Systems, methods, and devices for replacing a contact entry corresponding to a communication device with a contact entry corresponding to a user group

• US 10,082,934 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sorenson Ip Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Sorenson Ip Holdings, LLC
• Inventors: Walker, Merle L., Montero, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Young, Kevin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stitt, Erik V
• Application Number:
  US13/839,384
• Publication Number:
  US 20140282041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,020 Days
• Field of Search: 715810, 715764, 715739
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems and methods for presenting a change contact entries option to a user of a first communication device, and causing a contact entry corresponding to the first communication device to be replaced with a contact entry corresponding to a user group to which the first communication device belongs. The first communication device is configured to communicate with one or more servers responsive to being addressed both with a first unique identifier assigned thereto and a first group unique identifier assigned thereto as a member of the user group.

Claims

1. A video communication device for use by a hearing-impaired user, the video communication device comprising:

an electronic display; and

a processor operably coupled with the electronic display, the processor configured to;

associate an individual unique identifier with the video communication device that is unique to the video communication device such that incoming video calls cause only the video communication device to receive the incoming video call responsive to the incoming call being placed to the individual unique identifier;

associate a group unique identifier with a user'"'"'s device group that includes the video communication device and at least one additional video communication device associated with the same hearing-impaired user and having its own individual unique identifier such that incoming video calls placed to the group unique identifier from a non-member of the user'"'"'s device group cause each video communication device of the user'"'"'s device group to receive the incoming video call from a non-member of the user'"'"'s device group responsive to being placed to the group unique identifier;

generate a user interface on the electronic display, the user interface configured to;

after the user'"'"'s device group has already been established, change the group unique identifier for the user'"'"'s device group by selecting one of the individual unique identifiers associated with the video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group to promote to become the group unique identifier for future incoming calls to the user'"'"'s device group;

change a first contact entry including a first individual unique identifier associated with a first video communication device of the user'"'"'s device group with the group unique identifier; and

change a second contact entry including a second individual unique identifier associated with a second video communication device of the user'"'"'s device group with the user'"'"'s device group with the group unique identifier; and

automatically send the changes of the group unique identifier, the first contact entry, and the second contact entry to a remote server responsive to the change contact input thereby causing the remote server to cause the promoted individual unique identifier to be associated with the other video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group as the group unique identifier, and to update a remote contact list for a user account managed by the remote server for each remote video communication device that currently has the first contact entry and/or the second contact entry corresponding to the video communication devices stored in its remote contact list on its memory device to replace the first contact entry and/or the second contact entry with the group unique identifier in its remote contact list while leaving the third contact entry unchanged in any remote contact lists, wherein at least one remote communication device having the first contact entry is associated with a different user than the first user.

2. The video communication device of claim 1, further comprising a memory device operably coupled with the processor, and configured to store a local contact list including one or more contact entries corresponding to one or more other video communication devices.

3. The video communication device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically replace a fourth contact entry on the local contact list corresponding to a fourth video communication device with updated contact information for calling the fourth video communication device responsive to another hearing-impaired user of the fourth video communication device inputting the updated desired contact information into the fourth video communication device, wherein the fourth video communication device is a non-member of the user'"'"'s device group.

4. The video communication device of claim 3, wherein:

the user interface is configured to present the local contact list to the user; and

the processor is further configured to initiate a video call to the fourth video communication device responsive to the user selecting the fourth contact entry in its local contact list using the updated contact information corresponding to the fourth video communication device.

5. The video communication device of claim 4, wherein:

original contact information for the fourth contact entry prior to being updated was the fourth individual unique number for calling only the fourth video communication device;

the updated contact information for calling the fourth video communication device is another user'"'"'s device group unique identifier for another user'"'"'s device group that includes the fourth video communication device; and

the processor is configured to initiate the video call to the another user'"'"'s device group that includes the second video communication device and at least one additional video communication device responsive to the user selecting the second contact entry using the updated contact information corresponding to the another user'"'"'s device group.

6. The video communication device of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to change the group unique identifier for the user'"'"'s device group after the user'"'"'s device group has already been established by demoting the group unique identifier to be one of the individual unique identifiers associated with the video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group and issue a new group unique identifier for the user'"'"'s device group.

7. A method of managing a user'"'"'s device group and updating a remote contact entry of a remote contact list within a video communication system for facilitating video communication sessions for hearing-impaired users, the method comprising:

assigning a first individual unique identifier to a first video communication device, a second individual unique identifier to a second video communication device, and a third individual unique identifier to a third video communication device, wherein each of the first individual unique identifier, the second individual unique identifier, and the third individual unique identifier are used for video calls being routed only to the respective video communication device to which it is assigned;

assigning a first group unique identifier to a user'"'"'s device group of video communication devices that includes the first video communication device, the second video communication device, and the third video communication device, wherein the first group unique identifier is used for video calls being routed to all video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group associated with the same hearing-impaired user;

managing a contact database including a first contact entry for the first video communication device, a second contact entry for the second video communication device, and a third contact entry for the third communication device;

promoting a selected one of the first individual unique identifier, the second individual unique identifier, or the third individual unique identifier by a first hearing-impaired user through a user interface of the first video communication device to become the first group unique identifier after the user'"'"'s device group has been established such that the promoted individual unique identifier is used for subsequent video calls being routed to all video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group associated with the same hearing-impaired user;

receiving a user input from the first hearing-impaired user through the user interface of the first video communication device indicating a desired change of the first contact entry and the second contact entry to replace the first individual unique identifier with the first group unique identifier within the first contact entry, and to replace the second individual unique identifier with the second group unique identifier within the second contact entry; and

automatically replacing contact entries within each remote video communication device of the communication system that has the first individual unique identifier and/or the second individual unique identifier stored in its remote contact lists with the first group unique identifier responsive to the user selecting the change entries option after joining the user'"'"'s device group, wherein the remote video communication devices are associated with different users than the first hearing-impaired user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically replacing contact entries within each remote video communication device of the communication system comprises first replacing the first contact entry and the second contact entry in a master contact entry in a master contact list in the database managed by one or more servers that distributes the desired change of the first group unique identifier to each remote video communication device of the communication system that has the first individual unique identifier stored and/or the second individual unique identifier in its remote contact lists.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising notifying the remote video communication devices of the change in the master contact list.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically replacing contact entries within each remote video communication device of the communication system comprises automatically replacing the contact entries without notifying users of the remote video communication devices.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically replacing contact entries within each remote video communication device of the communication system comprises notifying users of the remote video communication devices that the contact entries having the contact information corresponding to the first video communication device and/or the second video communication device have been replaced with the desired change for the contact entry.

12. A video communication system, comprising:

one or more servers configured to;

manage contact lists for a plurality of video communication devices;

assign a different individual unique identifier to each video communication device of the plurality of video communication devices including a first video communication device, a second video communication device, and a third video communication device associated with a first user, and remote video communication devices associated with different users;

route incoming calls placed to one of the different individual unique identifiers to only the respective video communication device to which it is assigned;

assign a group unique identifier to a user'"'"'s device group of video communication devices including the first video communication device, the second video communication device, and the third video communication device all associated with the same first user, the group unique identifier for non-members of the user'"'"'s device group to place a video call to each device of the entire user'"'"'s device group instead of the devices individually;

route incoming calls placed to the group unique identifier from a non-member of the user'"'"'s device group to each video communication device assigned to group user'"'"'s device group;

promote a selected one of the different individual unique identifiers within the user'"'"'s device group to be assigned as the new group unique identifier after the user'"'"'s device group has been established for subsequent incoming calls;

route incoming calls placed to the new group unique identifier from a non-member of the user'"'"'s device group to each video communication device assigned to group user'"'"'s device group;

automatically replace at least some contact entries corresponding to the video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group from their respective individual unique identifier to the group unique identifier and distribute the changes to replace corresponding contact entries within remote contact lists in each remote video communication device of the communication system that has the corresponding individual identifier in its remote contact list for the contact entries of the user'"'"'s device group that were changed responsive to the first user of the first video communication device changing the corresponding contact entries for the user'"'"'s device group through the first video communication device after joining the user'"'"'s device group.

