Selective voice communication among multiple services
First Claim
1. In a voice communication system including a plurality of voice communication services, a method for automatically establishing a connection between a caller and a callee over a caller selectable voice communication service, comprising the steps of:
- maintaining for a caller, and making available to the caller'"'"'s communication equipment, a database associating callees with communication services in use by them;
including in the database a set of destination identities for each callee, each destination identity being associated with a different communication service;
establishing a set of selection criteria for each destination identity, the selection criteria being related to characteristics of the connection being established;
selecting a destination identity for the intended callee based upon the selection criteria.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
When a voice call is made between two users (Caller and Callee), both of which may have access to multiple voice communication services, the connection is made automatically by the communication equipment through a selectable communication service, based upon characteristics of connection. Those characteristics may include the services available to the users, the day of the week, the time of day, the availability of the Callee on a service, the geographic locations of the Caller and Callee, and Caller pre-established service preferences. Preferably, Caller preferences and associations of callees with unique destination identifiers are stored in a database created for the Caller and available to his communication equipment. An ultimate callee identifier selected for a particular call includes an indication of communication service, and connection an appropriate interface for that service is then provided automatically for the Caller.
37 Citations
12 Claims
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1. In a voice communication system including a plurality of voice communication services, a method for automatically establishing a connection between a caller and a callee over a caller selectable voice communication service, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining for a caller, and making available to the caller'"'"'s communication equipment, a database associating callees with communication services in use by them;
including in the database a set of destination identities for each callee, each destination identity being associated with a different communication service;
establishing a set of selection criteria for each destination identity, the selection criteria being related to characteristics of the connection being established;
selecting a destination identity for the intended callee based upon the selection criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a voice communication system including a plurality of voice communication services, apparatus for automatically establishing a connection between a caller and a callee over a caller selectable voice communication service through their communication equipment, comprising:
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a storage device containing a database maintained for a caller and accessible by the caller'"'"'s communication equipment, the database associating callees with communication services in use by them;
a set of destination identities in the database for each callee, each destination identity being associated with a different communication service;
a destination identity selector selecting a destination identity for the intended callee based upon a set of pre-established selection criteria for each destination identity, the selection criteria being related to characteristics of the connection being established. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification