Location based personal telephone routing system
First Claim
1. A method for routing a telephone call to a subscriber based on a location associated with said subscriber comprising:
- receiving a call directed to said subscriber;
paging a location determining device associated with said subscriber, receiving location information from said location determining device;
comparing the location information received with a corresponding location of each of a plurality of telephones selected by said subscriber;
based on the comparing, selecting a one of the subscriber selected telephones within a specified range of the received location information; and
routing said call to the telephone selected.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A location-based personal telephone routing system is responsive to a subscriber'"'"'s location for routing incoming calls to a telephone near the subscriber. A program-controlled processor within the system interrogates a location determining device after receiving a call directed to the subscriber. The location determining device replies to the interrogation with a message including location information that the processor uses to dip into a database listing telephone numbers and corresponding locations of telephones specified by the subscriber. If no subscriber-listed telephones are near the location received, the system then dips into an area-wide database to compare the location received to the stored locations of a large number of telephones in a geographic area. Upon determining the telephone closest to the subscriber, the processor then routes the incoming call to the determined telephone and alerts the subscriber through distinctive ringing.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for routing a telephone call to a subscriber based on a location associated with said subscriber comprising:
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receiving a call directed to said subscriber;
paging a location determining device associated with said subscriber, receiving location information from said location determining device;
comparing the location information received with a corresponding location of each of a plurality of telephones selected by said subscriber;
based on the comparing, selecting a one of the subscriber selected telephones within a specified range of the received location information; and
routing said call to the telephone selected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
formatting an interrogation message; and
transmitting the interrogation message to said location determining device over a wireless network.
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3. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 2, further comprising responsive to receipt of the interrogation message by the location determining device:
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determining location information of said location determining device;
preparing a response including said location information; and
transmitting said response over said network.
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4. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 3, wherein the determining location information step comprises:
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receiving Global Positioning System (GPS) signals; and
calculating a position based on said signals received.
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5. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 3, wherein the determining location information step comprises:
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receiving Local Positioning System (LPS) signals; and
calculating a position based on said signals received.
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6. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 3, wherein the determining location information step comprises:
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sensing acceleration signals in a direction; and
calculating a position based on said acceleration signals sensed.
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7. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 1, wherein the plurality of telephones includes telephone numbers and corresponding locations of a plurality of telephones selected by said subscriber, the selecting step comprising:
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comparing the location information received with the corresponding location of each of said plurality of telephones selected by said subscriber;
based on the comparing, selecting a one of the telephones within a specified distance to the location information received.
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8. The method for routing telephone calls as set forth in claim 1, further comprising, if no subscriber selected telephones are within the specified range:
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comparing the location information received to locations of a plurality of non-subscriber selected telephones within an area; and
,selecting one of the plurality of non-subscriber selected telephones within a specified range of the location information received.
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9. The method for routing a telephone call as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:
announcing a location based on the received location information to a party originating the call.
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10. A method for routing a call based on location comprising:
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receiving a call directed to a subscriber;
receiving location information from a location determining device associated with the subscriber interrogated in response to receipt of the call;
at selected intervals, interrogating a location determining device associated with a telephone for a location update;
in response to receipt of the location update, updating a location associated with the telephone;
comparing the received location information from the location determining device associated with the subscriber with the location associated with the telephone; and
based on the comparison, routing the call to the telephone.
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11. A system for routing a telephone call to a preferred telephone selected for meeting conditions including proximity to a subscriber, the system comprising:
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a processor;
a telephone switching system which receives and routes said telephone call, said telephone switching system being controlled by said processor;
a storage device containing subscriber selected telephone numbers and a location for each corresponding telephone, said storage device being in communication with said processor and containing a telephone number field for storing telephone numbers and a telephone location field for storing location information corresponding to each subscriber selected telephone, selected telephone location fields comprising a dynamically updatable telephone location field for storing periodically updated telephone location information; and
,a location determining system in operable communication with said processor, which receives subscriber location information;
wherein said processor routes the telephone call to a telephone number based on said telephone location field and subscriber location information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
a wireless communication network which communicates messages between a location determining device and said processor.
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13. The system as set forth in claim 12 where said location determining device comprises:
a location calculating processor which receives signals from an item selected from the set of;
a global positioning system, a local positioning system and an accelerometer, said processor calculating location information from said signals received.
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14. A system for routing a telephone call comprising:
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a processor;
a switching system which routes said telephone call under control of the processor;
a first database accessible to the processor containing a subscriber selected telephone number and a corresponding location;
a second database containing data including telephone numbers and corresponding location information of a plurality of telephones within an area, wherein, if the subscriber selected telephone is unavailable, said processor selects a telephone number from the second database within a specified distance of received subscriber location information.
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Specification