SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MAKING A CALL

• US 20090156222A1
• Filed: 04/07/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Upland Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: I2Telecom International Inc.
• Inventors: Bender, Douglas F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,504,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1013 Network architectures, gateways, control or user entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier

Abstract

Systems and methods of making calls are provided. A particular method includes receiving input indicating a destination address at a mobile communication device. The method also includes determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type. The method further includes initiating a call to a communication bridge via a mobile communication network when the destination address is of the predetermined type. The method also includes sending an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication connection to the destination address.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a mobile communication device, input indicating a destination address;

determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type; and

when the destination address is of the predetermined type, initiating a call to a communication bridge via a mobile communication network and sending an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication connection to the destination address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the destination address is not of the predetermined type, initiating a communication to the destination address via the mobile communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending authentication information to the communication bridge via the mobile communication network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the authentication information comprises caller identification information.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein authentication information is not received from a user at the mobile communication device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type comprises analyzing alpha-numerical digits of the destination address.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises an international telephony address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises a long-distance telephony address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises an internet address.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type comprises comparing the destination address to a destination address pattern.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type comprises accessing user configuration data to determine the predetermined type.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a user does not dial a telephony address of the communication bridge to initiate the call to the communication bridge.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a user does not enter an access code associated with the communication bridge to initiate the communication to the destination communication address.

14. A processor-readable medium, comprising:

instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive input indicating a destination address;

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether the destination address is of a predetermined type;

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to initiate a call to a communication bridge via a mobile communication network when the destination address is of the predetermined type; and

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication to the destination address.

15. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are adapted to be executed by a processor of a mobile communication device.

16. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the communication bridge comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony bridge, and wherein the communication comprises a VoIP call.

17. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising, instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive data from a device associated with the destination address via the communication bridge after communication to the destination address is initiated.

18. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the data comprises voice data.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the data comprises non-voice data.

20. A mobile communication device, comprising:

an input device to receive input indicating a destination communication address;

an address analysis module to determine whether the destination communication address is of a predetermined type; and

a call module to initiate a call to a communication bridge when the destination communication address is of the predetermined type and to send an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication connection to the destination communication address.

21. The mobile communication device of claim 20, wherein the call module is further adapted to send voice communication data to the VoIP telephony bridge to be converted to VoIP data to communicate to the destination communication address.

22. The mobile communication device of claim 20, wherein the address analysis module is configured to alpha-numeric digits of the destination communication address to determine whether the destination communication address is of the predetermined type.

23. A system, comprising:

an access interface to receive a call to a telephony address associated with the access interface, wherein the call is initiated by a mobile communication device in response to an automatic determination at the mobile communication device to route the call via the access interface based on a destination communication address received at the mobile communication device; and

a communication bridge to initiate a communication to the destination communication address and to convert data received via the call to an alternate communication protocol for communication to the destination communication address.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising an accounting module to authenticate the mobile communication device based on authentication information received from the mobile communication device.