Telephone status notification system

Abstract

A telephone line status notification system including at least one telephone line having a status, a communications network, at least one communications terminal which is connectable to the communications network and which is employable by a seeking user to communicate via the communications network a status request concerning the status of the at least one telephone line, apparatus for processing the status request the apparatus for processing is connectable to the communications network for receiving the status request from the seeking user therethrough and communicating the request, and apparatus for acquiring the status of the at least one telephone line, the apparatus for acquiring is in communication with the apparatus for processing for receiving the status request therefrom, and the apparatus for acquiring is connectable to the communications network for communicating the status via the communications network.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for providing telephone line status information for at least one telephone line via a computer communications network, the method comprising:
 communicating, via said computer communications network, a request concerning the status of said at least one telephone line, said status comprising one or more of a physical in use status and a logical in use status; 
 acquiring information regarding the status of said at least one telephone line without calling said at least one telephone line; and 
 communicating, via said computer communications network, said information regarding said status of said at least one telephone line. 
 
     
     
       2. A method according to  claim 1  wherein said communicating, via said computer communications network, a request comprises communicating a unique identification associated with said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       3. A method according to  claim 2  and further comprising identifying a network address associated with said unique identification. 
     
     
       4. A method according to  claim 1  and further comprising:
 receiving a call-back request from at least one first communications terminal connected to said computer communication network at a second communications terminal connected to said at least one telephone line; and 
 initiating a call-back to said at least one first communications terminal from said second communications terminal via said at least one telephone line. 
 
     
     
       5. A method according to  claim 4  wherein said initiating comprises initiating once at least one of a telephone line status of said at least one first communications terminal and a telephone line status of said second communications terminal has been determined. 
     
     
       6. A method according to  claim 1  and further comprising:
 receiving a conferencing request from at least one first communications terminal connected to said computer communication network at a second communications terminal connected to said at least one telephone line; and 
 initiating a conference call between said at least one first communications terminal and said second communications terminal. 
 
     
     
       7. A method according to  claim 1  wherein said acquiring comprises checking said request for an authorization. 
     
     
       8. A telephone line status notification system, operative to provide telephone line status information for at least one telephone line via a computer communication network, comprising:
 at least one communications terminal which is connectable to said computer communications network and which is employable to communicate via said computer communications network a request concerning status of said at least one telephone line, said status comprising one or more of a physical in use status and a logical in use status; 
 apparatus for processing said request wherein said apparatus for processing is connectable to said computer communications network for receiving said request and communicating said request; and 
 apparatus for acquiring information regarding said status of said at least one telephone line without calling said at least one telephone line, wherein said apparatus for acquiring is in communication with said apparatus for processing for receiving said request therefrom, and wherein said apparatus for acquiring is connectable to said computer communications network for communicating said status via said computer communications network. 
 
     
     
       9. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said request comprises a unique identification associated with said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       10. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 9  and further comprising apparatus for identifying a network address associated with said unique identification. 
     
     
       11. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and further comprising at least one server which is connectable to said computer communications network. 
     
     
       12. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 11  wherein either of said apparatus for acquiring and said apparatus for processing is resident in said at least one server. 
     
     
       13. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said apparatus for processing is resident in said at least one communications terminal. 
     
     
       14. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and further comprising a communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       15. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 14  wherein said apparatus for acquiring is resident in said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       16. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 15  and wherein said status is communicated to said apparatus for acquiring via said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       17. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 14  and further comprising a cellular telephone in communication with said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       18. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 14  wherein said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line is a cellular telephone. 
     
     
       19. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 14  wherein said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line is adapted to receive a call-back request from said at least one communications terminal and to initiate a call to said at least one communications terminal via said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       20. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 19  wherein:
 said at least one communications terminal has a telephone line status; and 
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line is further adapted to initiate said call to said at least one communications terminal once said telephone line status of said at least one communications terminal has been determined. 
 
     
     
       21. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 19  wherein:
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has a telephone line status; and 
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line is further adapted to initiate said call to said at least one communications terminal once said telephone line status of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has been determined. 
 
     
     
       22. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 19  wherein:
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has a telephone line status; 
 said at least one communications terminal has a telephone line status; and 
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line is further adapted to initiate said call to said at least one communications terminal once at least one of said telephone line status of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line and said telephone line status of said at least one communications terminal has been determined. 
 
