CA2106057A1

CA2106057A1 - Automatic telephone system with function for multiple out-dialed calls per caller

Info

Publication number: CA2106057A1
Application number: CA002106057A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Scott A. Jones
Original assignee: Scott A. Jones; Boston Technology, Inc.
Current assignee: Boston Technology Inc
Priority date: 1992-09-18
Filing date: 1993-09-13
Publication date: 1994-03-19
Also published as: JPH06217017A; ES2144445T3; EP0588646A3; US5475748A; EP0588646A2; DE69327625D1; EP0588646B1; ATE189090T1; DE69327625T2

Abstract

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM WITH FUNCTION
FOR MULTIPLE OUT-DIALED CALLS PER CALLER

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Equipment providing information services, whether installed near a central office or provided as part of a PBX includes a search service for generating a number of outdialing operations in an effort to reach a subscriber of the search service for a caller. A plurality of outdialing operations are initiated simultaneously, sequentially, or as sets of calls in a sequence with each set including one or more simultaneously dialed telephone numbers. The numbers called may be extensions on a PBX, phone numbers within any area code, cellular phones, or any other type of number which can be reached by telephone. The caller is kept informed of the success or failure of the outdialing operations and when the subscriber called by the caller is reached, the two are connected and any other outdialing operation is terminated. When all of the outdialing operations for one set of telephone numbers is unsuccessful, the next set in sequence is used in one or more new outdialing operations.

Description

2 ~ 3 7 A~TO~ATIC TE~PXONB 8Y8T~ WIT~ FUNCTIO~
~OR ~T~P~B OUT-DIALED CA~ PE~ CAL~B~

BACKGROUND OF THE INVEN~ION
Field_of the Invention The present invention is directed to automated call processing systems and, more particularly, to an automated call processing system for locating a called party.

Descr~t~i2n_of the Related Art In recent years, new telecommunications capabilities hav~
become available to the public, many of which are commonly ter~ed lo information services. Thus, the hardware and software which provide these services are called info~mat~on services systems.
Subscribers of information services made available by local or regional telephone companies and owners of some private branch exchanges gain access to e.g., voice store and Porward capability (voice mail); automatic call generation for reminders or wake-up calls, etc.; automatic call distribution; automated call ~ screening; and more. Systems such a~ tho~e disclosed in U.S.
: Patent No~. 4,371,752; 4,580,012; 4,581,486; 4,585,906: and 4,602,129, all as~ign~d to VMX, Inc. (U.S. Patent 4,371,752 was originally a~signed to ECS Telecommunicatîons, Inc.) and U.SO
Pate~t 5,029,199 and U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
07/594,648 which ar~ assigned to Boston Technology, Inc. enable public telephone co~paniea to providQ many o~ thess services.
Systems like thos~ di~closed in U.~. Pat~nts 4,696,028;

2 ~
4~ )9,321; 4,850,Q12; 4,955,047; 5,020,095; and 5,029,196, all assigned to DYTE1 Corp., enable owners of private branch exchange~ (PBX3) to obtain many of thPse features. Additional services con inue to be made available and there are many types S of services which have yet to be ~leveloped.
On the other hand, telecommunications eguipment has been developed which aids in contacting an individual. Cellular telephone~ and other types of radio telephones provide telephone communications via systems installed in automotive vehicles and hand-held units. Pagers enable individuals to ~e notified that someone needs to talk to them by telephone. However, all o~
these types of equipment require that a speci~ic piece Or equipment be in clo~e proximity to ths individual, so l:hat the individual can receive a call or a notification of a call. No device or system functionality currently exists to reach an individual usin~ conventional telephones in a number of locations.

SUMMARY OF TH~_INVEN~ION
An object of the invention is to provide an automated search service ~or dialin~ several telephone numbers in an effort to reach an individual.
Anoth~r ob~ct oi~ the present inverltion is~ to providQ an automated search service for dialing a plurality o~ telephone number~ simultaneou ly to reach an individual as quickly as possibla.

