Importance

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for connecting an electromechanical telephone central office having a step-by-step or cross bar type switching equipment to a remotely located automatic intercept message system. The terminating sleeve leads of a plurality of subscriber telephone numbers are connected to a scanner circuit. The sleeve leads correlate to preassigned telephone numbers and are continuously scanned for seizure. Upon detection of a service request to a disconnected or changed telephone number, the scanner seizes an outgoing trunk to a distant automatic intercept message playback system. When the outgoing trunk has been seized and a connection made to the AIS, a multifrequency spill of the telephone number which has been changed or disconnected is provided to the AIS, which in response provides an appropriate intercept message back over the trunk and is connected to the calling party. The system is microprocessor controlled, and contains a data base associating sleeve numbers with telephone numbers which form the multifrequency spill. The system makes changed number referral automatic and obviates the use of operators for providing operator number identification. A conventional DTMF telephone is employed for programming the telephone numbers and sleeve leads.

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First Claim