New patent for using a single phone number for many things.
June 12, 2000
PATENTS
New Phone System Would Make One Phone
Number More Versatile
Ever since the telephone was invented, phone numbers have been
growing longer. Richard Levine remembers when his number jumped
from seven to ten digits after a second and then third area code was
created in Dallas. So four years ago, he started working on a system that
would dramatically increase the number of telephones that could be reached
with a single phone number.
In pre-World War II movies, characters placed operator-assisted calls with
just a few numbers. Through the 1950's and into the 1960's, phone numbers
grew to seven digits.
Later in the 60's, demand for phone lines increased enough to spark the idea
of three-digit area codes for different regions so phone numbers could be
used more than once. And in the 1990's, when demand for phone numbers
soared as people added faxes and modems to their homes and offices and
cellular phones became more popular, some phone companies split more
metropolitan areas into two area codes.
More recently, phone companies have begun what they call overlaying --
draping yet another area code over an already-coded region for use with any
new phone numbers. But that may not be the end of it. The
telecommunications industry predicts that four-digit area codes could be
necessary in the next decade.
Mr. Levine, a telecommunications engineer and professor of Electrical
Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, says that with a
three-digit area code and a seven-digit number, about eight million distinct
combinations of numbers can be cobbled together to give people as phone
numbers. In a city like New York, it's easy to see how that maximum can be
reached.
Mr. Levine has patented a system that would help telephone companies
overcome that problem by allowing people to have just one phone number for
all their telecommunications devices. If his system is adopted, each individual
would have a single number for their voice line, fax machine, modem, cell
phone, radio pager, and even phone lines assigned to teenagers or others
living under the same roof.
"There are 7,920,000 distinct telephone numbers for each area code now,"
Mr. Levine said. "I could go to 160 million or more distinct telephone lines in
that one area code."
Mr. Levine's invention makes this possible by adding binary codes to a
telecommunications database for each phone line. Each of the codes
represents a particular type of phone line the user wants available on his
single number.
For example, a person might be issued phone number 555-0000 by the local
telephone company. He would then dial a predetermined number similar to the
star-number codes already in use for services like Caller ID. That would
activate the binary codes to be appended to his single phone number to
identify different multiple lines.
"The first time I install it, I'd pick up the handset and dial star-333 to identify
the line as a fax line," Mr. Levine explained as an example. The user would
dial other star-number combinations to code for modems, cell phones and
voice lines.
Then, when a caller tries to reach Mr. Levine on his cell phone, he would
simply call Mr. Levine's one phone number. He could use the same number
later that evening to reach Mr. Levine at home.
"You would make a call to me," he said. "When you call from your voice
phone, the system checks your original line and verifies that it is a voice line,
sees that the destination number has a voice line, and connects you in the
normal way."
But if someone is sending a fax, the system responds differently.
"The telephone network checks the original line and sees, hey, it's a fax
machine," he continued. "The destination number actually dialed is a voice
line, but the system sees that the fourth line down on that number's list is
coded as a fax. So it translates, or changes the destination. All this happens in
70 milliseconds, and the call goes through to my fax machine."
But what if a voice line was used to call a cell phone? The caller would dial a
separate star-number code to direct the call to the cell phone. Mr. Levine
expects that these codes would be widely known if the system were
universally adopted. Anyone using their voice line to reach one of several
voice lines in a single house would enter a star-number code for the type of
line -- say, star-352 for a teenager line. The codes would be the same
star-number codes used universally to install the system.
The binary code would be internal, to prevent anyone from dialing it by
mistake or tampering with it. It would be entered into existing
telecommunications computers.
Mr. Levine said his software would be easy for phone companies to install.
"There are databases in the network already," he said. "You're paying for
them now. Your phone bill probably has a line item for Local Portability
Service. It costs between 30 and 90 cents a month in every metropolitan
area. The purpose is to foster competition, to allow customers to move their
telephone lines to another switch in a local community but retain their original
phone number."
Mr. Levine also predicted that his invention would save money for industry.
Each of the 50 area code changes required every year costs around $20
million each, and the change to a four-digit area code system is estimated to
cost $7 billion.
He described several other advantages to his invention.
"When you want to call someone, you don't need to remember all the phone
numbers," he said. "People with medical problems can preregister a code so
that if they dial 911 it will alert emergency personnel that the caller is diabetic
or epileptic or is a heart patient. In a large-scale emergency, the carrier can
block nonessential calls so police, ambulance and hospitals can get through.
"If you want to block calls, you can block them by type or category," he
added. "Telemarketers don't want to waste time calling people who are going
to hang up on them."
Mr. Levine's invention would work best if it were adopted as a universal
standard for the entire country. He presented his invention to the Alliance for
Telecom Industry Solutions, the standards body for the telephone industry,
but he said the group tabled discussion of his idea until demand increases. He
said he then approached independent telephone companies, which might
license his invention for their own proprietary use.
To circulate his idea, Mr. Levine has also posted an explanation of his
invention at betalab.org . He receives patent 6,076,121 this week.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company |
