Title: External detection of optional telephone services
Abstract: A method to determine telephone services enabled on a telephone line that is registered to receive services from an online service provider includes determining whether a telephone line registered to receive services from an online service provider is occupied. One or more test calls are placed across a network to the telephone line conditioned upon whether the telephone line is determined to be occupied. Signalling data is received through the network in response to the test calls. One or more telephone services believed to be enabled on the telephone line are determined based on at least the signaling data.
Patent Number: 6,950,498 Issued on 09/27/2005 to McMullin, et al.
| Inventors:
|
McMullin; William P. (Bedford, CA);
Keast; Liam (Bedford, CA)
|
| Assignee:
|
America Online, Inc. (Dulles, VA)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
721749 |
| Filed:
|
November 26, 2003 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
379/29.01; 379/15.03; 379/23; 379/27.02 |
| Intern'l Class: |
H04M 001/24; H04M 003/08; H04M 003/22 |
| Field of Search: |
379/101,150.1,150.3,22,23,260.1,270.1,270.2,270.3,290.1,201.02,201.12
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Tran; Quoc
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fish & Richardson P.C.
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/509,274,
filed Oct. 8, 2003, and titled EXTERNAL DETECTION OF OPTIONAL TELEPHONE SERVICES.
Claims
1. A method to determine telephone services enabled on a telephone line that
is registered to receive services from an online service provider, the method comprising:
determining whether a telephone line registered to receive services from an online
service provider is occupied;
placing one or more test calls across a network to the telephone line conditioned
upon whether the telephone line is determined to be occupied;
receiving signaling data through the network in response to the test calls; and
determining one or more telephone services that are believed to be enabled on
the telephone line based on at least the signaling data.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the telephone line is occupied
comprises receiving an indication that the telephone line is occupied.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication is received from a login system
and is generated based on the telephone line being used to log into the online
service provider.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein placing one or more test calls includes placing
the test calls in response to a message indicating that the telephone line is being
used to log into the online service provider.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the services include data services.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the services include voice services.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the voice services comprise services related
to the exchange of voice communications that are implemented by non-switch systems
associated with the network.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the voice services include a voicemail service.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the voice services include a call alerts service.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the telephone line is
occupied comprises placing a call to occupy the telephone line.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephone services comprise features implemented
by a switch in the network.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the switch features include a call forward
busy service.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the switch features include a call waiting service.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein placing one or more test calls includes placing
one or more test calls in response to a message indicating that the telephone line
is being used to dial into the online service provider.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining telephone services enabled on
the telephone line comprises determining that the telephone line is enabled with
a call forward busy service that forwards calls to the online service provider
conditioned upon whether a first test call is redirected to the online service provider.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining telephone services enabled on
the telephone line comprises determining that the telephone line is enabled with
a call forward busy service that forwards calls to the online service provider
and a call waiting service conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal
is not received in response to a first test call and a second test call is redirected
to the online service provider.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining telephone services enabled on
the telephone line comprises determining that the telephone line is enabled with
a call waiting service conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal is
not received in response to a first test call, a busy and disconnect signal is
received in response to a second test call, and the second test call is not redirected
to the online service provider.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein determining telephone services enabled on
the telephone line comprises determining that the telephone line is enabled with
a call forward busy service that does not forward calls to the online service provider
conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal is not received in response
to a first test call and a busy and disconnect signal is not received in response
to a second call.
19. A computer system configured to detect telephone services enabled on a telephone
line that is registered to receive services from an online service provider, the
computer system comprising:
a telephony server configured to:
determine whether a telephone line registered to receive services from an online
service provider is occupied;
place one or more test calls across a network to the telephone line conditioned
upon whether the telephone line is determined to be occupied,
receive signaling data through the network in response to the test calls, and
determine one or more telephone services that are believed to be enabled on the
telephone line based on at least the signaling data.
20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to place the one or more test calls in response to a login notification message
received from a login system indicating that the telephone line is occupied.
21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the login notification message is
generated in response to the telephone line being used to log into the online service provider.
22. The computer system of claim 20, further comprising the login system.
23. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the services include data services.
24. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the services include voice services.
25. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the voice services comprise services
related to the exchange of voice communications that are implemented by non-switch
systems associated with the network.
26. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the voice services include a voicemail service.
27. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the voice services include a call
alerts service.
28. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to determine whether the telephone line is occupied by placing a call to occupy
the telephone line.
29. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephone services comprise
features implemented by a switch in the network.
30. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the switch features include a call
forward busy service.
31. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the switch features include a call
waiting service.
32. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to place one or more test calls in response to a message indicating that the telephone
line is being used to dial into the online service provider.
33. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to determine that the telephone services enabled on the telephone line include
a call forward busy service that forwards calls to the online service provider
conditioned upon whether a first test call is redirected to the online service provider.
34. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to determine that the telephone services enabled on the telephone line include
a call forward busy service that forwards calls to the online service provider
and a call waiting service conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal
is not received in response to a first test call and a second test call is redirected
to the online service provider.
35. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to determine that the telephone services enabled on the telephone line include
a call waiting service conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal is
not received in response to a first test call, a busy and disconnect signal is
received in response to a second test call, and the second test call is not redirected
to the online service provider.
36. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the telephony server is configured
to determine that the telephone services enabled on the telephone line include
a call forward busy service that does not forward calls to the online service provider
conditioned upon whether a busy and disconnect signal is not received in response
to a first test call and a busy and disconnect signal is not received in response
to a second call.
37. An apparatus for determining telephone services enabled on a telephone line,
the apparatus comprising:
means for determining whether a telephone line registered to receive services
from an online service provider is occupied;
means for placing one or more test calls across a network to the telephone line
conditioned upon whether the telephone line is determined to be occupied;
means for receiving signaling data through the network in response to the test
calls; and
means for determining one or more telephone services that are believed to be
enabled on the telephone line based on at least the signaling data.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The disclosure relates to telephone services and voice services on a network.
BACKGROUND
Optional telephone services are features implemented by a switch in a telephone
network such as, for example, a DMS-100 or a SONUS Soft Switch. Optional telephone
services may include call forward busy, call forward no answer, and call waiting.
Optional telephone services are distinguished from voice services, which are services
related to the exchange of voice communications that are not implemented by a switch
in the telephone network but rather are implemented by other systems within or
communicatively coupled to the telephone network. Voice services may include voicemail
and call alerts.
Voice services typically use optional telephone services such as call forward
busy and call forward no answer to redirect calls across the telephone network
to systems implementing the voice services.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for externally detecting optional telephone
services on a known telephone line.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a process for externally detecting optional telephone
services on a known telephone line.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for externally detecting optional telephone
services on an unknown telephone line.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process for externally detecting optional telephone
services on an unknown telephone line.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Online service providers, which provide voice and/or data services to subscribers,
frequently do not have access to information regarding which telephone services
offered by telecommunications providers are actually enabled on a telephone line
of a particular subscriber. Such information, however, may be useful to the online
service provider seeking to offer, establish and/or to optimize the voice or data
services available to the subscriber over the telephone line or otherwise.
For example, if an online service provider offers a voicemail service to a subscriber,
the online service provider typically requires that the subscriber set up a call
forward busy/no answer service that redirects calls to the online service provider
system when the telephone line of the subscriber is busy or not answered. This
call forward busy/no answer service, therefore, is setup by the telecommunications
provider as a prerequisite to receiving the voicemail service from the online service
provider. Accordingly, the online service provider may find it useful to test a
subscriber's telephone line to verify that this call forward busy/no answer service
has been setup prior to enabling the voicemail service. Such testing may speed
up the life cycle of the service by enabling billing to commence immediately after
the call forward busy/no answer service has been setup and also may be used when
troubleshooting the voicemail service to ensure that service problems experienced
by a subscriber are due to the voicemail system itself and not due to improper
setup or call processing by the telephone network.
In another example, an online service provider that offers a dial-up Internet
connection service to subscribers may find it useful to know whether the telecommunications
provider of a subscriber has enabled a call waiting service on the telephone line
of the subscriber. Moreover, because call waiting can create connection problems
when enabled on a telephone line used to connect to the Internet, the online service
provider may find it useful to detect whether a telephone line of a subscriber
has a call waiting service enabled on it when the subscriber attempts to access
the Internet using the telephone line. If the online service provider detects a
call waiting service enabled on the telephone line, the online service provider
system may disable the call waiting service temporarily while the telephone line
is being used to connect to the Internet. The online service provider is thereby
able to improve the experience of subscribers that have purchased dial-up Internet
access service by preventing intermittent loss of connection.
The online service provider may externally detect optional telephone services
enabled on a telephone line of a subscriber or potential subscriber by placing
calls over the telephone network to a destination telephone and capturing responsive
signaling information provided by the telephone network for each call. The signaling
information includes information about the status of the telephone line of the
destination telephone (e.g., ringing or busy) and may be used to impute information
about the existence or lack of optional telephone services enabled on the telephone
line of the destination phone. Generally, one or two test calls may be made to
a telephone line of interest to identify the optional telephone services enabled
on that telephone line. To minimize the impact on the telephone line and to enable
desired results, the multiple calls are placed in a relatively short interval of
time (i.e., in milliseconds).
The optional telephone services that may be detected by the online service provider
system depend on the type of telephone line being tested. Two types of telephone
line are distinguished: (1) a telephone line associated with a subscriber registered
to receive services from the online service provider over the telephone line (hereinafter
referred to as a known telephone line); and (2) a telephone line not associated
with a subscriber registered to receive services from the online service provider
system over the telephone line (hereinafter referred to as an unknown telephone line).
The online service provider system may externally detect that a known telephone
line has: (1) no optional telephone services enabled; (2) a call forward busy service
enabled that forwards calls to the online service provider system and no call waiting
service enabled; (3) a call forward busy service enabled that forwards calls to
the online service provider system and a call waiting service enabled; (4) a call
forward busy service enabled that does not forward calls to the online service
provider system; or (5) a call waiting service enabled and no call forward busy
service enabled. The online service provider system also may externally detect
whether an unknown telephone line has a call forward busy service enabled.
Referring to FIG. 1, a system
100 for externally detecting optional
telephone services enabled on a known telephone line includes a telephone
110
that communicates over a known telephone line
115 across a telephone network
120 with an online service provider system having telephone service detection
130. The online service provider system
130 also may communicate
across a network
140 with a computer system
150, which computer system
150 is associated with the telephone
110. The online service provider
system
130 includes a login system
132, a configuration data store
134, and a telephony server
136.
The system
100 is configured such that the telephone
110 may receive
calls over the known telephone line
115 and across the telephone network
120. As defined previously, the known telephone line
115 is known
to the online service provider system
130 because a subscriber associated
with the known telephone line
115 is registered to receive services from
the online service provider system
130.
More specifically, in the FIG. 1 implementation, the telephone
110 may
be, for example, a landline telephone that allows communications over the telephone
network
120, or a wireless telephone such as a cellular telephone or a mobile
personal digital assistant (PDA) with embedded cellular telephone technology.
The telephone network
120 is configured to enable direct or indirect voice
communications between the telephone
110 and the telephony server
136
over the known telephone line
115. The telephone network
120 also
is configured to provide call signaling data to the telephony server
136.
The call signaling data includes data corresponding to a ringing signal or data
corresponding to a busy and/or disconnect signal.
The telephone network
120 may include a circuit-switched voice network,
a packet-switched data network, or any other network able to carry voice. For example,
circuit-switched voice networks may include the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN), and packet-switched data networks may include networks based on the Internet
protocol (IP) or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and may support voice using,
for example, Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-ATM, or other comparable protocols used
for voice data communications.
The online service provider system
130 is a computer system that is configured
to provide one or more online services to subscribers and to detect optional telephone
services enabled on the known telephone line
115. The online services may
include voice services and data services. The voice services may include, for example,
voicemail and call alerts. The data services may include, for example, Internet
access, e-mail, and instant messaging. The user of the known telephone line
115
may receive voice and/or data services from the online service provider system
130.
The login system
132 controls user access to the voice and data services
offered by the online service provider system
130. The login system
132
also determines when a telephone line of a subscriber is busy due to the telephone
line being used to log into the online service provider system
130. If the
login system
132 determines that a subscriber is using a telephone line
to log into the online service provider system and that telephone line is known
(i.e., the telephone line is associated with the subscriber), the login system
132 sends a test initiation message to the telephony server
136 instructing
the telephony server
136 to begin placing test calls to the known telephone
line to detect the optional telephone services enabled on the known telephone line.
For instance, in one implementation, a user of the computer system
150
attempts to access services by using the computer system
150 to dial into
the online service provider system
130 over the known telephone line
115
and across the telephone network
120. The call is terminated at the telephony
server
136. The user inputs a password and a user identifier which are received
by the telephony server
136. The telephony server
136 also receives
or otherwise accesses caller-related information from the telephone network
120
including the direct number of the telephone line used to connect to the telephony
server
136. In this example, the telephony server
136 receives the
direct number of the known telephone line
115. The telephony server
136
sends the password, caller-related information, and the user identifier to the
login system
132.
