Apparatus and methods for subscriber and enterprise assignments and resource sharing

• US 8,238,327 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2005
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schneider, Marco, Cunetto, Philip Charles, Lemay, John Edward, Dudley, David Pennington, Lee, Jesie Tsae-Jiuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Assistant Examiner(s): GAY, SONIA L
• Application Number:
  US11/253,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20070115921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,484 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.22, 379/88.23, 379/219, 379/221.01, 379/88.25, 370/466, 370/316, 370/352, 370/401
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for subscriber and enterprise assignments and resource sharing are disclosed. A disclosed method includes managing resources for a communication service having a communication location. The disclosed method comprising associating a group identifier with a sub-group type, and associating a subscriber with the group identifier, wherein the sub-group type is used to determine at least one super-group usable to route an outdial call from the communication location if the outdial call is associated with the subscriber, and wherein the super-group comprises at least one of a circuit group or a voice over internet protocol communication path.

Claims

1. A method of managing resources for a communication service having a communication location, the method comprising:

determining an outdial communication service type of an outdial call;

associating a group identifier with a sub-group type;

associating a subscriber with the group identifier; and

electronically processing the sub-group type and the outdial communication service type to determine a first sub-group of a super-group usable to route the outdial call from the communication location if the outdial call is associated with the subscriber, any sub-group whose type matches the sub-group type being usable unless the sub-group is restricted to use associated with one or more specified group identifiers, the super-group comprising at least one of a circuit group or a voice over internet protocol communication path, the super-group being partitioned into a plurality of sub-groups, at least one sub-group supporting a plurality of outdial communication service types, the first sub-group allocated a first number of super-group resources dedicated to the outdial communication service type of the outdial call and a second number of super-group resources capable of being shared among the outdial communication service type of the outdial call and one or more other outdial communication service types.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the sub-group type is at least one of a public type, a private type, a shared type, or a voice over internet protocol type.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the group identifier is an outdial resource group.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the subscriber is associated with at least one of a mailbox number or a call tree access number.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein a second subscriber is associated with the group identifier, and wherein the sub-group type is used to determine at least one super-group usable to route the outdial call from the communication location if the outdial call is associated with the second subscriber.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein using the sub-group type to determine the at least one super-group is performed by a policy server.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising defining the sub-group type based upon a type of the super-group.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the super-group type is at least one of a public type, a private type, a shared type, or a voice over internet protocol type.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising associating the group identifier with a second sub-group type.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the second sub-group type is used to determine at least one super-group usable to route the outdial call.

11. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the sub-group type and the second sub-group type are used in a predetermined order that is associated with the group identifier.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein a host enterprise shares at least one sub-group of the sub-group type with a client enterprise and wherein the client enterprise associates the subscriber with the group identifier.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the at least one sub-group comprises a portion of respective ones of at least one super-group.

14. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the at least one sub-group comprises all of respective ones of at least one super-group.

15. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the group identifier is associated with a plurality of sub-group types, the sub-group type is a first sub-group type assigned to the outdial communication service type for outdial calls associated with the group identifier, and wherein the subscriber assigned to the group identifier uses the first sub-group type associated with the outdial communication service type to determine the super-group usable to route the outdial call having the outdial communication service type.

16. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein a host enterprise shares the at least one super-group with a client enterprise.

17. A tangible article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

assign a sub-group associated with a communication system from a host enterprise to a client enterprise;

associate a first outdial feature with the sub-group, the sub-group comprising a first amount of the communication resources dedicated to the first outdial feature and a second amount of the communication resources shared among the first outdial feature and one or more other outdial features, a first value specifying the first amount of the communication resources dedicated to the first outdial feature and a second value specifying an upper limit on a portion of the second amount of communication resources available to the first outdial feature to prevent the first outdial feature from completely consuming the second amount of the communication resources; and

associate at least one subscriber with an outdial resource group, wherein the outdial resource group is used to identify the sub-group assigned to the client enterprise, wherein the sub-group is usable to route an outdial call from a communication device to an endpoint.

18. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 17 wherein the outdial resource group is unaware of specific identities of resources associated with the sub-group.

19. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 17 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to select at least one of a circuit group or a voice over internet protocol communication path usable to route an outdial call for the at least one subscriber, wherein a type of the at least one circuit group or voice over internet protocol communication path is the same as a type of the sub-group.

20. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 19 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to select the at least one circuit group or voice over internet protocol communication path based on the first outdial feature associated with the outdial call.

21. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 20 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to reference the outdial resource group to select the at least one circuit group or voice over internet protocol communication path used for the first outdial feature based on availability and an ordered list of sub-group types.

22. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein a type of the sub-group is at least one of a private sub-group type, a public sub-group type, a shared sub-group type, or a voice over internet protocol sub-group type.

23. A method of providing outdial communication services using messaging system physical resources of a first entity, the method performed by a second entity comprising:

associating an outdial resource group with a portion of the physical resources of the first entity;

electronically associating a plurality of outdial features with the portion of the physical resources, the portion of the physical resources comprising;

a first amount of physical resources dedicated to a first outdial feature; and

a first variable amount of physical resources up to a first upper limit capable of being shared among the first outdial feature and the others of the plurality of outdial features, the first upper limit being variable and less than a total amount of physical resources shareable among the plurality of outdial features to prevent the first outdial feature from completely consuming the shareable physical resources; and

assigning a subscriber of the second entity to the outdial resource group to provide messaging services to the subscriber.

24. A method as defined in claim 23 wherein the first entity is a host enterprise and the second entity is a client enterprise.

25. A resource assigner to allocate messaging system resources, the resource assigner comprising:

a super-group assigner to define sub-groups of communication resources;

a feature resource assigner to reserve a first portion of communication resources associated with a first sub-group defined by the super-group assigner to be dedicated to a first outdial feature and to reserve a second portion of communication resources associated with the first sub-group to be shared among the first outdial feature and one or more other outdial features, the second portion being less than a total amount of communication resources associated with the first sub-group and shareable among a plurality of outdial features including the first outdial feature to prevent the first outdial feature from completely consuming the shareable communication resources;

an outdial resource group sub-group assigner to associate an outdial resource group with the first sub-group defined by the super-group assigner; and

a subscriber assigner to associate a subscriber with the outdial resource group, the first sub-group to be allocated to route an outdial call associated with the subscriber based on evaluating the outdial resource group associated with the subscriber and determining which outdial feature is associated with the outdial call.

26. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, further comprising at least one communication device in communication with the at least one of the super-group assigner, the outdial resource group sub-group assigner or the subscriber assigner.

27. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, wherein the super-group assigner is structured to assign a resource capacity to the first sub-group.

28. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, wherein the super-group assigner is structured to associate the first sub-group with a client.

29. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, wherein the outdial resource group sub-group assigner is structured to de-assign an outdial resource group from the first sub-group.

30. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, wherein the outdial resource group resource assigner is structured to associate an ordered set of sub-group types to an outdial feature.

31. A resource assigner as defined in claim 25, wherein the subscriber assigner is structured to disassociate the subscriber from the outdial resource group.