CALL PROCESSING BASED ON ELECTRONIC CALENDAR INFORMATION

• US 20080101573A1
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Sylvain, Dany
• Granted Patent: US 8,027,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4211 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005

Abstract

The present invention allows incoming calls to be processed based on calendar information obtained from an electronic calendar of a called party. When an incoming call intended for the called party is received, a service node may retrieve the calendar information for the called party and process the call based on the calendar information. The call processing may result in forwarding the call or invoking an interactive voice response system (IVR) by forwarding the call to the IVR, and providing instructions based on the calendar information to the IVR. The IVR may then provide messages based on the calendar information to the caller as well as provide options to the caller, retrieve responses from the caller, and instruct the service node to process the call based on the responses. The IVR may also allow the caller to schedule an appointment on the electronic calendar of the called party.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a call intended for a called party;

retrieving calendar information from an electronic calendar of the called party upon receiving the call; and

processing the call based on the calendar information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the call comprises forwarding the call toward a voicemail system for the called party based on the calendar information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the call is forwarded to the voicemail system without presenting the call to a terminal associated with the called party.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the call comprises forwarding the call to and providing instructions based on the calendar information to an interactive voice response system, which will establish the call with a caller who initiated the call.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the instructions are for providing an audible announcement based on the calendar information to the caller.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the audible announcement relates to a current status of the called party based on the calendar information.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the audible announcement relates to a future status of the called party based on the calendar information.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the audible announcement identifies a time at which the called party is available for communications based on the calendar information.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the instructions are for providing a plurality of call processing options based on the calendar information to the caller, and receiving a selected one of the plurality of call processing options from the caller, the method further comprising:

receiving the selected one of the plurality of call processing options; and

further processing the call based on the selected one of the plurality of call processing options.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the instructions are for facilitating scheduling of an appointment in the electronic calendar of the called party by the caller via the interactive voice response system.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein a manner in which the calendar information is used for call processing or made available to a caller initiating the call is based on at least one of a group consisting of the caller, time of the call, and date of the call.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a telephony address or directory number to which the call is directed and associated with the called party; and

obtaining a calendar address for the called party based on the telephony address or directory number, wherein the calendar information is retrieved from the electronic calendar using the calendar address.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising accessing a profile associated with the called party and, based on the profile, determining whether to retrieve the calendar information and process the call based on the calendar information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the profile identifies a caller who initiated the call or a group of callers comprising the caller who initiated the call, and determining whether to retrieve the calendar information and process the call based on the calendar information is based on the caller who initiated the call.

15. A system comprising:

at least one communication interface; and

a control system associated with the at least one communication interface and adapted to;

receive a call intended for a called party;

retrieve calendar information from an electronic calendar of the called party upon receiving the call; and

process the call based on the calendar information.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein to process the call, the control system is adapted to forward the call toward a voicemail system for the called party based on the calendar information.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the call is forwarded to the voicemail system without presenting the call to a terminal associated with the called party.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein to process the call, the control system is further adapted to forward the call to and provide instructions based on the calendar information to an interactive voice response system, which will establish the call with a caller who initiated the call.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the instructions are for providing an audible announcement based on the calendar information to the caller.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the audible announcement relates to a current status of the called party based on the calendar information.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the audible announcement relates to a future status of the called party based on the calendar information.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the audible announcement identifies a time at which the called party is available for communications based on the calendar information.

23. The system of claim 18 wherein the instructions are for providing a plurality of call processing options based on the calendar information to the caller and receiving a selected one of the plurality of call processing options from the caller, the control system further adapted to:

receive the selected one of the plurality of call processing options; and

further process the call based on the selected one of the plurality of call processing options.

24. The system of claim 18 wherein the instructions are for facilitating scheduling of an appointment in the electronic calendar of the called party by the caller via the interactive voice response system.

25. The system of claim 15 wherein a manner in which the calendar information is used for call processing or made available to a caller initiating the call is based on at least one of a group consisting of the caller, time of the call, and date of the call.

26. The system of claim 15 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

identify a telephony address or directory number to which the call is directed and associated with the called party; and

obtain a calendar address for the called party based on the telephony address or directory number, wherein the calendar information is retrieved from the electronic calendar using the calendar address.

27. The system of claim 15 wherein the control system is further adapted to access a profile associated with the called party and, based on the profile, determine whether to retrieve the calendar information and process the call based on the calendar information.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the profile identifies a caller who initiated the call or a group of callers comprising the caller who initiated the call, and determining whether to retrieve the calendar information and process the call based on the calendar information is based on the caller who initiated the call.