Categorization of telephone calls

• US 7,894,597 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2005
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walker, Jennifer, Jain, Mukul, Baird, Randall B., Jennings, Cullen, Katkam, Vinod
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US11/249,840
• Publication Number:
  US 20070116246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,959 Days
• Field of Search: 37926601-2661, 379 8811- 8813, 455/564
• US Class Current: 379/266.07
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2478 Telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice services, e.g. email, internet access centralized arrangements where telephones services are combined H04M7/0024; for recording text messages H04M3/5322; for accessing Internet H04M3/4938
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/56 Arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/48 Arrangements for recalling a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy

Abstract

The present invention provides a mechanism for categorizing telephone calls and for providing special information about calls that appear on call lists maintained in a telephone. The invention provides for both providing an indication and for providing an action. When an entry on a call list is highlighted (in a conventional manner), pressing one key adds a flag to the entry on the call list to indicate that follow up action is required. Pressing a second key initiates an action such as attaching a reminder so that the user will be reminded to take action later. Pressing a third key will provide a text message balloon indicating information about the call. The flags and text messages can be added by either the called party or the calling party.

Claims

1. A telephone system comprising a handset, the handset comprising:

an embedded processor;

a memory for storing a plurality of icons, wherein one of the plurality of icons indicates that a follow up action is required;

a plurality of keys which can be activated by a user; and

programming executable by said embedded processor for displaying a call list, for displaying said one of the plurality of icons next to a particular telephone number within the call list when a first one of said plurality of keys is activated to indicate that said follow up action is required with respect to a call associated with the particular telephone number, for attaching a reminder to the call when a second one of said plurality of keys is activated to remind the user to take the follow up action, and for providing a text message balloon when a third one of said plurality of keys is activated to provide text information associated with the particular telephone number.

2. The telephone system recited in claim 1 wherein said telephone system is a VoIP telephone system and wherein said plurality of keys a comprises soft keys.

3. The telephone system recited in claim 1 wherein said reminder indicates that a reminder tone will be sounded at a specified time, said telephone system further comprising a timer that sounds the reminder tone at the specified time, wherein the specified time is entered into the telephone system by the user.

4. The telephone system recited in claim 1 wherein said one of the plurality of icons can be added next to the particular telephone number by either a calling party or a called party.

5. The telephone system recited in claim 1 further comprising a keypad, wherein the user can enter the text information associated with said particular telephone number using said keypad.

6. The telephone system recited in claim 1 further comprising means for transmitting said text information from a calling party to a called party.

7. The telephone system recited in claim 1, wherein said call list comprises at least a Missed Call List.

8. The telephone system recited in claim 1, wherein said call list comprises at least an Outgoing Call List.

9. In a telephone system comprising a calling party having a calling party handset and a called party having a called party handset, a method comprising:

displaying a list of telephone numbers that represent telephone calls on at least one of said handsets;

highlighting one of the telephone numbers in said list;

placing an icon adjacent to said highlighted telephone number to indicate that said highlighted telephone number requires a follow up action responsive to a user pressing a first key on a user activated device; and

associating a reminder with said highlighted telephone number to remind said user to take said follow up action responsive to said user pressing a second key on said user activated device.

10. The method recited in claim 9 wherein said icon indicates that a text note has been associated with said highlighted telephone number.

11. The method recited in claim 10, wherein said telephone system further comprises a keypad and wherein a user can enter said text note using said keypad.

12. The method recited in claim 10, further comprising providing a text message balloon displaying said text note associated with said highlighted telephone number responsive to said user pressing a third key on said user activated device.

13. The method recited in claim 9 wherein said reminder associated with said highlighted telephone number indicates that a reminder tone will be sounded at a specified time.

14. The method recited in claim 9 wherein either or both of said first key and said second key on said user activated device can be pressed by either the called party or the calling party.

15. The method recited in claim 14 wherein, responsive to the calling party pressing said user activated device, an indication that the calling party pressed said user activated device is sent to the called party'"'"'s handset.

16. The method recited in claim 9 wherein said telephone system is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system.

17. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the indication is sent to the called party'"'"'s handset using the SIP protocol.

18. The method recited in claim 9, further comprising removing said icon responsive to said user pressing a third key on said user activated device.

19. In a telephone handset that displays a list of telephone numbers related to telephone calls and includes a user activated device and a keypad, a method comprising:

highlighting one of the telephone numbers in said list of telephone numbers;

activating the user activated device to indicate that there is a text message associated with said highlighted telephone number;

receiving from said keypad said text message associated with said highlighted telephone number; and

providing a text message balloon to display said text message associated with said highlighted telephone number.

20. The method recited in claim 19 wherein there is a called party and a calling party and wherein said text message can be entered by either said called party or said calling party.

21. The method recited in claim 19 wherein said telephone system is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system.