Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8155296 | Method, system, and article for audibly identifying a called party A dialed number of a called party is received from a calling party. Based on the dialed number, a name of the called party is retrieved from a database. An audio message which includes the name of the called party is generated and communicated to the calling party. ... | 04/10/2012 |
| 7894587 | System and method for dynamic assignment of dialed number identification services in call distribution system A system and related techniques enhance the generation and delivery of dialed number identification service (DNIS) data to automatic call distributors and other destinations. Unlike conventional DNIS-based (800) or other call centers or other resources whose availab... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7532715 | Telephone call control methods A system and methods through which incoming calls to and/or outgoing calls from a telephone can be controlled. The present invention utilizes an authorized caller list to determine whether an incoming call should be connected, and a similar list to determine whether... | 05/12/2009 |
| 7515700 | Methods for controlling telephone position reporting A system and methods through which incoming calls to and/or outgoing calls from a telephone can be controlled. The present invention utilizes an authorized caller list to determine whether an incoming call should be connected, and a similar list to determine whether... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7454003 | Telephone call control methods A system and methods through which incoming calls to and/or outgoing calls from a telephone can be controlled. The present invention utilizes an authorized caller list to determine whether an incoming call should be connected, and a similar list to determine whether... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7450707 | Method, system, and article for audibly identifying a called party A dialed number of a called party is received from a calling party. Based on the dialed number, a name of the called party is retrieved from a database. An audio message which includes the name of the called party is generated and communicated to the calling party. ... | 11/11/2008 |
| 7373137 | Method to challenge cell phone user for fraudulent use A method and system for monitoring calls being made from a cellular phone and preventing calls being made to unauthorized numbers, as defined by the owner of the cellular phone. A security challenge is issued to a cell phone user when a suspicious, previously unknow... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7343005 | Method and apparatus for voice-over IP services triggered by off-hook event The present invention is drawn to a method and apparatus for taking advantage of the always-on nature of a broadband VoIP network connection to provide enhanced services triggered by the off-hook event, bypassing a dial tone. In use, a caller triggers a network base... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7313231 | Methods, apparatus and computer program products for routing phone calls to a PSTN or a packet switched network based on called number A phone call is selectively routed to a public switched telephone network or to a packet switched network based on a called number to which the phone call is directed. A phone call may be made as a Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol call through, for example, the Internet... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7274776 | Methods and systems for routing a call Schemes for routing a call using caller identification are described herein. These schemes are termed “real caller ID” and can be capable of determining the identity of a calling party independent of a telephone number from which the call originated. According t... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7272219 | Method and system for providing enhanced caller identification information for subscribers that interface via private trunk groups A system and method deliver audible caller identification information when standard Caller ID information is invalid or can not be provided, even when the called party connects to the network by private trunk group facilities. In one disclosed embodiment, a trunk gr... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7269249 | Systems and methods for providing user profile information in conjunction with an enhanced caller information system An enhanced caller-id service providing multi-media based caller information to subscribers via a server system. The server system can combine user-provided profile information with other data to provide more detailed reports for the subscriber. The server can also ... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7260196 | Method and system for providing enhanced caller identification and privacy management Processing a call from a calling party at a calling communication station to a called communication station includes detecting signalling information for the call, including determining whether standard caller identification for the calling communication station can... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7245713 | Call monitoring Methods and systems are provided for monitoring calls routed to a telephone network-based voice mail system. When a subscriber receives a telephone call, a determination is made as to whether the call should be routed to the voice mail system. If call monitoring ser... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7233652 | Method and system for transmitting a message to a telephone station A method and system are disclosed transmitting a message to a telephone station. Different routing strings are used to establish calls between different network elements, based on the location of the network elements with respect to one another. Different time delay... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7218717 | Method, system, and article for audibly identifying a called party A dialed number of a called party is received from a calling party. Based on the dialed number, a name of the called party is retrieved from a database. An audio message which includes the name of the called party is generated and communicated to the calling party. ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7184536 | Intelligent forwarded telephone call handling with a call answering system The present invention allows calls that have previously been handled by an answering system to be identified when they are forwarded from a switch back to the answering system. In one embodiment, the invention includes receiving an incoming call at an automated atte... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180983 | Guidance information notification apparatus in communication network system, communication network system and guidance information notification method There is provided a guidance information notification apparatus in a communication network system which enables improvement of convenience to a user by dispensing with a particular operation other than a normal origination operation required when a user obtains a gu... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7180993 | Associating call appearance with data associated with call A distributed telephone answering system has intelligence distributed to a plurality of workstations. Each workstation may connect to a plurality of long distance telephone networks. Also, each workstation is controlled by a central controller. A central resopurce s... