Sankara R Polepalle

US Patent:

52069010, Apr 27, 1993

Filed:

Dec 23, 1991

Appl. No.:

7/812787

Inventors:

John B. Harlow - Middletown NJ
Murphy Kolipakam - East Brunswick NJ
Sankara R. Polepalle - Holmdel NJ
George Y. Wyatt - Howell NJ

Assignee:

AT&T Bell Laboratories - Murray Hill NJ

International Classification:

H04M 342
H04M 700

US Classification:

379211

Abstract:

A system for alerting a plurality of telephones in response to an incoming call to a destination directory number. A handling switch sends a query to a centralized database requesting routing instructions, and the database returns the directory numbers of the plurality of telephones to be alerted for incoming calls to the destination directory number. The busy/idle status of all of the plurality of telephones is checked, and an alerting signal is sent to all idle telephones. The handling switch is notified as to which alerted telephone has an off-hook appearance first, and the incoming call is routed to that telephone.