Abstract: An improvement in the transparency of personal telecommunications over the prior art is achieved by automatically placing a return call from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and alerting the called individual to the existence of the call placed to his personal number only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. In one embodiment of the invention, the called individual associates his personal communications unit with a telephone channel, before his reception of any calls. Should a caller make a call to the called individual's personal calling number, the telephone network causes the transmission of an actuation signal. In response to the actuation signal, the personal communications unit places a call to a predetermined number over a switched telephone network using the aforementioned associated telephone channel.

Abstract: An improvement in the transparency of personal telecommunications over the prior art is achieved by automatically placing a return call from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and alerting the called individual to the existence of the call placed to his personal number only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. In one embodiment of the invention, the called individual associates his personal communications unit with a telephone channel, before his reception of any calls. Should a caller make a call to the called individual's personal calling number, the telephone network causes the transmission of an actuation signal. In response to the actuation signal, the personal communications unit places a call to a predetermined number over a switched telephone network using the aforementioned associated telephone channel.

Abstract: An improvement in the transparency of personal telecommunications over the prior art is achieved by automatically placing a return call from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and alerting the called individual to the existence of the call placed to his personal number only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. In one embodiment of the invention, the called individual associates his personal communications unit with a telephone channel, before his reception of any calls. Should a caller make a call to the called individual's personal calling number, the telephone network causes the transmission of an actuation signal. In response to the actuation signal, the personal communications unit places a call to a predetermined number over a switched telephone network using the aforementioned associated telephone channel.

Abstract: An improvement in the transparency of personal telecommunications over the prior art is achieved by automatically placing a return call from a personal communications unit of a called individual in response to a call from a caller and alerting the called individual to the existence of the call placed to his personal number only upon an indication that the call from the calling telephone remains in progress. In one embodiment of the invention, the called individual associates his personal communications unit with a telephone channel, before his reception of any calls. Should a caller make a call to the called individual's personal calling number, the telephone network causes the transmission of an actuation signal. In response to the actuation signal, the personal communications unit places a call to a predetermined number over a switched telephone network using the aforementioned associated telephone channel.

Abstract: An intelligent terminal (which can be a telephone, a facsimile machine, or similar device) is arranged so that (a) it can store information indicating when (e.g., date and time) a particular subscriber last was present at the terminal, and (b) the stored information can be retrieved from the terminal remotely, preferably without completing a conventional call to the terminal. A central processor contains, for each subscriber, a list of the intelligent terminals that have been pre-designated for use by that subscriber, and has the ability to query terminals on the list. In response to a call placed to the subscriber by dialing the subscriber's unique personal number, specific intelligent terminals on that subscriber's list are queried by the central processor to determine when the subscriber was last present at each terminal. The central processor then generates a control signal such that the call is then completed to the particular terminal that was most recently visited by the subscriber.

Abstract: Intelligent network telephone calls are processed by an intelligent terminal which cooperates with network elements such as a database that contains information with respect to such calls. When a call requiring intelligent network treatment is first made from an intelligent terminal, if the terminal does not have the requisite information to complete the call, the call is processed by network elements such as an originating switch and a network database which attempt to find routing information for the call. However, if the call contains an indication that (a) the calling party requests a down load, and the database record associated with the dialed number indicates that routing information stored in the database is marked for down loading, then the routing information is down loaded and stored in the intelligent terminal.

Abstract: A telephone subscriber who wishes to forward calls placed to that subscriber from a selected set of calling parties identifies the current destination number to a service adjunct. The service adjunct, in turn, transmits the destination number to the intelligent terminals of preselected parties while those intelligent terminals are in an inactive (i.e. on-hook) mode, for storage in a local memory contained in those terminals. Thereafter, when the usual number of the telephone subscriber is "dialed" (e.g., entered on the keypad) at any one of the intelligent terminals, the stored destination number is retrieved and output to the telecommunications network in place of the usual number. The actual destination number is also displayed to the calling party who then has the option to let the call complete or disconnect to stop the call.