Single point of contact personal communication system
First Claim
1. A method for contacting an individual, the method comprising the steps of:
- a computer receiving a request from a user to contact an individual;
the computer, responsive to finding that the request is a phone call, ringing a telephone of the individual;
the computer, responsive to finding that the individual does not answer the telephone, giving the user a choice of leaving voicemail or tracking down the individual;
the computer, responsive to a request to track down the individual, checking a first database to verify the user is authorized to track down the individual;
the computer, responsive to finding that the user is authorized to track down the individual, taking a first message from the user for the individual;
the computer sending a request to the user to indicate if the first message regards an emergency;
the computer receiving a response to the sent request from the user;
the computer, responsive to the response indicating the first message regards an emergency, locating a record for the individual in a second database;
the computer sending the first message to each device in a list of devices in the record;
the computer waiting a period of time specified for each device in the record in the second database; and
the computer, responsive to an absence of receiving a second message from the individual after waiting the period of time, repeating the sending of the first message and the waiting until the second message is received from the individual.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer/telephony integrated single-point-of-contact system (CISS) enabling a user to contact another using multiple devices with a single contact attempt is disclosed. A plurality of computer programs residing in a computer use a subscriber database, authorization database, priority list database, and device attributes database to determine how to respond to a request to contact a subscriber. If the request is an emergency, the computer repeatedly contacts all of the subscriber'"'"'s devices until a response is received. Otherwise, the computer contacts the subscriber'"'"'s devices in a sequential order determined by the subscriber. The computer can also delete redundant un-received messages from a subscriber'"'"'s devices and create a real-time connection between the requester and the subscriber, if it is technically possible, at the subscriber'"'"'s request.
60 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for contacting an individual, the method comprising the steps of:
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a computer receiving a request from a user to contact an individual; the computer, responsive to finding that the request is a phone call, ringing a telephone of the individual; the computer, responsive to finding that the individual does not answer the telephone, giving the user a choice of leaving voicemail or tracking down the individual; the computer, responsive to a request to track down the individual, checking a first database to verify the user is authorized to track down the individual; the computer, responsive to finding that the user is authorized to track down the individual, taking a first message from the user for the individual; the computer sending a request to the user to indicate if the first message regards an emergency; the computer receiving a response to the sent request from the user; the computer, responsive to the response indicating the first message regards an emergency, locating a record for the individual in a second database; the computer sending the first message to each device in a list of devices in the record; the computer waiting a period of time specified for each device in the record in the second database; and the computer, responsive to an absence of receiving a second message from the individual after waiting the period of time, repeating the sending of the first message and the waiting until the second message is received from the individual. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. One or more computer-readable storage devices comprising:
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program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to receive a request from a user to contact an individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to finding that the request is a phone call, ring a telephone of the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to finding that the individual does not answer the telephone, give the user a choice of leaving voicemail or tracking down the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to a request to track down the individual, check a first database to verify the user is authorized to track down the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to finding that the user is authorized to track down the individual, take a first message from the user for the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to send a request to the user to indicate if the first message regards an emergency; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to receive a response to the sent request from the user; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to the response indicating the first message regards an emergency, locate a record for the individual in a second database; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to send the first message to each device in a list of devices in the record; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to wait a period of time specified for each device in the record in the second database; and program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, to, in response to an absence of receiving a second message from the individual after waiting the period of time, repeat, until the second message is received from the individual, sending the first message and waiting the period of time. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for contacting an individual, the system comprising:
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one or more processors; one or more computer-readable storage devices; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to receive a request from a user to contact an individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to finding that the request is a phone call, ring a telephone of the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to finding that the individual does not answer the telephone, give the user a choice of leaving voicemail or tracking down the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to a request to track down the individual, check a first database to verify the user is authorized to track down the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to finding that the user is authorized to track down the individual, take a first message from the user for the individual; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to send a request to the user to indicate if the first message regards an emergency; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to receive a response to the sent request from the user; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to the response indicating the first message regards an emergency, locate a record for the individual in a second database; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to send the first message to each device in a list of devices in the record; program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to wait a period of time specified for each device in the record in the second database; and program instructions, stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to, in response to an absence of receiving a second message from the individual after waiting the period of time, repeat, until the second message is received from the individual, sending the first message and waiting the period of time. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification