Method and system to provide contact services in a communication network

• US 8,165,116 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ku, Bernard, Yasrebi, Mehrad, Qiu, Chaoxin
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): KAMARA, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US11/954,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20090154451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/352, 707/100, 709/203
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/385 Uniform resource identifier for session initiation protocol [SIP URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42

Abstract

A communication system includes an application server that includes logic to recognize that preference data in each of a plurality of data record entries of a subscriber record has a common value. Each data record entry includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and the subscriber record is stored in a telephone number mapping (ENUM) server. The application server also includes logic to issue a command to initiate contact concurrently with devices identified by URIs in the subscriber record via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more servers including logic to;

receive a contact request from an originating party, wherein the contact request is directed to a telephone number of a particular device of a plurality of devices associated with a subscriber;

in response to the contact request, retrieve a plurality of data record entries associated with the subscriber from a telephone number mapping server, wherein each data record entry of the plurality of data record entries identifies one of the plurality of devices associated with the subscriber;

recognize that preference data in each of the plurality of data record entries has a common value, wherein each data record entry includes a uniform resource identifier;

issue a command to initiate contact concurrently with each of the plurality of devices, wherein initiating contact concurrently with each of the plurality of devices comprises issuing invite messages to each of the plurality of devices, wherein each invite message results in a connection attempt to a corresponding device; and

upon establishing a connection to a single device associated with the subscriber, cancel the invite messages to all devices associated with the subscriber other than the single device and establish a communication path from the originating party to the single device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact request comprises a call to the telephone number.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices includes a public switched telephone network device or a public land mobile network device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic configured to:

determine a device availability, the device availability comprising an indication of which of the plurality of devices are unavailable to be contacted.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to recognize that order data in each of the plurality of data record entries has a common order value.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to, upon establishing the connection to the single device, provide a communication to the single device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the communication is a pre-recorded message.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the communication is one of an instant message, an e-mail message, and a page.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a contact request from an originating party, wherein the contact request is directed to a phone number of a particular device of a plurality of devices associated with a subscriber;

in response to the contact request, retrieving a plurality of data record entries associated with the subscriber from a telephone number mapping server, wherein each data record entry of the plurality of data record entries identifies one of the plurality of devices associated with the subscriber;

determining that order data in each of the plurality of data record entries have a common order value and determining that preference data associated with a plurality of uniform resource identifiers in the plurality of data record entries have a common preference value;

initiating invite messages concurrently to each of the plurality of devices associated with the subscriber; and

when contact has been established with a single device associated with the subscriber, establishing a communication path from the originating party to the single device and cancelling the invite messages to all devices associated with the subscriber other than the single device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising verifying that a registration status of a subscriber account associated with the subscriber is active before initiating the invite messages.

8. A method of registering a plurality of devices of a subscriber, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality uniform resource identifiers associated with the subscriber, each uniform resource identifier identifying a device associated with the subscriber;

receiving an indication that upon receipt of a contact request the devices associated with the subscriber are to be contacted concurrently;

assigning a common order value and a common preference value to each of the plurality of uniform resource identifiers in response to receiving the indication;

forming a plurality of data record entries, wherein each of the plurality of data record entries includes one of the plurality of uniform resource identifiers and includes the common order value and the common preference value;

storing the plurality of data record entries in a telephone number mapping server;

initiating when contact with each of the devices concurrently via invite messages upon receipt of the contact request; and

when contact is established with a single device, cancelling the invite messages to all devices associated with the subscriber other than the single device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of uniform resource identifiers is specified by the subscriber.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the indication is received from the subscriber.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising associating the plurality of data record entries with a subscriber telephone number.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the contact request comprises a call to the subscriber telephone number.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the common preference value is assigned by an application server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the application server is part of an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive a contact request from an originating party, wherein the contact request is directed to a telephone number of a particular device of a plurality of devices associated with a subscriber;

initiate invite messages concurrently to contact each of the plurality of devices associated with the subscriber in response to the contact request, wherein the plurality of devices are identified by a corresponding plurality of uniform resource identifiers that are stored in a telephone number mapping server, and wherein each of the plurality of uniform resource identifiers has a common order value and a common preference value associated therewith;

receive an acknowledgement that contact has been established with a single device associated with the subscriber;

and

after receiving the acknowledgement, cancel the invite messages to all devices associated with the subscriber other than the single device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to establish a communication path between the originating party and the single device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to assign the common preference value to each of the plurality of uniform resource identifiers in response to instructions issued by the subscriber.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to verify that the subscriber is actively registered with a contact service prior to initiating the invite messages.