Augmenting a call with context

• US 20070036284A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Raghav, Amritansh, Tidwell, Paul, Shtiegman, Eran, Pall, Gurdeep
• Granted Patent: US 7,623,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4365 based on information specified by the calling party, e.g. priority or subject
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service

Abstract

A method and system for providing context of a caller to a callee when a call is initiated is provided. The context system executing on the calling device collects context for the call. The calling device initiates the call and sends a message to the callee that includes the context. Upon receiving the message, the callee device notifies the caller that a call has been initiated and displays the received context. The callee can decide based on the received context whether to answer the call or not answer the call.

Claims

1. A method in a device of a caller for providing context for a call, the method comprising:

identifying a callee;

collecting via the device context for the call; and

sending a request to initiate the call with the identified callee wherein the collected context is sent to the callee before the call is answered.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a caller indicates to place the call in the context of an application and the context is automatically collected based on a current state of the application.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the application is an electronic mail system and the context is an electronic mail message sent by the callee.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the context includes documents selected by the caller.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the context includes delivery options for the call.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the context includes digital rights management options for handling the context sent to the callee.

7. The method of claim 1 including allowing the caller to modify the context before it is sent to the callee.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the context is sent via a SIP invitation to initiate the call.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the context is sent as a SIP extension.

10. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a device to receive context for a call, the method comprising:

receiving a request to initiate a call and context associated with the call;

determining how to handle the call based on the context associated with the call; and

handling the call as determined.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the determining includes presenting the call along with the context to the callee and receiving from the callee an indication of how to handle the call.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the handling of the call is archiving the call along with its context.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the determining includes applying rules to the context and when a condition of a rule is satisfied by the context, performing an action of the rule.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein a rule is specified by the callee.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein a default rule is to present the call along with the context to the callee.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the context indicates delivery options selected from a group consisting of urgency, sensitivity, and privacy.

17. A device of a caller for providing context for a call, comprising:

a component that identifies a callee of the call;

a component that collects via the device context for the call; and

a component that sends a SIP request to the callee inviting the callee to the call, the SIP request including the collected context so that the callee can determine how to handle the call based on the context.

18. The device of claim 17 wherein a caller indicates to place the call in the context of an application and the component that collects the context automatically collects the context based on a current state of the application.

19. The device of claim 17 wherein the context indicates delivery options selected from a group consisting of urgency, sensitivity, and privacy.

20. The device of claim 17 wherein the component that collects allows the caller to modify the context before the context is sent to the callee.