DEFINITION of 'Patent'. A government license that gives the holder exclusive rights to a process, design or new invention for a designated period of time. Applications for patents are usually handled by a government agency. In the U.S. the United States Patent and Trademark Office handles application and documentation. Next Up.
Definition of attendant - a person employed to provide a service to the public in a particular place, a person who is present on a particular occasion Definition of attendant - a person employed to provide a service to the public in a particular place, a person who is present on a particular occasion dictionary thesaurus
In telephony or Unified Messaging environments, an automated attendant or auto attendant menu system transfers callers to the extension of a user or department without the intervention of a receptionist or an operator. In many auto attendant systems, a receptionist or operator can be reached by pressing or saying zero. The automated attendant is a feature on most modern Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and Unified Messaging solutions.