SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ROUTING CALLS

• US 20100080376A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yu, Jessie, Hartley, John B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/211.20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2038 Call context notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• 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 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/541 based on information specified by the calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

A method and system of routing telephone calls from a calling party to a called party including placing a call to a called party, accessing context information associated with the called party, permitting the calling party to opt to continue with the call or terminate the call based on the accessed context information, wherein continuing with the call comprises connecting the call to the called party or selecting a redirection option with the call.

Claims

1. A method of routing telephone calls from a calling party to a called party comprising:

placing a call to a called party;

accessing context information associated with the called party;

permitting the calling party to opt to continue with the call or terminate the call based on the accessed context information;

wherein continuing with the call comprises connecting the call to the called party or selecting a redirection option with the call.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the context information comprises presence information, temporal information, spatial information and availability.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after placing a call with a called party, permitting the called party to receive information indicative of the calling party.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

providing redirection options to the calling party from the called party dependent on the identity of the calling party.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the redirection option comprises leaving a voicemail message in the called party'"'"'s inbox;

forwarding the call to the location and number of the called party to connect to the called party;

inputting a callback number in the called party'"'"'s inbox, or talking to the called party'"'"'s answering service.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing information regarding potential charges to the calling party.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the temporal information comprises time of call, and/or time zone of the location of the called party.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the spatial information comprises current location of the called party and/or length of time the called party is at the current location.

9. A system for routing telephone calls from a calling party to a called party comprising:

a first communications device;

a second communications device;

a gateway connected to the first communications device and the second communications device;

an ENUM database connected to the gateway;

an SIP server connected to the gateway;

a presence server connected to the SIP server; and

an IP call termination node connected to the gateway and the second communication device.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a voice response unit linked to the first communications device and to the gateway.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the first communications device comprises a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone, a cellular telephone, a landline telephone, a computer and a video conferencing device.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the second communications device comprises a PSTN telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephone, a wireless telephone, or a computer device.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the IP call termination node comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) terminal, a gateway or a digital voice message system.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the gateway comprises a PSTN/VoIP gateway.

15. The system of claim 9 comprising one or more networks.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the one or more networks comprise a wired or wireless network.

17. A computer program product encoded in a computer readable medium for instructing a system to route a telephone call from a calling party to a called party comprising:

instructing a gateway to obtain the called party'"'"'s SIP information;

instructing the gateway to access context information related to called party'"'"'s SIP information;

instructing the gateway to send the context information to the calling party;

whereupon with the receipt of the context information, the calling party is provided with a number of options of managing the call to the called party.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising instructing a proxy to identify the calling party.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein options of managing the call comprise connecting to the called party, leaving a voice message for the called party, talking to the called party'"'"'s answering service, forwarding the call to an alternate number, and terminating the call.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 further instructing a proxy to provide information regarding potential charges to the calling party.

21. A system to route a telephone call from a calling party to a called party comprising:

instructing a gateway to obtain the called party'"'"'s SIP information;

instructing the gateway to access context information related to called party'"'"'s SIP information;

instructing the gateway to send the context information to the calling party;

whereupon with the receipt of the context information, the calling party is provided with a number of options of managing the call to the calling party.