Illinois Administrative Code › Title 83 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Part 756 - TELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICES › Subpart A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 756.10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"7-1-1" means the abbreviated dialing code for accessing all types
				  of relay services anywhere in the United States.
"Act" means the Public Utilities Act [ 220 ILCS 5 ].
"Advisory Council" means the advisory council established by 83
				  Ill. Adm. Code
				  755.405.
"American Sign Language" or "ASL" means a visual language based on
				  hand shape, position, movement, and orientation of the hands in relation to each
				  other and the body.
"ASCII" is an acronym for the American Standard Code for
				  Information Interexchange that employs an eight bit code and can operate at any
				  standard transmission baud rate including 300, 1200, 2400 and higher.
"Baudot" means a seven bit code, only five of which are
				  information bits. Baudot is used by some text telephones to communicate with each
				  other at a 45.5 baud rate.
"Call release" means a Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)
				  feature that allows the Communications Assistant (CA) to sign-off or be "released"
				  from the telephone line after the CA has set up a telephone call between the
				  originating text telephone (TTY) caller and a called TTY party, such as when a TTY
				  user must go through a TRS facility to contact another TTY user because the called
				  TTY party can only be reached through a voice-only interface, such as a
				  switchboard.
"Communications Assistant" or "CA" means a person who
				  transliterates or interprets conversations between two or more end users of TRS. CA
				  supersedes the term "TRS operator".
"Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission.
"Disability" refers to a condition of being permanently hearing
				  disabled, deaf-blind, speech-disabled, hearing-sight disabled, or speech-sight
				  disabled, as those terms are defined in 83 Ill. Adm. Code
				  755.10.
"FCC" means Federal Communications Commission.
"Hearing carry over" or "HCO" means a form of TRS in which the
				  person with the speech disability is able to listen to the other end user and, in
				  reply, the CA speaks the text as typed by the person with the speech disability. The
				  CA does not type any conversation. Two-line HCO is an HCO service that allows TRS
				  users to use one telephone line for hearing and the other for sending TTY messages.
				  HCO-to-TTY allows a relay conversation to take place between an HCO user and a TTY
				  user. HCO-to-HCO allows a relay conversation to take place between two HCO
				  users.
"Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation" or "ITAC" means
				  the not-for-profit corporation jointly established by the Illinois
				  telecommunications carriers providing local exchange service in order to administer
				  the programs mandated by Section 13-703 of the Act on behalf of the carriers.
"Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol Provider" or
				  "Interconnected VoIP Provider" has the same meaning as defined in Section 13-235 of
				  the Act. For purposes of this Part, Interconnected VoIP providers are limited to
				  those providers subject to Section 13-401.1 of the Act.
"Interexchange carrier" or "IXC" means a telecommunications
				  carrier providing interexchange service as defined in Section 13-205 of the
				  Act.
"Non-English language relay service" means a telecommunications
				  relay service that allows persons with hearing or speech disabilities who use
				  languages other than English to communicate with voice telephone users in a shared
				  language other than English, through a CA who is fluent in that language.
"Public Safety Answering Point" or "PSAP" means a facility that
				  has been designated to receive 9-1-1 calls and route them to emergency services
				  personnel.
"Qualified interpreter" means an interpreter who is able to
				  interpret effectively, accurately and impartially, both receptively and
				  expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.
"Relay system" means the configuration, provision and operation of
				  the facilities, equipment and personnel through which the telecommunications
				  carriers shall provide relay service.
"Speech-to-speech relay service" or "STS" means a
				  telecommunications relay service that allows individuals with speech disabilities to
				  communicate with voice telephone users through the use of specially trained CAs who
				  understand the speech patterns of persons with speech disabilities and can repeat
				  the words spoken by that person.
"Speed dialing" means a TRS feature that allows a TRS user to
				  place a call using a stored number maintained by the TRS facility. In the context of
				  TRS, speed dialing allows a TRS user to give the CA a "short-hand" name or number
				  for the user's most frequently called telephone numbers.
"SS7" or "Signaling System 7" means a carrier to carrier
				  out-of-band signaling network used for call routing, billing and management. SS7
				  provides for the delivery of Caller ID, improves access to 9-1-1, and eliminates the
				  need to collect some information currently collected manually through caller
				  profiles.
"Staff Liaison" means the Staff Liaison established by 83 Ill.
				  Adm. Code
				  755.400.
"System provider" means that corporation, organization, coalition
				  or entity who, under contract to the ITAC, provides the relay system through which
				  the telecommunications carriers shall provide relay service.
"Telecommunications carrier" or "carrier" has the same meaning as
				  in Section 13-202 of the Act that is providing local exchange telecommunications
				  service as defined in Section 13-204 of the Act. For purposes of this Part,
				  "telecommunications carrier" or "carrier" also includes telecommunications carriers
				  that are mutual concerns as defined in Section 13-202(b) of the Act.
"Telecommunications relay service " or "TRS" or "relay service"
				  means telephone transmission services that provide the ability for an individual
				  with a hearing or speech disability to engage in communication by wire or radio with
				  a hearing individual in a manner that is functionally equivalent to the ability of
				  an individual who does not have a hearing or speech disability to communicate using
				  voice communication services by wire or radio. This term includes services that
				  enable two-way communication between an individual who uses a text telephone or
				  other nonvoice terminal device and an individual who does not use such a device,
				  speech-to-speech services, non-English language relay service, and video relay
				  service. TRS supersedes the terms "dual party relay system", "message relay
				  services" and "TDD Relay".
"Text telephone" or "TTY" means a machine that employs graphic
				  communication in the transmission of coded signals through a wire or radio
				  communication system. TTY supersedes the term "TDD" or "telecommunications device
				  for the deaf" and "TT".
"Three-way calling" means a TRS feature that allows more than two
				  parties to be on the telephone line at the same time with the CA.
"Transliterate" means to verbally express a message received by
				  TTY or to send by TTY a verbal message received.
"Video relay service" or "VRS" means a telecommunications relay
				  service that allows people with hearing or speech disabilities who use sign language
				  to communicate with voice telephone users through video equipment. The video link
				  allows the CA to view and interpret the party's signed conversation and relay the
				  conversation back and forth with a voice caller.
"Voice carry over" or "VCO" means a form of TRS in which the
				  person with the hearing disability is able to speak directly to the other end user.
				  The CA types the response back to the person with the hearing disability. The CA
				  does not voice the conversation. Two-line VCO is a VCO service that allows TRS users
				  to use one telephone line for voicing and the other for receiving TTY messages. A
				  VCO-to-TTY TRS call allows a relay conversation to take place between a VCO user and
				  a TTY user. VCO-to-VCO allows a relay conversation to take place between two VCO
				  users.
"Wireless carrier" has the meaning given to that term in Section
				  10 of the Wireless Emergency Telephone Safety Act [ 50 ILCS 751 ].