Communications system enhanced with human presence sensing capabilities

• US 6,842,505 B1
• Filed: 04/05/1999
• Issued: 01/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Estech Systems IP, LLC (Estech Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Estech Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Hansen, Harold E. A. II, Suder, Eric G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoosain, Allan
• Application Number:
  US09/286,181
• Time in Patent Office: 2,108 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/34.35, 379/37, 379/40, 379/41, 379/56.3, 379/88.01, 379/88.12, 379/88.19, 379/88.2, 379/88.21, 379/93.09, 379/118, 379/170, 379/171, 379/179, 379/201, 379/258, 379/262, 379/263, 379/265, 379/201.01, 379/201.06, 379/201.07, 379/201.1, 379/201.11, 379/207.12, 379/214.01, 379/265.01, 379/265.11
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• 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 communications system, which has a plurality of terminals connected thereto, has one or more object presence detecting devices associated with the individual terminals. The detecting devices detect whether or not an object, such as a person, has been detected near any particular and associated terminal and informs the system. The telephone system can then provide a visual indication to other terminals within the system that a person is near their terminal. Such detecting capabilities can also be used to forward communications to another terminal if a user is not near their terminal.

Claims

1. A communications system comprising:

a first terminal;

a sensor coupled to the first terminal and operable for detecting human presence in a vicinity of the first terminal;

circuitry operable for receiving a first signal, indicative of the detected human presence, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the detected human presence with the first terminal as a function of the signal; and

circuitry for canceling any forwarding of communications to be received by the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected human presence with the first terminal.

2. The communications system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry, coupled to the associating circuitry, for sending a second signal to a second terminal indicating the detected human presence in association with the first terminal.

3. The communications system as recited in claim 2, wherein the second terminal includes a visual indicator that displays, in response to the second signal, the association between the detected human presence and the first terminal.

4. The communications system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry operable for receiving a third signal, indicative of human absence in the vicinity of the first terminal, from the sensor via the first terminal; and

circuitry operable for associating the human absence with the first terminal as a function of the third signal.

5. The communications system as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

circuitry, coupled to the associating circuitry, for sending a fourth signal to the second terminal indicating the human absence in association with the first terminal.

6. The communications system as recited in claim 5, wherein the second terminal includes a visual indicator that displays, in response to the fourth signal, the association between the human absence and the first terminal.

7. The communications system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for automatically providing a message to the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected human presence with the first terminal.

8. The communications system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry for automatically playing messages on the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected human presence with the first terminal.

9. In a communications network, a method comprising the steps of:

detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of a first terminal;

associating the detected presence or absence of the object with the first terminal as a function of a signal; and

including an ACD agent operating the first terminal into an incoming call queue as a function of the association of the detected presence with the first terminal.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

in response to the associating step, sending a second signal to a second terminal indicating the detected presence or absence of the object in association with the first terminal.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

in response to the second signal, displaying a visual indicator of the association between the detected presence or absence of the object and the first terminal.

12. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

automatically providing a message to the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected presence with the first terminal.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

automatically playing messages on the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected presence with the first terminal.

14. A communications apparatus comprising:

a terminal adapted for operating as a node on a communications system;

a sensor coupled to the terminal and operable for detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of the terminal; and

circuitry for canceling any forwarding of communications to be received by the terminal as a function of the association of the detected presence of the object with the terminal.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the terminal further comprises:

circuitry operable for receiving a signal from the sensor indicative of the detected presence or absence of the object; and

circuitry operable for sending to the communications system a detect message or a no detect message in response to the received signal.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

a visual indicator operable for displaying an indication that presence of an object has been detected in a vicinity of another terminal coupled to the communications system.

17. A telephone system comprising:

a first telephone set having a first extension associated therewith;

a second telephone set having a second extension associated therewith;

a sensor coupled to the first telephone set and operable for detecting presence of a person, or a lack thereof, in a vicinity of the first telephone set; and

a call processor coupled to the first and second telephone sets and to the sensor, wherein the call processor further comprises;

circuitry for sending a signal to the second telephone set indicating that presence of the person has or has not been detected by the sensor; and

circuitry for forwarding calls from the first telephone set to the second telephone set in response to the lack of the presence of the person in the vicinity of the first telephone set.

18. The telephone system as recited in claim 17, wherein the call processor further comprises:

circuitry for receiving from the sensor via the first telephone set a signal indicating whether presence of the person has or has not been detected; and

circuitry for determining, in response to receipt of the signal from the sensor, that the detected presence of the person or lack thereof is associated with the first extension.

19. The telephone system as recited in claim 17, wherein the second telephone set includes a visual indicator that indicates that presence of the person has or has not been detected by the sensor in response to the signal received from the call processor.

