Call routing and prioritization based on location context

• US 8,275,102 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zheng, Yu, Agarwal, Sharad, Hehmeyer, Alex, Singh, Noor-E-Gagan, Venkateshaiah, Venky
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US12/481,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20100316205A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142.05, 379/142.06, 379/142.1, 379/142.11
• US Class Current: 379/142.05
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Called parties in an enhanced communication system are provided location information associated with a calling party to help them determine whether they should accept the call. Alternatively, automatic call routing may be performed based on location context information associated with the calling party such as whether the caller is calling from a regular location association with him/her or an extra-ordinary location.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for location context based routing and prioritization of communication requests, the method comprising:

receiving a communication session request for a subscriber of an enhanced communication system from a calling party via an access server;

determining a location and an identity, including one or more of a telephone number and a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI), of the calling party;

determining a location, availability, status, and preferences of the subscriber;

determining an attribute of the calling party;

inferring location context information based on the location and identity of the calling party, the attribute of the calling party, and the location of the subscriber;

providing the location context information to at least one of;

the subscriber and the calling party via the access server; and

prioritizing the communication session request based on the inferred location context information of the caller and the location of the subscriber via a communication management server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically routing the incoming communication session request based on the location context information via the access server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the requested communication session request is prioritized based on one of:

whether the calling party is at an extra-ordinary location as determined by the location context information and whether the calling party is within a vicinity of the subscriber as determined by the location context information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a call routing selection to the calling party based on the location context information of the calling party and the location of the subscriber.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute of the calling party includes at least one from a set of:

an identity, a title, a position, an organization, a membership in a group, and an address.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute of the calling party is determined based on information retrieved from at least one from a set of:

an organizational directory, a subscriber directory, and a third party directory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the subscriber and the location of the calling party are determined based on at least one from a set of:

Global Positioning Service (GPS) information, cellular network information, and information obtained from an active connection a non-cellular network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the subscriber, the location of the calling party, and the attribute of the calling party are determined based on presence information associated with the subscriber and the calling party, respectively.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the presence information is received from one of:

directly from the calling party and a presence server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the requested communication session includes at least one from a set of:

a voice communication, a video communication, an instant messaging exchange, a text message exchange, an application sharing session, a data sharing session, and a whiteboard sharing session.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session is facilitated by at least from a set of:

a smart phone, a laptop, a desktop computer, a handheld computer, and a smart automobile console executing a communication application.

12. An enhanced communication system for location context based routing and prioritization of incoming calls, the system comprising:

a server and a communication management framework, the server configured to execute the communication management framework and further configured to enable a communication management server to manage a call to a subscriber, wherein the communication management server is further configured to;

receive the call for the subscriber of the enhanced communication system from a caller via an access server;

determine a location and an attribute of the caller, the attribute of the caller including at least one from a set of;

an identity, a title, a position, an organization, a membership in a group, and an address, wherein the identity includes one or more of a telephone number and a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI);

determine a location, availability, status, and preferences of the subscriber;

infer location context information based on the location and the attribute of the caller and the location of the subscriber;

prioritize the call based on the inferred location context information of the caller and the location of the subscriber;

automatically route the call to the subscriber based on the location context information and the priority of the call via the access server; and

if the call is to be routed to the subscriber, provide the location context information to the subscriber via the access server; and

a client device associated with the subscriber configured to;

provide the location context information along with an incoming call alert to the subscriber, wherein the incoming call alert includes one or more of;

a visual alert and an audio alert, along with additional caller information including at least one of;

the name of the caller, the number of the caller, an SIP identifier of the caller, an email address of the caller, a username of the caller, and picture alert of the caller;

enable the subscriber to one of;

accept, reject, hold, and forward the call based on the provided location context information; and

if the subscriber selects to accept the call, facilitate the call via the access server.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to:

provide a call routing selection to the caller based on the location context information of the caller and the location of the subscriber.

14. The system claim 12, wherein the incoming call is automatically routed based on at least one from a set of:

a set of default rules, a set of subscriber defined rules, and a dynamic determination employing an intelligent algorithm to one of;

a voicemail system, a delegate of the subscriber, and an end device associated with the subscriber.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein a plurality of end devices are associated with the subscriber, and wherein the incoming call is routed to one of the plurality of end devices based on the inferred location context information.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the location context information is inferred by employing at least one from a set of:

a branch-and-bound algorithm, a progressive improvement algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm.

17. A computer-readable memory device having instructions stored thereon for location context based routing and prioritization of incoming calls, the instructions comprising:

receiving a call for a subscriber of an enhanced communication system from a caller via an access server associated a perimeter network within the enhanced communication system and enabling connectivity between subscribers within the enhanced communication system;

determining a location and an attribute of the caller, the attribute of the caller including at least one from a set of;

an identity, a title, a position, an organization, a membership in a group, and an address wherein the identity includes one or more of a telephone number and a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI);

determining a location, availability, status, and preferences of the subscriber;

inferring location context information based on the location and the attribute of the caller and also based on one of;

whether the caller is in a vicinity of the subscriber and whether the caller is at an extra-ordinary location;

prioritizing the call based on the inferred location context information of the caller and the location of the subscriber;

automatically routing the call based on the inferred location context information to one of;

a voicemail system, a delegate of the subscriber, and an end device associated with the subscriber via the access server;

if the call is to be routed to the subscriber, providing a user interface for displaying the location context information to the subscriber along with an incoming call alert wherein the incoming call alert includes one or more of;

a visual alert and an audio alert, along with additional caller information including at least one of;

the name of the caller, the number of the caller, an SIP identifier of the caller, an email address of the caller, a username of the caller, and picture alert of the caller;

enabling the subscriber to one of;

accept, reject, hold, and forward the call based on the provided location context information; and

if the subscriber selects to accept the call, facilitating the call via the access server to a preferred end device associated with the subscriber.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the user interface further provides additional information including at least one from a set of:

an address, a contact number, an email address, an organizational structure, an expertise, an availability status, a schedule, a location, and a membership group associated with the caller.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the user interface displays the location context information and the additional information with actionable items employing at least one from a set of:

a graphical shape based scheme, an icon scheme, and a text formatting scheme.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the user interface is configured to enable the subscriber to accept the incoming call employing one communication modality and later escalate to another communication modality based on the location context information.