The login system
132 determines whether to provide a user with access
to services by comparing the offered user password and corresponding user identifier
to that stored in the configuration or registration data store
134. If the
offered password is the password stored in the configuration data store
134
corresponding to the received user identifier, then the login system
132
permits the user to login since the user is registered to receive services from
the online service provider. Once logged in, the user may access services including,
for example, Internet access, e-mail, or voicemail using the computer system
150.
The login system
132 also determines whether the direct number of the
telephone line used to connect to the telephony server
136 corresponds to
the telephone line associated with the user identifier in the configuration data
store
134. If the telephone line used to connect to the telephony server
136 is the same as that associated with the user identifier (i.e., the telephone
line is known), then the login system
132 sends a test initiation message
to the telephony server
136. The test initiation message indicates that
the telephone line used to log into the online service provider system is known
to be associated with the subscriber and is known to be currently occupied by the
dial-up connection used to log into the online service provider system
130.
Upon receiving the test initiation message, the telephony server
136 may
test the telephone line for optional telephone services.
In another implementation, a user of the telephone
110 calls the telephony
server
136 to check voicemail or to receive voice services over the telephone
110. The telephony server
136 receives caller-related information
from the telephone network
120 including the direct number of the telephone
line used to call the telephony server
136. The telephony server
136
sends the caller-related information to the login system
132.
The login system
132 accesses the configuration data store
134
to determine whether the caller-related information corresponds to a caller that
is registered to receive voice services. If the caller-related information does
not correspond to a caller registered to receive voice services, the login system
132 sends a caller-not-recognized response to the telephony server
136
which prompts the caller to input a user identifier and a password. If the caller-related
information corresponds to a caller registered to receive voice services, the login
system
132 sends a caller-recognized response to the telephony server
136
which prompts the caller to input a password (i.e., a user identifier is not necessary
in this case since the caller-related information is assumed to identify the caller).
The login system
132 compares the offered password and user identifier/captured
caller-related information to that stored in the configuration data store
134
to determine whether or not to grant the caller access to services. If the offered
password is the password stored in the configuration data store
134 corresponding
to the received user identifier/caller-related information, then the login system
132 permits the caller to login. If a caller is permitted to login and the
direct number of the phone line used to connect to the telephony server
136
is the same as that associated with the received password in the configuration
data store
134 (i.e., the phone line is known), the login system
132
sends a test initiation message to the telephony server
136. The test initiation
message indicates that the telephone line is known to be currently occupied by
the caller calling into the online service provider system
130, and, accordingly,
the telephone line may now be tested for optional telephone services in accordance
with process
200 discussed below.
In yet another implementation related to the previously described implementation,
if the direct number of the phone line used to connect to the telephony server
136 is not the same as that associated with the received password and user
identifier in the configuration data store
134 (i.e., the phone line is
unknown), the login system
132 may send a message to the telephony server
136 to test the unknown phone line in accordance with operations
402-
412
of process
400 discussed below. In this manner, the online service provider
may determine and store statistical service information about any phone lines,
whether known or unknown, that are used to access or otherwise call into the telephony
server
136.
The configuration data store
134 is a data storage device that stores
service-related information (e.g., types of services received and preferences selected
for each service), customer-related information (e.g., name, address, and telephone
number), user identifiers, passwords, and login status. The configuration data
store
334 may store this information in data records that are indexed by
user identifier, password, or telephone number. In some implementations, this information
is stored in multiple different data stores accessible to the login system
132
and to the telephony server
136.
The telephony server
136 is a computer system configured to communicate
with the telephone network
120 to detect the optional telephone services
offered on the known telephone line
115. The telephony server
136
receives calls from the telephone
110 and/or computer system
150
across the telephone network
120 and communicates with the login system
132 to determine whether to provide a caller or user with access to services
offered by the online service provider system
130.
