Use of two-way wireless messaging for personal telephone management

This paper explores the intersection of two-way wireless data messaging and telephony, enabling nomadic end users to screen, select, and receive calls and exchange messages with callers independent of location. This is accomplished by combining features of the public local exchange telephone network, a Bellcore experimental software prototype application, a wireless data network, and a palm-top computer equipped with a wireless modem. The paper describes a demonstration which illustrates how an end user, through use of a palm-top personal computer equipped with wireless communication capability, can be alerted to incoming telephone calls and selectively route the calls to his or her current location and return messages to the caller. The demonstration identifies the value of providing seamless interconnectivity between wireline and wireless networks to meet the emerging communications needs of people on the move.