Subscribers' meter recording in an electronic telephone exchange

Abstract

The paper describes a method of meter recording within an electronic t.d.m. telephone exchange in which a magnetic drum is the basic storage medium.The meter records consist of the total number of unit fees that have accrued to each line on the exchange. Shared lines have a separate meter record for each party. Under present conditions, a unit fee corresponds to one local call; these calls are not timed. With subscriber trunk dialling, all calls will be timed, and the number of unit fees recorded for each call will depend on the distance of the call and its duration.Meter records are stored on the magnetic drum. Addition to a meter record on the drum is carried out under the control of meter pulses received from the supervisory equipment; each meter pulse represents a unit fee.Provision has been made for meter records to be read out at a meter record centre (m.r.c), remote from the exchange. Selection of the meter records to be read out, and the time at which this takes place is made at the m.r.c. When the meter records are read out, printed copies and/or punched tapes suitable for feeding into a general-purpose computer are produced at the m.r.c.