The telephony server
136 includes a test call processing system
137
and a test call detection system
138. The test call processing system
137
places one or more test calls directed to the known telephone line
115 in
response to receipt of a test initiation message from the login system
132,
receives corresponding signaling data from the telephone network
120, and
receives communications from the test call detection system
138 indicating
whether or not the test call was redirected back to the telephony server
136
by the telephone network
120. The test call processing system
137
imputes the optional telephone services currently available on the known telephone
line
115 based on the received signaling data from the telephone network
120 and based on whether the test call was redirected back to the telephony
server
136. The test call processing system
137 may use, for example,
Integrated Services Digital Network signaling to place the calls to the known telephone
line
115.
The test call detection system
138 receives a test call that is redirected
back to the telephony server
136, responds to the redirected test call by
indicating to the telephone network
120 that the line to which the test
call has been redirected is busy, and sends a communication to the test call processing
system
137 indicating that the test call has been redirected back to the
telephony server
136. In another implementation, the test call detection
system
138 is part of a voice service system (e.g., a voicemail or call
alerts system) internal or external to the online service provider system
130.
The test call detection system
138 may use, for example, Integrated Services
Digital Network signaling to respond to the calls from the telephone network
120.
The computer system
150 is configured to receive data services from the
online service provider system
130. The call destination computer system
includes a device
150A capable of executing instructions under the command
of a controller
150B. The device
150A may be a general purpose computer,
such as a workstation or a personal computer, a PDA, a special purpose computer,
an intelligent mobile phone, a pager, or a set top box.
The controller
150B commands and directs communications between the device
150A of the call destination computer system
150 and the online service
provider system
130. The controller
150B may include one or more
software or hardware applications that enable digital communications to be received
from or exchanged with the online service provider system
130. For example,
the controller
150B may be client software configured to enable a user to
log into the online service provider system
130 to receive data services.
The client software may be, for example, an instant messaging application, a call
alerts application, a browser application, or an e-mail application. The device
150A is connected to the controller
150B by a wired, wireless or
virtual (i.e., when the controller is software running on the device) data pathway
150C capable of delivering data.
FIG. 2 shows a process
200 for externally detecting optional telephone
services on a known telephone line. The process
200 may be implemented,
for example, by the telephony server
136. The process
200 typically
is implemented in response to receiving a test initiation message from the login
system
132 informing the telephony server
136 that the known telephone
line
115 is currently occupied.
In the process illustrated by FIG. 2, the test call processing system
137
of the telephony server
136 receives a test initiation message from the
login system
132 (
201). The test call processing system
137
places a first test call to the direct number of the known telephone line
115
(
202) and determines whether a busy and disconnect signal is received from
the telephone network
120 in response to the first test call (
204).
The test call processing system
137 also determines whether the call has
been redirected or forwarded back to the telephony server
136 by the telephone
network
120 based on whether a communication is received from the test call
detection system
138 (
206). If a busy and disconnect signal is received
and a redirection of the voice path back to the online service provider system
130 has occurred, the known telephone line
115 is deemed to have
a call forward busy service enabled that forwards calls to the online service provider
system
130 (
208). The forwarded calls back to the online service
provider system
130 are detected by the test call detection system
138,
which responds to the telephone network
120 by indicating that the line
is busy while also sending a communication to the call processing system
137
indicating that the voice path has been redirected back to the online service provider
system
130. Accordingly, the call processing system
137 receives
a busy and disconnect signal from the telephone network
120 and a communication
from the test call detection system
138 indicating that the call was forwarded
back to the online service provider system
130.
If a busy and disconnect signal is received and a redirection of the voice path
back to the online service provider system
130 has not occurred, the telephone
line
115 is deemed to have no optional telephone services enabled (
210).
The call processing system
137 imputes that no optional telephone services
are enabled on the known telephone line
115 because the known telephone
line
115 is occupied by the call recipient and one additional telephone
call directed to the known telephone line
115 results in a busy signal.
Accordingly, the known telephone line
115 does not have a call forwarding
or a call waiting service enabled since, if such a service were enabled, the call
processing system
137 would not receive a busy signal in response to the
first test call or, if such a busy signal were received, would additionally receive
a communication from the test call detection system
138 indicating that
the call was forwarded back to the online service provider system
130.
If a busy and disconnect signal is not received (i.e., an alert or connect signal
is received instead), the call processing system
137 places a second test
call to the direct number of the known telephone line
115 (
212),
before the first test call is disconnected.
The call processing system
137 determines whether a busy and disconnect
signal is received from the telephone network
120 in response to the second
test call (
214). The call processing system
137 also determines whether
the second test call has been redirected or forwarded back to the telephony server
136 by the telephone network
120 based on whether a communication
is received from the test call detection system
138 (
216).
