Class-based call request routing

• US 8,325,906 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fullarton, Paul, Lichtenberg, Tom, Rothrock, Michael, Schramm, Steven D., Shah, Ankur
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US11/698,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20070201661A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,140 Days
• Field of Search: 379/210.01, 379/211.01, 379/211.02, 379/219, 379/220.01, 455/414, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2044 Group features, e.g. closed user group
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/651 Text message transmission triggered by call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13251 Restricted service, class of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13256 Call screening
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13288 Closed user groups, CUG

Abstract

Communication systems and methods are described that include class-based call request routing. Components of the communication systems are configured to receive information of a class at a calling device. In response to the class information, a call request is automatically generated and addressed to resources of a class group. The resources of the class group all possess a common attribute of the class. The attribute includes one or more of a skill, job specialty code, job title, company, department, and division. The generated call request is routed to target devices of the resources. In response to a resource accepting the call request, a response message is received from a target device of the resource. Communications are established between the calling device and the at least one target device in response to the response message received from the target device.

Claims

1. A method in a communication system including a plurality of mobile devices and a facilitator for establishing calls for the plurality of mobile devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by the facilitator from a calling device, information of a class group having an attribute;

determining a set of mobile devices that belong to the class group in response to receiving the information of the class group;

determining by the facilitator;

first mobile devices of the set of mobile devices that belong to the class group and that are available to accept a call; and

,

second mobile devices of the set of mobile devices that belong to the class group and that are unavailable to accept the call;

generating, in response to the information of the class group, a call request;

selecting, according to a routing rule, at least one target device from the first mobile devices of the set of mobile devices that belong to the class group and that are available to accept the call to receive the call request;

routing the call request by the facilitator to the at least one selected target device of the first mobile devices;

receiving by the facilitator a response message from a responding target device of the at least one target device, the response message indicating a willingness of the responding target device to accept a call from the calling device;

notifying the calling device by the facilitator of the willingness of the responding target device to accept the call from the calling device; and

,

in response to the notifying by the facilitator to the calling device of the willingness of the responding target device to accept the call from the calling device, initiating by the calling device communication directly with the responding target device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information of a class includes a selection of a class made via the calling device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the class group includes one or more resources having one or more attributes in common.

4. The method of claim 1, providing an integrated directory at the calling device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the integrated directory includes the class group.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving information of the class includes receiving a class selection via the integrated directory.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the integrated directory includes contact information of at least one of the resources.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising determining the resources from a plurality of contacts of an enterprise, wherein the enterprise includes the resources.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing is parallel routing to a plurality of resources of the class group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the routing includes:

a first routing of the call request to at least one target device of a first set of resources; and

a second routing of the call request to at least one target device of a second set of resources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing is sequential routing to each of a plurality of resources of the class group.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising determining a hierarchy of the routing, wherein the hierarchy defines an order of the routing to the plurality of resources.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes:

a first routing of the call request to a first set of target devices belonging to the class group;

waiting for a response to the call request from the first set of target devices; and

a second routing of the call request to a second set of target devices belonging to the class group in the absence of a response to the first routing.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second routing occurs upon termination of a time period since the first routing.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes:

a first routing of the call request to at least one target device of a first set of resources; and

a second routing of the call request to at least one target device of a second set of resources in the absence of the response message to the first routing.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing comprises:

parallel routing to a first plurality of resources of the class group; and

sequential routing to each of a second plurality of resources of the class group.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute includes one or more of a skill, job specialty code, job title, company, department, and division.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein rules of the rule-based routing are customized according to on one or more of the class and the class group.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes routing according to use status of the resource.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the routing includes routing first to one of relatively most-used resources and relatively least-used resources.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes routing according to class level of the resource.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes routing according to expense level of the resource.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes routing according to skill level of the resource.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the routing includes routing first to one of relatively higher-skilled resources and relatively lower-skilled resources.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing includes routing according to availability of the resource, wherein the availability includes one or more of presence of the resource, reachable status of the resource, availability determined by a host system, and availability specified by the resource.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the call request includes generating the call request at the calling device.

27. The method of claim 1, comprising providing a delivery confirmation to the calling device in response to delivery of the call request to the target devices.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the response message includes receiving the response message at the calling device.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the response message includes receiving the response message at an intermediate server, wherein the intermediate server is hosted by an organization that includes the resources.

30. The method of claim 1, comprising generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to delivery of the call request at the target device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating a voice call to the calling device.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the call request to the target device includes routing in accordance with context information, the context information including at least one of a connectivity state and an availability profile of the target device.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the connectivity state includes information of a state of connectivity of the target device to a communication network.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the connectivity state includes at least one of a reachable state and an unreachable state, wherein the target device is in a reachable state when the target device is in a powered state and connected to a corresponding communication network, wherein the target device is in an unreachable state when the target device is one or more of in an un-powered state, disconnected from the communication network, and engaged in a voice call.

35. The method of claim 1, comprising transferring context information of the target device to the calling device, wherein the context information includes at least one of presence information of the target device and a current availability state of the target device.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising displaying the context information in at least one list of contact information of the target device.

