FIXED MOBILE CONVERGENCE AND VOICE CALL CONTINUITY USING A MOBILE DEVICE/DOCKING STATION

• US 20120157068A1
• Filed: 01/23/2012
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Eichen, Elliot G., Goodman, Lee N., Flynn, James, Chang, Sujin Catherine, Azim, Rezwanul, Javaregowda, Gowtham, Mishra, Punita, Velez, Rafael Andres Gaviria
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1053 IP private branch exchange [PBX] functionality entities or arrangements circuit switched PBXs H04M3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A network mobility device registers with a switch in a telephone network, and receives a first message from a docking station indicating that a mobile device has undocked from the docking station. The docking station includes a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone that has a wired connection to a data network, and the mobile device includes a portable digital computing device. The network mobility device receives a call, destined for the mobile device, routed from the switch, and sends an alert message, based on the undocking of the mobile device and the received call, to the mobile device to notify a client of the mobile device of the call. The network mobility device forwards the call, based on the undocking of the mobile device, from the network mobility device to the client at the mobile device via the data network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a network mobility device, a first message from a docking station indicating that a mobile device has undocked from the docking station;

receiving a call, at the network mobility device and destined for the mobile device, routed from a switch in a telephone network;

sending an alert message, based on the undocking of the mobile device and the received call, from the network mobility device to the mobile device to notify the mobile device of the call; and

forwarding the call, based on the undocking of the mobile device, from the network mobility device to the mobile device via a data network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering the network mobility device with the switch in the telephone network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the switch comprises a Public Branch Exchange (PBX) and the telephone network comprises a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the call comprises a voice call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the call is forwarded from the network mobility device to the mobile device via a data network and a wireless network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the docking station comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone that has a wired connection to the data network and has a docking port for docking the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device comprises a portable digital computing device that has the capability to communicate via multiple different types of network connections.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the portable digital computing device comprises a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).

8. A network mobility device, comprising:

a communication interface connected to a data network and configured to;

register with a switch in a telephone network,

receive a first message from a docking station indicating that a mobile device has undocked from the docking station, wherein the docking station comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone that has a wired connection to the data network and wherein the mobile device comprises a portable digital computing device,

receive a call, destined for the mobile device, routed from the switch,

send an alert message, based on the undocking of the mobile device and based on receipt of the call, to the mobile device to notify a VoIP client of the mobile device of the call, and

forward the call, based on the undocking of the mobile device, from the network mobility device to the client at the mobile device via the data network.

9. A method, comprising:

determining if a mobile device is undocked from a docking station while the mobile device is engaged in an active voice call;

sending, from a network mobility device, a call delay message to a client at the mobile device if the mobile device is undocked from the docking station while the mobile device is engaged in the active voice call;

sending, from the network mobility device, a transfer request message to a switch in a telephone network handling the active voice call;

receiving, at the network mobility device, the active voice call that has been routed from the switch; and

forwarding, from the network mobility device, the active voice call to the client at the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the call delay message notifies the mobile device of a temporary interruption in the active voice call.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the active voice call is forwarded from the network mobility device to the client via a data network and a wireless network.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

registering the network mobility device with the switch in the telephone network.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, at the network mobility device, a status message from the docking station indicating that the mobile device has undocked from the docking station,

wherein determining if the mobile device is undocked from the docking station while engaged in the active call is based on the received status message.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the switch comprises a Public Branch Exchange (PBX) and the telephone network comprises a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the docking station comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone that has a wired connection to the data network and has a docking port for docking the mobile device and wherein the mobile device comprises a portable digital computing device that has the capability to communicate via multiple different types of network connections.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the portable digital computing device comprises a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).

17. A docking station, comprising:

a docking port configured to physically dock with a mobile device, wherein the docking port includes an input/output port;

a communication interface connected to a data network; and

a processing unit configured to;

determine whether the mobile device has been docked with the docking port,

send to a network device, via the communication interface, a first status message that indicates that the mobile device has docked with the docking port, wherein the network device forwards calls to the mobile device when the mobile device is undocked from the docking port,

determine whether the mobile device has been undocked from the docking port, and

send to the network device, via the communication interface, a second status message that indicates that the mobile device has undocked from the docking port.

18. The docking station of claim 17, wherein the input/output port comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.

19. The docking station of claim 17, wherein the docking station comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone and wherein the mobile device comprises a portable digital computing device.

20. The docking station of claim 19, wherein the portable digital computing device comprises a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).