Did You Know...
...that Robert Adler has the dubious distinction of being the Father of the Couch Potato? Back in 1955 Adler was employed by what was then Zenith Radio Corp., where he was charged to invent something that would allow viewers to turn down the TV volume without leaving their chairs. After a series of flops (such as a wired contraption that people tripped over), Adler hit on the idea of using sound waves. Thus the Remote Control was born...
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7940902 | Method and apparatus for implementing card call service A method and an apparatus for implementing a card call service are disclosed in embodiments of the present invention. The method includes: obtaining card information of a user terminal when determining that a call initiated by the user terminal is a card call; provi... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7907711 | System and method for notifying a user of a calling card balance Systems and methods for notifying a user of a calling card balance are disclosed. Generally, a calling card platform determines a telephone call using a calling card has ended. The calling card platform recalculates a calling card balance after the telephone call ha... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7596212 | Method for a calling party to reinitiate a call in card number service The present invention relates to communication techniques, and discloses a method for the calling party to reinitiate a call in card number service, so that the calling party in card number service can conveniently release his current call and reinitiate a new call.... | 09/29/2009 |
| 7424100 | Prepaid telephony system and method of activating a prepaid telephony account In one particular embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a method of activating a prepaid telephony account. The method includes receiving a call from a caller at a prepaid service destination address identified by a prepaid calling card; receiving a prepaid card... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7400715 | Prepaid telephone calling card with distinct PIN numbers A prepaid long-distance telephone calling card has two or more distinct PIN numbers each obscured by opaque scratch-off material. Each PIN number is associated with prepaid value. A user can scratch off the opaque material for PIN numbers one by one, and the value f... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7391855 | System and method for implementation of a called party prepayment plan A method and associated system are provided for processing data to complete a collect telephone call to a called-party that has prepaid an account to pay for the collect call. Data is received regarding a collect call from a caller to the called-party. Next it is de... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7389126 | Cellular phone which adds exchange header accessing information based upon country number stored in an IC and position information The present invention provides cellular phone in which a plurality of mounting parts for IC cards in which the country number of the contracting country and the own-station telephone number are stored are disposed, the cellular phone comprising position information ... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7370793 | Universal prepaid telecommunication services card, and methods and systems for using same In a relationship in which a universal prepaid telecommunication services card issuer is different than a telecommunication services provider, a method and system for implementing a universal prepaid telecommunication services card (prepaid card), which can be used ... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7356327 | Enhanced recharge card management system with reseller users' security and accessibility A method and apparatus for allowing a reseller to securely access and manage scratch cards at a recharge card management system that is maintained by the service provider. The service provider and reseller users of the recharge card management system can create a sc... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7346156 | Methods and apparatuses for placing a telephone call In one embodiment, the methods and apparatuses detect an identity of a caller; receive an assigned incoming telephone number; identify a recipient associated with the assigned incoming telephone number and the identity; and connect the caller and the recipient. ... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7328264 | System and method for fractional resource scheduling for video teleconferencing resources The present invention discloses a system and method for reserving fractionally schedulable resources. The system includes a scheduling engine to receive reservation requests. The scheduling engine applies the reservation request to a resource usage table correspondi... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7318109 | System and method for remote assembly of messages to create a control message A system for remote assembly of messages to create a control message includes a shared coordination space for assembly of messages, and a plurality of components for performing predefined actions and for exchanging messages according to a predetermined ontology. The... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7310414 | Prepaid phone card service using speech recognition A method for placing a telephone call from a caller using a prepaid phone card includes the steps of connecting a caller with a caller interface having a speech recognition application, receiving voice input from the caller in the form of phone card information spok... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7308087 | Enhanced communication platform and related communication method using the platform A method of providing pre-authorized communication services and/or transactions via a plurality of networks, including accepting and processing a request from a user to provide at least one of a communication service, a transaction and user account information via a... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7295658 | System and method for providing prepaid telecommunication services The present invention relates to a system and method for providing prepaid telecommunication services. More particularly, prepaid telephone calls can be made by users without entering any access code, if such calls are made from telephone numbers previously register... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7295659 | Method and system for prepaid communications credit A method and system for prepaying credits to a user account for communications services provided. If a system detects a predefined condition associated with a communications connection, the system deducts the cost of the communications connection from the credit in ... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7280645 | Method of associating multiple prepaid cards with a single account A set of multiple prepaid calling cards that are associated with a single account is disclosed. A predetermined amount of minutes is associated with the set of cards. Cards within the set can be used simultaneously and extract minutes from the account in predetermin... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7274925 | Methods and apparatus for flexible communication device usage attribution A technique for providing flexible communication device usage attribution is provided. Identification information of a user of a communication device is received from the communication device at a primary service provider. It is determined if the user of the communi... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7257207 | Method and system for paying prepaid communications credit A method and system for prepaying credits to a user account for communications services is provided. A system receives an origination number and a code. The code corresponds to a predefined payment amount for prepaid credit. The system credits an account associated ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7229014 | systems and methods for account number generation and provisioning A system for generating charge account numbers, wherein the charge account number is based on a number known to the consumer. For example, the consumer can provide a known number, such as their telephone number, and the system can generate a charge account number us... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7215963 | Wireless communication network for processing call traffic over a backhaul network A wireless communications network, a method of operating a wireless communications network, and a wireless network controller are described. The wireless communication network comprises a call processing system, a translator system, a first base station system, and ... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7197134 | DTMF generating assistant A DTMF generating device for automatically generating DTMF tones corresponding to a predefined phone number comprises a processor, a memory, and a speaker enveloped in a credit card sized casing. The memory has stored therein DTMF tone samples corresponding to the p... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7194432 | Billing process and system in a telecommunication network A billing method and billing system to determine usage fees which are charged to the user of a digital telecommunications network, whereby a usage fee charged for a connection is determined prior to establishing this connection from statistical characteristics of pr... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7184530 | Prepaid billing support for simultaneous communication sessions in data networks A method and system for providing prepaid billing for two concurrent communication sessions is accomplished by a first-network-access device, such as a WIN SCP, receiving from a prepaid-user account prepaid services for a first-communication session. During the firs... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180990 | Prepaid telephone calling card with message recording capability System and method for recording at least one message to be associated with a prepaid telephone calling card. The system and method include and involve a data storage system for storing data corresponding to the prepaid telephone calling card and at least one message... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7177409 | Systems and methods for providing calling plan information Calling plan information is provided whenever a user makes a call that fits within the plan. The user may be assigned an account related to the calling plan with information associated with the account. The information may include a time function such as the time re... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7152200 | Internet-based database report writer and customer data management system A database report writer and customer data management system and method provides a GUI type interface to allow users convenient on-line access, such as via the Internet, to customer billing and inventory data in the form of an on-line report. The present invention f... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7149293 | System and method for controlling data sessions in a wireless network A system and method for controlling data session in a wireless network are described. One exemplary method includes detecting a request to establish a data session between a first client device and another device, determining whether the first client device is autho... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7149500 | Charge-all mode for calls in telecommunication network A telecommunication network and method of billing a first subscriber associated with a first party to a call for variable call charges normally billed to a second subscriber associated with a second party is provided. The method includes: providing a charge-all mode... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7131582 | Methods and systems for fulfilling a prepaid telecommunication services account In a relationship in which a customer has obtained a prepaid telecommunication services credit from a universal prepaid telecommunication services credit issuer (202), the issuer being a different entity than a telecommunication services provider (204)... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7133508 | Prepaid long distance call system and method A subscriber's line is associated with a prepaid long distance account. When the subscriber attempts a long distance call, it is determined from the dialed digits whether the attempted call is a long distance call. If a long distance call is attempted, the subscribe... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7123886 | Handheld mobile phone with a detachable battery pack In a handheld mobile phone (10) having a detachable battery pack (20) which can be removably mounted to a body (11) of the handheld mobile phone, the detachable battery pack has a memory card receiving recess (22) for removably receiving ... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7120237 | Systems and methods for collect call processing A method of processing a collect call. The method includes receiving a request for a collect call from a calling party and transmitting information required pursuant to a detariffing order to a called party. ... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7110512 | Method and apparatus for providing prepaid local telephone services A system and method for providing prepaid dialtone services. The system includes a prepaid dialtone service center having an applications server that maintains a prepaid dialtone subscriber database including subscriber identification and service period information.... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7110515 | Remembrance-promoted number receipt for call allowance A user is allowed to place a call to a target phone number upon receipt of one or more remembrance-promoted numbers and zero or more passwords, from the user, at an access phone number location. The one or more remembrance-promoted numbers comprise one or more of: a... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7103168 | Methods and systems for implementing personal dialing plans A network-based personal dialing plan that allows a user to associate dialing strings of any length with easy-to-remember, user-selected aliases. A user may also define dialing rules, such as automatically adding digits to the directory number when the called number... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7065571 | System, method and computer program product for policy-based billing in a network architecture A system, method and computer program product are provided for policy-based billing for a network session. Initially, a plurality of packets is received by a plurality of analyzers. Thereafter, the packets are aggregated. Next, the plurality of packets is analyzed t... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7062020 | System and apparatus for IVR port sharing A telecommunications system is described for dynamic port sharing of a multiple port, multiple script, IVR facility, using CTI server(s). ... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7050554 | Payment to charities with prepaid card The balance or a portion of the balance associated with a prepaid card with or without a microcircuit is paid into a balance portion collection server, as a donations to charities, after setting up a call between a terminal and the server and after confirmation of t... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7028891 | System and method for confirming transaction or billing communications A system and method for confirming transactions is provided. A central processor receives a request to process a current transaction coupled with prior transaction information corresponding to a prior transaction. In response to receiving a prior transaction identif... | 04/18/2006 |