2 1 ~ 7 Yet another object of the present invention is to automatically dial phone num~ers in a predefined sequence in an effort to reach an individual.
A further ob~ect o~ the present invention is to provide automated call routing to a subscriber of an information services in which di~ferent phone numbers are called dependinq upon the time of day at which an incoming call ic received for the subscriber.
The above objects are obtained by providing a method for operating a telephone call processing system, comprising the steps of: receiving a search indication that an incoming callar requires special handling to reach a called party; initiating a plurality of outdialing operations in a predefined manner to contact the called party; performing each of the outdialing operations by calling a corresponding number and receiving an outdial operation response; terminating each unsuccessful outdialing operation when the called party i5 unavailable at the corresponding number called by the unsuccessPul outdialing operation and when the called party is contacted by a success~ul outdialing operation; and connecting the incoming caller to the called party contacted by the successful outdialing operation.
The outdialing operations may be initiated si~ultaneously to reach the called party a~ guickly as ~os~ibl~. Alternatively, the outdialing operation~ may be per~ormed s~quentially; fir~t one phone number is called and i~ th~ called party is no~
reached, then a ~econd number i called. In addition, tnes~

2 ~ 7 c ernatives can be combined by calling sets of telephone numbers in a prede~ined sequance. The manner in which the tPlephone numbers ars called may be modified by time of day or by identification of th~ caller using, e.g., acces~ codes or voice recognition.
Preferably, the caller i5 in~or~ed of the progress of the outdialing operations. During simultaneous calling of telephone numbers, each outdialing operation which is determined to be unsuccessful in reaching the called party is reported to the caller. ~hen a set of one or more telephone numbers in a sequence ha~ been unsuccessful, the caller i~ preferably givsn an opportunity to continue with the next set, if any, or take other action, such as dialing a different person'~ phone number or extension, leaving a message on voice mail, sendlng a facsimile or e-mail, etc. During simultaneous outdialing operation~, when one of the outdialing operations i~ successful, the other outdialing operations ar~ terminated. If one of the outdialing operations to be terminated has been connected to a human being, the human being i9 informed that th~ called party has been reached prior to terminating the connection.
These-ob~ect~, together with other objects and advantages which will b~ s~b~equently apparent, reside in the dstails o~
cons~ruction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencs being had to the accompanying drawing~
for~ing a part hereo~, wherein like r~ference num~ral refer to likQ part~ throughout.

2 1 8 ~ ~3i~ ! ~
B~IEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a local telephone system including an information services system according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a file structure diagra~ in one embodiment of a phone number search file used by the present invention: and Fiqs. 3A-3C are flowcharts of a method according to the present invention.

