Lawrence Welk, the bandleader who entertained millions of Americans over a generation of broadcasting his TV show, once received a patent: for a music-themed design of an ashtray.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8165280 | Method and system for providing busy override service in a SIP-based network A method and system of an embodiment of the present invention may include sending an override signal to a first user wherein the first user is having a first dialog with a second user; establishing a second dialog with the first user; receiving a signal from the sec... | 04/24/2012 |
| 7443973 | Caller control of internet call waiting Caller Control of Internet Call Waiting (ICW) Services are provided to disconnect an active ICW session and data connection and to prevent establishment of a subsequent data connection. In an exemplary embodiment, a calling party places an incoming call to a called ... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7440562 | Phone line supervisory controls Controlling use of a telephone line includes receiving a specification from a first entity that defines one or more supervisory controls on use of a controlled telephone line by a second entity. The supervisory controls specify people with whom the second entity may... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7421072 | Location-based bridging in call centers A call center apparatus for automatically bridging a mobile user (e.g., a supervisor, etc.) into an existing conversation between a telephone operator and a caller is disclosed. The illustrative embodiments bridge the mobile user into the conversation of the closest... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7412382 | Voice interactive system and method A voice interactive system includes an acoustic processing part 11 for performing acoustic signal processing with respect to an input voice signal, a voice recognizing part 12 for recognizing the contents of a voice contained in the voice signal after ... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7343150 | Log-based ringtones A method is disclosed for determining properties of an output signal that notifies a user of an incoming message, based on information that is available to and associated with the user's telecommunications terminal. In particular, in the illustrative embodiment one ... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7324638 | System and method for managing communications A communications network-based system and service is disclosed. The service permits subscribers to control and manage incoming telephone calls. Subscribers can establish preferences for how calls will be handled by a communications network if the calls are received ... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7305070 | Sequential presentation of long instructions in an interactive voice response system An interactive voice response system that allows a caller to perform a series of sequential tasks based on an instruction set. The caller is queried after each instruction to ensure that the caller has successfully completed all of the steps. Additionally, provision... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7305081 | Method for exchanging signaling messages in two phases Signaling messages are exchanged for a call between a calling party to a called party. A setup message for the call is exchanged through at least one gate controller. Network resources are reserved for the call based on the exchanged setup messages. An end-to-end me... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7289617 | Phone line supervisory controls Controlling use of a telephone line includes receiving a specification from a first entity that defines one or more supervisory controls on use of a controlled telephone line by a second entity. The supervisory controls specify people with whom the second entity may... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7289623 | System and method for an online speaker patch-through A systems and methods described herein may be incorporated into a “service marketplace” system that matches users with potential information or service providers and establishes a real-time communications connection between the user and a selected information pr... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7272382 | Communication device operation management A communication group is activated within a communication system (100) including an administrator device (125) and at least one subordinate device (130,135). Each subordinate device (130,135) is programmed with a set of operation rules de... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7260200 | Enabling interruption of communications and detection of potential responses to an interruption of communications A system to enable detection of a response of a communications system to timed interruption of communications includes a computer that transmits and receives signals using at least one communication path and a device that disables the communications path based on a ... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7225253 | Versatile network operations center and network for transaction processing A terminal adapter, along with a value added network, is disclosed that interworks a plurality of terminals with a processing host to accomplish transaction processing. The terminals can use different protocols and typically incorporate card readers for completing f... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7206397 | Method for allocating network resources Network resources for a call between a calling party and a called party are allocated. The network resources for the call are reserved based on a reservation request. In particular, the network resources for the call are reserved based on a reservation request. Prio... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7197127 | Method and system for priority based telephone call screening Method and system for managing incoming telephone calls in which each incoming call is associated with a telephone number. A time constraint, a telephone use status, and a treatment option to associate with a priority code of a selected telephone number are selected... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7151924 | Communication system, hold control method therefor, telephone set, control method therefor and recording medium There is obtained a telephone set capable of preventing a noise generated by an operation of application software during voice communication from being sent to a speech counterpart. In a mobile telephone set, if a user operates activated application software other t... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7133515 | Subscriber control of busy line interrupt and line treatment codes The present invention deploys an intelligent voice response (IVR) unit to interface between the subscriber and the operational support system of the telephone system. After proper authentication, the subscriber can access control over certain predefined behaviors as... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7085745 | Method and apparatus for identifying, managing, and controlling communications A method and apparatus for sorting, prioritizing, identifying, managing, and otherwise controlling (collectively, “controlling”) a communication. A frank may be used to associate a value and a class with a communication. The communication may be associated with ... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7069213 | Influencing a voice recognition matching operation with user barge-in time A system, method and computer program product for automated voice recognition using the barge-in time of a user's utterance is provided. A list of items is audibly provided to a user. The user selects one item from the list by providing an utterance representing the... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7062440 | Monitoring text to speech output to effect control of barge-in A speech system has a speech input channel including a speech recognizer, and a speech output channel including a text-to-speech converter. Associated with the input channel is a barge-in control for setting barge-in behavior parameters determining how the apparatus... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7027581 | Method for exchanging signaling messages in two phases Signaling messages are exchanged for a call between a calling party to a called party. A setup message for the call is exchanged through at least one gate controller. Network resources are reserved for the call based on the exchanged setup messages. An end-to-end me... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7020164 | System and method for special signaling with customer premises equipment A system and method are provided for special signaling with customer premises equipment. The system includes loop termination equipment coupled to a local loop and comprising a signal generator. The system also includes customer premises equipment coupled to the loc... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6996630 | Integrated network system An integrated network gives priority to message traffic associated with a first network over message traffic associated with a second network. This arrangement allows a private network, such an emergency network, to be integrated with a public network, such as a cel... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6944447 | Location-based services The present invention discloses a method and system for providing location-based services to a remote terminal that is connected to various types of communication systems. A tailored request for information is generated with the remote terminal. In addition, a geogr... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6931117 | Caller control of internet call waiting Systems, methods, and apparatuses are disclosed for providing Caller Control of Internet Call Waiting (ICW) Services. In an embodiment, a calling party places an incoming call to a called telephone number having an active ICW session and data connection. The calling... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6907462 | Network gatekeeper prioritizing method and system Methods and systems for controlling network gatekeeper message processing include overload control routines executed by a network gatekeeper to prevent the network gatekeeper from crashing during overload conditions. The overload control routines are executed in a p... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6870917 | Methods and systems for call interruption services Methods and systems are provided that can automatically facilitate busy line validation (BLV) and emergency interrupt (EI) services with the aid of various sensors and systems that can automatically determine the status of a given phone-line, and further provide a m... | 03/22/2005 |
| 6600816 | Connection management servicing method for communication channel A service method of connection management for a communication line is established to perform a desired connection of the communication line in accordance with a telephone caller's request when the caller wants to be connected to a called person by way of ... | 07/29/2003 |
| 6597779 | Method, apparatus and system for call holding A method and system for managing a telephony connection on hold to reduce the use of resources within the telephony network and/or to allow the user on hold to place their telephony device into an on-hook state after they have been placed on hold. In two ... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6597685 | Method and apparatus for determining and using multiple object states in an intelligent internet protocol telephony network An Internet Protocol-capable call center system has a managing computer connected to a plurality of PCs at agent stations on a local area network. The managing computer is adapted to receive and route Internet Protocol Network Telephony calls to the agent... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6563915 | Method and apparatus for an automatic barge-in system The invention provides a system that includes a method and apparatus for automatically barging-in on telephone calls. When a first party is talking to a second party, a third party may be automatically connected to the first party and the second party giv... | 05/13/2003 |
| 6519335 | Apparatus, method and system for personal telecommunication incoming call screening and alerting for call waiting applications An apparatus, method and system are provided for personal telecommunication incoming call screening and alerting for call waiting applications. During a first telecommunication call, the method includes, first, receiving a second telecommunication call, a... | 02/11/2003 |
| 6496568 | Method and apparatus for providing automated notification to a customer of a real-time notification system An automated method and apparatus for notifying subscribers of a customer message manager notification system upon changes in some real-time data is disclosed. Subscribers are notified in an order based on some predetermined criteria, such as subscriber l... | 12/17/2002 |
| 6418216 | Caller-controller barge-in telephone service A caller-controlled barge-in telephone service, managed by telephone systems, intercepts telephone calls directed to instantly busy telephone lines predesignated as objects of this service, and: 1) verifies that the called line is a respectively predesign... | 07/09/2002 |
| 6411682 | Computer controlled paging and telephone communication system and method The invention provides a method and an apparatus for placing a caller into telecommunication with a subscriber. A call from the caller, directed to the subscriber, is detected and, in response thereto, a page is initiated to the subscriber and at the same... | 06/25/2002 |
| 6381322 | System for processing incoming calls based on call priority for telephone stations having multiple lines A system for providing call precedence for incoming telephone calls received by a switching system for a telephone station that has a plurality of lines connected to said telephone station. The system of this invention receives an incoming telephone call ... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6310946 | Method for interrupting a telephone call after receiving a busy signal A telephone subscriber placing a telephone call through a telecommunications network (10) to a telephone line carrying an existing call may interrupt that call by entering an interrupt code to the network. Upon receipt of the code, the network verifies wh... | 10/30/2001 |
| 6208726 | System and method for automated emergency call breakthrough An emergency breakthrough system allows users to break through a busy signal, using an automated rather than operator assisted technique. Upon receipt of a busy signal, rather than hanging up and dialing an operator to gain a manual assistance for third p... | 03/27/2001 |
| 6175621 | Priority call on busy A method and a system for setting a priority level of a call in which a request is received for changing a priority level of a call to one of a plurality of available call priority levels, the priority level of the call is changed based on the received re... | 01/16/2001 |