Intelligent Telephone Number Processing

• US 20120307991A1
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Schaffer, Joshua H., Brown, Jeremy Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27485 Appending a prefix to or inserting a pause into a dialling sequence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a device that converts a telephone number based on the location of a telephone is described. The device receives the telephone number, where telephone number is to be used to place a telephone call on the device. The device further determines if the telephone number is suitable to place the telephone call based on a content of the telephone number and a location of the device. If the telephone number is not suitable to place the telephone call, the device converts the telephone number to a telephone number suitable to be used to place the telephone call.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method of processing an input telephone number, the method comprising:

receiving the input telephone number, the input telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone;

determining if the input telephone number is suitable to place the telephone call based on a content of the input telephone number and a location of the telephone; and

if the input telephone number is not suitable to place the telephone call,

converting the input telephone number to a converted telephone number suitable to be used to place the telephone call.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the converted telephone number suitable to place the telephone call is a fully qualified telephone number.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the fully qualified telephone number includes an international prefix, country code, area code, and local number.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating the telephone call using the converted telephone number.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the input telephone number is not a fully qualified telephone number.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the converting the input telephone number comprises:

if the input telephone number includes an international prefix, removing the international prefix from the input telephone number;

if the input telephone number includes a domestic prefix, removing the domestic prefix from the input telephone number;

determining a matching rule for input telephone number based on the location of the telephone; and

applying the matching rule to the input telephone number.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the matching rule is a formatting rule that is particular to location of the telephone.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the input telephone number is selected from the group consisting of a recents list entry, an address book entry, and a telephone Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location of the telephone is country information that is stored in the telephone.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location of the telephone is based on the current carrier of the telephone.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method of processing an input telephone number, the method comprising:

receiving the input telephone number, the input telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone, wherein the input telephone number include a prefix;

removing the prefix from the input telephone number;

determining a matching rule for input telephone number based on the location of the telephone; and

applying the matching rule to the input telephone number to create a converted telephone number that is suitable to place the telephone call.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the prefix is selected from the group of consisting of an international prefix and a domestic prefix.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the matching rule is a formatting rule that is particular to location of the telephone.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the input telephone number is selected from the group consisting of a recents list entry, an address book entry, and a telephone Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the location of the telephone is country information that is stored in the telephone.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the location of the telephone is based on the current carrier of the telephone.

17. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving an input telephone number, the input telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone;

means for determining if the input telephone number is suitable to place the telephone call based on a content of the input telephone number and a location of the telephone; and

if the input telephone number is not suitable to place the telephone call,

means for converting the input telephone number to a converted telephone number suitable to be used to place the telephone call.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the converted telephone number suitable to place the telephone call is a fully qualified telephone number.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the fully qualified telephone number includes an international prefix, country code, area code, and local number.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for converting the input telephone number comprises:

if the input telephone number includes an international prefix, means for removing the international prefix from the input telephone number;

if the input telephone number includes a domestic prefix, means for removing the domestic prefix from the input telephone number;

means for determining a matching rule for input telephone number based on the location of the telephone; and

means for applying the matching rule to the input telephone number.