Video telephony dialing

Abstract

In a video telephony system, a coaxial cable network, which is preferably a part of an existing cable television system, provides a local link for the transmission of the video telephone signals between each originating and destination location and a respective "head end" located on the cable company premises. Each of the head ends is connected to a "point of presence" of a telephone interexchange carrier so that a connection between pairs of head ends, and thus between a pair of video telephone locations, can be made via a switched digital network maintained by the carrier. Certain of originating and destination locations comprise a standard television set, serving as the audio/video display, and a consumer-type camera or camcorder, serving as the audio/video source. Others of the originating and destination locations comprise ISDN video telephones which are connected to the various points of presence of the interexchange carrier via local exchange carrier telephone networks. The video telephone numbers for cable subscriber locations are administered to be the same as the standard ten- (i.e., area code plus seven-) digit telephone numbers used for regular telephone calls directed to those locations.

We claim: 
     
       1. Apparatus for use in a telephone system of a type which comprises a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt, from one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations, of a signal representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations for establishing a voice communications path between those two .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber video telephone locations.Iadd., .Iaddend.each connected to said .Iadd.telecommunications .Iaddend.network via respective cable television distribution network connections,   said apparatus comprising   .Iadd.a .Iaddend.database .[.means.]. for storing for each one of said cable subscriber video telephone locations a data record which contains a) the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with a voice telephone station installed at said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location, and b) routing information associated with said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location, said .Iadd.routing .Iaddend.information specifying a cable television distribution network routing from said switched telecommunications network to said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location,   said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt from originating ones of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations of signals representing the local exchange carrier telephone numbers associated with ones of said voice telephone stations, for accessing said database .[.means.]. to retrieve the routing information associated with those .Iadd.voice telephone .Iaddend.stations and for establishing video telephone connections from said originating cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations to respective destination ones of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations based on the retrieved routing information.   
     
     
       2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said database .[.means.]. is a network control point which is accessed within said telecommunications network via common channel signaling paths. 
     
     
       3. A telephone system comprising a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt, from one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations, of a signal representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations for establishing a communications path between those two .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber video telephone locations connected to said .Iadd.telecommunications .Iaddend.network via respective cable television distribution network connections, each of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations having an associated video telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to a signal received from one of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations representing the video telephone number of another one of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations for establishing a communications path between those two cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations, each one of said cable subscriber video telephone locations having installed thereat a respective one of said voice telephone stations,   characterized in that the .[.said.]. video telephone number associated with said each one of said cable subscriber video telephone locations is the same as the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with the voice telephone station installed at that one .Iadd.cable subscriber video telephone .Iaddend.location.   
     
     
       4. A method for use in a telephone system of a type which comprises a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to a signal received from one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations for establishing a voice communications path between those two .Iadd.voice .Iaddend.telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber video telephone locations connected to said .Iadd.telecommunications .Iaddend.network via respective cable television distribution network connections,   said method comprising the steps of   storing .Iadd.in a database .Iaddend.for each one of said cable subscriber video telephone locations a data record which contains a) the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with a voice telephone station installed at said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location, and b) routing information associated with said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location, said .Iadd.routing .Iaddend.information specifying a cable television distribution network routing from said switched telecommunications network to said one cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.location,   accessing said database .[.means.]., in response to receipt from originating ones of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations of signals representing the local exchange carrier telephone numbers associated with ones of said voice telephone stations, to retrieve the routing information associated with those .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.stations, and   establishing video telephone connections from said originating cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations to respective destination ones of said cable subscriber .Iadd.video telephone .Iaddend.locations based on the retrieved routing information. .Iadd.   
     
     
       5.  Apparatus for use in a telephone system of a type which comprises a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said voice telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt, from one of said voice telephone stations, of a signal representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said voice telephone stations for establishing a voice communications path between those two voice telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber telephone locations, each connected to said telecommunications network via respective cable television distribution network connections,   said apparatus comprising   a database for storing for each one of said cable subscriber telephone locations a data record which contains a) the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with a voice telephone station installed at said one cable subscriber telephone location, and, b) routing information associated with said one cable subscriber telephone location, said routing information specifying a cable television distribution network routing from said switched telecommunications network to said one cable subscriber telephone location,   said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt from originating ones of said cable subscriber telephone locations of signals representing the local exchange carrier telephone numbers associated with ones of said voice telephone stations, for accessing said database to retrieve the routing information associated with those voice telephone stations and for establishing telephone connections from said originating cable subscriber telephone locations to respective destination ones of said cable subscriber telephone locations based on the retrieved routing information. .Iaddend..Iadd.6. The invention of claim 5 wherein said database is a network control point which is accessed within said telecommunications network via common channel signaling paths. .Iaddend..Iadd.7. A telephone system comprising   a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said voice telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to receipt, from one of said voice telephone stations, of a signal representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said voice telephone stations for establishing a communications path between those two voice telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber telephone locations connected to said telecommunications network via respective cable television distribution network connections, each of said cable subscriber telephone locations having an associated telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to a signal received from one of said cable subscriber telephone locations representing the telephone number of another one of said cable subscriber telephone locations for establishing a communications path between those two cable subscriber telephone locations, each one of said cable subscriber telephone locations having installed thereat a respective one of said voice telephone stations,   characterized in that the telephone number associated with said each one of said cable subscriber telephone locations is the same as the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with the voice telephone station installed at that one cable subscriber telephone location.   
     
     
        .Iaddend..Iadd.8.  A method for use in a telephone system of a type which comprises a switched telecommunications network,   a plurality of voice telephone stations connected to said switched telecommunications network, each of said voice telephone stations having an associated local exchange carrier telephone number and said telecommunications network being responsive to a signal received from one of said voice telephone stations representing the local exchange carrier telephone number of another one of said voice telephone stations for establishing a voice communications path between those two voice telephone stations, and   a plurality of cable subscriber telephone locations connected to said telecommunications network via respective cable television distribution network connections,   said method comprising the steps of   storing in a database for each one of said cable subscriber telephone locations a data record which contains a) the local exchange carrier telephone number associated with a voice telephone station installed at said one cable subscriber telephone location, and b) routing information associated with said one cable subscriber telephone location, said routing information specifying a cable television distribution network routing from said switched telecommunications network to said one cable subscriber telephone location,   accessing said database, in response to receipt from originating ones of said cable subscriber telephone locations of signals representing the local exchange carrier telephone numbers associated with ones of said voice telephone stations, to retrieve the routing information associated with those voice telephone stations, and   establishing telephone connections from said originating cable subscriber telephone locations to respective destination ones of said cable subscriber telephone locations based on the retrieved routing information. .Iaddend.