Extended cascaded ringing

• US 20100267374A1
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitel Networks Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitel Networks Corporation
• Inventors: Gray, Thomas A., Anzarouth, Ralph, Lyon, Steve, Smith, David Adam, Armstrong, Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 8,761,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers

Abstract

A system and method for routing selected phone calls to a user having a plurality of communication resources is disclosed. Background information of a caller is identified. A context of the user is postulated based on available information. The user'"'"'s communication resources are identified. A location of the user is estimated. A cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to the user is identified based on the background information of the caller, the device type of the user'"'"'s communication resources, the postulated context of the user, and the estimated location of the user. The phone call is then routed using the cascaded ringing program.

Claims

1. A system for routing selected phone calls to a user having a plurality of communication resources, comprising:

a call server configured to obtain identity information for a phone call received at the call server;

a selection policy module configured to select a cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on the identity information of the caller; and

a routing module configured to route at least one of the phone call and the identity information to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources using the selected cascaded ringing program.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

a caller identity module configured to match the identity information with available background information of a caller placing the phone call;

a context module configured to postulate a context in which the phone call will be received by the user, wherein the context is postulated based on available user context information;

a device type module, configured to store a device type and a contact protocol for each of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources on which the user wants the phone call routed; and

a location module configured to determine an estimated location of the user based on previous use of the plurality of communication resources;

wherein the selection policy module is further configured to select the cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on at least one of the identity information of the caller, the available background information of the caller, the device type of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources, the postulated context of the user, and the estimated location of the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the cascaded ringing program includes a plurality of forks, wherein at least one of the phone call and information related to the phone call is routed to at least one of the plurality of communication resources at each of the plurality of forks.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the context module is configured to postulate the context of the user through near-real-time access to the user'"'"'s calendar information.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the context module is configured to obtain priority information for the caller from the background information, the priority information relating to an importance of the caller, wherein the priority information is used by the selection policy module to select the cascaded ringing program based on the priority of the caller.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication resources is selected from the group consisting of an office phone, a home phone, a cell phone, an assistant phone, a coworker phone, an external hot desk connection, a voice mail box, an email account, an instant messaging account, and a social networking account.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a metadata module configured to store information about the user'"'"'s communication resources to allow at least one of the phone call and information related to the phone call to be routed to at least one of the user'"'"'s communication resources using the information.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the metadata module contains attributes set for the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources, the attributes selected from the group consisting of a mobility attribute to identify a fixed vs. mobile communication resource, a location attribute to identify a location of the communication resource, a location suppress attribute to identify communication resources desired to be activated independent of the communication resource'"'"'s location, and a suppress attribute to turn off routing of the phone call to selected communication resources.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the location module is further configured to determine a location of each of the plurality of communication resources.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the selection policy module is configured to route at least one of the phone call and information related to the phone call to a single communication resource at a user location when it is determined that multiple communication resources are located at the user location based on information from at least one of the postulated context of the user, the estimated location of the user, and attribute settings of a location attribute, and a location suppress attribute.

11. A method for routing selected phone calls to a user having a plurality of communication resources, comprising:

obtaining identity information of a caller for a phone call received at a call server;

selecting a cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on the identity information of the caller; and

routing at least one of the phone call and information related to the phone call to the plurality of communication resources using the selected cascaded ringing program.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

matching the identity information with available background information of the caller;

identifying a device type for each of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources on which the user wants one of the phone call routed and information related to the phone call routed;

determining an estimated location of the user based on previous use of the plurality of communication resources by the user;

selecting the cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on at least one of the identity information of the caller, the available background information of the caller, and the device type of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources; and

routing at least one of the phone call and the information related to the phone call to the plurality of communication resources using the selected cascaded ringing program.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising postulating a context of the user at a time when the phone call is received based on available context information for the user and selecting the cascaded ringing program based on the postulated context of the user, wherein the postulated context of the user is based on near-real time information obtained from the user'"'"'s calendar information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the device type further comprises storing metadata information related to the plurality of communication resources in a database, wherein the cascaded ringing program uses the metadata to route at least one of the phone call and the information related to the phone call.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising obtaining priority information for the caller from the background information, the priority information relating to an importance of the caller, wherein the priority information is used to select the cascaded ringing program based on the priority of the caller.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising formatting a cascaded ringing program to route at least one of the phone call and the information related to the phone call to a single communication resource at a user location when it is determined that multiple communication resources are located at the user location.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising formatting a cascaded ringing program to include a one busy all busy attribute to disable routing to all communication resources but the communication resource in use by the user at a time a phone call is received.

18. A method for routing selected phone calls to a user having a plurality of communication resources, comprising:

obtaining identity information of a caller for a phone call received at a call server;

identifying a device type for each of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources on which the user wants one of the phone call routed and information related to the phone call routed;

determining an estimated location of the user based on previous use of the plurality of communication resources by the user;

identifying a location of each of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources on which the user wants one of the phone call routed and information related to the phone call routed;

selecting a cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on the identity information of the caller, the estimated location of the user, and the location of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication devices; and

routing at least one of the phone call and the information related to the phone call to a single communication resource at a user location when it is determined that multiple communication resources are located at the user location.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprises determining the estimated location of the user based on the user'"'"'s external hot desk connection.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

postulating a context of the user at a time when the phone call is received based on available context information for the user; and

selecting the cascaded ringing program for routing the phone call to at least one of the user'"'"'s plurality of communication resources based on the user'"'"'s postulated context.