System and method for providing a dual mode phone feature proxy in a network environment

• US 20060121891A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pearce, Christopher E., Jagadeesan, Ramanathan T., Nguyen, Bich T.
• Application Number:
  US11/003,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20060121891A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/12 Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/16 WPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A mobile station is provided that includes a first wireless interface operable to couple to a first wireless network, and a second wireless interface operable to couple to a second wireless network. A controller included in the mobile station is operable to negotiate a first wireless link with the first wireless network using the first wireless interface, to establish a communication session with a device using the first wireless link, to facilitate the communication session with a second wireless link with the second wireless network using the second wireless interface, and to invoke a selected one of a plurality of private branch exchange features. One or more of the features are delivered to the mobile station via a phone feature proxy function that is enabled by a mobility application that is operable to communicate with the mobile station.

Claims

1. A mobile station, comprising:

a first wireless interface operable to couple to a first wireless network;

a second wireless interface operable to couple to a second wireless network; and

a controller operable to negotiate a first wireless link with the first wireless network using the first wireless interface, to establish a communication session with a device using the first wireless link, to facilitate the communication session with a second wireless link with the second wireless network using the second wireless interface, and to invoke a selected one of a plurality of private branch exchange features, wherein one or more of the features are delivered to the mobile station via a phone feature proxy function that is enabled by a mobility application that is operable to communicate with the mobile station.

2. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the mobile station is further operable to invoke one or more of the features by initiating one or more corresponding dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) codes.

3. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the controller is further operable to facilitate a session handoff for the mobile station.

4. The mobile station of claim 3, wherein the controller is further operable to facilitate the session handoff in a scenario that includes a selected one of a hold/resume operation and a call transfer operation.

5. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the controller is further operable to transfer the communication session from the first wireless link to the second wireless link using a call transfer feature.

6. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the mobile station communicates with the mobility application in order to provide call state and feature state information.

7. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the mobile station is operable to provide feedback to an end user of the mobile station in a presence or in an absence of feedback being provided via the second wireless network.

8. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein a session handoff is executed in response to the mobile station monitoring data associated with the first network until the data exceeds a selected one of a plurality of session handoff thresholds, the selected session handoff threshold causing the mobile station to utilize the second network.

9. A system for effecting communication between wireless networks, comprising:

a mobility application operable to communicate with a mobile station and to transfer a communication session from a first wireless link to a second wireless link, wherein the mobile station is operable to negotiate a first wireless link with a first wireless network, to establish a communication session with a device using the first wireless link, to facilitate the communication session with a second wireless link with the second wireless network using the second wireless interface, and to invoke a selected one or more of a plurality of private branch exchange features, and wherein one or more of the features are delivered to the mobile station via a phone feature proxy function that is enabled by the mobility application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein one or more of the features are invoked by leveraging one or more corresponding dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) codes.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobility application is further operable to map one or more of the codes to one or more voice over IP (VoIP) features provided to the mobile station.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the mobility application is further operable to initiate a selected one of the private branch exchange features that operates to transfer the communication session from the first wireless link to the second wireless link.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobility application facilitates a session handoff.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobility application is further operable to facilitate the session handoff in a scenario that includes a selected one of a hold/resume operation and a call transfer operation.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the mobility application further comprises a call manager that is operable to provide one or more telephony services to the mobile station.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the mobility application keeps track of a feature or a call state of the mobile station.

17. A method facilitating communications between wireless networks, comprising:

negotiating, by a mobile station, a first wireless link with a first wireless network using a first wireless interface;

establishing a communication session between the mobile station and a device using the first wireless link;

facilitating the communication session with a second wireless link with a second wireless network using a second wireless interface; and

invoking a selected one of a plurality of private branch exchange features, wherein one or more of the features are delivered to the mobile station via a phone feature proxy function.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the invocation of one or more of the features is initiated by one or more corresponding dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) codes.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

facilitating a session handoff for the mobile station.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the mobile station is further operable to facilitate the session handoff in a scenario that includes a selected one of a hold/resume operation and a call transfer operation.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transferring the communication session from the first wireless link to the second wireless link using a call transfer feature.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

monitoring a signal quality of the first wireless link; and

triggering a session handoff when the signal quality drops below a threshold.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the session handoff is executed in response to the mobile station monitoring data associated with the first network until the data exceeds a selected one of a plurality of session handoff thresholds, the selected session handoff threshold causing the mobile station to utilize the second network.

24. A method for facilitating communications between wireless networks, comprising:

communicating with a mobile station;

transferring a communication session from a first wireless link to a second wireless link, wherein the mobile station is operable to negotiate a first wireless link with a first wireless network, to establish a communication session with a device using the first wireless link, to facilitate the communication session with a second wireless link with the second wireless network using the second wireless interface, and to invoke a selected one or more of a plurality of private branch exchange features; and

delivering one or more of the features to the mobile station via a phone feature proxy function.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein one or more of the features are invoked by leveraging one or more corresponding dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) codes.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

mapping one or more of the codes to one or more voice over IP (VoIP) features provided to the mobile station.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

initiating a selected one of the private branch exchange features that operates to transfer the communication session from the first wireless link to the second wireless link.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

providing one or more telephony services to the mobile station.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

facilitating a session handoff for the mobile station.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein, based on a quality of the first wireless link, the session handoff is triggered.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the session handoff is executed in a scenario that includes a selected one of a hold/resume operation and a call transfer operation