Winking is a
telephony signalling technique used both in connection with DC signalling on a trunk, and with indicator lamps on a
key telephone.
In
telephone switching
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...
systems, wink pulsing is recurring
pulsing in which the ''off'' condition is relatively short compared to the ''on'' condition. In wink start trunks, the exchange at the originating seizes the trunk for an outgoing call. The terminating end indicates readiness to receive the dialled
telephone number
A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...
by sending an off-hook (current reversal) of approximately half a second duration, or "wink". Upon receiving this ''go ahead'' signal, the originating end uses
multi-frequency
In telephony, multi-frequency signaling (MF) is a type of signaling that was introduced by the Bell System after World War II. It uses a combination of audible tones for address ( telephone number) transport and supervision signaling on trunk ...
, DTMF, or dial pulse signalling to send the phone number.
On
1A2 key systems or similar key-operated telephone instruments, the hold position, ''i.e.,'' the hold condition, of a
line is often indicated by winking the associated lamp at 120 impulses per minute. During 6% of the
pulse period the lamp is off and 94% of the period the lamp is on, ''i.e.,'' 30 ms (milliseconds) off and 470 ms on.
References
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{{telephony-stub
Telephony signals