, a centralized time-based factor to enable an organization to control the disturbance from alerts at certain times, e.g. lunch times, occasions when silence is desirable or when noise levels are tolerable. The processing of the alert may be more fully understand with reference to FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of an incoming call signal to a predetermined user according to the preferred embodiment. Referring now to FIG. 3, whenever the communications terminal associated with a predetermined user receives an incoming call signal  218  (step  304 ), it queries the user parameters (step  308 ) and the group parameters (step  312 ) for alert control instructions. Next, the alert control circuitry  220 , of FIG. 2 determines if the predetermined user is present to receive the call by determining the state of signal  216  of FIG. 2 (step  316 ). Signal  216  of FIG. 2, in the first state, indicates that the predetermined user is present incoming call, and in the second state, indicates that the predetermined user is not present to receive an incoming call. If signal  216  is the first state, then the alert control circuitry queries the group parameters to check whether all terminals in the group are set to have their audible alerts audibly silenced. If the group parameter is set to silence all terminals in the group the alerts is silenced (step  332 ) and the physical and visual alerts are activated according to the user and group parameters (step  336 ). Provided the group parameter is not set to silence all terminals or this particular terminal in the group, then a check is made to determine whether the predetermined user is on another terminal associated with the user  295  (step  324 ) if the predetermined user is on another terminal associated with that user  295  then the alerts are activated according to the user parameters. In the preferred embodiment, the audible alert is silenced whilst the visual and physical alerts are activated to alert the user to an incoming call on another terminal or DN (steps  340 ,  344  and  348 ). As mentioned, the alert parameters for this situation are stored in the store for storing predetermined user&#39;s alert parameters of FIG.  2 . If the predetermined user is not using another terminal associated with that user when an incoming call signal arrives  218  then all alerts are activated according to the parameters of the user (step  328 ). 
     Should the predetermined user not be present to receive an incoming call, then alerts are silenced in accordance with user&#39;s parameters (step  352 ).