Method and System to Provide Contact Services in a Communication Network

• US 20090154451A1
• Filed: 12/12/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• 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: Ku, Bernard, Yasrebi, Mehrad, Qiu, Chaoxin
• Granted Patent: US 8,165,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/385 Uniform resource identifier for session initiation protocol [SIP URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42

Abstract

A communication system includes an application server that includes logic to recognize that preference data in each of a plurality of data record entries of a subscriber record has a common value. Each data record entry includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and the subscriber record is stored in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server. The application server also includes logic to issue a command to initiate contact concurrently with devices identified by URIs in the subscriber record via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

Claims

1. A communication system comprising:

an application server including logic to;

recognize that preference data in each of a plurality of data record entries of a subscriber record has a common value, wherein each data record entry includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and wherein the subscriber record is stored in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server; and

issue a command to initiate contact concurrently with devices identified by URIs in the subscriber record via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application server is operable to issue the command in response to a call to a subscriber telephone number.

3. The communication system of claim 1, further comprising a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) within the IMS, the S-CSCF configured to:

receive the command;

receive the plurality of URIs; and

issue invite messages concurrently, wherein each invite message results in a connection attempt to a corresponding device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein upon establishing a connection to a particular device, the S-CSCF is further configured to:

cancel the invite messages issued to other devices; and

establish a communication path within the IMS from an originating party to the particular device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the devices include a public switched telephone network (PSTN) device or a public land mobile network (PLMN) device.

6. The system of claim 1, further including a presence server, wherein the presence server is operable to:

determine a device availability, the device availability comprising an indication of which of the devices are unavailable to be contacted; and

supply the device availability to the application server.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising recognizing that order data in each of the plurality of data record entries of the subscriber record has a common order value.

8. A method comprising:

determining that order data associated with a plurality of corresponding Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) have a common order value and determining that preference data associated with the plurality of corresponding URIs have a common preference value, wherein the order data and the preference data for each corresponding URI is included in a corresponding data record entry, and wherein the data record entry is stored in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server; and

initiating invite messages concurrently via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to concurrently contact devices identified by the plurality of URIs.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the initiating is carried out in response to a call directed to a subscriber telephone number from an originating party.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, when contact has been established with a particular device, establishing a communication path within the IMS from the originating party to the particular device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising canceling invite messages to other devices identified by the plurality of URIs.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising verifying that a registration status of a subscriber account associated with the subscriber is active before initiating the invite messages.

13. A method of registering a plurality of devices of a subscriber, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) associated with a subscriber, each UI identifying a device associated with the subscriber;

receiving an indication that upon receipt of a contact request the devices are to be contacted concurrently;

assigning a common order value and a common preference value to each of the plurality of URIs in response to receiving the indication;

forming a plurality of data record entries, wherein each of the plurality of data record entries includes one of the plurality of URIs and includes the common order value and the common preference value; and

storing the plurality of data record entries in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of URIs are specified by the subscriber.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication is received from the subscriber.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising associating the plurality of data record entries with a subscriber telephone number.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the contact request comprises a call to the subscriber telephone number.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the preference values are assigned by an application server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the application server is part of an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

20. The method of claim 13, wherein upon receipt of the contact request contact with the devices is initiated concurrently via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

21. A computer readable medium including computer executable instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a contact request via a subscriber telephone number associated with a subscriber; and

initiate invite messages concurrently via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to concurrently contact each of a plurality of devices associated with the subscriber in response to the contact request, wherein the plurality of devices are identified by a corresponding plurality of Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) that are stored in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server, and wherein each URI has a common order value and a common preference value associated therewith.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause the processor to receive an acknowledgement that contact has been established with a first device and to cancel invite messages to other devices associated with the subscriber upon receipt of the acknowledgement.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause the processor to establish a communication path between an originating party and the first device via the IMS.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause a processor to assign the common preference value to each of the plurality of URIs in response to instructions issued by the subscriber.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause the processor to verify that the subscriber is actively registered with a contact service prior to initiating the invite messages.