CALL FORWARDING INITIATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20140161245A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Zises, Matthew Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/211.02
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/30 Testing of optical devices, constituted by fibre optics or optical waveguides
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/24 Arrangements for testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

A method and system creates on a portable electronic device a real-time graphical view of an in-store product display that pinpoints the location of one or more target products on the product display. The graphical view is generated by capturing image data, such as a video feed of the in-store product display, and processing the data to initiate the one or more target products based on predefined product recognition criteria uniquely associated with the respective target products.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a number recognition module to process image data defining a digital picture that includes a visual representation of a telephone number, to recognize the telephone number based on the visual representation thereof in the digital picture; and

a call forwarding module to initiate, based at least in part on the recognized telephone number, an automated call forwarding arrangement to automatically redirect to a destination telephone device future calls made to a target telephone number, the destination telephone device corresponding to the recognized telephone number.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile telephone device that has an onboard camera device to capture the digital picture, the mobile telephone device being uniquely associated with the target telephone number.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the call forwarding module is configured to:

determine that the recognized telephone number is deficient for initiating the automated call forwarding arrangement; and

supplement the recognized telephone number to compile an effective destination telephone number, the effective destination telephone number being used in the initiating of the automated call forwarding arrangement.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the call forwarding module comprises a location estimator to estimate a location of the destination telephone device, the call forwarding module further being configured to determine, based on the estimated location of the destination telephone device, one or more supplemental codes that are applicable to the call forwarding arrangement, and to compile the effective destination telephone number by combining the one or more supplemental codes with the recognized telephone number.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more supplemental codes include a country code corresponding to the estimated location of the destination telephone device.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more supplemental codes include an area code corresponding to the estimated location of the destination telephone device.

7. The system of claim 4, further comprising the location estimator is configured to estimate the location of the destination telephone device based on location information provided by a positioning system onboard the mobile telephone device.

8. The system of claim 4, further comprising an optical symbol recognition module to recognize one or more incidental location indicators in the digital picture, the location estimator being configured to estimate the location based on the one or more recognized incidental location indicators.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a language identifier module to recognize a language of written material in the digital picture, the location estimator being configured to identify a particular geographical region associated with the recognized language.

10. A method comprising:

in an automated operation using one or more processors, processing image data defining digital picture that includes a visual presentation telephone number, to recognize the telephone number based on the visual representation thereof in the digital picture; and

based at least in part on the recognized telephone number, establishing an automated call forwarding arrangement to automatically redirect to a destination telephone device future calls made to a target telephone number, the destination telephone device corresponding to the recognized telephone number.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising capturing the digital picture at a camera device onboard a mobile telephone device corresponding to the target telephone number.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the recognized telephone number is deficient for initiating the call forwarding arrangement; and

in an automated operation, supplementing the recognized telephone number to compile an effective destination telephone number, the effective destination telephone number being used in the initiating of the automated call forwarding arrangement.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

estimating a location of the destination telephone device; and

automatically determining, based on the estimated location of the destination telephone device, one or more supplemental codes that are applicable to the call forwarding arrangement,

the compiling of the effective destination telephone number comprising combining the one or more supplemental codes with the recognized telephone number.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more supplemental codes include a country code corresponding to the estimated location of the destination telephone device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more supplemental codes include an area code corresponding to the estimated location of the destination telephone device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more supplemental codes include an extension code linked to a particular room in a building complex.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the estimating of the location of the destination telephone device is based on location information provided by a positioning system onboard the mobile telephone device.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the estimating of the location of the destination telephone device comprises processing the image data to recognize one or more incidental location indicators in the digital picture.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more incidental location indicators comprise words that signify location.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the estimating of the location of the destination telephone device comprises:

processing the image data to recognize a language of written material in the digital picture; and

identifying a particular geographical region associated with the recognized language, the one or more supplemental codes corresponding to the particular geographical region.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions for a machine to:

process image data defining digital picture that includes a visual representation of a telephone number, to recognize the telephone number based on the visual representation thereof in the digital picture; and

automatically initiate an automated call forwarding arrangement to automatically redirect to a destination telephone device future calls made to a target telephone number, the destination telephone device corresponding to the recognized telephone number.