AUTOMATIC ROUTING OF COMMUNICATIONS TO USER ENDPOINTS

• US 20080292074A1
• Filed: 05/22/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Services Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Services Organization Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Boni, Piotr, Jones, Douglas R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

A system may receive configuration information relating to forwarding of communications in a network from a first endpoint to other endpoints. Presence information may also be received for the endpoints. The presence information may include proximity information indicating whether pairs of the endpoints are in physical proximity to one another. The system may forward communications destined for a first of the plurality of endpoints to a second of the plurality of endpoints based on the configuration information and the presence information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving configuration information relating to forwarding of communications in a network from a first endpoint to one or more additional endpoints;

receiving presence information for the endpoints, the presence information including proximity information indicating whether pairs of the endpoints are in physical proximity to one another; and

forwarding communications destined for the first of the additional endpoints to a second of the additional endpoints based on the configuration information and the presence information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presence information further includes information indicating whether the endpoints are connected to the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes an indication of types of communications that are to be forwarded to the one or more additional endpoints.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the types of communications include one or more of voice calls, text messages, video calls, voice messages, or video/multimedia messages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes conditions of the endpoints by which communications are to be forwarded.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the conditions define, for each of the one or more additional endpoints, when the communications are to be forwarded from the first endpoint.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes relative priority information of the additional endpoints in being forwarded communications from the first endpoint.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is customizable by a user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the endpoints include one of a mobile telephone, a set-top box, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the proximity information further includes:

determining that a pair of the endpoints are proximate to one another when the pair of the endpoints are connected via Bluetooth pairing, RFID proximity detection, or near-field communication proximity detection.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the communications further includes:

activating forwarding of the communications at one or more devices in the network that provide control points for telephony or data services in the network.

12. A system in a network, the system comprising:

a web server to receive configuration information from a user, the configuration information relating to forwarding of communications in the network between various ones of a plurality of endpoints, the configuration information including user configurable conditions describing when communications to one of the plurality of endpoints is to be automatically forwarded to a second of the plurality of endpoints; and

a presence server to maintain presence information for the plurality of endpoints; and

an application server to coordinate forwarding of the communications in the network between the plurality of endpoints based on the presence information and based on the configuration information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the presence information includes proximity information indicating whether pairs of the plurality of endpoints are in physical proximity to one another.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the presence information further includes information indicating whether the plurality of endpoints are connected to the network.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration information includes an indication of types of communications that are to be forwarded to select ones of the plurality of endpoints.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the types of communications include one or more of voice calls, text messages, video calls, voice messages, or video/multimedia messages.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration information includes a prioritization of the plurality of endpoints being forwarded communications from the first of the plurality of endpoints.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the endpoints include one of a mobile telephone, a set-top box, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.

19. A method comprising:

receiving an indication that a first endpoint of a user is to have calls to the first endpoint automatically forwarded to one or more of a plurality of other endpoints of the user;

receiving a relative priority by which the plurality of other endpoints are to be forwarded the calls;

receiving conditions defining states of the first endpoint and the plurality of other endpoints by which the calls are to automatically forwarded to the one or more of the plurality of other endpoints;

automatically setting up call forwarding for calls from the first endpoint to the one or more of the plurality of other endpoints based on the priority information and the condition information; and

automatically modifying call forwarding for calls from the first endpoint to the one or more of the plurality of other endpoints as states of the first endpoint and the plurality of other endpoints change.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the conditions include conditions based on proximity of pairs of the endpoints.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the conditions include conditions based on whether the endpoints are connected to a network.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the endpoints include one of a mobile telephone, a set-top box, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.