Methods and computer program products for managing a plurality of voice-over internet protocol phone lines in customer premises equipment

• US 20070064682A1
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weeks, Phillip, Johnson, Brett, Stone, Alan, Newton, Greg, Adams, Jennifer, Tan, Tuck
• Application Number:
  US11/311,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20070064682A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set

Abstract

A method of managing a plurality of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone lines assigned to a VoIP Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). A VoIP call window is displayed on a display device of the VoIP CPE. A different one of a plurality of sub-windows are assigned to each of the different VoIP phone lines. The sub-windows are displayed so that they can be viewed at the same time within the VoIP call window. An indicia is displayed within each of the sub-windows that identifies with which of the VoIP phone lines each sub-window is assigned.

Claims

1. A computer program product for managing a plurality of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone lines assigned to a VoIP Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program product comprising:

computer readable program code configured to display a VoIP call window on a display device of the VoIP CPE;

computer readable program code configured to assign a different one of a plurality of sub-windows to each of the different VoIP phone lines;

computer readable program code configured to display the sub-windows so that they can be viewed at the same time within the VoIP call window; and

computer readable program code configured to display indicia within each of the sub-windows that identifies with which of the VoIP phone lines each sub-window is assigned.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein when a first VoIP phone line assigned to a first one of the sub-windows is connected via a VoIP call with a first CPE, and when a second VoIP phone line assigned to a second one of the sub-windows is connected via a VoIP call with a second CPE, the computer readable program product further comprises computer readable program code configured to establish a conference call that joins the VoIP calls of the first and second CPEs on one of the first and second VoIP phone lines in response to one of the first and second sub-windows being dragged on the display device by a user so that it at least partially overlaps the other one of the first and second sub-windows.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the computer readable program code configured to establish a conference call is configured to join the VoIP calls with the first and second CPEs to establish the conference call on the first VoIP phone line and to return the second VoIP phone line to an idle state in response to the second sub-window being at least partially dragged onto the first sub-window.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the computer readable program code configured to establish a conference call is configured to join the VoIP calls with the first and second CPEs to establish the conference call on the second VoIP phone line and to return the first VoIP phone line to an idle state in response to the first sub-window being at least partially dragged onto the second sub-window.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to display call status information for each of the VoIP phone lines in the assigned sub-windows, wherein the displayed call status information comprises indicia that identifies the assigned VoIP phone line as one of a group comprising an idle state, a call in progress state, and receiving an incoming call state.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein computer readable program code configured to display call status information for each of the VoIP phone lines in the assigned sub-windows is further configured to selectively display call status information in a selected sub-window in response to a user moving a displayed cursor into the selected sub-window.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein computer readable program code configured to display call status information for each of the VoIP phone lines in the assigned sub-windows is further configured to simultaneously display call status information in each of the sub-windows.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to display indicia within each of the sub-windows that identifies a number of unanswered calls that have been directed to the VoIP phone lines assigned to those sub-windows.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to display indicia within each of the sub-windows that identifies a number of calls recorded in a voice mailbox associated with the VoIP phone lines assigned to those sub-windows.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code configured to display the sub-windows is further configured to expand a displayed first one of the sub-windows in response to a user selecting a defined portion of the first sub-window, and to display in the expanded first sub-window a plurality of user selectable call dialing action indicia, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to dial a VoIP call on the VoIP phone line assigned to the first sub-window using a phone number that is selected, in response to user selection among the plurality of call dialing action indicia, among a group comprising a user entered phone number, a last called phone number, and a phone number of a previous call.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code configured to display the sub-windows is further configured to expand a displayed first one of the sub-windows in response to an incoming call being received on the VoIP phone line assigned to the first sub-window, and to display in the expanded first sub-window indicia that indicates that the incoming call is being received and caller ID information for the incoming call.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising computer readable program code configured to display in the expanded first sub-window a plurality of user selectable call receiving action indicia, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to carry out an action selected, in response to a user selection among the plurality of call receiving action indicia, from a group comprising answering the incoming call on the VoIP phone line assigned to the first sub-window, ignoring the incoming call, transferring the incoming call to another phone number, and sending the incoming call to a voice mailbox.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein a first VoIP call is in progress on the VoIP phone line assigned to the first sub-window while the incoming call is received, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to display at the same time call status information in the first sub-window for both the first VoIP call that is in progress and the incoming call.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code configured to display in the first sub-window a plurality of user selectable call receiving action indicia, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to carry out an action selected, in response to a user selection among the plurality of call receiving action indicia, from a group comprising answering the incoming VoIP call while substantially simultaneously placing the first VoIP call on hold, joining the first VoIP call and the incoming call into a multi-party conference call, transferring the incoming call to another phone number, and sending the incoming VoIP call to a voice mailbox.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code configured to carry out an action is further configured to select the action from the group which further comprises adding a phone number of the incoming call to a blocking list of phone number and to subsequently block incoming phone calls that originate from phone numbers corresponding to those contained in the blocking list.

16. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code configured to display the sub-windows is further configured to expand a displayed first one of the sub-windows in response to a user selecting a defined portion of the first sub-window when a VoIP call is in progress on the VoIP phone line assigned to the first sub-window, and to display in the expanded first sub-window a plurality of user selectable call in progress action indicia, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to carry out an action selected, in response to a user selection among the plurality of call in progress action indicia, from a group comprising transferring the VoIP call to another phone number, sending the VoIP call to a voice mailbox, placing the VoIP call on hold, terminating the VoIP call, and joining the VoIP call with another VoIP call to form a multi-party conference call.

17. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to associate a plurality of user defined line profiles into a profile list, to selectively assign one of the line profiles from the profile list to one of the sub-windows in response to a user command, and to display in the sub-windows an indicia that identifies which one of the line profiles is assigned to the respective sub-windows.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein each of the line profiles in the list can define a group of blocked phone numbers, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to block an incoming phone call to a VoIP phone line assigned to a first one of the sub-windows when a phone number of the incoming call is in the group of blocked phone numbers defined by a line profile assigned to the first sub-window.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein each of the line profiles in the list can define a phone number to which an incoming call is to be forwarded, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to forward an incoming phone call which is directed to a VoIP phone line assigned to a first one of the sub-windows instead to a phone number defined by a line profile assigned to the first sub-window.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein each of the line profiles in the list can define a do-not-disturb status that is selectively enabled and disabled, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to selectively generate an audible incoming call announcement to a user based on a do-not-disturb status defined by a line profile assigned to the first sub-window.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the computer readable program code configured to selectively generate an audible incoming call announcement to a user based on a do-not-disturb status defined by a line profile assigned to the first sub-window is further configured to send an incoming call to a voice mailbox associated with the VoIP phone line assigned to the first one of the sub-windows when the defined do-not-disturb status is enabled.

22. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to make a VoIP phone call on a VoIP phone line assigned to first one of the sub-windows in response to a user dragging a phone number on the display device from a software application on the VoIP CPE to the first sub-window.

23. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to receive a phone number from a software application on the VoIP CPE in response to a user selecting the phone number in the software application; and

computer readable program code configured to make a VoIP phone call to the received phone number using a VoIP phone line assigned to first one of the sub-windows.

24. A method of managing a plurality of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone lines assigned to a VoIP Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), the method comprising:

displaying a VoIP call window on a display device of the VoIP CPE;

assigning a different one of a plurality of sub-windows to each of the different VoIP phone lines;

displaying the sub-windows so that they can be viewed at the same time within the VoIP call window;

displaying an indicia within each of the sub-windows that identifies with which of the VoIP phone lines each sub-window is assigned.

25. The method of claim 24, when a first VoIP phone line assigned to a first one of the sub-windows is connected via a VoIP call with a first CPE, and when a second VoIP phone line assigned to a second one of the sub-windows is connected via a VoIP call with a second CPE, the method further comprises establishing a conference call that joins the VoIP calls of the first and second CPEs on one of the first and second VoIP phone lines in response to one of the first and second sub-windows being dragged on the display device by a user so that it at least partially overlaps the other one of the first and second sub-windows

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising displaying call status information for each of the VoIP phone lines in the assigned sub-windows, wherein the displayed call status information comprises indicia that identifies the assigned VoIP phone line as one of a group comprising an idle state, a call in progress state, and receiving an incoming call state.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

forming a profile list that contains a plurality of user defined line profiles;

selectively assigning one of the line profiles from the profile list to one of the sub-windows in response to a user command; and

displaying in the sub-windows an indicia that identifies which one of the line profiles is assigned to the respective sub-windows.