37. The method of claim 35, comprising automatically transferring updates of the context information of the target device to the calling device.

38. The method of claim 1, comprising generating a query for information of the resources of the class.

39. The method of claim 1, comprising monitoring a state of the call request and transferring state messages including the call request state to the calling device, wherein the state of the call request includes at least one of not sent, in transit, delivered, failed to deliver, and expired states.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein the response message accepts the call request and includes a prompt for use in initiating communication with the target device sending the response message.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the call request is a data message that includes one or more of a text message and a voice message.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the call request comprises automatically transferring contents of the call request to the target device in an electronic message, wherein the electronic message includes at least one of an electronic mail message, an instant message, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, and an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message.

43. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the calling device and the target devices include one or more of a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireline device, a voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) device, a private branch exchange device, a soft client, and a desktop client.

44. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources of the class are unknown to a user of the calling device.

45. The method of claim 1, comprising automatically determining the resources using data and status information of a plurality of contacts coupled to an enterprise.

46. The method of claim 1, wherein routing includes routing using information of a priority of the call request.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein routing includes routing using information of a subject of the call request.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein routing includes routing using expiry information of the call request.

49. A system comprising:

a server coupled with an associated enterprise and at least one associated communication network, the server comprising a facilitator; and

wherein the facilitator is configured to communicate with a plurality of mobile communication devices, wherein the facilitator is operable to communicate with a calling device of the plurality of mobile communication devices to receive from the calling device information of a class having an attribute;

wherein the facilitator is configured to determine a first set of devices belonging to the class group and that are available to accept a call;

wherein the facilitator is configured to determine a second set of devices belonging to the class group and that are unavailable to accept a call;

wherein the facilitator is responsive to generate, in response to the information of the class, a call request addressed to a class group possessing the attribute of the class;

wherein the facilitator is configured to select, according to a routing rule, the at least one target device of the first set of devices to receive the call request, the at least one target device belonging to the class group and being currently available;

wherein the facilitator is configured to route the call request to the at least target device associated with the class group selected to receive the call request;

wherein the facilitator is configured to receive a response from a responding target device of the at least one target device indicating a willingness of the responding target device to receive a mobile call;

wherein the facilitator is configured to forward to the calling device a notification of the willingness of the responding target device to receive the mobile call; and

wherein the calling device is responsive to receiving the notification from the facilitator to initiate the mobile call directly between the calling device and the responding target device.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the information of a class includes a selection of a class made via the calling device.

51. The system of claim 49, wherein the class group includes one or more resources having one or more attributes in common.

52. The system of claim 49, comprising an integrated directory at the calling device, wherein the integrated directory includes the class group, wherein the integrated directory includes contact information of individual ones of the resources.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein receiving information of the class includes receiving a class selection via the integrated directory.

54. The system of claim 49, wherein the facilitator is operable to determine the resources from a plurality of contacts of an enterprise, wherein the enterprise includes the resources.

55. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing is parallel routing to target devices of a plurality of resources of the class group.

56. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing is sequential routing to target devices of each of a plurality of resources of the class group.

57. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing comprises:

parallel routing to target devices of a first plurality of resources of the class group; and

sequential routing to target devices of each of a second plurality of resources of the class group.

58. The system of claim 49, wherein rules of the rule-based routing are customized according to on one or more of the class and the class group.

59. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing includes routing according to use status of the resource.

60. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing includes routing according to class level of the resource.

61. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing includes routing according to expense level of the resource.

62. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing includes routing according to skill level of the resource.

63. The system of claim 49, wherein the routing includes routing according to availability of the resource.

64. The system of claim 49, comprising at least one adapter coupled to the server and to at least one component of the enterprise, wherein the adapter is operable to receive information from the component and automatically generate from the information a configuration of the class group and assign resources as members of the class group.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein the adapter is operable to automatically update from the information the configuration of the class group and the assigned resources of the class group.

66. The system of claim 64, wherein the component of the enterprise includes one or more of a human resource system, a financial system, a customer relationship management system, a telephone system, a directory server, and an electronic mail server.

67. A non-transitory computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, provides class-based call request routing by:

receiving by a facilitator from a calling device information of a class having an attribute;

selecting, according to a routing rule at least one resource of the class group to receive a call request responsive to receiving the information from the calling device;

generating, in response to the information of the class, a call request;

determining first target devices that are available to accept a call;

determining second target devices that are unavailable to accept a call;

selecting, according to a routing rule, at least one target device from a set of mobile devices belonging to the class group and from the first target devices to an exclusion of the second target devices to receive the call request;

routing the call request by the facilitator to the at least one target device associated with the at least one resource;

receiving by the facilitator a response message from a responding target device of the at least one target device indicating an acceptance of the call request by the responding target device;

notifying the calling device by the facilitator of the acceptance of the call request by the responding target device; and

in response to the notifying by the facilitator to the calling device of the acceptance of the call request by the responding target device, initiating by the calling device communication directly with the responding target device.