Answer supervision

Answer supervision is a term in telephony, describing a situation whereby the called party indicates to the central office that the call is being answered.

Overview

CAS E&M Signaling Basics

For digital channel associated signaling (CAS) Digital Signal 1 (T1) trunks that run E and M signaling (earth & magneto, or ear & mouth signaling), there are only two voice channel states. A channel is idle/on hook when there is no call on it or seized/off-hook/energized by an active call. There is no separate state for answered. It mimics an analog loopstart or groundstart line.

After a channel is initially seized, each device must indicate the progress of a call. The progress indicators include whether a call is answered or remains unanswered, and when a call is answered, which party disconnects first. These call progress states are important as telephony systems need to know when the call was attempted, answered, and cleared, hence the term answer and disconnect supervision.

Why Answer and Disconnect Supervision Is Required

The most obvious reason for answer and disconnect supervision is for billing—the telephone exchange and the customer need an accurate indication of calls through a network. It is standard for telephone companies not to charge for unanswered or unsuccessful calls. All call detail records (CDRs) produced should indicate a call was unanswered or unsuccessful, and therefore, incur no charge from the billing system.

Secondly, some systems may not cut through the audio path until there is a positive indication that the called party answered the call—there may not be an audio connection until the answer signal is sent.

Lastly, the channel should become free to take new calls when the previous call clears. Without an indication of the old call's disconnect, the trunk would not become available.

How it Works

This example shows E&M wink start signaling only. Other methods can be used, although this was the most common in 20th century private circuits.

Wink start is used to notify the remote side or PBX that it can send the Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS), also referred to as the Called Number.

For an incoming call, this occurs:

1. Calling switch goes off-hook. It sends ABCD bits = 1111.
2. The called switch sends wink. The ABCD bits transition from 0000 to 1111 for 200 ms, then back to 0000.
3. The calling switch sees the wink, and then proceeds to send the "DNIS" (called number) information. This is done when inband multifrequency/dual tone multifrequency (MF/DTMF) tones are sent.
4. The called switch goes off-hook when the call is answered. It sends ABCD bits = 1111.
5. The audio path is connected, parties can talk, and the billing system registers a call start record.

In an outgoing call the same procedure occurs, but the calling switch and called switch exchange roles.

These occur when a disconnect from the calling party happens:

1. Calling switch goes on-hook by sending ABCD bits = 0000.
2. The called router sees the network go on-hook and the router goes on-hook. ABCD bits = 0000.
3. The audio path is closed, and the billing system registers a call stop record.

For a disconnect from the called party to the calling party, these steps are reversed.

See also

Disconnect supervision.