PESCRIPTION OF T~ PR~FERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention provides a service to subscribers using a telephone network. A preferred embodiment using an integrated servico~ platform to provide the service is described below. However, other ways o~ providing tha service de~ined by the appended claims will be raadily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, a co~puter system having a single processor could be used, either to p~ovide all of the services o~
the integrated services platform, or to provide solely a service according to the present i~vention.
Illustrated in Fig. 1 is a telephone network including an integrated-servic~ platform 10, such as the platform disclosed in U.S~ Pat~nt No. 5,029,199 and U.S. Patent Application Serial No. ~7/594,648, both incorporated herein by referenc~. ~ypical servic~ that ara pQrformed by an in~ormation service ~ystem, ~uch as th~ platform 10 includ~ voice mail, automat~d r~ception SerViCeB, etc. In th~ plat~orm described in U.S. Patent 2 ~
5,~29,199, a digital switch 12 is controlled by control unit 14 which may contain one or more master control units (MCU) 16 each includinq a ~CU processor 18.
The MCUs 16 control operation oX the digital switching system 12 via one of tha control lines 21 to establi~h connections with a central office 22.. A plurality of application processing units ~APUs) 24, connected together and to the MCUs 16 via a communication network 25, such as an ETHERNET, may perform many functions, including speech recognition, speech ~ynthesis, voica mail processing, facsimile processing, e-mail processing, videotext processing, etcO As illustrated in Fig. 1 and described in Patent Application Serial No. 07/59~,648, ~ome of the applicatlon pxocessing units (APUs) 24 may be limited to providing a single servic~, such as voice processing units 242-24C or facsimil~ processing units 24D 24~. Other application processing units, represented by APU~ 241 and 24N may provide multiple services which are either used less often, and may provide one or more o~ voice mail and facsimile processing for responding ~o fluctuations in demand. If the central of~ic~ 22 is a digital central office, connsction between the central o~fice 22 and the digital switching system 12 may be via a multipl~ line hunt group ~MLHG) 26 and on~ or more conventional T1 lines 27. Xow~ver, if the central office is an older analog switch, a channol bank 28 in an analog/digital converter unit 30 is provided between the MLH~ 26 and tha ~1 line~s) 27. During opera~ion, a mes~aga packet ~ay be pas~ed from tha central office 5 ~
i~ to the control unit 14 via modems 32, 34 using a protocol such as the simplified message desk inter~ace (sMDI). The same link can be used to send a message waitiny indication (MWI) to subscribers connected to the central of~ice 22.
The central offics 22 may be connected to many different types of phones, including single lin~ phon~s 36, 38, centrex phones 40 and private branch exchanglae, such as PBX 4 2 with PBX
extensions 44.
Each MCU 16 includes a MCU memory 46 in addition to the MCU
processor 18, as illustrated for MCU1. The content of the MCU
memory 46 in MCUl and MCU2 is typically the same, to provide redundancy. To simplify explanation of the present invention, it will be assumed that there is only a single active MCU 16 with a MCU processor 18 and MCU memory 46.
Includ2d in the tasks executed by the MCU 16 are distributing the processing of incoming telephone calls to the APUs 24 and maintaining administration data. Included in ths administration data are one or more files defining parameters of a search service according to the present invention. These files may take many forms, on~ example of which is illustrated in Fig.
2. Ther~ may be additional fields beyond those shown in Fig~ 2, or a subset o~ th~ ~atures of t~ present invontion ~ay be provided whila reta$ning other featur~s of ths present invention and thus fewer field~ might be includ~d. In addition! th~
correlation betw~en the fields could be provided by different means, including s~parate file~ linked in any conventional way, -' 2 ~ '7 inrluding using one or more fields which are common among the files.
The pre~nt invention is directled to situations in which an individual cannot be reached at an e:KtensiOn and due to urgency or some other reason it is important that the individual be reached by a caller, rather than recordinq a message, and to situations in which an individual must be reached as quickly as possible and the MCU memory 46 contains more than one telephone number for the individual or "called party". According to the present invention, the processor3 18, 24 in the platform 10 are programmed to respond in the situations described above by initiating a plurality of outdialing operations in a predefined manner to contact the called party. ~he predefined manner may be a sp~cific order determined by the contents of the search ile, such as the file illustrated in Fig. 2. In different situations, it may be preferabl2 for the predefined manner to speci~y performing a number o~ outdialing operations simultaneously, such as in a case of extreme urgency, or to sequentially try one phone number aftPr another until all phone number~ for an individual have been called. Depending upon th~ typQ of peopl~ who subscribe to the service, only one of these two type~ might be pxovided. However, in the preferred embodim~nt a search ~
accordin~ to th~ pres2nt invention is ~tructured to provide the flexibility to per~orm aith~r type o~ outdialing operatio~ or a combina~ion o~ the two.
.'1 ' -- 8 -- ~

2 ~ 7 ` The flexible operation of the preferred embodiment is made possible by storing in~ormation like that illustrated in Fig. 2.
In the preferred embodiment, phone n~ ers at which a subscriber can be reached are stored in sets. Each set may have one or moxe telephone numbers which are recorded in the phone number ~ield.
In Fig. 2, textual labels are used, but in a real file, the corresponding digits would be stored in the phone number field.
Each of the sets have a predefined sequence as indicated by the sequence field. There are several ways in which multiple phone numbers can be assigned to the same set. One way is to permit several phone numbers to be entered in a single phone ~umber field. Another is to have multiple records with the same sequence number, as illustrated in Fig. 2. An entry in the ~ile having sequencQ number 1, such as ths first line in Fig. 2, will be dialed as soon as the search service i initiated.
In the preferred embodiment, one or mora other records are used to indicate when the search service is initiated. Some examplec of what may ba stored in the record(s) include initiating the search service immediately, or after a phone number dialed by a caller fail~ to reach the called party and the call is forwarded from a public telephone switch ~e.g., using SMDI), or a~ an option in an automated receptionist service, or any other condit~on which can be detected. Ths record(s) ~ay be created in any known way, including using either a computer terminal or an int~rface u~ing audio output and telephon~ keypad lnpu~. Conventlonal information service~ sy~tem~ typically 2 ~ 7 provid~ for handling call failures in more than one way, e.g., transfer to another extension, such as the operator, or transfer to a voice mail process which may be executed by an APU 24 when implemented on the platform 10 illustrated in Fig. 1. One way of implementing the present invention is to modify the existing mechanism for handling call ~ailures to check the search service file which may be similar to tha file depicted in Fig. 2, when, e.g., there is a "ring no answer" at a called number of a subscriber to the search service. In this situation, a search service according to the present invention may ~e implemented in an information services system for subscribers who do not subscribe to ~n automated receptioni~t or voice mail service.
For individual~ who subscribe to both an automated recsptionist and a search service according to the present invention, the automated receptionist may provide a menu option : or respond to an unan~ounced access code which permits imm~diate access to the search service~ Another way of providi~g immediate acces~ to the search service is for a subscriber to have more than one telephone number. One telephone number may be for an offic~ where the subscriber is during the day. The searoh service might be usad if there i no answer a~ the subscrib~r's office tel~phon~ numbar. Another telephone number might be the residenc~ o~ th~ ~ubscriber. The call failure handling ~or the subscriber'-~ re~idQntial telephons number might only per~it leaving a voic~ mail me~sage, or might p~rmit only trying th~
offic~ number and then voic~ mail. A third t~lephone nu~ber o~

'7 the subscriber might be used to immediately enter into the search servic~. Sinco these alternatives merely require modification to the codes used in conventional call :failure processing and the addition o~ computer program(s) to identify the cod~ in the ~all failure files and access the search servi~e programs or map a telephone number to initiate the search service, details o~ how this would be accomplished can be easily provided by one o~
ordinary skill in the art.
ln the event that an automated receptionist is used to provide a menu option for access to the search service, some mechanism may be used to identify or classify the caller. For example, when access to the search service is r~quested, the caller may be prompted for an access code. AlternatiYely, at this time or previously the caller may be asked to give the name of who is calling. In a conventional manner, this name may be stored a~ an announcement for when th~ called party i~ reached.
In addition, the name could be compared with prerecorded names in a form of voice recognition to identify the caller. Other forms of caller identification may be used as known in the art. Using 20 any of these means to identiXy the caller, the caller may be assigned a-priority which is used to reference the priority field in the fil~ illustrated in Fig. 2. ~or callers assigned different prioritie, th~a sy~tem may use dlfferent sQts of t~lephons number3. For exampl~, th~ system may not route calls 25 from business associates to a subscriber's hom~3, calls Prom some friendR or other acsauaintances might be routed to a subscrib~or~s ~? 1 ~ & j3 !,,3 7 home, but not to an office number, etc. Other priority values might be provided ~or callers who do not have an access code or are not recognized when their name iS given. This priority or ano~her priority might not be permitted to use the search service at all, or at certain times of day by using the time field as described below.
The time field in thE file illu~strated in Fig. 2 may be used to add an additional restriction to when a phone number in a set is used. As illus~rated in Fig. 2, some sets might be active at all times. For example, a number 1 priority call to the subscriber whose file is illustrated in Fig. 2 will result in a single initial phone call to one of the small transportable callular telephones which this subsc~iber usually has nearby. If ~.
there is no answer, three telephone calls are initiated 15- simultaneously, two of which are to different office phone numbers and the third of which calls the subscriber's residence.

The office phon~ numbers might be the main number and a direct inward dial nu~ber ~or a sin~la office, or two completely different locati~ns for someone who has more than one office. If all three of these calls are unsucceseful in locating the subscriber, then a call is placed to one of three numbers, i~ the time of day is a tim~ at which the subscriber is lik~ly to be at that location. Th~ ~irst is a restaurant where the ~ub~criber regularly eats break~a~t, but no other meals, the second i~ a club where th~ subscriber sometimes goe~ in the evening, and ths third i~ a country club wher~ th~ subscriber plays golr. If t~

