Did You Know...
...that after Parker Brothers executives turned down the game of Monopoly because it had "52 fundamental errors" (including taking too long to play), a copy of the game wound up in the home of the company president who stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish playing it? He was so impressed by the game that the next day he wrote to inventor Charles Darrow and offered to buy it!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 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 |
| 7072455 | Online method and apparatus for the interactive creation of custom prepaid virtual calling cards A prepaid virtual calling card, specifically for providing users (consumers and business affiliates) with an on-line method and apparatus to create custom prepaid calling cards for immediate use and distribution, wherein the prepaid virtual calling card is created b... | 07/04/2006 |
| 6654599 | Call charges in a telecommunications network A method of providing call tariff information to a subscriber coupled to a telecommunications network 1, where the call tariff information relating to a call from a terminal 9 of the subscriber to a B-number 13. The method comprising sending a subscriber ... | 11/25/2003 |
| 6480590 | Network access pay telephone, conversion, and method A kit for converting an existing pay telephone to additionally provide computer network access includes an upper housing unit that latches to a lower housing of the existing telephone, and a network adapter unit which includes a network computer and a con... | 11/12/2002 |
| 6442260 | Method and system for transmitting information to a telecommunication terminal Method and system for presenting the price of a telecommunication connection on the telecommunication terminal of the committer of the telecommunication connection in a telecommunication system comprising a telephone exchange, a telecommunication terminal... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6381319 | Apparatus for querying a central service An apparatus for querying a central service dials telephone numbers to establish contact with the central service, and accesses services housed in the central service. The geographical location of the apparatus is stored in a tie unit and sent to the appa... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6320946 | Information payphone A payphone or coin-operated telephone that functions as an information transmittal device that dispenses user-selected information audibly to the user via the speaker in the payphone handset. A variety of information is stored in an information storage un... | 11/20/2001 |
| 6298124 | Method for transmitting data signals on analog subscriber lines A method for transmitting data signals on analog subscriber lines wherein bilateral data transmission between subscriber terminal equipment and exchange is intended to occur, with relative ease and with low outlay, even during speech signal transmission. ... | 10/02/2001 |
| 6243450 | Pay-per use for data-network-based public access services An apparatus for vending public multimedia services has a telephone, a multimedia terminal, a payment receiver for receiving an authorization to accept charges for enabling use of at least one of the telephone and the multimedia terminal, a file receiver ... | 06/05/2001 |
| 6118860 | Public communications services vending method and apparatus An apparatus and method for vending public communications services. The apparatus includes a telephone, a multimedia terminal, and a payment receiver for receiving an authorization to accept charges for enabling use of at least one of the telephone and th... | 09/12/2000 |
| 5848138 | Method for transmitting tariff data to a subscriber unit The invention relates to a method for transmitting tariff data via radio-frequency signals to a chargeable subscriber unit (1) communicating with a telecommunication network (7). In order to charge the user of the subscriber unit as fairly as possible, a ... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5841469 | Audiovisual telecommunication method and apparatus using a digital network A videoconferencing network of audiovisual communication terminals is interconnected by a telephone network. Each terminal is activated only when the balance in a user account has been read and the account has been made available for debiting. The termina... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5734702 | Telephone card with commercial information and a telephone connection method therefor A telephone card has a part for storing the cumulative number of charged calls and a part for storing commercial information to be presented through a telephone set. The commercial information may be voice data to be played through a handset or speaker of... | 03/31/1998 |
| 5563934 | Pay phone call control apparatus for allowing calls using pre-paid cards A call control apparatus for a pay phone includes a reading unit, a calculating unit, and a call enable unit. The reading unit reads out value information of an inserted card. The calculating unit calculates a call time corresponding to a ratio of the val... | 10/08/1996 |
| 5436436 | IC card controlled system for selecting a language for a visual message display According to the present invention, an IC card terminal apparatus includes an IC card, an interface unit, a reading unit, a display control unit, and a display unit. Language identification information indicating a type of a language is stored in the IC c... | 07/25/1995 |
| 5420915 | Apparatus for instruction in use of telephone A portable apparatus for demonstrating the operation of one or more telephones by simulating an active telephone line in which a ring tone generator (74), busy tone generator (72), dial tone generator (70), confirmation tone generator (146) and power ring... | 05/30/1995 |
| 5272747 | Mobile pay telephone system A mobile telephone system for public transportation vehicle, such as trains, cabs, etc., provides passengers with a wide variety of public services presently not available in any other system. Such services include access to facsimile machines and other p... | 12/21/1993 |
| 5233647 | System for operating public modular telephones The systems consists of an intrinsic collaboration among a message concentrator unit, a center operating unit, several visual displays, printers, information storage devices including operating and management software, insuring that modular telephones and... | 08/03/1993 |
| 5218633 | Enhanced access to telecommunications network A public pay telephone station constructed to accept user carried media which may be in the form of CD disks which are capable of storing a variety of data or information for interacting with the public telephone station. The station is provided with a di... | 06/08/1993 |
| 5157717 | Portable automated teller machine The portable automated teller machine disclosed by the present invention is a low-cost, pocket-size data terminal which can securely exchange information with a host bank computer. It is battery powered, operates without the need for direct connection to ... | 10/20/1992 |
| 5134651 | Method and apparatus for providing answer supervision and an autonomous pay telephone incorporating the same A method and apparatus for telephone call answer supervision, capable of detecting the completion of both national and international calls, which employ different answer confirmation formats, and provide confirmation that a placed call has been answered i... | 07/28/1992 |
| 5046183 | Semi-automated operator assistance telecommunication calls An operator assistance call handling arrangement is disclosed featuring the use of an intelligent telecommunications station (intelligent phone) for the collection and transmission of call data to an operator assistance system for setting up a call withou... | 09/03/1991 |
| 4916731 | Device to monitor the content and/or duration of the display of advertisements The period for which advertisements are displayed on display screens is monitored by coupling the displaying time with the time of a telephone call from a public telephone booth near the display panel. Preferably, the call made from this booth is paid wit... | 04/10/1990 |
| 4768227 | Coil operated telephone A self-contained, pre-pay coin operated telephone wherein when the user removes a handset from a switchhook, a local dial tone is generated, prompting the user to enter a telephone number of a called party. Once the first digit of that telephone number ha... | 08/30/1988 |
| 4726056 | Shared flexible rating of telecommunications calls A method and apparatus for calculating charges for telephone calls in real time. The operator assistance switch connected to an originating telephone customer recognizes that a call is one which requires an immediate calculation of charges. Such calls inc... | 02/16/1988 |
