Inventors:
Richard A. Davis - Boulder CO
Susan K. Harris - Northglenn CO
Bernard R. Jones - Arvada CO
Assignee:
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated - Murray Hill NJ
International Classification:
H04M 350, H04Q 364
Abstract:
A call coverage arrangement in a telephone system. Any station served by the system may be assigned to a call coverage group as a principal station. A coverage group includes the identities of a plurality of call covering stations for the principal station and an indication of the order of preference of the covering stations. Call coverage criteria are stored for principal stations specifying circumstances under which calls intended for the principal stations are redirected to coverage. A covered call is redirected sequentially to each of the covering stations in a coverage group in the order of preference until the call is answered or abandoned. The coverage criteria include options based on both the state of a principal's station (active, busy, idle, etc. ) and the class of an incoming call (internal, external, priority). Principal stations are equipped with a "send all calls" button.