Techniques for automatically activating or deactivating a phone associated with a virtual phone number

• US 8,229,471 B1
• Filed: 12/08/2011
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkham, Stephen, Bilinski, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard, Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eisner, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US13/314,602
• Time in Patent Office: 229 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/404.2, 455/417
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/28 Number portability ; Network address portability

Abstract

A computer-implemented technique is presented. The technique includes determining, at a server including one or more processors, one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number associated with a user. The technique includes determining, at the server, a location for each of the one or more phones. The technique includes receiving, at the server, position information from a mobile phone associated with the user indicating the user crossed a geo-fence corresponding to a specific location of a specific one of the one or more phones. The technique includes determining, at the server, a status of the specific phone associated with the geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the position information. The technique further includes selectively forwarding, from the server, an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, at a server including one or more processors, one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number, the virtual phone number being associated with a user;

determining, at the server, a location for each of the one or more phones, wherein each of the one or more phones is associated with a geo-fence corresponding to its location;

receiving, at the server, a fence-cross indication from a mobile device associated with the user that the user crossed a specific geo-fence of the one or more geo-fences associated with the one or more phones;

determining, at the server, a status of a specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the fence-cross indication, wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be active if the previous status was inactive and wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be inactive if the previous status was active; and

selectively forwarding, from the server, an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location for each of the one or more phones is input by the user via the mobile device by at least one of (i) inputting the location using a global positioning satellite (GPS) system of the mobile device and (ii) inputting the location by manually entering location-related information to the mobile device, the location-related information indicative of the location of the user.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geo-fence for a specific location is a circular geo-fence centered about the specific location and having a radius, and wherein the radius of the geo-fence is input by the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of a size and a shape of each geo-fence is based on a type of structure associated with its corresponding location.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each geo-fence for each location is stored locally at the mobile device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining, at the server, a user location, wherein determining the status for each of the one or more phones is further based on a proximity of the user location to the location associated with each of the one or more phones, and wherein the user location is determined based on at least one of flight information associated with the user, credit card usage information associated with the user, and electronic mail activity information associated with the user.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, from the server, information representing the one or more geo-fences to the mobile device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the status of the specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence is not based on knowledge of the server of a location of the mobile device.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

7. A computing system comprising:

a phone determination module that determines one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number, the virtual phone number being associated with a user;

a location determination module that determines a location for each of the one or more phones, wherein each of the one or more phones is associated with a geo-fence corresponding to its location;

a crossing determination module that receives a fence-cross indication from a mobile device associated with the user that the user crossed a specific geo-fence of the one or more geo-fences associated with the one or more phones;

a status determination module that determines a status of a specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the fence-cross indication, wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be active if the previous status was inactive and wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be inactive if the previous status was active; and

a call forwarding module that selectively forwards an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the location determination module determines the location for each of the one or more phones by receiving an input by the user via the mobile device, the input being at least one of (i) via a global positioning satellite (GPS) system of the mobile device and (ii) via manually entered location-related information to the mobile device, the location-related information indicative of the location of the user.

9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the geo-fence for a specific location is a circular geo-fence centered about the specific location and having a radius, and wherein the radius of the geo-fence is input by the user via the mobile device.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein at least one of a size and shape of each geo-fence is based on a type of structure associated with its corresponding location.

11. The computing system of claim 7, wherein each geo-fence for each location is stored locally at the mobile device.

12. The computing system of claim 7, further comprising a user location determination module that determines a user location, wherein the status for each of the one or more phones is further based on a proximity of the user location to the location associated with each of the one or more phones, and wherein the user location determination module determines the user location based on at least one of flight information associated with the user, credit card usage information associated with the user, and electronic mail activity information associated with the user.

22. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the location determination module is further configured to transmit information representing the one or more geo-fences to the mobile device.

23. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the status determination module is configured to determine the status of the specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence not based on knowledge of a location of the mobile device.

24. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

13. A system comprising one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute a method of:

determining one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number, the virtual phone number being associated with a user;

determining a location for each of the one or more phones, wherein each of the one or more phones is associated with a geo-fence corresponding to its location;

receiving a fence-cross indication from a mobile device associated with the user that the user crossed a specific geo-fence of the one or more geo-fences associated with the one or more phones;

determining a status of a specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the fence-cross indication, wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be active if the previous status was inactive and wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be inactive if the previous status was active; and

selectively forwarding an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the location for each of the one or more phones is input by the user via the mobile device, and wherein each geo-fence for each location is stored locally at the mobile device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the geo-fence for a specific location is a circular geo-fence centered about the specific location and having a radius.

25. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to command a transmission of information representing the one or more geo-fences to the mobile device.

26. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the status of the specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence not based on knowledge of a location of the mobile device.

27. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

16. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number, the virtual phone number being associated with a user;

determining a location for each of the one or more phones, wherein each of the one or more phones is associated with a geo-fence corresponding to its location;

receiving a fence-cross indication from a mobile device associated with the user that the user crossed a specific geo-fence of the one or more geo-fences associated with the one or more phones;

determining a status of a specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the fence-cross indication, wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be active if the previous status was inactive and wherein the status of the specific phone is determined to be inactive if the previous status was active; and

selectively forwarding an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the location for each of the one or more phones is input by the user via the mobile device, and wherein each geo-fence for each location is stored locally at the mobile device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the geo-fence for a specific location is a circular geo-fence centered about the specific location and having a radius.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further include transmitting information representing the one or more geo-fences to the mobile device.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein determining the status of the specific phone associated with the specific geo-fence is not based on knowledge of a location of the mobile device.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.