Voice call routing by dynamic personal profile

• US 7,653,191 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2003
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Veeramachaneni, Jithendra K., Kalinichenko, Alexey, Strauch, John S., Mathur, Sharad, Kanazawa, Keiji, Glasser, Daniel S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Addy; Thjuan K
• Application Number:
  US10/607,476
• Time in Patent Office: 2,406 Days
• Field of Search: 379/211.01, 379/211.02, 379/221.02, 379/207.03, 379/201.1, 379/207.1, 379/212.01, 709/224, 709/202, 709/230, 370/352
• US Class Current: 379/201.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/20 hybrid systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005

Abstract

Dynamic telephone call routing. A voice service initiates a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to a user and generates a notification of the telephone call. An alerts service receiving and responsive to the notification executes a set of routing rules to select a computing device associated with the user. The alerts service also generates an alert directed to the computing device. If the computing device is online, a messaging service sends the alert to the computing device and receives a user request from the computing device in response thereto. The messaging service communicates the user request to the voice service for completing the voice call session to the computing device if specified by the user request. If the computing device is not online, the telephone call is routed to a telephone device.

Claims

1. A method of routing a telephone call dynamically to a user comprising:

initiating a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to the user, said data communication network having one or more computing devices coupled thereto;

dynamically determining whether the user is online via the selected computing device associated with the user and coupled to the data communication network, said dynamically determining comprising dynamically determining whether the user is online based on a user context corresponding to a log-in sub-state presence of the user and indicating that the user is currently online via selected computing devices connected to the data communications network or whether the user is online based on a binary presence indicating that the selected computing device is connected to the data communications network while the user is not logged in, said log-in sub-state presence comprising;

an online state, a busy state, an away state, and an offline state;

in response to the determination of log in sub-state presence, executing a set of routing rules for routing the incoming telephone call associated with the user, the execution of the routing rules including;

in response to a determination that the log in sub-state corresponds to an online state;

selecting a computing device associated with the online state,

generating an alert message by an alert service, the alert service configured to receive Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests from a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server,

routing an alert message by a messaging service, the messaging service configured to receive requests from the alerts service,

displaying the alert at the selected computing device, wherein the alert displays an indication of a timeout and information about the caller based on data within an address book;

in response to a determination that the log-in sub-state does not correspond to an online state;

determining a schedule associated with the user,

determining a location associated with the schedule and a current time and a day of week, and

selecting a computing device based on the location of the user; and

completing the voice call session to the selected computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, if the selected computing device is not online, routing the telephone call to a selected telephone device associated with the user and coupled to a telephone network.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, if the selected computing device is online, routing the telephone call to the selected telephone device in response to a user request for receiving the telephone call via the telephone network instead of the data communication network.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the selected telephone device is selected according to the routing rules.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of telephone devices coupled to the telephone network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of computing devices coupled to the data communication network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the telephone call originates from the telephone network.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising parking the voice call session in a waiting state pending the user request.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising either terminating or completing the parked voice call session based on the user request.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising notifying the selected computing device of the telephone call via the data communication network if the selected computing device is online.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected computing device comprises a messaging client configured for receiving the alert from a messaging server to notify the user of the telephone call, said messaging client and said messaging server being coupled to the data communication network.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising receiving a user request from the messaging client and routing the telephone call in response thereto, said user request being representative of a user preference for one of the following:

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at a computing device other than the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at a selected telephone device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at a telephone device other than the selected telephone device; and

blocking the telephone call.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising canceling the alert if the telephone call is terminated while the voice call session is parked.

14. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

15. A system for routing a telephone call dynamically to a user comprising:

a voice service initiating a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to the user, said telephone call originating from a public switched telephone network external to the data communication network, said voice service further generating a notification of the telephone call, wherein the voice service is implemented on a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server;

an alerts service receiving and responsive to the notification generated by the voice service for executing a set of routing rules to dynamically select a computing device associated with the user based on user preferences, said user preferences defining an online presence indicating a user context according to a log-in sub-state presence and indicating that the user is currently online or indicating a binary presence based on the computing device being connected to the communication network and for generating an alert directed to the selected computing device, wherein the log-in sub-state comprises an online state, a busy state, an away state and an offline state, said computing device being coupled to the data communication network, wherein the alerts service responds to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request from the voice service by generating an alert indicating a time to respond and the alert includes address book data associated with a caller; and

a messaging service for sending the alert to the selected computing device when the selected computing device is online based on the log-in sub-state in accordance with the user preferences and not based on the binary presence and for receiving a user request from the selected computing device in response thereto, said messaging service communicating the user request to the voice service for completing the voice call session to the selected computing device if the user request specifies receiving the telephone call via the data communication network and at the computing device.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the voice server returns the telephone call to the telephone network for routing to a selected telephone device if the user request specifies receiving the telephone call via the telephone network instead of the data communication network.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the voice server returns the telephone call to the telephone network for routing to a selected telephone device if the messaging service does not receive a user request within a predetermined interval.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the selected telephone device is selected according to the routing rules.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of telephone devices based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of computing devices coupled to the data communication network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the voice service comprises a session initiation protocol (SIP) server responsive to a SIP request from an interne telephony service provider for initiating the voice call session, said SIP request representing the incoming telephone call.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the voice call session is parked in a waiting state at the SIP server pending the user request.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the SIP server is responsive to the user request for either terminating or completing the parked voice call session.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the SIP server is responsive to the telephone call being terminated while the voice call session is parked for canceling the alert.