     
     
       23. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and further comprising a telephone connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       24. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 23  wherein said apparatus for acquiring is resident in said telephone. 
     
     
       25. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said at least one telephone line is part of a PABX system, and wherein said status is communicated to a user not regularly connected to said PABX system. 
     
     
       26. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and further comprising a cellular telephone in communication with said at least one communications terminal. 
     
     
       27. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 26  wherein said cellular telephone is adapted to communicate using one of IP protocols and non-IP protocols. 
     
     
       28. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said at least one communications terminal is a cellular telephone. 
     
     
       29. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and further comprising apparatus for conferencing connectable to said computer communications network and adapted to receive a conferencing request from said at least one communications terminal and to initiate a conference call between said at least one communications terminal and a communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       30. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 29  wherein said apparatus for conferencing is further adapted to first initiate a call to said at least one communications terminal and telephonically receive from said at least one communications terminal at least one of a telephone number of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line and an identifier associated with a telephone number of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       31. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 30  wherein:
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has a telephone line status; and 
 said apparatus for conferencing is further adapted to initiate said conference call once said telephone line status of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has been determined. 
 
     
     
       32. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 30  wherein:
 said at least one communications terminal has a telephone line status; and 
 said apparatus for conferencing is further adapted to initiate said conference call once said telephone line status of said at least one communications terminal has been determined. 
 
     
     
       33. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 30  wherein:
 said at least one communications terminal has a telephone line status; 
 said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has a telephone line status; and 
 said apparatus for conferencing is further adapted to initiate said conference call once at least one of said telephone line status of said at least one communications terminal and said telephone line status of said communications terminal connectable to said at least one telephone line has been determined. 
 
     
     
       34. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said apparatus for acquiring maintains at least one telephone number associated with said at least one telephone line. 
     
     
       35. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  and wherein at least one of said apparatus for acquiring and said apparatus for processing comprises apparatus for checking said request for an authorization. 
     
     
       36. A telephone line status notification system according to  claim 8  wherein said computer communications network is the Internet. 
     
     
       37. A method comprising:
 communicating, by one or more servers via a computer communications network, a request concerning a status of at least one telephone line associated with a first cellular telephone device, wherein the first cellular telephone device is associated with a first user, and wherein the status comprises one or more of a physical in use status or a logical in use status;   acquiring, by the one or more servers, information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device without calling the first cellular telephone device; and   communicating, by the one or more servers via the computer communications network, the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device to a device associated with a second user.   
     
     
       38. The method of claim 37, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a second cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       39. The method of claim 37, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a computer terminal. 
     
     
       40. The method of claim 37, further comprising identifying, by the one or more servers, the first cellular telephone device utilizing identifying information associated with the first cellular telephone device or the first user. 
     
     
       41. The method of claim 40, wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of a unique identification code, a telephone number, or an IP address. 
     
     
       42. The method of claim 40, wherein the identifying information comprises user-inputted information. 
     
     
       43. The method of claim 37, wherein the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device indicates an availability of the first user to communicate with the second user. 
     
     
       44. The method of claim 37, further comprising receiving, by the one or more servers from the device associated with the second user, a request for the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       45. The method of claim 37, wherein the one or more servers communicate with the device associated with the second user using an IP protocol. 
     
     
       46. The method according to claim 37, further comprising communicating, via the computer communications network, the request using a unique identification associated with the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       47. The method according to claim 46, further comprising identifying a network address associated with the unique identification. 
     
     
       48. The method according to claim 37, further comprising:
 receiving a communication request from a first communications terminal connected to the computer communications network; and   initiating a communication with the first communications terminal.   
     
     
       49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising initiating the communication once at least one of a status of the first communications terminal and a status of the first cellular telephone device has been determined. 
     
     
       50. The method according to claim 37, wherein:
 the communication request comprises a conferencing request; and   initiating the communication comprises initiating a conference between the first communications terminal and the first cellular telephone device.   
     
     
       51. The method according to claim 37, further comprising checking the request for an authorization. 
     
     
       52. The method of claim 37, further comprising identifying a plurality of additional users associated with the first user. 
     
     
       53. The method of claim 52, further comprising receiving identification of the plurality of additional users from the first user. 
     
     
       54. The method of claim 53, wherein receiving the identification of the plurality of additional users comprises receiving a list of information for ongoing fulfillment of status request. 
     