number~s) called in the third set are unsuccessful or the time of day does no~ fit any of the three categories, then a relative is called. I~ this call is also unsuccessful, as a last resort the caller is given the opportu~ity to leave a voice mail message.
The examples given merely provids an indication of the flexibility, including time restriction~ which can overlap, e.g., ~ero, one or two phone calls might be made in set 3.
A more detailed description o~ how search service processing is performed will be provided with referenc~ to Figs. 3A-3C and to the search file illustrated in Fiy. 2. No detailed description will be provided of how the caller enters the search service, since mapping to a proces~ as a re~ult of calling a particular phone number and use of menu~ by an automated receptionist are well known. Any known method may be used to lS identify 60 a caller if this option i~ made available to subscribers. The present invention does not depend upon the caller being idenki~ied, since all callers could bQ treated the sa~e. Similarly, assignin~ 62 a priority for searching i3 an option which may or may not be made available to subscribers.
Most liXely prioritization will only be used if callers are identi~ied. I~ addition, prioritization might be u~ed o~ly at specified time(~) o~ day or ba~ed on last known locationO These option3 ar~ illustrated to conform to the Sields in Fig~ 2.
The essential steps o~ the present invention begin on~e a search indication i~ received (a~ part of step 62) that an incoming caller requires special handling ~o reach a cai~d .

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`-"` 2 ~ 7 party. This search indication is obtained by an incoming call process which may b~ an automated receptionist or a process which maps telephone numbers to services, or some other process, as discussed above. In response, the MCU 16 reads 64 the search S file stored in the MCU memory 46 and initiates 66 one or more outdialing operations, dependin~ upon the number of phone number3 in the ~irst phone number set, i.e., with sequence number 1, which match the circumstances, i.e., the priority o~ the caller, the time of day and any other restrictlons which might be present. For the subscriber whose data iR illustrated in Fi~. 2, a single outdialing operation would be initiated when the search beqins. The outdialing operation(~) are performed 68 as described below with reference to Fig. 3B and preerably the caller is informed 70 of the progress of the outdialing operations as described below with reference to Fig. 3C. The task of informing 70 the caller of progress in performing the outdialing operation(~) may be one of the tasks o~ th~ incoming call process or the MCU 16 may initiate a tasX on one o~ the APUs 24 to report on the progress of the outdialiny operation~.
An outdial operation response is received 72 as a buey signal, ring no answer, or a response by a human being, such as a response to a menu output by the proces~ performing the outdialing op~ration, as discussed below with re~pect to Fig. 3~.
Based on thQ outdial operation respons~ a determina~ion i~ mad~
74 whether the outdialing operation i~ ~uccessful. If thQ
outdi~l operation response indicate~ that the outdiallng 2~ ~a~