If a busy and disconnect signal is received and a redirection of the voice path
has occurred, the known telephone line
115 is deemed to have a call waiting
service enabled and also a call forward busy service enabled that forwards calls
to the online service provider system
130 (
218). If a busy and disconnect
signal is received and a redirection of the voice path has not occurred, the known
telephone line
115 is deemed to have a call waiting service enabled and
but no call forward busy service enabled (
220). The call processing system
137 imputes that only a call waiting service is enabled on the known telephone
line
115 because the known telephone line
115 is occupied by the
call recipient, the first test call is being handled through call waiting, and
the second test call results in a busy signal. Accordingly, the known telephone
line
115 has call waiting but does not have call forwarding since, if such
a service were enabled, the call processing system
137 would not receive
a busy signal in response to the second test call or, if such a busy signal were
received, would additionally receive a communication from the test call detection
system
138 indicating that the second test call was forwarded back to the
online service provider system
130.
If a busy and disconnect signal is not received, the known telephone line
115
is deemed to have a call forward busy service that does not forward calls to the
online service provider system
130 (
222). The call processing system
137 imputes that a call forwarding service is enabled on the known telephone
line
115 because the known telephone line
115 is occupied by the
call recipient, the first test call did not result in a busy signal, and the second
test call did not result in a busy signal. Accordingly, the known telephone line
115 has call forwarding and may or may not additionally have call waiting.
For example, a subscriber receives dial-up Internet access from the online service
provider and has a call waiting service and a call forwarding service enabled on
his or her telephone line. The call forwarding service is setup to forward calls
to the online service provider system
130 to receive a voicemail service
offered by the online service provider. The subscriber logs into the online service
provider system
130 using the computer system
150 by dialing into
the online service provider system
130 over the known telephone line
115.
The login system
132 enables the subscriber to login to get Internet access,
determines that the subscriber is logging in using the known telephone line
115
(thereby occupying the known telephone line), and sends a test initiation message
to the call processing system
137. The call processing system
137
receives the test initiation message (
201) and places a first test call
(
202). Because the known telephone line
115 has call waiting service,
a busy and disconnect signal is not received (
204). The telephony server
136 places a second test call (
212). Because the known telephone
line
115 has call forwarding service to the online service provider system
130 and the online service provider system
130 is configured to detect
but not answer incoming calls and to signal a busy line to a caller, a busy and
disconnect signal is received by the call processing system
137 (
214),
and a communication is received from the test call detection system
138
indicating that the call was forwarded to the online service provider system
130
(
216). Accordingly, the call processing system
137 determines that
the known telephone line
115 has a call forward busy service to the online
service provider system
130 enabled and a call waiting service enabled (
218).
If a call forward busy service is detected on the known telephone line
115,
the second test call is typically redirected to a voicemail, call alerts, or similar
service. If the voicemail or call alerts service is provided by the online service
provider system
130, the telephony server
136 may employ process
200 to determine whether the telephone network
120 has properly set
up the call forward busy service required to enable operation of the voicemail
or call alerts service.
The ability to externally detect optional telephone services on a telephone line
also may be used by the online service provider
130 to improve the connectivity
of dial-up users that have a call-waiting service enabled on their telephone line.
Call waiting frequently interferes with a dial-up connection, so disabling call
waiting when a user of the known computer system
150 logs into the online
service provider system
130 using a dial-up connection is desirable.
In one implementation, a login system of the online service provider
130
detects when a user logs into the online service provider system
130 using
a dial-up connection, captures the caller-related information used to login, and
sends the caller-related information to the telephony server
136. The telephony
server
136 receives the caller-related information and then calls the telephone
line
115 using the direct number in accordance with process
200.
If a call waiting service is enabled on the telephone line
115, the telephony
server
136, may disable call waiting automatically without user input, or
it may send a notification message to the computer system (e.g., the computer system
150) used to log into the online computer system
130 that informs
the user through use of, for example, a dialog box that call waiting has been detected
on the computer system and that the user may disable call waiting by, for example,
selecting a corresponding option in the dialog box.
If the user of the computer system chooses to disable call waiting, then the
communications
software of the computer system is modified to add a predetermined number as a
prefix to the number used to dial into the online service provider system
130.
When dialing into the online service provider system
130, the predetermined
number is dialed automatically and temporarily disables call waiting for the duration
of each dial-up session.
