[54] COORDINATED MULTIPLE TELEPHONE STATION SYSTEM
[75] Inventor: Daniel Norwich, Tampa, Fla.
[73] Assignee: Telecredit, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 868,464
[22] Filed: May 30, 1986
[51] Int. CI." H04M 1/57
[52] U.S. CI 379/91; 379/93;
235/380; 235/381
[58] Field of Search 379/90, 91, 144, 93,
379/92, 94; 235/380, 381
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,920,908 11/1975 Kraus 379/91
4,439,636 3/1984 Newkirk et al 379/91
4,521,644 6/1985 Bernard, Jr 379/90
4,630,200 12/1986 Ohmae et al 364/405
4,634,809 1/1987 Paulsson et al 379/91
Primary Examiner—Robert Lev
A system incorporating a cluster of several telephone stations or terminals to interface with one or more frequently called remote data stations for economy of dial-up connection in accommodating communication with multiple terminals of the cluster during a single call to a remote station. With a call from one terminal to a remote data station, a transmit-receive unit interfaces the cluster with the data station setting the terminals in the cluster in a polling sequence to accommodate additional communications. The system preserves an "offhook" state polling the individual terminals in the cluster to accommodate further communication from the cluster terminals to the central data station. Polling is facilitated by a cluster counter in the transmit-receive unit coordinated with logic indicating the state of each terminal in the cluster.
8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures
