METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTIVELY SENDING A FALSE SYSTEM INFORMATION TONE ON A TELEPHONE LINE

摘要

A method and apparatus for selectively sending a false systeminformation tone (SIT) in response to an incoming telephone call is provided.Oneembodiment of the apparatus includes a telephone line interface, calleridentification(caller ID) module, programmable oscillator, display device, and controller.Inanother embodiment, the apparatus includes a data storage module, telephonelineinterface, caller ID module, programmable oscillator, display device,controller, andone or more control devices. The method includes the steps of a) detecting aring onthe telephone line, b) receiving information about a calling party associatedwith theincoming telephone call, c) determining if a false SIT is to be sent based onthecalling party information, and, d) if the false SIT is to be sent, i)determining when thefalse SIT is to be sent; ii) generating the false SIT; and, iii) sending thefalse SIT atthe determined time.