Abstract: A trading communication system. A line control unit includes a channel switch circuit, a number of line trunks connected to the channel switch circuit and adapted to be connected to a line network, and a number of line circuits connected to the channel switch circuit. A number of first terminal adaptors are connected to the line circuits. Some of the first terminal adaptors are adapted to be connected to a commercial switched circuit, while one of the first trading call terminals is connected to one of the first terminal adapters. A number of second trading call terminals are at locations remote from the line control unit. A number of second terminal adaptors are connected to the second trading call terminals and are adapted to be connected to the commercial switched circuit to connect the channel switch circuit to the second trading call terminals.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus provide a reply to a telephone caller in response to an abbreviated input string. A message is received from a telephone caller during a telephone call, and supplemental information is derived which relates to at least one of the telephone caller and the telephone call. Using the message from the caller in combination with the supplemental information, an appropriate reply to the message is identified, which is then provided to the caller. The invention is applicable to various telecommunications infrastructures, including cellular telephony. The message may be provided by the caller in response to a request forming part of a radio or television broadcast, in which case the message might relate to channel number or broadcast frequency, with the system storing a channel map to identify the station responsible for the broadcast, if so required.

Abstract: A system for transferring data between a centrally located site and a portable communications terminal via a telephone network, the site having associated therewith a look up table containing plurality of data records correlating to items disposed at a retail establishment, wherein each of the items has associated therewith a bar code encoded with the indicia unique to each item, with each of the bar coded indicia corresponding to a particular record in the table, the data containing at least a portion of said record.

Abstract: The present invention provides a “data centric” approach to updating databases on computer systems of an intermittently connected database system. In this approach, the storage and processing complexity of the database server are de-coupled from the number of clients to be supported, thereby, improving the scalability of the server. Instead of focusing on the data required by individual clients, this method tracks changes to data subsets pertaining to groups of clients. Thus, the server need only track and record changes to these subsets of data, instead of tracking changes for individual clients. Clients download the subsets, which contain the data relevant to the group, and merges data or deletes superfluous data from the subsets. Since the server is tracking a limited set of data subsets related to groups of clients instead of the actual number of the clients, the overall scalability of the system is increased.

Abstract: A system is described whereby a telemarketer may reward a customer during the telemarketing call, thereby providing the customer with an incentive to listen to the telephone sales presentation. An invitation is communicated to a consumer regarding an opportunity to receive a sales presentation in exchange for a value. The invention includes a controller including a CPU and a memory device; the memory device contains the sales presentation and contains a program for delivering the sales presentation to the consumer. The invention also includes an apparatus for communicating the sales presentation to the consumer in response to the consumer accepting the invitation. The program is further adapted to initiate a transfer of the value to the consumer in response to the consumer receiving the sales presentation.

Abstract: An advertiser-sponsored telephony system includes an automatic sales transaction option, whereby a telephony user may automatically purchase an advertised product without disconnecting from the advertiser-sponsored telephony system. After hearing a promotional message for an advertised product in the advertiser-sponsored telephony system, a telephony user is presented with an option to submit an instruction to automatically place a purchase order for the product. The advertiser-sponsored telephony system verifies the telephony user's identity and confirms that an account which has been pre-registered by the telephony user has sufficient funds to cover the price of the purchase order. If these criteria are satisfied, then the purchase order is processed and the caller continues with his or her telephone call.

Abstract: A system (8, 60, 500) for identifying an unidentified person (14, 510) includes a database (42) that contains utterance data (162) and an ambiguity-resolution criterion (114, 119, 121) corresponding to a known person. A processing system (10, 11, 502) is coupled to the database (42) and receives utterance information and an ambiguity-resolution identifier corresponding to the unidentified person (14, 510). The processing system (10, 11, 502) compares the utterance information with the utterance data (162) to identify the unidentified person (14, 510) as at least one known person. If the processing system (10, 11, 502) ambiguously identifies the unidentified person (14, 510) as more than one known person, the processing system (10, 11, 502) compares the ambiguity-resolution identifier with the ambiguity-resolution criterion (114, 119, 121) to identify the unidentified person (14, 510) as a particular known person.

Abstract: Utilizing a wireless telephone to function as a transaction device. In a first embodiment, the wireless telephone places a call to the transaction unit directly. For example, the transaction unit may be a cash register at a supermarket. The wireless telephone then transfers to the transaction unit account information specifying the type of account against which the transaction is to be billed and identification of that transaction. The transaction unit responds with a transaction number that is transmitted to the wireless telephone. The user of the wireless telephone then confirms the transaction when the correct transaction number is displayed on the transaction unit. After the transaction is completed, the transaction unit transmits the data defining the transaction to the wireless telephone which stores this information in a database associated with the account against which the transaction was charged.

Abstract: Specialized computer terminals with a telephone, touch screen and magnetic stripe reader are used to access a customer's bill from various locations within a hotel, such as a restaurant and bar. When checking out a customer can review the bill and can be automatically linked to a customer service representative (CSR) over voice and data links. Groupware permits the customer and CSR to cooperatively review the same version of the bill on their respective terminals and resolve any disputes.