Referring to FIG. 3, a system
300 is illustrated for externally
detecting optional telephone services enabled on an unknown telephone line
315.
The system
300 generally includes a telephone
310 that communicates
over an unknown telephone line
315 and across a telephone network
320
with an online service provider system having telephone service detection
330.
The online service provider system
330 includes a telephony server
336
configured to send calls to the telephone
310 and receive signaling information
from the telephone network
320.
The telephone
310, the telephone network
320, and the online service
provider system
330 have attributes similar to the telephone
110,
the telephone network
120, and the online service provider system
130
of FIG. 1. However, the user of the telephone
310 does not receive services
from the online service provider system
330 over their telephone line
315.
In some implementations, the online service provider system
330 does not
include a login system or a configuration or registration data store.
In yet another implementation, the online service provider system
330
is
replaced by a telephone detection system that is not configured to offer any online
services but rather simply detects the optional telephone services on an unknown
telephone line
315. In such an implementation, the telephone detection system
may be configured to enable other computer systems communicatively coupled to the
telephone detection system (e.g., a telecommunications service provider or an online
services provider) to access the detected telephone service information, for purposes
of marketing or providing online services or otherwise.
The telephony server
336 is a computer system configured to communicate
with the telephone network
320 to detect the optional telephone services
offered on the unknown telephone line
115. The telephony server
336
places one or two calls directed to the unknown telephone line
315, receives
corresponding signaling data from the telephone network
320, and imputes
the optional telephone services enabled on the unknown telephone line
315
based on the received signaling data.
FIG. 4 shows a process
400 for externally detecting optional telephone
services on an unknown telephone line. The process
400 may be implemented,
for example, by the telephony server
336. Unlike process
200 which
is implemented upon receiving a test initiation message from the login system
132
indicating that the telephone line
115 is occupied, process
400 is
implemented irrespective of the status of the telephone line
315 (i.e.,
irrespective of whether the line is occupied or not occupied).
The telephony server
336 places a first test call to the telephone
310
over the telephone line
315 (
402). The telephony server
336
determines whether a busy and disconnect signal is received from the telephone
network
320 in response to the first test call (
404).
If a busy and disconnect signal is received (
404), no optional telephone
services are detected on the unknown telephone line
315 (
406). If
a busy and disconnect signal is not received (i.e., a ringing and connect signal
is received instead), the telephony server
136 places a second test call
to the same direct number as the first test call (
408), with the first test
call remaining connected when the second test call is made.
The telephony server
336 determines whether a busy and disconnect signal
is received from the telephone network
320 in response to the second test
call (
410). If a busy and disconnect signal is not received, the unknown
telephone line
315 is deemed to have a call forward busy service enabled
(
412). The unknown telephone line
315 may or may not additionally
have a call waiting service enabled. If a busy and disconnect signal is received,
no optional telephone services are detected on the unknown telephone line
315 (
406).
Once the optional telephone services have been detected, the one or two test
calls are disconnected. The telephony server
336 may store the detected
optional telephone services in a record in a data store (not shown) corresponding
to the direct number of the unknown telephone line
315.
In applying the above processes to draw conclusions regarding the existence or
lack of optional telephone services, several assumptions are generally made regarding
the characteristics of the call waiting and call forward busy services. For instance,
the call waiting service is assumed capable of concurrently placing a single incoming
call on hold and not be capable of concurrently placing multiple calls on hold.
The call forward busy/no answer service is assumed able to forward calls to a telephone
number that can maintain multiple call connections simultaneously such as, for
example, a telephone number corresponding to a voicemail system or to a call alerts
system. In other words, the call forward busy/no answer service that is detected
by the online service provider system is not a call forward busy/no answer service
that forwards a call to, for example, a second telephone such as, for example,
a cell phone that is only able to handle a single connection at a time. However,
these concepts and approaches may be applied to unknown environments under the
operating principals that most scenarios encountered will emulate the aforementioned
assumptions, Furthermore, applying the concepts described above, other processes
also may be devised or inspired to address difficult assumptions or to test for
different optional telephone services.
A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood
that various modifications may be made. For example, the telephone
110 and
the computer system
150 may be a single integrated system configured to
receive calls over the known telephone line
15 and to receive voice services
and/or data services from the online service provider system
130. The functions
of two or more of the various systems described may be integrated into a single
system that performs all of the functions.
*
