RULES-BASED ASSOCIATION OF A PHONE NUMBER WITH ONE OR MORE DESTINATION LOCATIONS

• US 20100056100A1
• Filed: 09/04/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Elman, Adam, Cross, Karen M.
• Application Number:
  US12/204,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20100056100A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

Systems and methods of rules-based association of a phone number with one or more destination locations are disclosed here. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, of associating a phone number with one or more destination locations based on a set of rules and receiving a request from a user using the phone number. The request is associated with accessing a set of directions to at least one of the one or more destination locations. The method may further include, identifying an originating location associated with the request received from the user, and providing the user with at least one of the sets of directions to the one or more destination locations from the originating location.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

associating a phone number with one or more destination locations based on a set of rules;

receiving a request from a user using the phone number;

wherein the request is associated with accessing a set of directions to at least one of the one or more destination locations;

identifying an originating location associated with the request received from the user; and

providing the user with at least one of the sets of directions to the one or more destination locations from the originating location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request from the user is generated from a portable device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, the portable device is a location-aware device, and, wherein, the originating location is provided by the portable device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, identifying a set of call attributes associated with the request, the set of call attributes comprising, one or more of, a temporal attribute, a spatial attribute, a device attribute, and identification of the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, the request is generated when the user calls or sends a text message to the phone number, wherein, the originating location is submitted by the user via voice or text.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, the at least one of the sets of directions is audibly provided.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, the at least one of the sets of directions is provided via text or a visual map display.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, the at least one of the one or more destination locations for which the set of directions is to be provided is selected based on the set of rules.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, identifying a set of user preferences of the user, wherein, the set of user preferences comprises user-specified preferences and implied preferences.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, the set of rules comprises, one or more of, a caller-based rule and a time-based rule.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, the at least one of the one or more destination locations are selected based on, one or more of, the caller-based rule and the time-based rule.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, at least one of the sets of directions to the one or more destination locations from the originating location is generated and provided based in part on one or more of the set of call attributes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, at least one of the sets of directions to the one or more destination locations from the originating location is generated and provided based in part on one or more of the set of user preferences.

14. A method, comprising:

identifying a target location where an associated agent is to arrive at;

wherein the target location is associated with a phone number;

receiving a request from the associated agent using the phone number;

wherein the request is associated with access to a set of directions to the target location;

identifying an originating location associated with the request received from the associated agent; and

providing the associated agent with the set of directions to the target location from the originating location.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, assigning the phone number to the target location.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, the target location is provided by a dispatcher or operator.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein, the target location is automatically provided via a feed from a tracking system.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein, the target location is a site of emergency and the associated agent is an emergency medical technician or a health care provider.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein, the target location is a site for pizza delivery.

20. A system, comprising:

a communications module embodied in a computer-readable medium, the communications module to communicate with a user device;

wherein, in operation, the communications module receives a request generated by a user using a telephone number and the request is associated with accessing a set of directions to a destination location of a set of destination locations associated with the telephone number;

a rules module embodied in a computer-readable medium, the rules module to manage a set of rules that govern the set of destination locations associated with the telephone number;

a user data repository to store user data;

a telephone number repository to store the telephone number and the set of destination locations governed by the set of rules;

a location engine coupled to the rules module to identify an originating location associated with the request received from the user;

wherein, in operation, the location processor communicates with the communications module to determine the location of the user device; and

a direction generator module embodied in a computer-readable medium, coupled to the rules module and the location processor;

wherein, in operation, the direction generator module generates a set of directions from the originating location to the destination location based on one or more of user data and the set of rules.