     
       55. The method of claim 53, wherein receiving the identification of the plurality of additional users comprises receiving individual identification information for each of the plurality of additional users. 
     
     
       56. The method of claim 53, wherein the identification of the plurality of additional users comprises a list of telephone numbers. 
     
     
       57. The method of claim 37, further comprising communicating, by the one or more servers, with software on the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       58. The method of claim 37, further comprising communicating the information regarding the status to the device associated with the second user by way of the Internet. 
     
     
       59. The method of claim 37, wherein acquiring the information regarding the status comprises receiving the information regarding the status from the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       60. The method of claim 59, wherein the first cellular telephone device automatically acquires the information regarding the status and sends the information regarding the status to the one or more servers. 
     
     
       61. The method of claim 59, wherein the information regarding the status comprises information based on user input at the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       62. The method of claim 61, wherein the user input indicates an availability of the user to communicate with other users. 
     
     
       63. The method of claim 62, wherein the user input indicates specific users with whom the user is available to communicate. 
     
     
       64. The method of claim 37, further comprising checking the second user's authorization prior to communicating the information regarding the status to the device associated with the second user. 
     
     
       65. The method of claim 64, wherein checking the second user's authorization comprises checking a username and password of the second user. 
     
     
       66. The method of claim 64, wherein checking the second user's authorization comprises checking security or account level of the second user. 
     
     
       67. The method of claim 37, wherein the status comprises a logical in use status. 
     
     
       68. The method of claim 67, wherein the logical in use status is set by the first user to indicate availability of the first user. 
     
     
       69. The method of claim 37, wherein the status comprises a physical in use status indicating use by the first user of the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       70. A system comprising:
 one or more servers running software causing the one or more servers to:   communicate, via a computer communications network, a request concerning a status of at least one telephone line associated with a first cellular telephone device, wherein the first cellular telephone device is associated with a first user, and wherein the status comprises one or more of a physical in use status or a logical in use status;   acquire information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device without calling the first cellular telephone device; and   communicate the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device to a device associated with a second user.   
     
     
       71. The system of claim 70, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a second cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       72. The system of claim 70, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a computer terminal. 
     
     
       73. The system of claim 70, wherein the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the first cellular telephone device indicates an availability of the first user to communicate with the second user. 
     
     
       74. The system according to claim 70, wherein the request comprises a unique identification associated with the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       75. The system according to claim 74, the software further causing the one or more servers to identify a network address associated with the unique identification. 
     
     
       76. The system according to claim 75, the software further causing the one or more servers to receive the request from the device associated with the second user. 
     
     
       77. The system according to claim 70, the software further causing the one or more servers to acquire the information regarding the status from the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       78. The system according to claim 70, wherein the first cellular telephone device comprises an integral computing device. 
     
     
       79. The system according to claim 70, wherein the first cellular telephone device receives the communication request from the one or more servers. 
     
     
       80. The system according to claim 70, wherein the one or more servers communicate with the first cellular telephone device using one of IP protocols or non-IP protocols. 
     
     
       81. The system according to claim 70, the software further causing the one or more servers to initiate a communication between the device associated with the second user and the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       82. The system according to claim 70, the software further causing the one or more servers to initiate a communication with the first cellular telephone device based on the information regarding the status. 
     
     
       83. The system according to claim 70, the software further causing the one or more servers to maintain at least one unique identification code associated with the first cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       84. The system according to claim 70, the software further causing the one or more servers to check the request for an authorization. 
     
     
       85. The system according to claim 70, wherein the computer communications network comprises the Internet. 
     
     
       86. An apparatus comprising:
 a cellular telephone device associated with a first user, the cellular telephone device configured to:   acquire information regarding a status of at least one telephone line associated with the cellular telephone device, wherein the status comprises one or more of a physical in use status or a logical in use status; and   communicate, by way of a computer communications network, the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the cellular telephone device for delivery to a device associated with a second user,   wherein the information regarding the status of the at least one telephone line associated with the cellular telephone device indicates an availability of the first user to communicate with the second user.   
     
     
       87. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a second cellular telephone device. 
     
     
       88. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein the device associated with the second user comprises a computer terminal. 
     
     
       89. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein the cellular telephone device is further configured to communicate with the device associated with the second user by way of one or more servers.