Data and Call Routing and Forwarding

• US 20120084461A1
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Athias, Franklyn, Schwartz, Samuel H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,553,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/46 Arrangements for calling a number of substations in a predetermined sequence until an answer is obtained

Abstract

A system and method for determining an order in which to communicate with a list of numbers and/or addresses for a particular contact is disclosed. Each caller that communicates with the contact may specify a different order for the contact'"'"'s various phone numbers and other addresses. A communication management system may then automatically dial the numbers or use messaging addresses to initiate data communications in the specified order when the initiating party attempts to communicate with the contact. The order may specify simultaneous and/or sequential use of numbers or addresses. Alternatively or additionally, the communication management system may dynamically and/or automatically determine the communication order or a portion thereof. The automatic determination of the order may be based on a communication history or communication receiving of the initiating party. In some arrangements, the order may be partially manually defined and partially automatically defined.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a communication management system, a plurality of communication addresses associated with a contact;

receiving, by the communication management system, a specification related to an order in which the communication addresses are to be used when a party initiates communication with the contact, wherein the order is specified by the initiating party; and

storing the order specified by the initiating party.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of communication addresses includes receiving the communication addresses from the initiating party.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the order in which the communication addresses are to be used includes simultaneously initiating communications using at least two of the communication addresses.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication addresses includes a voice communication address and a data messaging address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the order in which the communication addresses are to be used includes at least a first communication address and a second communication address, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request from the initiating party to communicate with the contact;

determining, based on the received specification of an order, the order in which the communication addresses are to be used to initiate communications with the contact;

initiating a first communication, by the communication management system, using the first communication address;

determining whether the first communication has been answered; and

in response to determining that the first communication has not been answered, automatically initiating a second communication using the second communication address.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the order specified by the initiating party is stored in association with one or more parameters specifying when the order is to be used.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein initiating the first communication using the first communication address includes initiating a third communication using a third communication address simultaneously with initiating the first communication and wherein the second communication is automatically initiated using the second communication address in response to determining that the first and third communications were not answered.

8. A method comprising:

determining, by a communication management system, a plurality of communication addresses associated with a contact of a first user;

determining, by the communication management system, a first portion of the first user'"'"'s communication history corresponding to an instance in which the first user initiated communication with the contact; and

determining a first order in which to use the plurality of communication addresses to initiate communication with the contact based at least in part on an order in which the plurality of communication addresses were used to initiate communication with the contact in the first portion of the first user'"'"'s communication history.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first portion of the first user'"'"'s communication history is determined by identifying a time at which one of the plurality of communication addresses was used in the first user'"'"'s communication history and defining a first boundary of the first portion based on a predefined amount of time prior to the identified time and a second boundary of the first portion based on a predefined amount of time after the identified time.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the defined first order is effective for a first time period and wherein the method further comprises:

defining a second order in which to use the plurality of communication addresses associated with the contact based on an order in which the plurality of communication addresses were used to initiate communication with the contact in a second portion of the first user'"'"'s communication history.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first order is different from a second order in which the plurality of communication addresses are used to initiate communication with the contact for a second user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the communication management system, a second portion of the second user'"'"'s communication history corresponding to an instance in which the second user initiated communication with the contact; and

automatically defining the second order in which to use the plurality of communication addresses associated with the contact based on an order in which the plurality of communication addresses were used in the second portion of the second user'"'"'s communication history.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first order specifies simultaneously using a first communication address and a second communication address of the plurality of communication addresses.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the first order specifies sequentially using a first communication address and a second communication address of the plurality of communication addresses.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the first portion of the first user'"'"'s communication history includes:

determining a current time of day; and

selecting the first portion from a plurality of portions based on a time of day of the first portion matching the current time of day.

16. One or more computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:

determine a plurality of communication addresses associated with a contact;

receive a specification related to an order in which at least two communication addresses of the plurality of communication addresses are to be used to initiate communications between an initiating party and the contact, wherein at least a first portion of the order is specified by the initiating party; and

store the user specified order in association with the initiating party and the contact.

17. The one or more computer readable media of claim 16, wherein the specified order specifies simultaneous use of a first communication address and a second communication address of the plurality of communication addresses.

18. The one or more computer readable media of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a request to communicate with the contact, wherein the request is made by the initiating party;

initiating communication using a first communication address of the plurality of communication addresses, wherein the first communication address is first in the order;

determining whether an answer is received at the first communication address; and

in response to determining that an answer is not received, initiating communication using a second communication address that is second in the order.

19. The one or more computer readable media of claim 16, wherein the request to communicate with the contact includes a request to place a call to the contact and wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to forward the call to a voicemail server in response to determining that a last communication address in the order was not answered.

20. The one or more computer readable media of claim 16, wherein a second portion of the order is automatically defined by the apparatus.