Abstract:
A method for storing caller identification information as a log of answered and unanswered telephone calls at a central server. This call log server is accessible by the internet, so if a subscriber is traveling, he or she is still able to access and read a list of answered and unanswered calls to the subscriber&#39;s home station. Internet devices such as browsers that are internet telephony capable may return a call from the call log list using a point and click sequence. The call log may be processed from natural chronological order into a personal priority order such as: family, professional and everything else. This call log may also be forwarded via e-mail to the subscriber. Such e-mail forwarding may be either contemporaneously with call logging or periodically.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The invention relates to a system for telecommunication intelligent network functions and more particularly to a system for storing and retrieving caller identification information from previous calls. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     Some local exchange telecommunication switches presently can aurally inform an inquirer what the caller identification number of the last caller that had such information available. In many areas, this caller identification is accessed by the sequence “*69” or some similar sequence code. Private telephone caller identifications are not retrievable by this system because they are blocked. So in some cases, the number aurally transmitted is not of the last call, but of a prior call. The aural information does not include time of date information, so the result of a “*69” sequence is not always correct, which is a considerable drawback. 
     Some customer premises equipment (CPE) presently have storage capability for the caller identification of incoming calls, assuming that such caller identification is not blocked as it is in some cases. For example, Lucent Technologies produces a model ISDN 8520T CPE which keeps a log of unanswered incoming, answered incoming and outgoing telephone calls. Each recorded call has a time of day and date record also, so ‘number unavailable’ calls can be distinguished from caller ID available calls. This CPE when used with a switch with such information, such as an ISDN PBX switch, will give each caller&#39;s name if it is stored in the switch&#39;s database. All this caller ID information appears on a liquid crystal display (LCD). Earlier versions of similar ISDN telephones used video displays instead. Further, the model ISDN 8520T, like many other ISDN telephones, have a data port to which a computer may be connected. In such a connection, the caller ID information may be captured by the computer, displayed, time stamped and stored just as the CPE does. 
     Some CPE that are used with analog plain old telephone service (POTS) have similar capabilities to the ISDN CPE, even though the information is sent as an analog rather than a digital signal as in an ISDN system. The caller identification information on a POTS line is an analog type of signal with data encoded thereon which is transmitted between ringing pulses on a POTS system. The CPE must have a decoder to capture and decode the information back into a seven or ten digit number which is displayed on a display. Some CPE have this decoder and display integrated into the telephone station. Such CPE may also have a memory record of the last few caller identifications received. This record may also have a time of call/call-attempt, and also each caller&#39;s name if available from the local service provider. 
     Both the ISDN caller ID log and the POTS caller ID log suffer from the same problems, namely that the retrieval of caller ID log data can only be performed at the CPE station. Therefore, any sorting of caller IDs into higher priority groups, for example most users would put calls from family members, job related calls, and calls from friends in a higher priority group, and calls from sales people, calls from telemarketers and calls having caller ID blocked would be put in a lower priority, is only possible at the CPE station location (if at all). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of the invention the aforementioned problems are over come and a technical advance achieved by providing a method of retrieving caller identification information about an incoming call from a calling station to a called station. The method includes the steps of receiving the incoming call at a local switch to which a line of the called station is connected, determining from the incoming call caller ID information, storing the caller ID information in a memory of a caller ID unit that is connected to the local switch and also to an internet network, accessing the caller ID unit via the internet network; and retrieving the caller ID information from the caller ID unit via the internet network. 
     This caller ID information is subsequently displayed, usually, on a display of a browser or some other internet protocol communication device. These displays usually have interactive areas so click to dial to call an entry on the caller ID display can be effected. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a system arrangement for practicing storing and retrieving caller identification information. 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B are simplified diagrams of a chronological display of retrieved caller identification information and a prioritized display of retrieved caller identification information, respectively. 
     FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for logging a call. 