operation was unsuccessful, that outdialing operation is terminated 76. If it is determined 74 that the outdialing operation wa~ successful, i.e., the outdial operation responsa indicates that the called party is at the phone number called by that outdialing operation, the MCU 16 controls the DSS 12 to connect 78 the incoming call to the telephone called by the successful outdialing operation. All remaining outdialing operations will necessarily be unsuccessful and therefore they are terminated 80 after sending an appropriate message, such as stating that the called party has been found elsewhere. In the future, central offices may have the capability, e.g., using "SS7", to make the connection between the caller and the called party. If so, the MCU 16 or the APUs 24 connected to the caller . s, and the called party will generate the signals necessary to cause the central offic~ 22 to make the connection.
Until a succ~ssful outdialing operation is detected, a~ter each termination o~ an unsuccessful outdialing operation, a determination is made 82 as to whether all outdialing operations in a set have been found to be unsuccessful, e.g., after a predetermined amount oP time has been spent calling a spe~.ific numberO I~ at least on~ outdialing operation in the current set continue~ to be performed, the MCU 16 wait~ until another outdial operation rospons~ i5 received 72. ~hen all outdialing operation~ in a 58t are determined 82 to be unsucce~sful, th~
search fil~ i8 read 64 for another s~t. If another set exists for th~ ca~led party, step~ 66-74 ar~ repeated and st~ps 76-82 21~3~
are per~ormed as appropriate depending upon the outdial operation response(s). In the case of the file depict2d in Fig. 2, in ~he first set only a single outdialin~ operation will be initiated 66 and if determined 74 to be unsuccessful, after reading 64 the second set, three outdialing operation will be ini~iated 66.
This may be accomplished by having three different APUs 24 each executa a process which performs an outdialing operation, or each of the three outdialing operations could be assigned to one of the ports on the same APU 24, or in general any combination of APUs 24 executing one or more processes could be used.
As each outdialing operation is initiated, the steps illustrated in Fig. 3B are performed. The MCU 16 selects 84 an APU 24 based on even distribution o~ load on the APUs 24. The selected A~U, e.g., APU 241~ is instructed 86 to perform an outdialing operation by transmittlng a message packet from the MCU 16 to the selected APU 241 via the bu~ 25. The message packet will include an instruction cod~ which the APUs 24 have been programmed to interpret a5 requiring initiation of an outdialing process and will also includa the phone number from the search file in the MCU memory 46. The MCU 16 control~ the DSS 12 to connect a port of the APU 24? to the central of~i¢e 22 so that the APU 241 can generate 90 dual tone multi~requency ~DT~F~ ~ignal3 tc dial the phone number includad in the message packet.
A~ter th~ number has been "~ialed" 90, a test i~ ~ada 92 to determine whether call progres. signals are receivad~ I~ a . ~9ring 2~ 7 no answer" was received 94, i.e., a predetermined number of rings are detected by the outdial operation process and no other sounds are rec~ived i~dicating a response, the outdialing operation i~
terminated 96 and a oall completion indication is provided via 5 the bus 25 to the MCU 16 and to tha process reporting on progres~
of the outdialing operations ~o the caller indicatin~ that connection was made to the telephone number, but there was no answer. If a "ring no answer" has not been detected g4, appropriate action is taken 98 in response to the call progress lo signal which was detected. For example, if a busy signal i5 received, the call may be terminated and then repeated every 30 seconds or one minute for a predetermin~d period o~ time. In any event, the type o~ call progress signaI received i~ reported in a call completion indication that is transmitted to the M~U ~ 6 and to the process reporting on the outdialing operations to the caller.
I~ it is determined 100 that some oth~r response ha been received, a predefined message is generated 102 to r~quest tha called party using conventional voice synthesis (or a stored voice message) and menu qeneration techniq~es. For example a messag~ o~-the typ~ "Hello, I have an important phone call ~or John Doe; pl~a~e indicate if John Doe is there by pressing 1, i~
John Dos i~ not ther~ by pressin~ 2, i~ you want me to wait whila you check to ~8 i~ John Doe is ther~ by pressing 3 and i~ you want to hear the option a~ain by pressing 9.l- The proce~ waits 104 until a predetarmined period o~ tim~ pas~ or a re~ponsa is - ~7 -21~V~ ~
received. Speaker independent voice recognition could be used to try to determine what response, if any~ iR received, e.g., "Yes"
or "No" in response to a query of whether the called party 1~
present. The request 102 is repeated i~ no response i~ received.
5 When it is determined 106 that an outdial operation re~ponse was received or the message has been rep~ated a predetermined number of times, a determination is made 108 as to whether the called party is available.
If the called party is available, a successful call completion indication i~ generated 110 and output on bu~ 25 to the MCU 16 and to the process communicating with the caller.
Then, the MCU 16 connects 78 the caller to the called party and generates message packets to the outdialing operation proces es to terminate 80 all remaining outdialing operations. If the outdial operation response indicate~ that th~ called party i3 unavailable, a ter~ination messagQ, such as "Thank you for your assistance in reaching John Doe" is g~nerated 112. Then the call is terminated 96 and an unsuccessful call completion indication is generated. In Fig. 3B, the termination process a~ter step 112 i~ illustrated as being th~ same as after step 94, but they may be dif~erent. For example, the unsuccess~ul call completion indication a~ter step 112 may be speci~ic enough to indicate that a per~on was reached at the number, but the called party was unavailable. Th~ information could be passed on to the caller by the proces~ monitoring the outdialing operations as desori~ed below with re~pect to Fig. 3C.

