Source: http://patents.com/us-6310943.html
Timestamp: 2018-09-24 16:13:08
Document Index: 246201954

Matched Legal Cases: ['arty 101', 'arty 160', 'arty 160', 'arty 101', 'arty 101', 'arty 101', 'arty 160', 'arty 101', 'arty 101']

US Patent # 6,310,943. Method and apparatus for forwarding a caller identification for a credit card or calling card call to an automatic number identification system of a telephone network - Patents.com
United States Patent 6,310,943
Kowalski October 30, 2001
Inventors: Kowalski; Thaddeus Julius (Summit, NJ)
Appl. No.: 09/431,066
846077 Apr., 1997 5982866
Current U.S. Class: 379/127.03 ; 379/142.06; 379/142.17
Current International Class: H04Q 3/62 (20060101); H04M 15/00 (20060101); H04Q 3/72 (20060101); H04M 1/57 (20060101); H04M 015/00 (); H04M 001/56 ()
Field of Search: 379/127,142,144,114,115,130,198,142.01,142.03,142.06,142.17,127.03
When calling party 101 calls called party 160, a calling party's address, for example, a routing number, the dialed telephone number of called party 160, along with other data are forwarded to originating toll switch 120 for processing. The routing number and other data form part of the ANI that precedes a telephone call and assists in routing, billing, and identifying the calling party 101. According to the teachings of the present invention, the term ANI it is not intended to represent only the calling party's address or telephone number of the calling party 101 or, alternatively, their credit card number. An ANI is intended to represent other data as well and may include, for example, additional caller identification information including name, address, Social Security number and the like. All of this information may be stored in the memory of NCP 170. Thus, when calling party 101 calls called party 160 using a credit card or a calling card, the account number (the credit card or calling card number) entered by the calling party 101 is part of the ANI data. This data is forwarded to NCP 170 via originating toll switch 120 wherein a look-up table in database 172 is used to identify an account number of calling party 101. Alternatively, NCP 170 may be linked to an external database such as database 180 where additional customer information is stored. One such external database may be a credit authorization bureau which stores personal information about credit card holders. Once the calling party's account has been activated, the account number entered by the caller can be replaced by a more recognizable number, such as the data stored in NCP 170, which better identifies the caller. The familiar "out of area" ID for calling card or credit card calls as displayed at Caller ID device 161 would be replaced by the data stored in NCP 170.
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