Techniques for call integration with a television set-top box (STB)

• US 20080165283A1
• Filed: 01/06/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bruce, Les, Sullivan, Marc, Brandt, Jeffrey, Edwards, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 8,745,680 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/552
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42195 Arrangements for calling back a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy H04M3/48
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4112 having fewer capabilities than the client, e.g. thin client having less processing power or no tuning capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6187 involving transmission via a telephone network, e.g. POTS

Abstract

Techniques for call integration with a television set-top box (STB) are provided. Call logs associated with multiple voice accounts are acquired and integrated as an integrated call log. The integrated call log is presented within a display to a user. The user can take a variety of actions on the integrated call log as a whole or on individual entries within the integrated call log.

Claims

1. A method including:

acquiring a first call log from a first voice account;

obtaining a second call log from a second voice account; and

presenting an integrated call log on a display, wherein the integrated call log includes both the first call log and the second call log.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a call selection for a call entry associated with the first call log or the second call log from a user and presented within the integrated call log on the display to the user.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, receiving an account selection from the user in connection with the call selection indicating an instruction from the user to use the first voice account or the second voice account.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, contacting a remote voice service and instructing the remote voice service to call a device associated with the account selection and instructing the remote voice service to connect the device to the call selection made by the user when the device is answered.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, recognizing the first voice account as being associated with a different voice device than that which is associated with the second voice account.

6. The method of claim 1, acquiring and obtaining further includes contacting a remote voice service that maintains or is able to obtain the first call log for the first voice account and the second call log for the second voice account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes communicating with a device associated with the first account to acquire the first call log associated with the first voice account.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, separating the first and second call logs from the integrated call log in response to user direction and permitting each to be viewed in isolation from the other on the display or separating custom numbers, callers, categories, or dates from the integrated call log in response to the user direction and permitting them to viewed as a unit on the display.

9. A method including:

receiving a request from a set-top box (STB) to acquire two or more call logs for two or more voice accounts associated with a user;

acquiring the two or more call logs; and

delivering the two or more call logs to the STB.

10. The method of claim 9, acquiring further includes contacting at least one external voice service to acquire at least one of the two or more call logs.

11. The method of claim 9 further including, authenticating the user with the request from the STB.

12. The method of claim 9 further including:

receiving a request from the STB to place a call on a particular device associated with one of the two or more voice accounts;

calling the particular device; and

connecting the particular device to the call when the particular device answers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein calling further includes contacting the particular device over one or more of the following transmission mediums:

cellular, satellite, plain old telephone lines (POTS), and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

14. The method of claim 9 further including:

receiving a request to retrieve voice messages associated with the two or more voice accounts from the STB; and

streaming the voice messages to the STB to play for the user.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, deleting one or more of the voice messages in response to instruction received from the STB and acquired from the user.

16. A machine accessible medium having instructions embedded thereon, the instructions when accessed by a machine perform the method of:

integrating two or more call logs associated with two or more voice accounts for a user into an integrated call log;

presenting the integrated call log on a display for a user to manipulate and interact with; and

performing one or more subsequent actions in response to a user initiated instruction with respect to the call log.

17. The medium of claim 16 further including instructions for delivering voice messages associated with the two or more voice accounts to a voice device.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein delivering further includes calling the voice device designated by the user in response the user initiated instruction to play the voice messages when the voice device answers.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein delivering further includes streaming the voice messages to a voice device connected to the display in response to the user initiated instruction to play the voice messages.

20. The medium of claim 16, wherein performing further includes processing the one or more subsequent actions to do one or more of the following:

sort the integrated call log;

search the integrated call log;

organize the integrated call log;

custom present portions of the integrated call log;

make a call to a designated entry in the integrated call log;

connect the call to a designated device associated with one of the two or more voice accounts; and

establish a conference call to the designated device for two or more entries associated with the integrated call log.

21. A system including:

a Set-Top-Box (STB), wherein the STB is to integrate multiple call logs for multiple voice accounts into an integrated call log and is to present the integrated call log on a display interfaced to the STB and is to present an interface to a user and to process actions initiated via the interface by the user.

22. The system of claim 21 further including, a remote voice service to interact with the STB and provide the multiple call logs and to assist in processing some of the actions.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the remote service is to perform one of more of the following in response to the assistance:

retrieve voice messages from the multiple voice accounts, deliver the voice messages to a designated device, deliver the voice messages to a device associated with the display, establish a conference call for the user, and connect a the designated device to a particular call.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the STB is to perform one or more of the following in response to the actions:

sort the integrated call log, search the integrated call log, organize the integrated call log, enlist the assistance of a remote service to assist in establishing calls or retrieving voice messages associated with the multiple voice accounts, and communicate with a designated device to retrieve one or more of the multiple call logs or to place a particular call.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the STB is an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) enabled STB.