System and method for reconnecting dropped cellular phone calls

• US 20050070286A1
• Filed: 09/30/2003
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Jenner, Richard, Jones, Mark, Awasthi, Nikhil
• Granted Patent: US 7,395,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method of reliably determining that a cellular phone call has been dropped and then automatically reconnect the call. The invention is applicable for use in telephone systems that have off-premises call hunting algorithms and thereby use separate telephony channels for the inbound and outbound legs of a call.

Claims

1. A method for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, said telephone connection having been established by a telephone call having been initially placed by the calling party to a primary number of the called party and subsequently rerouted by a telephony server to an auxiliary number assigned to the called party, thereby establishing an inbound call from the calling party to the server and an outbound call from the server to the called party, said method comprising the steps of:

monitoring the status of the inbound call;

monitoring the status of the outbound call;

detecting the situation where the status of the inbound call is active and the status of the outbound call is dropped; and

,

attempting to reestablish the telephone connection with the called party should said situation exceed a predetermined period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

communicating a message to the calling party requesting verification that the telephone connection was unintentionally terminated;

receiving said verification prior to said attempting step; and

,

terminating the inbound call in the event no verification is received in a fixed period of time.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring of words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and

,

terminating the inbound call in the event said one or more standard closing remarks are detected.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring of words used by the called party during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and

,

terminating the inbound call in the event said one or more standard closing remarks are detected.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of enabling and disabling the reconnect feature upon receipt of a command from the called party.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of periodically repeating said attempting step a fixed number of times or until the telephone connection is reestablished.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of granting the calling party access to a voice mailbox of the called party in the event the telephone connection is not reestablished after the fixed number of attempts were unsuccessful.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the number of attempts and how often they occur are each settable parameters.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of receiving a command from the calling party to terminate the repeating step and thereby granting the calling party access to a voice mailbox of the called party.

10. A system for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, said telephone connection having been established by a telephone call having been initially placed by the calling party to a primary number of the called party and subsequently rerouted by a telephony server to an auxiliary number assigned to the called party, thereby establishing an inbound call from the calling party to the server and an outbound call from the server to the called party, said system comprising:

a first monitoring means for monitoring the status of the inbound call;

a second monitoring means for monitoring the status of the outbound call;

a means for detecting the situation where the status of the inbound call is active and the status of the outbound call is dropped; and

,

a means for attempting to reestablish the telephone connection with the called party should said situation exceed a predetermined period of time.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

a means for communicating a message to the calling party requesting verification that the telephone connection was unintentionally terminated;

a means for receiving said verification prior to said attempting step; and

,

a means for terminating the inbound call in the event no verification is received in a fixed period of time.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

a third monitoring means for monitoring of words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and

,

a means for terminating the inbound call in the event said one or more standard closing remarks are detected.

13. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

a third monitoring means for monitoring of words used by the called party during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and

,

a means for terminating the inbound call in the event said one or more standard closing remarks are detected.

14. The system of claim 10 further comprising a means for enabling/disabling the reconnect feature upon receipt of an appropriate command from the called party.

15. The system of claim 10 further comprising further comprising a means for periodically repeating said attempting step a fixed number of times or until the telephone connection is reestablished.

16. The system of claim 10 further comprising further comprising a means for granting the calling party access to a voice mailbox of the called party in the event the telephone connection is not reestablished after the fixed number of attempts were unsuccessful.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the number of attempts and how often they occur are each settable parameters.

18. The system of claim 15 further comprising a means for receiving a command from the calling party to terminate the repeating step and granting the calling party access to a voice mailbox of the called party.