25. The system of claim 15 wherein the notification generated by the voice service comprises a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request representative of the telephone call.

26. The system of claim 15 wherein the selected computing device comprises a messaging client coupled to the data communication network and configured for receiving the alert to notify the user of the telephone call.

27. The system of claim 15 wherein the user request is representative of a user preference for one of the following:

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at a computing device other than the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at a selected telephone device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at a telephone device other than the selected telephone device; and

blocking the telephone call.

28. A method of routing a telephone call dynamically to a user comprising:

initiating a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to the user, said data communication network having one or more computing devices coupled thereto, wherein the voice call session is initiated on a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server;

receiving a request to generate a notification via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) from the SIP server, and generating the notification of the telephone call;

dynamically determining whether a selected computing device associated with the user is available to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s availability, said user'"'"'s availability depending on a user context corresponding to a log-in sub-state presence of the user and indicating that the user is currently online at the selected computing device while connecting to the data communications network or depending on a binary presence indicating that the selected computing device is connected to the data communication network;

wherein the log-in sub-state presence comprises an online state, a busy state, an away state and an offline state;

sending the notification to the selected computing device associated with the user and coupled to the data communication network when the user'"'"'s availability is based on the log-in sub-state presence and not based on the binary presence, said notification being sent via the data communication network, wherein the notification includes a timeout and data associated with a caller identity, the data read from an address book;

receiving a user request via the data communication network for routing the telephone call in response to the notification; and

responsive to the user request, either completing the voice call session to the selected computing device via the data communication network or routing the telephone call to a selected telephone device via a telephone network.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising executing a set of routing rules for routing the telephone call absent the user request, said routing rules being based on user preferences.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the selected telephone device is selected according to the routing rules.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of telephone devices coupled to the telephone network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein the telephone call originates from the telephone network.

33. The method of claim 28 further comprising parking the voice call session in a waiting state pending the user request.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising either terminating or completing the parked voice call session based on the user request.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein the selected computing device comprises a messaging client configured for receiving an alert from a messaging server to notify the user of the telephone call, said messaging client and said messaging server being coupled to the data communication network.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising receiving a user request from the messaging client and routing the telephone call in response thereto, said user request being representative of a user preference for one of the following:

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the data communication network at a computing device other than the selected computing device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at the selected telephone device;

receiving the telephone call via the telephone network at a telephone device other than the selected telephone device; and

blocking the telephone call.

37. The method of claim 35 further comprising canceling the alert if the telephone call is terminated while the voice call session is parked.

38. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 28.

39. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for routing a telephone call dynamically to a user, said computer-readable media comprising:

a voice component for initiating a voice call session on a data communication network in response to an incoming telephone call directed to the user and generating session information related to the telephone call, said data communication network having one or more computing devices coupled thereto, wherein the voice component is executed by a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server;

an alert component receiving the session information via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and responsive to the session information, sending a notification to a selected computing device associated with the user and coupled to the data communication network based on a user context corresponding to a log-in sub-state presence of the user indicating that the user is currently online at the selected computing device or based on a binary presence indicating that the selected computing device is connected to the data communication network, wherein the log-in sub-state presence comprises an online state, a busy state, an away state and an offline state, said alert component sending the notification to the selected computing device via the data communication network when the selected computing device is online based on the log-in sub-state presence and not based on the binary presence, wherein the notification includes a timeout and address book data associated with the caller number; and

a routing component for receiving a user request via the data communication network and routing the telephone call in response to the user request, said routing component either completing the voice call session to the selected computing device via the data communication network or routing the telephone call to a selected telephone device via a telephone network.

40. The computer-readable media of claim 39 further comprising a set of routing rules for routing the telephone call absent the user request, said routing rules being based on user preferences.

41. The computer-readable media of claim 40 wherein the selected computing device is selected according to the routing rules.

42. The computer-readable media of claim 41 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of computing devices coupled to the data communication network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

43. The computer-readable media of claim 40 wherein the selected telephone device is selected according to the routing rules.

44. The computer-readable media of claim 43 wherein the routing rules include rules for selecting one of a plurality of telephone devices coupled to the telephone network based on one or more of the following:

time of day, day of week, schedule, and caller identity.

45. The computer-readable media of claim 39 wherein the voice component is responsive to a session initiation protocol request from an internet telephony service provider for initiating the voice call session.