Call routing in telephone switch based on duplicate leg detection
The disclosed technology described herein provides devices and methods for disconnecting only the duplicate legs of a call which may have been twice or more received on a telecommunications switch for the same phone call. In embodiments of the disclosed technology, the duplicate legs indicate a twice (or more) rejected call from a called party indicating that the call should not be returned to the called party, where the called party is defined as the intended recipient of the phone call. A remaining leg or legs are kept open upon duplicate leg detection on a switch, and the call is then handled with a premium feature, such as forwarding to voicemail.
1. Call routing based on duplicate leg detection, comprising:
receiving, at a telecommunications switch, a forwarded call leg of a phone call from a called party via a second telecommunications switch;
comparing at least one phone number associated with a party to said forwarded call and a time of said receiving of said forwarded call leg, to attributes of other active legs on said telecommunications switch;
selecting, based on said comparing, another active leg of said active legs which is a prior connected leg of said forwarded call leg;
sending a disconnect signal to said second telecommunications switch;
ignoring said disconnect signal for said prior connected leg; and
applying a premium feature to said forwarded call leg;
wherein a phone call was rejected by said called party and forwarded to said telecommunications switch and said telecommunications switch applied a premium feature and forwarded said call back to said called party, before said step of receiving.
2. The call routing of claim 1 , wherein said disconnect signal disconnects a toll-free leg and maintains said forwarded call leg at said prior connected leg.
3. The call routing of claim 2 , wherein a phone call of said phone call is initiated by a calling party to said called party and said phone number associated with a party is a phone number associated with said calling party.
4. The call routing of claim 1 , wherein said attributes of said other active legs comprise call time, a phone number of a party to said forwarded call, and said another active leg is a leg comprising a said phone number of a party which is equal to the phone number of said forwarded call.
5. The call routing of claim 4 , wherein said phone number of a party of said forwarded call is a phone number of a said called party.
6. The call routing of claim 5 , wherein said selecting is limited to calls received from said called party prior to receiving said forwarded call leg and no greater than thirty seconds prior.
7. The call routing of claim 1 , wherein said premium feature is voicemail.
8. The call routing of claim 1 , wherein said applied premium feature was caller identification (CallerID) unmasking.
9. The call routing of claim 1 , wherein said applied premium feature comprised call recording.
10. A telecommunications switch:
comprising an input configured to receive a leg of a forwarded call from a called party by way of a second telecommunications switch;
configured to carry out instructions to compare at least one phone number associated with a party to said forwarded call and a time of said receiving of said leg of said forwarded call, to attributes of other active legs on said telecommunications switch;
configured to select, based on said comparing, another active leg of said active legs which is a prior connected leg of said leg of said forwarded call;
configured to send a disconnect signal to said second telecommunications switch;
configured to ignore said disconnect signal for said prior connected leg; and
apply a premium feature to said forwarded call;
wherein said telecommunications switch is further configured to carry out said instructions after a phone call was rejected by said called party and forwarded to said telecommunications switch and said telecommunications switch applied a premium feature and forwarded said call back to said called party.
11. The telecommunications switch of claim 10 , wherein said disconnect signal disconnects a toll-free leg and maintains said forwarded call at said prior connected leg.
12. The telecommunications switch of claim 11 , wherein said forwarded call is initiated by a calling party to said called party and said phone number associated with a party is a phone number associated with said calling party.
13. The telecommunications switch of claim 10 , wherein said attributes of said other active legs comprise call time, a phone number of a party of said forwarded call, and said another active leg is a leg comprising a said phone number of a party which is equal to said phone number of said forwarded call.
14. The telecommunications switch of claim 13 , wherein said phone numbers of a party to said forwarded call is a phone number of said called party.
15. The telecommunications switch of claim 14 , wherein said configuration to select is limited to calls received prior to receiving said forwarded call leg and no greater than thirty seconds prior.
16. The telecommunications switch of claim 10 , wherein said premium feature is voicemail.
17. The telecommunications switch of claim 10 , wherein said applied premium feature was caller identification (CallerID) unmasking.
18. The telecommunications switch of claim 10 , wherein said applied premium feature comprised call recording.