2 ~ rr~ 7 There are many ways in which the caller could be kept informed o~ the progres~ of the outdialing operations. One o~
the ~implest i~ to generate a message every ~ew secondQ along the lines of "An effort i~ being made to contact John Doe." Near the other extreme, at least when only on~ phone iG being dialed at a time, the signals received by the ou'tdialing operation process could be supplied to the caller so that the caller could hear how the operation is proceeding. An intermediate example is illustrated in Fig. 3C. It is assumed that a process has been initiated and is maintaining connection to the caller. As noted above, this process may be one task within the incoming call process, or may be a separate proces~ initiated by th~ MCU 16 .
prior to initiating the outdialing operations. For example, this process might ~xecute on APU 24N.
When the outdialing operations are initiated by the MCU 16, the monitoring process will receive 120 one or more initiation packets Which may be the same packet(s) used to initiat~ the outdialing operation. and are used by monitoring process to provide information regarding the number of phone calls that are being dialed. Alternatively, the packets may provida information, such a~ th~ text label~ in the phone number field illustrated in Fig~ 2. In th~ latt~r case, an additional field containing th~ lab~l identifying the typQ o~ phone number would be required and would liksly b~ stored a~ a digitally recorded voice message by th~ sub~cribsr, _ ,.9 _ -`~ 2 ~ 7 Usinq the information received 120 in the initiation packets, the monitoring process may describe 122 the outdialing operation to t~e caller. If there are no saparate packets ~upplied to the monitoring process, the message might be as s simple as, "One phone number is being dialed in an effort to reach John Doe" or, "Three phone numbers ar~ being dialed in an effort to reach John Doe." After generating the message dPscribing 122 the outdialing operation(s), the monitoring process determines 124 whether a call completion indication has been produced by any outdialing operation. I~ not, the previous messago or a similar message may be generated 122 again. When a call completion indication is received, the call completion indication is tested 126 to determine whether the call was completed successfully. As noted above, in the event of a successful call completion indication, t~e caller is informed 12~
and then the ~CU 16 connects 78 the caller to the call paxty. If the outdialing operation is determined 126 to be unsucce~sful, the caller will be informed 130. The message produced 130 might simply state that "John Doe was not at one of th~ phone numbers"
or a mor elaborato message might be provided, such a~ "There was no answer on John Do~'s pocket phone." A~tQr g~nerating 130 the unsucc~s.~ul call completion message, th~ monitoring process d~termin~s 132 wh~ther all dialing oparations ~or a ~et havQ been completed. I~ not, th~ monitorin~ pro~ass returns to describing 122 the remaining outdialing operation(~) and checking 124 ~or additional call completion indication~ a s~t i~ co~plet~, ~_.her another set o~ initiation packets will be received 120, or the monitoring process will receive an instruckion from the MCU
16 to ter~inate execution. In the example illustrated in Fig. 2, a final phone number which is called is the voice mailbox for the called party and the MCU 16 will te~ninate the monitoring process when a voice mail process begins co~nunication with the caller.
Alternatively, the monitoring process could directly hand over the caller to a voice mail process which accessas the same port.
The many features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the detailed specification and th~s it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the system which fall within the true ~pirit and scope of the invention. Further, sinc~ numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in th~ art from the disclosure of the invention, it is nok desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described. Accordingly, suitable modifications and equiv~lents may be resorted to, as falling within the ~cope and spirit of the invention.

~.

Claims

1. A method of operating a telephone call processing system, comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving a search indication that an incoming caller requires special handling to reach a called party;
(b) initiating a plurality of outdialing operations in a predefined manner to contact the called party;
(c) performing each of the outdialing operations by calling a corresponding number and receiving an outdial operation response;
(d) terminating each unsuccessful outdialing operation when the called party is unavailable at the corresponding number called by the unsuccessful outdialing operation and when the called party is contacted by a successful outdialing operation;
and (e) connecting the incoming caller to the called party contacted by the successful outdialing operation.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the predefined order for initiating the plurality of outdialing operations is to simultaneously perform the plurality of outdialing operations.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the predefined order for initiating the outdialing operations includes sequentially calling at least one set of phone number sets, each set including at least one phone number and capable of including a plurality of phone numbers for outdialing simultaneously.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein said performing in step (c) comprises the steps of:
(c1) outdialing each phone number in a first phone number set, said outdialing performed simultaneously when more than one phone number is in the first phone number set;
(c2) determining that said outdialing in step (c1) is unsuccessful for each phone number after a predetermined number of rings without answer and also when other predefined unsuccessful call progress indications are received;
(c3) generating a first predefined message with a request for the outdial operation response indicating availability of the called party when an answer indication is received at the phone number outdialed in step (c1);
(c4) receiving the outdial operation response requested in step (c3); and (c5) generating a call completion indication for the telephone call processing system in dependence upon said determining in step (c2) and the outdial operation response received in step (c3).

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein said terminating in step (d) comprises the steps of:

(d1) generating a second predefined message when the response received in step (c3) indicates that the called party is unavailable at the phone number outdialed in step (c1);
(d2) generating a third predefined message when the call completion indication from another outdialing operation indicates successful contact with the called party; and (d3) breaking connection with the phone number outdialed in step (c1) after either of steps (d1) and (d2).

6. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of:
(c6) outdialing each phone number in a second phone.
number set when the call completion indication for all phone numbers outdialed in step (c1) indicates that said outdialing was unsuccessful at reaching the called party, said outdialing in step (c6) performed simultaneously when more than one phone number is in the second phone number set; and (c7) repeating steps (c2) - (c5) for said outdialing in step (c6).

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein step (c) further comprises step (c8) repeating steps (c6) and (c7) for each additional phone number set, one phone number set at a time.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the phone numbers in each phone number set may have varying numbers of digits and other call processing codes, with as few as one digit.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search indication received in step (a) is generated upon a failure to reach an originally requested extension and an exception handling file indicates additional phone numbers should be tried.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search indication received in step (a) is generated in dependence upon a search response from the caller requesting said initiating in step (b).

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the search indication received in step (a) is generated only after receiving at least one of an access code and an indication of voice recognition of the incoming caller.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein generation of the search indication further depends on the phone number of the incoming caller.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said initiating in step (b) includes the step of initiating an outdialing operation, included in a first set to be performed in step (c), to a most recently used telephone number of the called party.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of (f) performing a voicemail process to permit the caller to leave a voicemail message for the called party if all of the outdialing operations performed in step (c) are terminated unsuccessfully in step (d).

15. A method of operating an information services system processing incoming calls for subscribers of the information services system, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) storing records defining at least one phone number set for each subscriber of a search service, each phone number set including at least one telephone number and having a sequence number associated therewith;
(b) executing an incoming call process to identify incoming calls requiring the search service;
(c) initiating a plurality of outdialing operations when said executing in step (b) identifies an incoming call for a search seervice subscriber requiring the search service;
(d) executing the outdialing operations initiated in step (c) by simultaneously outdialing each of the at least one telephone number in each of the at least one phone number set, one phone number set at a time, in an order determined by the sequence number associated therewith; and (e) connecting the incoming call to the search service subscriber when located by a successful outdialing operation.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the step of (f) storing records defining criteria for invoking the search service to provide immediate use of the search service for a first subscriber and use of the search service only if the incoming call is initially unsuccessful for a second subscriber.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said executing in step (b) comprises the steps of:
(b1) identifying the incoming call requiring the search service; and (b2) reporting results of said executing in step (d) to the caller making the incoming call requiring the search service.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein said executing in step (b) further comprises the steps of:
(b3) providing a menu of options to the caller after said reporting in step (b);
(b4) receiving a response from the caller to the menu provided in step (b3); and (b5) interrupting said executing in step (d) in dependence upon said receiving in step (b4).

19. An information services system processing incoming calls for subscribers of information services provided by said information services system, comprising:
memory means for storing records defining at least one phone number set for each subscriber of a search service, each phone number set including at least one telephone number and having a sequence number associated therewith;
processing means for executing an incoming call process to identify incoming calls requiring the search service, for initiating a plurality of outdialing operations when an incoming call requiring the search service is identified and for executing the outdialing operations by simultaneously outdialing each of the at least one telephone number in each of the at least one phone number set, one phone number set at a time, in an order determined by the sequence number associated therewith; and switch control means for controlling connection of the incoming call to a search service subscriber when located by a successful outdialing operation.

20. An information services system as recited in claim 19, further comprising switch means, for connecting the incoming call to the search service subscriber in response to said switch control means.

21. An information services system as recited in claim 19, wherein said switch control means signals a switch outside the information services system to connect the incoming call to the search service subscriber.

22. An information services system processing incoming calls for subscribers of information services provided by said information services system, comprising:
a random access memory for storing records defining at least one phone number set for each subscriber of a search service, each phone number set including at least one telephone number and having a sequence number associated therewith;
a first application processing unit for executing an incoming call process to identify incoming calls requiring the search service;
at least one master control processor, operatively connected to said random access memory and said first application processing unit, to initiate a plurality of outdialing operations when said first application processing unit identifies an incoming call for a search service subscriber requiring the search service;
at least one second application processing unit, operatively connected to said master control processor and said first application processing unit, to execute the outdialing operation initiated by said master control unit by simultaneously outdialing each of the at least one telephone number in each of the at least one phone number set, one phone number set at a time, in an order determined by the sequence number associated therewith; and a digital switching system, operatively connected to said first and second application processing units and said master control processor, controlled by said master control unit to connect the incoming call to the search service subscriber when located by a successful outdialing operation.