20. The telephone system as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

circuitry for canceling any forwarding of calls from the first telephone set to the second telephone set as a function of the association of the detecting the presence of the person with the first telephone set.

21. A communications system comprising:

a first terminal;

a sensor coupled to the first terminal and operable for detecting human presence in a vicinity of the first terminal;

circuitry operable for receiving a first signal, indicative of the detected human presence, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the detected human presence with the first terminal as a function of the signal;

circuitry operable for receiving a third signal, indicative of human absence in the vicinity of the first terminal, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the human absence with the first terminal as a function of the third signal; and

circuitry for forwarding calls to another terminal in response to the human absence in the vicinity of the first terminal.

22. A communications system comprising:

a first terminal;

a sensor coupled to the first terminal and operable for detecting human presence in a vicinity of the first terminal;

circuitry operable for receiving a first signal, indicative of the detected human presence, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the detected human presence with the first terminal as a function of the signal; and

circuitry for including an ACD agent operating the first terminal into an incoming call queue as a function of the association of the detected human presence with the first terminal.

23. A communications system comprising:

a first terminal;

a sensor coupled to the first terminal and operable for detecting human presence in a vicinity of the first terminal;

circuitry operable for receiving a first signal, indicative of the detected human presence, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the detected human presence with the first terminal as a function of the signal;

circuitry operable for receiving a third signal, indicative of human absence in the vicinity of the first terminal, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the human absence with the first terminal as a function of the third signal; and

circuitry for excluding an ACD agent from an incoming call queue in response to the human absence in the vicinity of the first terminal.

24. A communications system comprising:

a first terminal;

a sensor coupled to the first terminal and operable for detecting human presence in a vicinity of the first terminal;

circuitry operable for receiving a first signal, indicative of the detected human presence, from the sensor via the first terminal;

circuitry operable for associating the detected human presence with the first terminal as a function of the signal;

circuitry for automatically providing a message to the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected human presence with the first terminal; and

circuitry for determining if the detected human presence was preceded by a specified amount of time where no human presence was detected by the sensor before providing the message to the first terminal.

25. In a communications network, a method comprising the steps of:

detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of a first terminal;

associating the detected presence or absence of the object with the first terminal as a function of a signal; and

canceling any forwarding of communications to be received by the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected presence of the object with the first terminal.

26. In a communications network, a method comprising the steps of:

detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of a first terminal;

associating the detected presence or absence of the object with the first terminal as a function of a signal; and

forwarding communications to another terminal in response to the absence of the object in the vicinity of the first terminal.

27. In a communications network, a method comprising the steps of:

detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of a first terminal;

associating the detected presence or absence of the object with the first terminal as a function of a signal; and

excluding an ACD agent from an incoming call queue in response to the absence of the object in the vicinity of the first terminal.

28. In a communications network, a method comprising the steps of:

detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of a first terminal;

associating the detected presence or absence of the object with the first terminal as a function of a signal;

automatically providing a message to the first terminal as a function of the association of the detected presence with the first terminal; and

determining, before performing the automatically providing step, if the detected presence was preceded by a specified amount of time where absence of the object was detected by the sensor before providing the message to the first terminal.

29. A communications apparatus comprising:

a terminal adapted for operating as a node on a communications system;

a sensor, coupled to the terminal and operable for detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of the terminal; and

circuitry for including an ACD agent operating the terminal into an incoming call queue as a function of the association of the detected presence with the terminal.

30. The apparatus as recited in claim 29, further comprising:

circuitry for excluding the ACD agent from the incoming call queue in response to the absence of the object in the vicinity of the terminal.

31. A communications apparatus comprising:

a terminal adapted for operating as a node on a communications system;

a sensor coupled to the terminal and operable for detecting presence or absence of an object in a vicinity of the terminal; and

circuitry for determining if the detected presence was preceded by a specified amount of time where absence of the object was detected by the sensor before providing a message to the terminal.

32. A telephone system comprising:

a first telephone set having a first extension associated therewith;

a second telephone set having a second extension associated therewith;

a sensor coupled to the first telephone set and operable for detecting presence of a person, or a lack thereof, in a vicinity of the first telephone set; and

a call processor coupled to the first and second telephone sets and to the sensor, wherein the call processor further comprises;

circuitry for sending a signal to the second telephone set indicating that presence of the person has or has not been detected by the sensor; and

circuitry for excluding an ACD agent from an incoming call queue in response to the lack of the presence of the person in the vicinity of the first telephone set.

33. The telephone system as recited in claim 32, further comprising:

circuitry for including an ACD agent operating the first telephone set into the incoming call queue as a function of the association of the detected presence of the person with the first telephone set.