Methods and systems for selecting a buddy from a buddy list and for placing call to a buddy

• US 8,135,000 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sabse Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sabse Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Reiher, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, MAN U
• Application Number:
  US11/826,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20080013699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 370352-356, 370389-466, 379221-265, 379 88- 90, 379373-375, 709238-250, 709205-229, 726 2- 7, 726197-211, 455422-455
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A method selects a buddy with which a user wants to connect. The buddy has a buddy identification listed in a pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations. The user using a user telephone means to which is associated identification information. A call is initiated from the user telephone means to an Internet-enabled computing device and has associated thereto calling line identification (CLID) information. The CLID information is compared to the user telephone means identification information. The CLID information is validated using the comparison and upon positive validation, the user providing the buddy identification; consulting the pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations for a match between the buddy identification and one of the Internet-accessible destinations; and advising the user of a successful or unsuccessful match. Alternatively, a call is placed to a party which does not necessarily belong to a pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations.

Claims

1. A method for determining contact information of a buddy of a user of a user telephone means having associated identification information, the method comprising:

receiving, at an Internet-enabled computing device, an incoming call from the user telephone means;

receiving, at the Internet-enabled computing device, calling line identification (CLID) information associated with the incoming call;

comparing the CLID information to the user telephone means associated identification information;

if the CLID matches the associated identification information of the user;

receiving buddy identification of the buddy from the user;

determining a match result based upon the buddy identification being listed in one of a group of pre-identified Internet-accessible destinations; and

sending the match result to the user telephone means;

wherein the buddy identification comprises at least one of;

letters entered by the user using a keypad on the user telephone means;

DTMF tones entered by the user using the keypad on the user telephone means;

numbers entered by the user using the keypad on the user telephone means;

a short-message-service-type message entered by the user using a keypad on the user telephone means; and

speech entered by the user using the user telephone means.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

placing an outgoing call to a buddy telephone means associated with the buddy; and

connecting the incoming call to the outgoing call to form a three-way call between the Internet connected computing device, the user, and the buddy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein once the buddy telephone means answers the outgoing call, the Internet-enabled computing device drops out of the three-way call, thereby leaving a two-way connection between the user telephone means and the buddy telephone means.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein placing the three-way conference call comprises calling back one of:

the user telephone means and another telephone means.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising prompting the user to provide the buddy identification if the CLID matches the user telephone means identification information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the Internet-enabled computing device to advise the user of a code to provide to identify the buddy.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving the incoming call, the user registering information identifying the user telephone means in a database accessible to the Internet-enabled computing device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the registering further comprises registering an association between the user and one or more specific telephone numbers that the user expects to use.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the registering further comprises registering authentication credentials.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior to the validation, performing an authentication using the authentication credentials to confirm the identity of the user.

11. A method for placing a call between user telephone means and a buddy telephone means, the buddy telephone means being Internet-enabled and being identifiable by coordinates, the user telephone means having associated thereto identification information, the method comprising:

receiving, at an Internet-enabled computing device, a call from the user telephone means, the call having associated thereto calling line identification (CLID) information;

comparing the CLID information to the user telephone means identification information;

validating the CLID information using the comparison;

upon positive validation, receiving from the user the coordinates of the buddy telephone means; and

placing the call between the user telephone means and the buddy telephone means corresponding to the coordinates;

wherein the coordinates are received in the form of at least one of;

letters related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, DTMF tones related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, numbers related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, a short-message-service-type message related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, and speech commands related to the coordinates and entered using the user telephone means.

12. A buddy selection system for determining contact information of a buddy of a user of the buddy selection system, the system comprising:

a database for storing a pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations; and

an Internet-enabled computing device communicatively coupled with the database and comprising;

an Internet telephony application for receiving a call from a user telephone means of the user, the call having calling line identification (CLID) information;

a specialized software application for intervening in the call when the CLID information indicates that the call is from the user telephone means, and for receiving buddy identification from the user via the user telephone means; and

a communication software application for searching for the buddy identification within the pre-identified group of Internet-accessible destinations to determine a search result;

wherein the specialized software application sends the search result to the user telephone means and cooperates with the Internet telephone software to create an outgoing call to-a buddy telephone means associated with the buddy upon successful match between the buddy identification and one of the Internet-accessible destinations.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the Internet-enabled computing device further comprises a prompting device for prompting the user to provide the buddy identification upon positive validation.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising an output device for advising the user of a code to provide to identify the buddy.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the Internet-enabled computing device comprises an input for receiving user registration information prior to receiving the call, the user registration information identifying the user telephone means in the database.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the registration information comprises an association between the user and one or more specific telephone numbers that the user expects to use.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the registration information further comprises authentication credentials.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising an authenticating device for performing an authentication using the authentication credentials to confirm an identity of the user prior to the validation.

19. A system for placing a call between user telephone means and a buddy telephone means, the buddy telephone means being Internet-enabled and being identifiable by coordinates, the user telephone means having associated thereto identification information, the system comprising:

an input for receiving calling line identification CLID information of an initial call from the user telephone means to an Internet-enabled computing device, and the coordinates of the buddy telephone means;

a database for storing the user telephone means identification information; and

the Internet-enabled computing device for comparing the CLID information to user-specific information;

for validating the CLID information using the comparison;

upon positive validation, for receiving the coordinates of the buddy telephone means; and

for placing the call between the user telephone means and the buddy telephone means corresponding to the coordinates;

wherein the coordinates are received in the form of at least one of;

letters related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, DTMF tones related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, numbers related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, a short-message-service-type message related to the coordinates and entered using the keypad on the user telephone means, and speech commands related to the coordinates and entered using the user telephone means.