Adaptable communication profiles in telephone networks

• US 20060218283A1
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: MacIntosh, Robert W., Vinokurov, Dmitri, Jones, Emanuele
• Granted Patent: US 7,965,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42008 Systems for anonymous communication between parties, e.g. by use of disposal contact identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0075 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

A system and method are provided for providing multiple aliases and associated policy profiles for a user of a VoIP communication system. The user configures a multitude of aliases by the user wishes to be contacted, and associates with each alias a policy stored at a user terminal. The aliases are stored within the network so as to be associated with contact information for the user terminal. A proxy processes call requests by determining the contact information associated with an alias entered by a caller, and forwards the call request to the user terminal associated with the contact information. The user terminal determines the alias used by the caller, and processes the connection request in accordance with the policy. The invention allows users to add and delete aliases in order to effect temporary and private contact information. Calls can be handled depending on which alias was used by a caller, rather than on an identification of the device used by the caller. The proxy may also store proxy policies in association with the aliases and process call requests accordingly, such as billing a call request to a customer account specified by the proxy policy corresponding to the alias entered by a caller.

Claims

1. A method of establishing connections in a Voice over Internet Protocol communication network, comprising:

storing a plurality of user-configurable aliases in association with contact information of a user terminal;

at a proxy, receiving a call request for establishing a connection, the call request including one of the aliases;

determining the contact information associated with the alias included in the call request; and

establishing the connection to the user terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the plurality of user-configurable aliases comprises:

adding to storage an alias entered by a user; and

deleting from storage an alias specified by the user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the alias entered by the user for addition to storage is entered by the user at the user terminal, and wherein the alias specified by the user for deletion is specified by the user at the user terminal.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the alias entered by the user for addition to storage is entered by the user at an alias management interface device separate from the user terminal, and wherein the alias specified by the user for deletion is specified by the user at the alias management interface device.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein adding to storage an alias entered by a user comprises receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) REGISTER message identifying the alias, and wherein deleting from storage an alias specified by the user comprises receiving an SIP REGISTER message identifying the alias.

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

for each alias, storing at the user terminal a local policy associated with the alias;

at the user terminal, determining the alias included in the call request; and

at the user terminal, processing the call request in accordance with the local policy associated with the alias included in the call request.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein processing the call request comprises blocking the call request.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein processing the call request further comprises playing a recorded message specified by the local policy associated with the alias.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein processing the call request comprises playing a recorded message specified by the local policy associated with the alias.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein processing the call request comprises displaying at the user terminal a display name specified by the local policy associated with the alias.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein processing the call request comprises forwarding the call request to a second user terminal specified by the local policy associated with the alias.

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

for each alias, storing at the proxy a proxy policy associated with the alias;

at the proxy, processing the call request in accordance with the proxy policy associated with the alias included in the call request.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein processing the call request comprises billing the call request to a customer account specified by the proxy policy associated with the alias included in the call request.

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

at the proxy, determining a unique outgoing alias associated with a caller device from which the call request is received; and

when establishing the connection to the user terminal, inserting the unique outgoing alias as an identifier of the caller device.

15. A user terminal for use in a Voice over Internet Protocol communication network, comprising:

a memory for storing at least one alias and at least one local policy, each local policy being associated with a respective alias;

an alias manager for communicating to a Registrar aliases which are to be added or deleted from association with contact information of the user terminal; and

a call processor for receiving a call request from a proxy, for extracting a received alias from the call request, and for applying the local policy associated with the received alias.

16. The user terminal of claim 15 wherein the alias manager is configured to communicate, to the Registrar, aliases which are to be added or deleted in response to commands entered by a user.

17. The user terminal of claim 15 further comprising:

means to store in the memory a blocking policy in association with a primary alias generated upon registration of the user terminal with the communication network,

whereby incoming call requests which include the primary alias as the received alias are blocked by the user terminal.

18. A method of processing a call request at a proxy in a Voice over Internet Protocol communication network, comprising:

receiving the call request from a caller device;

determining an alias entered by a user of the caller device;

determining contact information associated with the alias;

determining a unique outgoing alias associated with the caller device;

inserting the unique outgoing alias into the call request as a caller device identifier; and

forwarding the call request to a user terminal identified by the contact information.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

determining a proxy policy associated with the alias entered by the user, the proxy policy being stored at the proxy;

processing the call request in accordance with the proxy policy associated with the alias.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein processing the call request in accordance with the proxy policy comprises billing the call request to a customer account specified by the proxy policy.