     FIG. 4 is a flow diagram for retrieving a call log over an IP network. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, a system  100  is shown that is useful for practicing the method for storing and retrieving a caller identification according to the present invention. A caller at telephone station  102  initiates a call to called party at telephone station  104  by using public switched telephone network (PSTN)  110 . Telephone station  102  maybe connected to PSTN  110  via a POTS service, an ISDN service, a wireless service or even a telephone over internet call service, as long as PSTN  110  can receive the initiated call. PSTN  110  may include a local telephone switch (not shown), such a 5ESS® by Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. or comparable local telephone switch. PSTN  110  upon receiving the call initiated from telephone station  102  forwards information of the call to signaling transfer point (STP)  114  only if station  104  has been provisioned with a trigger for this service. STP  114  forwards this information to service control point (SCP)  122 . SCP  122  is capable of providing standard Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) services based on the called telephone station, i.e. telephone station  104 , to send caller identification information to new caller identification server  124 . The SCP  122  examines the information received from STP  114  to determine if the called telephone station  104  is a subscriber to the caller identification storage and retrieval service according to the present invention. If so, then SCP  122  forwards the caller identification to caller identification server  124 . 
     Caller identification server  124  receives the caller identification information from SCP  122 , time stamps the information to log-in this information and stores the caller information in an area of server  124  associated with called telephone station. Alternatively, the time logging could be performed by the SCP  122 , but the SCP  122  often has many intelligent network tasks to provide, so caller ID server  124  would be the preferred location to perform the time stamping for such a case. SCP  122  may also have a name associated with the caller identification as is provided in some advanced intelligent networks, and if available, this name is also stored in caller ID server  124  as part of the caller identification information. If the called number is the number of a subscriber to this service, this available caller identification information is stored in caller ID server  124  for each caller attempting to reach the called telephone station number, whether completed or not. Assuming, of course, that only a reasonable number of caller ID records must be stored per subscriber, otherwise storage component expense and retrieval processing time become prohibitive. 
     Since a caller at station  102  has called telephone station  104  and called telephone station  104  is a station of the storage and retrieval service of the present invention, there is a record of this call in caller ID server  124 . Connected to caller ID server  124  is an internet protocol server  126 . Internet protocol server  126  is preferably a hyper text transfer protocol type of server, also known as a web server, although file transfer protocol type servers or telnet protocol type servers are also contemplated for this service. With the caller ID information for each subscriber stored in caller ID server  124 , the next task is to provide retrieval in the easiest, most flexible and most advantageous ways. As shown in FIG. 1, a personal computer  130 , or a similar type of workstation or video terminal station, is connected to the PSTN  110 . This connection may be by POTS and FSK modem or by ISDN and ISDN modem in or attached to the personal computer  130 , as examples. A user at personal computer  130  can initiate a data call through PSTN  110  to internet protocol network  128 . 
     Internet protocol network  128  provides a gateway for data from PSTN  110  to internet services, such as internet protocol server  126 . For the data call from personal computer  130 , internet protocol network  128  converts the POTS-FSK modem signals to TCP/IP data signals, and then accesses internet protocol server  126  by internet protocol signaling. 
     At this point, internet protocol server  126  should require authentication of the accessing user by user identification and password protection. Assuming the user is authenticated, internet protocol server  126  accesses caller ID server  124  and reads the call record of calls for telephone station  104  using hypertext transfer protocol (http) or similar internet protocols. If a user is away from his or her telephone station but has a personal computer or similar device that can access the internet, the user can retrieve, from the service provided by the present invention, a displayed list of call time, caller telephone number (if not blocked at SCP  122 ) and caller name (if available from SCP  122 ). Further, this retrieved list can be prioritized, either at the servers  124  and  126  or at the personal computer  130 . Prioritizing by one of the servers  124  or  126  means that a relatively simple browser or similar program may be used to access the prioritized information. Prioritizing at the personal computer  130  makes the tasks required of the servers  124 ,  126  less complex and less time consuming. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, a representative display  200  of a retrieved caller information record is shown. This particular record is that of Mr. John Jones at number 630-YYY-XXXX. After he has accessed the internet protocol server  126 , authenticated himself and had the server  126  retrieve his caller identification records from server  124 , this type of information is presented. Mr. John Jones has prioritized his calls by caller, so his relative, Mrs. T. Jones, is listed first even though she called later than the caller first in time. The next caller is probably a telemarketer because there was no caller number available, no caller name available. This entry will typically be deleted from the record by the user. The next entry is Dr. Smith, who has not been placed in the priority list, so her call is put in chronological order at the end. Preferably, the personal computer  130  is provided with browser or similar software such that the fields of each record are interactive. A field may be included on each call record enabling the user to dial back a number in the retrieved list. Thus, if John Jones selects and activates the number in the record of the call by “Mrs. T. Jones” a call is initiated. The call back may be accomplished in either of two ways, depending on the type of equipment and the number of telephone communication lines the user has. If the user has internet telephony and only one communication line, the call is accomplished using the internet protocol link and personal computer  130  using internet telephony hardware and software, versions of which are presently known and available. If the user has two communication lines, the personal computer  130  on one line can dial the selected number using a telephone dialer application on the other telephone line to dial the selected number, which in the above example is Mrs. T. Jones. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3, the method  300  for storing caller identification information of a caller at station  102  for a subscriber&#39;s station  104  for retrieval via an internet protocol service. Station  102  initiates a call which travels through the public switched telephone network  110  to signal transfer point (STP  114 ). At step  302 , the call and related data is sent from STP  114  to service control point (SCP  122 ), which receives the call. Next, step  304  determines if the called party of this call is a subscriber to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service. If the called party is not a subscriber to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service, method  300  progresses to step  306 , where SCP  122  sends the call back to STP  114  for normal processing and method  300  stops for this call. If the called party is a subscriber to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service, then the method  300  progresses to step  308 . At step  308 , the caller identification data is sent to caller ID server  124  and the method  300  progresses to step  310 . At step  310 , the caller ID server  124  time stamps the call data and logs this call&#39;s time stamp, caller&#39;s name (if available) and the caller&#39;s number (if available). If the subscriber to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service just wants a chronological log, the method  300  would end here, but if some other order of priorities besides chronological is desired and such prioritizing is available at server  124 , then step  312  is the next step. At step  312 , the call data entries are ordered according to groups important to the subscriber, such as calls from family members and close friends, calls that are work related, general calls and no data given calls—no data calls are presumed to be telemarketers. FIG. 2B shows a display  200 B that has been re-ordered from chronological order to an order according to personal priorities. By building up individual records for individual subscribers, the caller ID server  124  maintains a lot of call data for a lot of subscribers to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service. 
     Method  300  was only half of the task, the other half is method  400  which is described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. In method  400 , first step  402  is when a subscriber to the telephone caller identification log with internet access service at either personal computer  130  or internet device  132  accesses internet protocol server  126 . Personal computer  130  accesses internet protocol server  126  via a modem via PSTN  110  through a gateway to internet protocol network  128 . Internet protocol network device  132  accesses internet protocol network  128  essentially directly, such as many industry and library device set-ups, in order to access internet protocol server  126 . Next, step  404  determines if the user attempting an access can meet authentication requirements, e.g. user name and password, to be granted accesses to a user&#39;s records stored on internet protocol server  126 . If the user cannot meet authentication requirements, the access attempt is terminated at step  406  and method  400  is over for this access attempt. If the user meets authentication requirements, method  400  progresses to step  408 . At step  408 , the internet protocol server  126  requests and obtains the user&#39;s caller identification log from caller ID server  124 , the positive authentication is taken by method  300  and server  126  as a user request to retrieve the user&#39;s call identification log. Next, at step  410 , internet protocol server  126  receives the requested caller identification log record and forwards this data to internet protocol device  132  or personal computer  130  for showing upon their respective displays. The displays are expected to be similar in appearance and operation to the example shown in FIG.  2  and the description present above in regard to FIG.  2 . 
     Another embodiment of the invention has the caller ID server  124  periodically gather all calls logged in the latest period of time into one or more e-mail messages and send the e-mail to the subscriber. After some period then the caller ID server  124  can erase or drop previously e-mailed call logs in order to manage storage space on the caller ID server  124 . The e-mail may be archived and/or encrypted to the extent that the caller ID service provider and/or the caller ID subscriber agree on such actions. 
     Another embodiment of the invention has the caller ID server  124  subsequently send an e-mail message to the subscriber in regard to each call logged very soon after the logging in caller ID server  124  is completed. As in the other e-mail embodiment, after some period then the caller ID server  124  can erase or drop previously e-mailed call logs in order to manage storage space on the caller ID server  124  and the e-mail may be archived and/or encrypted to the extent that the caller ID service provider and/or the caller ID subscriber agree on such actions. 
     Thus, it will now be understood that there has been disclosed a new method and apparatus for storing and retrieving caller identification information using an internet retrieval device. While the invention has been particularly illustrated and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form, details, and applications may be made therein. For example, caller ID server  124  and internet protocol server  126  could be unified into a single caller ID and internet protocol server. Additionally, service control point  122  could be unified with server  124  and/or server  126 . Such combinations would simplify data accesses between SCP and servers. It is accordingly intended that the appended claims shall cover all such changes in form, details and applications that do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.