COMMUNICATION HANDLING

• US 20130036207A1
• Filed: 08/05/2011
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Wendt, Christopher A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,998,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

An apparatus, method, system and computer-readable medium are provided for abstracting a public facing identity associated with one or more devices, such as user devices. In some embodiments, a unique identity may be associated with a device. A mapping may be used to establish a relationship between the public facing identity and the unique identity. In some embodiments, configuration data may indicate how a communication (e.g., an incoming or outgoing communication) is to be handled or routed. For example, the configuration data may indicate preferences as to which device(s) amongst a plurality of devices is to receive an incoming communication and/or which public facing identity/identities amongst a plurality of public facing identities is to be used in transmitting an outgoing communication.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating at least one public facing identity with a plurality of user devices;

associating one of a plurality of unique identities with a corresponding one of the user devices; and

routing a communication associated with at least one of the user devices based at least in part on the at least one public facing identity and the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises at least one of:

a phone call, an email, an instant message, an audio message, and a video conference.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing configuration data values, wherein the routing of the communication is further based on the configuration data values.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the configuration data values are based at least in part on user specified preferences.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user preferences are based at least in part on a user'"'"'s social networking status.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises an incoming communication with respect to the at least one of the user devices, and wherein the incoming communication comprises the at least one public facing identity, the method further comprising:

mapping the at least one public facing identity to the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices; and

providing the incoming communication to the at least one of the user devices based at least in part on the mapping.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises an outgoing communication with respect to the at least one of the user devices, the method further comprising:

mapping the at least one public facing identity to the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices; and

transmitting the outgoing communication along with an indication of the at least one public facing identity based at least in part on the mapping.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises an IP-based communication.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices comprises an identification of a service provider associated with the at least one of the user devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating of the at least one public facing identity comprises associating at least a second public facing identity associated with at least one of the plurality of user devices, the method further comprising:

routing a second communication based at least in part on the at least a second public facing identity and at least one of the unique identities.

11. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to;

associate at least one public facing identity associated with a plurality of user devices,

associate one of a plurality of unique identities with a corresponding one the user devices, and

route a communication associated with at least one of the user devices based at least in part on the at least one public facing identity and the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive at least one preference from a user associated with the at least one of the user devices,

wherein the routing of the communication is further based on the at least one preference.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication comprises an incoming communication with respect to the at least one of the user devices, and wherein the incoming communication comprises the at least one public facing identity, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

map the at least one public facing identity to the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices,

extract the at least one public facing identity from the incoming communication, and

route the incoming communication to the at least one of the user devices based on the mapping and the extraction.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication comprises an outgoing communication generated by the at least one of the user devices, and wherein the outgoing communication generated by the at least one of the user devices comprises the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

map the at least one public facing identity to the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices,

substitute the unique identity corresponding to the at least one of the user devices for the at least one public facing identity in the outgoing communication, and

transmit the outgoing communication using the substituted at least one public facing identity.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the communication is associated with a communication session, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

access a server to route the communication, and

route a second communication associated with the at least one of the user devices, directly to or from the at least one of the user devices, based on the communication session.

16. A system comprising:

a server configured to;

associate a public facing identity with a plurality of devices,

associate one of a plurality of unique identities with a corresponding one of each of the plurality devices, and

route a communication to at least one of the plurality of devices based at least in part on the public facing identity and the plurality of unique identities.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is configured to:

receive preferences that indicate how communications are to be routed between the server and the plurality of devices,

wherein the routing of the communication is further based on the preferences.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of unique identities comprises a private session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI).

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication comprises an incoming communication with respect to the plurality of devices, and wherein the incoming communication comprises the public facing identity, and wherein the server is configured to:

map the public facing identity to the plurality of unique identities, and

provide the incoming communication to at least one of the plurality of user devices based at least in part on the mapping.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication comprises an outgoing communication with respect to the plurality of devices, and wherein the server is configured to:

map the public facing identity to the plurality of unique identities, and

transmit the outgoing communication with an indication of the public facing identity based at least in part on the mapping.