13. The video communication system of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers are further configured to automatically replace the contact entry corresponding to the first video communication device from the first individual identifier to the group unique identifier for the contact entry within the remote contact lists by updating a master contact list stored in a database of the one or more servers.

14. The video communication system of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers are further configured to automatically replace the group unique identifier with a new individual unique identifier assigned to the first video communication device within the remote contacts lists.

15. The video communication system of claim 12, wherein the first individual unique identifier comprises a descriptive indicator including information indicating any information from the group consisting of a user, a location, and a nature of the first video communication device.

16. The video communication system of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers are configured to notify each remote video communication device of the communication system that has the first individual identifier in its remote contact list for the contact entry corresponding to the first video communication device that a change is to be made to its remote contact list.

17. The video communication system of claim 12, further comprising a video relay service configured to provide interpretive services for video calls placed between a hearing-impaired user using a video communication device and a hearing-capable user using another communication device.

18. The video communication system of claim 12, wherein the one or more servers is further configured to:

manage individual account information for each individual video communication device of the plurality of video communication devices;

manage group account information to be shared among the video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group; and

promote the individual account information for the selected one of the individual unique identifiers within the user'"'"'s device group to be the group account information for the user'"'"'s device group.

19. The video communication system of claim 18, wherein the group account information includes group login credentials that provide access to a shared address book, a shared blocked caller list, a shared message history, shared text messages, shared video messages, and/or a shared call history for the different video communication devices of the user'"'"'s device group.

20. A communication system including a video relay service for providing interpretive assistance to hearing-impaired users during a video communication session, the communication system comprising:

a plurality of video communication devices;

a profile server configured to;

manage user accounts including at least one master contact list for hearing-impaired users of the plurality of video communication devices;

assign an individual unique identifier to each video communication device of the plurality;

assign a group unique identifier to each user'"'"'s device group that include a group of video communication devices of the plurality that are associated with respective individual hearing-impaired user;

promote a selected individual group identifier from within a user'"'"'s device group after the user'"'"'s device group has already been established to be the group unique identifier for the user'"'"'s device group for subsequent incoming calls;

communicate changes in the contact lists of the user accounts with the plurality of video communication devices by;

receiving a first updated contact entry from a first video communication device associated with a first user account to replace a first individual unique identifier with a first group unique identifier within the first contact entry for the first video communication device;

receiving a second updated contact entry from the first video communication device associated with the first user account to replace a second individual unique identifier with the first group unique identifier within the second contact entry for a second video communication device that is part of the same first user'"'"'s device group as the first video communication device;

update master contact lists maintained by the profile server for each of the other user accounts that have master contact lists that currently include the contact entry and/or the second contact entry associated with the first user account to be replaced by the updated contact entry, while maintaining contact entries associated with the first user'"'"'s device group that were not changed by the first user; and

transmit the updated contact entry to each of the video communication devices associated with the other user accounts that included master contact lists that currently include the first contact entry and/or the second contact entry for the first user account for the other video communication devices to replace the first contact entry and/or the second contact entry with the updated contact entry within their respective local contact lists; and

a call routing server configured to;

route an incoming call to an individual video communication device responsive to the incoming call being placed using one of the individual unique identifiers;

route the incoming call to a group of video communication device associated with a user'"'"'s device group responsive to the incoming call being placed using one of the group unique identifiers; and

connect the incoming call to a translator for providing sign language translation services for the hearing-impaired user during an established communication session with a hearing-capable user.