Network address lookup for telephony devices
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of providing directory information to a user of a telephony device, comprising:
- receiving, by the telephony device, a user input comprising a network address, wherein the telephony device is a mobile phone and the network address is a telephone number;
determining, by the telephony device, whether a callee name associated with the network address is located in a local directory residing on the telephony device; and
if the callee name is not located in the local directory, requesting, by the telephony device, the callee name from a remote directory not located on the telephony device, wherein the input telephone number is passed as a parameter in the request to the remote directory, and wherein the telephone number is used as a key to look up the callee name in the remote directory, wherein the remote directory comprises a plurality of entries, each comprising a name and associated telephone number, wherein requesting the callee name is performed in response to an explicit user-initiated command input to the telephony device, the explicit user-initiated command being separate from the step of receiving the user input comprising the network address.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention generally provide systems, methods and articles of manufacture for locating one component of callee information in response to receiving another associated component of the callee information. In a particular embodiment, a user inputs a network address (e.g., a telephone number) into a telephony device. The telephony device then operates to access a local directory in an effort to locate a callee name associated with a network address. If the callee name cannot be found in the local directory, a request for the callee name is transmitted to a remote directory.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method of providing directory information to a user of a telephony device, comprising:
-
receiving, by the telephony device, a user input comprising a network address, wherein the telephony device is a mobile phone and the network address is a telephone number; determining, by the telephony device, whether a callee name associated with the network address is located in a local directory residing on the telephony device; and if the callee name is not located in the local directory, requesting, by the telephony device, the callee name from a remote directory not located on the telephony device, wherein the input telephone number is passed as a parameter in the request to the remote directory, and wherein the telephone number is used as a key to look up the callee name in the remote directory, wherein the remote directory comprises a plurality of entries, each comprising a name and associated telephone number, wherein requesting the callee name is performed in response to an explicit user-initiated command input to the telephony device, the explicit user-initiated command being separate from the step of receiving the user input comprising the network address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A telephony device, comprising:
-
a communications facility configured to communicate with the telecommunications network;
wherein the communications facility and the telecommunications network are configured to support transmission of at least voice data;a memory containing at least a lookup program and a local directory;
the focal directory comprising a plurality of records, each record comprising a callee network address and an associated callee name;a lookup button; and a processor which, when configured with the lookup program, is configured to; (i) upon receiving a user input comprising a network address, determine whether a callee name associated with the network address is located in the local directory; and (ii) if not transmit, via the communications facility, a request for the callee name to a remote directory, wherein the request for the callee name is transmitted to the remote directory in response to pressing the lookup button, the lookup button being exclusively configured for transmitting the request. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor of a telephony device, is configured to perform operations comprising:
-
parsing a user input comprising a network address; determining whether a callee name associated with the network address is located in a local directory residing on the telephony device; and if the callee name is not located in the local directory, requesting the callee name from a remote directory not located on the telephony device, wherein requesting the callee name is performed in response to an explicit user-initiated command input to the telephony device, the explicit user-initiated command being separate from the user input comprising the network address. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A telecommunications system, comprising a network server comprising a database, the database containing at least a remote directory;
- wherein the network server is configured to;
upon receiving, from a requesting telephony device, a request device for a callee name associated with a particular network address, access the remote directory to determine the availability of the callee name;
wherein the request is received only after the requesting telephony device has determined that the callee name is not available locally on the requesting telephony device and wherein the request for the callee name is transmitted to the network server in response to a lookup button of the telephony device being pressed, the lookup button being exclusively configured for transmitting the request; andif the callee name is available in the remote directory, transmit the callee name to the requesting telephony device via a network connection. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
- wherein the network server is configured to;
Specification