METHODS AND APPARATUS TO PROVIDE VOICE COMMUNICATION ERROR NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20080117826A1
• Filed: 11/21/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scruggs, Jeffrey Lee, Dailey, Robert F., Qiu, Chaoxin Charles
• Granted Patent: US 9,461,845 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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 7/0084 Network monitoring; Error detection; Error recovery; Network testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to provide voice communication inoperative condition notifications are disclosed. An example method includes detecting an inoperative condition associated with a called voice over internet protocol device, comparing the inoperative condition to a criterion, and forwarding an inoperative condition notification for display on a display device associated with the called voice over internet protocol device when the criterion is satisfied.

Claims

1. A method for providing a voice communication inoperative condition notification, the method comprising:

detecting an inoperative condition associated with a called voice over internet protocol device;

comparing the inoperative condition to a criterion; and

forwarding an inoperative condition notification for display on a display device associated with the called voice over internet protocol device when the criterion is satisfied.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining if the voice over internet protocol device is associated with an internet protocol television subscriber.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising retrieving an identifier for the internet protocol television subscriber associated with the voice over internet protocol device from a database.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the inoperative condition notification comprises an identifier associated with the source of a call destined for the voice over internet protocol device.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein comparing the inoperative condition to the criterion comprises comparing the inoperative condition to a notification triggering threshold associated with the criterion.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein comparing the inoperative condition to the criterion comprises comparing a notification repetition count associated with the inoperative condition to a predefined repetition rate associated with the criterion.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising adding at least one of a message associated with the criterion or an instruction associated with the criterion to the inoperative condition notification.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a message including a caller identifier from a voice over internet protocol processor, the message indicating an inoperative condition associated with a voice communication session;

comparing the message to a criterion; and

transmitting the message and the caller identifier to a notifier associated with an internet protocol television system when the criterion is satisfied.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the criterion comprises at least one inoperative condition message.

10. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the notifier is an internet protocol television notification system.

11. A method as defined in claim 8, further comprising transmitting the caller identifier to a customer premise device.

12. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the criterion comprises at least one of a number of times to transmit the caller identifier to a caller notifier, a inoperative condition occurrence threshold, a notification repetition rate, or an inoperative condition type.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the inoperative condition type is at least one of an error indicating that a call destination is busy, an error indicating that a call could not be completed, an error indicating that a network error has occurred, or an error indicating that a call destination is not currently logged into a voice over internet protocol processor.

14. An apparatus for providing call notification, the apparatus comprising:

a voice over internet protocol processor to process voice over internet protocol calls;

an error capture to receive an inoperative condition message from the voice over internet protocol processor when an inoperative condition occurs in a communication session with a voice over internet protocol destination;

a database to associate the voice over internet protocol destination with a television subscriber account;

a filter to receive the inoperative condition message from the error capture and to determine whether or not the inoperative condition message satisfies a criterion; and

a notifier to transmit a notification for the television subscriber account.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the notification includes an identifier associated with the source of the call.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the error capture is to transmit an inoperative condition subscription message to the voice over internet protocol processor.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein determining whether or not the inoperative condition message satisfies the criterion comprises comparing an inoperative condition level associated with the inoperative condition message to an inoperative condition occurence threshold associated with the criterion.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein determining whether or not the inoperative condition message satisfies the criterion comprises comparing a notification message repetition rate associated with the inoperative condition message to a repetition rate associated with the criterion.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the filter is to add at least one of a message associated with the criterion or an instruction associated with the criterion to the inoperative condition message.

20. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

detect an inoperative condition associated with a called voice over internet protocol device;

compare the inoperative condition to a criterion; and

forward an inoperative condition notification for display on a display device associated with the called voice over internet protocol device when the criterion is satisfied.

21. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein the machine readable instructions further cause the machine to determine if the voice over internet protocol device is associated with an internet protocol television subscriber.

22. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein the machine readable instructions further cause the machine to retrieve an identifier for the internet protocol television subscriber associated with the voice over internet protocol device from a database.

23. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein the inoperative condition notification comprises an identifier associated with the source of a call destined for the voice over internet protocol device.

24. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein comparing the inoperative condition to the criterion comprises comparing an inoperative condition level associated with the inoperative condition to an inoperative condition level threshold associated with the criterion.

25. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein comparing the inoperative condition to the criterion comprises comparing a repetition rate associated with the inoperative condition to a repetition rate threshold associated with the criterion.

26. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20, wherein the machine readable instructions further cause the machine to add at least one of a message associated with the criterion or an instruction associated with the criterion to the inoperative condition notification.