On hold call retrieval & routing

• US 20050124326A1
• Filed: 12/04/2003
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pierc, Jennnifer A., Hirsbrunner, Alex P., Belkin, Anatoly S., Hoshen, Josheph, Segal, Niranjan N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,477,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/428 Arrangements for placing incoming calls on hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

A wireless communication unit (101, 200, 401), network switch (112, 300, 407) and corresponding methods facilitate retrieval, routing, and management of on-hold calls (FIG. 4-FIG. 7) within a first communication network (103) when the unit is operating in a second communication network (105) that is loosely coupled to the first. The communication unit comprises a transceiver (203) configured to support an air interface with the first and the second communication network; and a controller (209) arranged to cooperatively operate with the transceiver to retrieve an on-hold call from the first network via a call leg established to support a handout to and while the unit is operating in the second network. A user interface (211) and in band signaling over the call leg facilitates management, connecting, disconnecting, etc., of the on-hold calls by the communication unit.

Claims

1. A wireless communication unit arranged and constructed for operation within a loosely coupled communication network comprising a first communication network and a second communication network, the wireless communication unit comprising:

a transceiver configured to support an air interface with the first communication network and with the second communication network; and

a controller arranged to control and cooperatively operate with the transceiver to retrieve an on-hold call from the first communication network via a call leg established to support a handout to and while the wireless communication unit is operating in the second communication network.

2. The wireless communication unit of claim 1 wherein the controller cooperatively with the transceiver is operable to one of disconnect and place on-hold an active call over the call leg and then connect the on-hold call, where the on-hold call is coupled from the first communication network to the wireless communication unit via the second communication network over the call leg.

3. The wireless communication unit of claim 1 wherein the on-hold call is one of i) automatically coupled to the wireless communication unit responsive to one of disconnecting and placing on-hold an active call and ii) connected to the wireless communication unit responsive to signaling provided to the first communication network via the call leg by the controller cooperatively with the transceiver.

4. The wireless communication unit of claim 3 wherein the controller cooperatively with the transceiver uses one of in-band and out of band signaling to provide a code to the first communication network that one of connects an on-hold call, disconnects an active call, and places an active call on-hold.

5. The wireless communication unit of claim 4 wherein the on-hold call is a plurality of on-hold calls and the controller cooperatively with the transceiver is operable to one of connect, disconnect, and place back on-hold one of the plurality of on-hold calls and to receive a second of the plurality of on-hold calls until all of the plurality of on-hold calls have been disconnected.

6. The wireless communication unit of claim 5 wherein the controller cooperatively with the transceiver uses the in-band signaling to provide unique codes to the first communication network where the unique codes includes a code corresponding to each of the plurality of on-hold calls that can be used to connect the each of the plurality of on-hold calls.

7. The wireless communication unit of claim 6 wherein the controller cooperatively with the transceiver uses the in-band signaling to one of provide one of the unique codes to disconnect the active call and provide another one of the unique codes to place the active call on-hold.

8. The wireless communication unit of claim 7 further comprising a user interface coupled to the controller, wherein the user interface is operable to indicate to the controller when to one of disconnect the active call, place the active call on-hold, select the on-hold call that will be connected, select a next on-hold call to be connected, and select a previous on-hold call to be connected.

9. The wireless communication unit of claim 6 further comprising a user interface, wherein the user interface is operable to select and indicate to the controller which of the plurality of on-hold calls will be connected, where a call identifier for each of the on-hold calls is used by the controller to order the on-hold calls and the code corresponding to each of the plurality of on-hold calls is assigned according to the order, thereby allowing the first communication network and the wireless communication unit to refer to the same on-hold call with a corresponding unique code.

10. The wireless communication unit of claim 3 wherein the signaling is one of Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signaling and session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling.

11. A communication network switch operable to route calls for a first communication network, the communication network switch comprising:

a switching function operable to couple the first communication network to a second communication network, where the first communication network and the second communication network comprise a loosely coupled communication network; and

a controller arranged to control and cooperatively operate with the switching function to connect, via a call leg to the second communication network, an on-hold call in the first communication network to the wireless communication unit after the call leg is established to support a handout of the wireless communication unit to and while the wireless communication unit is operating in the second communication network.

