Routing Telecommunications To A User In Dependence Upon Device-Based Routing Preferences

• US 20090098878A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Thorson, Derral C., Bodin, William Kress, Rybczynski, Gregory Waldemar, Agrawal, Kavita Kumari
• Granted Patent: US 8,270,589 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server

Abstract

Routing telecommunications to a user including receiving a call, determining that the call is intended for the user, receiving an RFID signal from an RFID tag located with the user, determining the user'"'"'s location in dependence upon the RFID signal, identifying a plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the user'"'"'s location, identifying a device-based preference for the user, selecting one of the plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the device-based preference, and forwarding the call to the selected telephony device. In typical embodiments, determining that the call is intended for the user also includes prompting the caller for the name of the user and receiving from the caller the name of the user.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. A system for routing telecommunications to a user, the system comprising:

means for receiving a call;

means for determining that the call is intended for the user including means for prompting the caller for the name of the user and receiving from the caller the name of the user;

means for receiving an RFID signal from an RFID tag located with the user;

means for determining the user'"'"'s location in dependence upon the RFID signal including means for receiving a plurality of RFID signals at a plurality of RFID reader locations from the RFID tag, means for determining for each RFID reader an area of possible locations of the RFID tag, and means for determining the intersection of the areas of possible locations, wherein means for determining for each RFID reader an area of possible locations of the RFID tag comprises means for determining for each RFID reader a distance between the RFID reader and the RFID tag;

means for identifying a plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the user'"'"'s location;

means for identifying a device-based preference for the user including means for selecting a device-based preferences record from a preferences database;

means for selecting one of the plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the device-based preference including means for reading from a device-based preferences record an indication of a preferred telephony device type and means for selecting a telephony device of the preferred communication device type; and

means for forwarding the call to the selected telephony device.

10-16. -16. (canceled)

17. A computer program product for routing telecommunications to a user, the computer program product comprising:

a recording medium;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for receiving a call;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining that the call is intended for the user including means, recorded on the recording medium, for prompting the caller for the name of the user and receiving from the caller the name of the user;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for receiving an RFID signal from an RFID tag located with the user;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining the user'"'"'s location in dependence upon the RFID signal including means, recorded on the recording medium, for receiving a plurality of RFID signals at a plurality of RFID reader locations from the RFID tag, means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining for each RFID reader an area of possible locations of the RFID tag, and means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining the intersection of the areas of possible locations, wherein means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining for each RFID reader an area of possible locations of the RFID tag comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for determining for each RFID reader a distance between the RFID reader and the RFID tag;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for identifying a plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the user'"'"'s location;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for identifying a device-based preference for the user including means, recorded on the recording medium, for selecting a device-based preferences record from a preferences database;

means, recorded on the recording medium, for selecting one of the plurality of available telephony devices in dependence upon the device-based preference including means, recorded on the recording medium, for reading from a device-based preferences record an indication of a preferred telephony device type and means, recorded on the recording medium, for selecting a telephony device of the preferred communication device type; and

means, recorded on the recording medium, for forwarding the call to the selected telephony device.

18-24. -24. (canceled)