ORIGINATING LOCATOR SERVICE

• US 20100303220A1
• Filed: 05/27/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: TAM, Henry L., SIDHOM, Nashwa F., EVANS, Jeffrey R., BROOKS, Euclid S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,971,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/142.05
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/08 ISDN systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/46 Arrangements for calling a number of substations in a predetermined sequence until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A device receives information associated with a calling party, validates the calling party for an originating locator service based on the calling party information, and sends an instruction to play an announcement requesting information associated with a called party. The device also receives the called party information from the calling party in response to the announcement, and retrieves called party destination information based on the called party information. The device then sends an instruction to originate a sequence of calls to the called party based on the called party destination information.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a calling party, destination information for an originating locator service to identify multiple destinations associated with a called party;

receiving information associated with the calling party;

validating the calling party based on the calling party information;

receiving identification information associated with the called party;

retrieving the called party destination information based on the identification information associated with the called party; and

sending an instruction to originate a sequence of calls to the called party based on the called party destination information.

2. The computing-device implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an instruction to play an announcement requesting the called party identification information; and

receiving the called party identification information from the calling party in response to the announcement.

3. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an answer from one called party destination in response to one of the sequence of calls;

connecting the calling party to the one called party destination; and

discontinuing a remainder of the sequence of calls.

4. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a busy condition from one of the called party destinations associated with a call in the sequence of calls; and

executing a busy condition treatment for the one of the called party destinations, where the busy condition treatment is defined in the called party destination information.

5. The computing device-implemented method of claim 4, where executing a busy condition treatment comprises one or more of:

continuing to a next called party destination associated with a next call in the sequence of calls;

leaving a voice mail for the called party;

sending an email to the called party;

paging the called party;

sending a text message to the called party;

or

re-trying the call to the one of the called party destinations.

6. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a no-answer condition from one of the called party destinations associated with a call in the sequence of calls; and

executing a no-answer condition treatment for the one of the called party destinations, where the no-answer condition treatment is defined in the called party destination information.

7. The computing device-implemented method of claim 6, where executing a no-answer condition treatment comprises one or more of:

continuing to a next called party destination associated with a next call in the sequence of calls;

leaving a voice mail for the called party;

sending an email to the called party;

paging the called party;

or

sending a text message to the called party.

10. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a busy condition from one of the multiple called party destinations; and

executing a busy condition treatment for the call to the one of the multiple called party destinations.

11. The computing device-implemented method of claim 10, where executing a busy condition treatment comprises one or more of:

continuing to a next called party destination in the sequence of calls;

leaving a voice mail for the called party;

sending an email to the called party;

paging the called party;

sending a text message to the called party;

or

re-trying the call to the one of the called party destinations.

8. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an instruction from a calling party device to originate a sequence of calls to a called party;

receiving, from the calling party device, called party destination information, the called party destination information including multiple calling destinations;

originating a first call in the sequence of calls to one of the multiple destinations associated with the called party based on the called party destination information; and

originating a second call in the sequence of calls to another of the multiple destinations associated with the called party if the first call is not answered.

9. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

terminating the first call if the call is not answered;

receiving an answer for the second call; and

connecting the calling party device to the destination associated with the second call.

12. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a no-answer condition from one of the multiple called party destination; and

executing a no-answer condition treatment for the call to the one of the multiple called party destinations.

13. The computing device-implemented method of claim 12, where executing a no-answer condition treatment comprises one or more of:

continuing to a next called party destination in the sequence of calls;

leaving a voice mail for the called party;

sending an email to the called party;

paging the called party;

or

sending a text message to the called party.

14. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

receive information associated with a calling party,

validate the calling party for an originating locator service based on the calling party information,

send an instruction to play an announcement requesting information associated with a called party,

receive the called party information from the calling party in response to the announcement,

retrieve called party destination information based on the called party information, and

send an instruction to originate a sequence of calls to the called party based on the called party destination information.

15. The device of claim 14, where the calling party information comprises an access code associated with the calling party, and the processor is further configured to:

compare the access code to a table of access codes associated with the originating locator service; and

validate the calling party if the access code matches one of the access codes contained in the table.

16. The device of claim 14, where the called party information comprises an identifier of the called party, and the processor is further configured to:

compare the called party identifier to a calling party database; and

retrieve the called party destination information from the calling party database based on the comparison.

17. The device of claim 16, where the calling party database comprises at least one of:

one or more names of people capable of being called by the calling party using the originating locator service;

one or more identifiers associated with the one or more names;

one or more telephone numbers associated with the one or more names, the telephone numbers defining a calling sequence;

one or more time periods associated with the calling sequence;

one or more no-answer conditions associated with the one or more names;

or

one or more busy conditions associated with the one or more names.

18. The device of claim 14, where the called party destination information comprises one or more sequences of telephone numbers associated with the called party.

19. The device of claim 14, where the processor is further configured to:

terminate a call to first called party destination in the sequence of calls; and

automatically initiate a call to a second called party destination identified in the sequence of calls.

20. The device of claim 14, where the device comprises at least one of:

a service switching point;

a service control point;

an intelligent peripheral;

an application server;

an interactive voice response system;

a redirect server;

or

a proxy server.

21. A system, comprising:

means for receiving information associated with a calling party;

means for validating the calling party for an originating locator service based on the calling party information;

means for sending an instruction to play an announcement requesting information associated with a called party;

means for receiving the called party information from the calling party in response to the announcement;

means for retrieving called party destination information based on the called party information;

means for sending an instruction to originate a sequence of calls to the called party based on the called party destination information;

means for terminating a first call, in the sequence of calls, to a non-answering called party destination;

means for receiving an answer to a second call, in the sequence of calls, from one called party destination; and

means for connecting the calling party to the answering called party destination.