12. The communication network switch of claim 11 further comprising a mobility manager that is operable to facilitate mobility of wireless communications units including the wireless communication unit by tracking network contacts for the wireless communication units, wherein the mobility manager cooperatively with the controller and the switching function is operable to establish the call leg between the second communications network and the first communications network.

13. The communication network switch of claim 12 wherein the controller cooperatively with the switching function is operable to connect the on-hold call by one of i) automatically connecting the on-hold call to the wireless communication unit responsive to one of disconnecting and placing on-hold an active call and ii) connecting the on-hold call to the wireless communication unit responsive to signaling received by the communication network switch from the wireless communication unit over the call leg.

14. The communication network switch of claim 13 wherein the controller cooperatively with the switching function receives a code via one of in-band and out of band signaling and responsive to the code, one of connects an on-hold call, disconnects an active call, and places an active call on-hold.

15. The communication network switch of claim 14 wherein the on-hold call is a plurality of on-hold calls and the controller cooperatively with the switching function is operable to one of connect, disconnect, and place back on-hold one of the plurality of on-hold calls and to connect a second of the plurality of on-hold calls until all of the plurality of on-hold calls have been disconnected.

16. The communication network switch of claim 15 wherein the controller cooperatively with the switching function receives unique codes via the in-band signaling, where the unique codes include a code corresponding to each one of the plurality of on-hold calls and indicates to the communication network switch which of the plurality of on-hold calls should be connected.

17. The communication network switch of claim 16 wherein the controller cooperatively with the switching function receives, via the in-band signaling, one of the unique codes to indicate that the active call should be disconnected and another one of the unique codes to indicate that the active call should be placed on-hold.

18. The communication network switch of claim 17 wherein the mobility manager is further operable to order the plurality of on-hold calls according to a call identifier corresponding to each of the on-hold calls and assign the code corresponding to each of the plurality of on-hold calls according to the order, thereby allowing the first communication network and the wireless communication unit to refer to the same on-hold call with a corresponding unique code.

19. The communication network switch of claim 18 wherein the signaling is one of Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) signaling and session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling.

20. A method in a first communication network for routing on-hold calls to a wireless communication unit operating in a second communications network, where the first and second communication network comprise a loosely coupled network, the method comprising:

establishing a call leg from the first communication network to the second communication network as part of effecting a hand out of the wireless communication unit to the second communication network; and

connecting, via the call leg to the second communication network, an on-hold call at the first communication network to the wireless communication unit after the handout of the wireless communication unit to and while the wireless communication unit is operating in the second communication network.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising connecting the on-hold call to the wireless communication unit over the call leg, responsive to an active call over the call leg being one of disconnected and placed on-hold.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the connecting the on-hold call further comprises one of i) automatically connecting the on-hold call responsive to an active call being one of disconnected and placed on-hold and ii) connecting the on-hold call responsive to signaling received over the call leg at the first communication network from the wireless communication unit.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising receiving a code via one of in-band and out of band signaling and responsive to the code, one of connecting an on-hold call, disconnecting an active call, and placing an active call on-hold.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the on-hold call is a plurality of on-hold calls and the method further comprises one of connecting, disconnecting, and placing back on-hold one of the plurality of on-hold calls and connecting a second of the plurality of on-hold calls until all of the plurality of on-hold calls have been disconnected.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising receiving unique codes via in-band signaling, where the unique codes include a code corresponding to each one of the plurality of on-hold calls and indicating which of the plurality of on-hold calls should be connected.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising receiving, via the in-band signaling, one of the unique codes to indicate that the active call should be disconnected and another one of the unique codes to indicate that the active call should be placed on-hold.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising ordering the plurality of on-hold calls according to a call identifier corresponding to each of the on-hold calls and assigning the code corresponding to each of the plurality of on-hold calls according to the order, thereby allowing the first communication network and the wireless communication unit to refer to the same on-hold call with a corresponding unique code.