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7177405 | Computer telephony integration including option for calling party to re-direct unanswered call from voice messaging to second lower interest users associated with called party In a CTI system an incoming call is alerted to the called user's list of users who have expressed a primary level of interest in that called user's incoming calls, and the call is routed by the PBX to a Voicemail system if, for example the call is not answered withi... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7167551 | Intermediary device based callee identification A method, system, and program for intermediary device initiated callee identification are provided. A trusted telephone network detects a call receipt connection from a destination device. The trusted telephone network then brokers a connection between the destinati... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7162015 | Automated information access via the telephone line Disclosed is a method and apparatus for obtaining information from a remote database via a telephone network using an automated interactive system. Such information may include, for example, credit history information, address/telephone number information, and book ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7162021 | Call routing control using call routing scripts A technique for use in controlling routing of a call in a communications system is provided. In one embodiment of the technique, a call routing script is used. The script includes at least one call routing instruction that refers to a variable whose value is stored ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7158619 | Remote call monitoring Methods and systems are provided for monitoring calls routed to a telephone network voice mail system from a variety of remote telephone locations. When a subscriber receives a telephone call, a determination is made as to whether the subscriber's line is busy or wh... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7142663 | Global directory service with intelligent dialing A central directory system for a network of dial-up communication devices is described. In a preferred embodiment, the communication devices are videoconferencing devices. The system includes a directory management module coupled to the network and configured for im... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7136474 | Automatic routing and information system for telephonic services A system and method for automatically and seamlessly routing telephone calls across a telephone network. The system includes a telephone network interface box having a computer, a master file and client file stored in the computer. The master file is dynamically lin... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7116772 | Communication network A communication network for transporting calls, where a service provision entity adds user identification information to call data of a call being set up by a non-dialable virtual subscription such that the subscriber behind the call being set up by the non-dialable... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7103164 | Computer telephony integration A CTI system in which a user's profile comprises a workgroup containing the names of other users in whose telephony status he is interested, e.g. whether they are free or busy. The user's client displays a respective icon for each of his workgroup members, the icon ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7099332 | Emergency calling with a VoIP device in a VLAN environment Method (130) for optimizing emergency call service in a Virtual Local Area Network including at least one Voice over Internet Protocol device. A range of port numbers is reserved for use during emergencies (134). Next, a VoIP device transmits an emerge... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7088812 | Call management implemented using call routing engine Call management techniques are implemented using a call routing engine. In the invention the routing engine centrally controls a public network to facilitate implementation of post-routing call processing of a call. The call routing engine provides switching which m... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7088994 | Network address lookup for telephony devices Embodiments of the present invention generally provide systems, methods and articles of manufacture for locating one component of callee information in response to receiving another associated component of the callee information. In a particular embodiment, a user i... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7085358 | Visual caller identification A visual caller identification system and method are provided. A caller identification device of a called party's telephone, whether integrated with the telephone or stand-alone, includes a series of colored lights for visually alerting the called party to an incomi... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7046782 | Telephone call control system and methods A system and methods through which incoming calls to and/or outgoing calls from a telephone can be controlled. The present invention utilizes an authorized caller list to determine whether an incoming call should be connected, and a similar list to determine whether... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7010111 | Audible confirmation using text to speech conversion An audible confirmation system automatically and seamlessly outputs an audible name of a call recipient to a calling party. This audible confirmation system is preferably configured to audibly identify the call recipient to the calling party prior to the call recipi... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6975721 | Global directory service with intelligent dialing A central directory system for a network of dial-up communication devices is described. In a preferred embodiment, the communication devices are videoconferencing devices. The system includes a directory management module coupled to the network and configured for im... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6970551 | Method and system for identifying calls having the same originating number and destination number A method for uniquely identifying calls having the same originating number and dialed number, and network components adapted to carry out that method. A Parking Manager receives a Park Request that includes the originating number, the dialed number, and a Network Ca... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6937708 | Telephone service method and telephone service apparatus A telephone service method and apparatus for providing a business advertisement to a caller of a telephone, comprising receiving a request for line connection from a phone of a caller, determining an identifier of the phone of a called party for which line connectio... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6914969 | Service logic execution environment for telecommunications service components A service logic execution environment (SLEE) for telecommunications services. The SLEE can include a class loader for loading service components in the SLEE, and an event routing bus for receiving events from the protocol layer and other service components. The SLEE... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6853711 | Method for adding context to communications A method for augmenting communications between called and calling parties with context information helps either or both parties decide whether and how to accept or initiate a communications event. ... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6839418 | Method for differentiated treatment of calling subscribers A method and exchange unit in a telecommunication system for differentiated treatment of calling subscribers special calls includes separating from normal calls according to information contained in the dialed number, i.e., the routing number. If the call is determi... | 01/04/2005 |
