Universal point of contact identifier system and method

• US 8,548,142 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2008
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ayman, LLC
• Original Assignee: Ayman, LLC
• Inventors: Birnbaum, Scott D., Hariri, Ayman
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US12/036,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20080144791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,045 Days
• Field of Search: 37920101-20103, 37920107-20108, 379/158, 379/202.01, 379/142.01, 379/245, 379/88.13, 379/88.2, 379/93.17, 379/93.24
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/46 Arrangements for calling a number of substations in a predetermined sequence until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/465 Arrangements for simultaneously calling a number of substations until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0009 where voice calls remain entirely in the telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers

Abstract

A subscriber to a universal point of contact service designates a preferred point of contact at which a communication initiator, such as a telephone caller, can contact the subscriber. Such an initiator desiring to contact the subscriber uses the subscriber'"'"'s email address to establish a communication session with a device associated with the subscriber'"'"'s preferred point of contact. The subscriber'"'"'s email address is input to an initiating device, preferably a telephone or facsimile machine, using an entry device capable of entering an email address. A requestor unit, receiving the email address, locates a repository of the subscriber'"'"'s point of contact information, and requests that information. The repository sends the point of contact information the subscriber has designated as preferred, and the requester unit uses that information to control a telephone switch to establish a communication session between the initiating device and the subscriber'"'"'s preferred point of contact device.

Claims

1. A method of contacting a person who has a universal point of contact identifier, comprising:

receiving, by an initiating device, an input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier;

presenting, in response to receiving the universal point of contact identifier, a first type of communication for contacting the person and a second type of communication for contacting the person;

receiving a selection input of one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication; and

contacting the person by the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication at a preferred point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication,

wherein one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is voice communication, and the other of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is communication other than voice communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacting comprises automatically establishing a communication session between the initiating device and the preferred point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is the communication other than the voice communication, and

wherein the contacting comprises presenting a mailing address corresponding to the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication, and delivering a package to the mailing address.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is an email address.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the email address consists of a user identification portion, a domain name portion and a demarcation symbol between the user identification and domain name portions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the email address is of the form userid@domainname, wherein userid is the user identification portion which is an identifier for the person within a computing domain having the domain name portion designated by domainname.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication other than voice communication comprises one of fax communication, email communication, and postal communication.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacting comprises:

determining, from among a first point of contact that is associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication and a second point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred point of contact; and

contacting the person by the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication at the preferred point of contact.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact comprises determining the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact based on at least one of a time of day at which the input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier is received, a day of a week at which the input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier is received, and an identity of a user of the initiating device.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program, the computer program enabling the contacting of a person who has a universal point of contact identifier, the computer program comprising:

program code for receiving an input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier into an initiating device;

program code for presenting, in response to receiving the universal point of contact identifier, a first type of communication and a second type of communication for contacting the person;

program code for receiving a selection input one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication; and

program code for contacting the person by the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication at a preferred point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication,

wherein one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is voice communication, and the other of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is communication other than voice communication.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the contacting comprises automatically establishing a communication session between the initiating device and the preferred point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication is the communication other than the voice communication, and

wherein the contacting comprises presenting a mailing address corresponding to the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication, and delivering a package to the mailing address.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is an email address.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the email address consists of a user identification portion, a domain name portion and a demarcation symbol between the user identification and domain name portions.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the email address is of the form userid@domainname, wherein userid is the user identification portion which is an identifier for the person within a computing domain having the domain name portion designated by domainname.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the communication other than voice communication comprises one of fax communication, email communication, and postal communication.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the contacting comprises:

determining, from among a first point of contact that is associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication and a second point of contact associated with the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred point of contact; and

contacting the person by the selected one of the first type of communication and the second type of communication at the preferred point of contact.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the determining the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact comprises determining the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact based on at least one of a time of day at which the input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier is received, a day of a week at which the input of the person'"'"'s universal point of contact identifier is received, and an identity of a user of the initiating device.

19. A method of establishing a communication session between an initiating device of an initiating user and a preferred destination device of a recipient user, the method comprising:

receiving, by the initiating device, from the initiating user an input of a universal point of contact identifier associated with the recipient user;

receiving, by the initiating device, from among a first point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a first destination device of the recipient user and a second point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a second destination device of the recipient user, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact, based on a preference of the recipient user that identifies one of the first destination device and the second destination device associated with the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred destination device; and

establishing, by the initiating device, the communication session between the initiating device and the preferred destination device based on the received one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is an electronic mail address of the recipient user.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is a unique identifier associated with the recipient user.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the first point of contact is a first telephone number of the first destination device and the second point of contact is a second telephone number of the second destination device.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the preference is a time of day at which the communication session is initiated.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the preference is a day of the week at which the communication session is initiated.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the preference is an identity of the initiating user.

26. A method of establishing a communication session between an initiating device of an initiating user and a preferred destination device of a recipient user, the method comprising:

receiving, by a requestor unit through a network interface unit of the requestor unit, from the initiating device an input of a universal point of contact identifier associated with the recipient user;

determining, from among a first point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a first destination device of the recipient user and a second point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a second destination device of the recipient user, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact, based on a preference of the recipient user that identifies one of the first destination device and the second destination device associated with the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred destination device; and

establishing the communication session between the initiating device and the preferred destination device based on the received one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is an electronic mail address of the recipient user.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the universal point of contact identifier is a unique identifier associated with the recipient user.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the first point of contact is a first telephone number of the first destination device and the second point of contact is a second telephone number of the second destination device.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the preference is a time of day at which the communication session is initiated.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the preference is a day of the week at which the communication session is initiated.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the preference is an identity of the initiating user.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the requestor unit comprises a storage unit that stores routing information for determining the preferred destination device.

34. A communication device that establishes a communication session between the communication device and a preferred destination device of a recipient user comprising:

an input unit that receives from an initiating user an input of a universal point of contact identifier associated with the recipient user; and

a communication unit that receives, from among a first point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a first destination device of the recipient user and a second point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a second destination device of the recipient user, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact, based on a preference of the recipient user that identifies one of the first destination device and the second destination device associated with the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred destination device, and establishes the communication session between the communication device and the preferred destination device based on the received one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact.

35. The communication device of claim 34, wherein the communication device is one of a telephone and a facsimile machine.

36. The communication device of claim 35, wherein the communication device is the telephone and the input device comprises a keyboard.

37. A communication device for establishing a communication session between an initiating device of an initiating user and a preferred destination device of a recipient user comprising:

a network interface unit that receives, from the initiating device an input of a universal point of contact identifier associated with the recipient user; and

a control unit that determines from among a first point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a first destination device of the recipient user and a second point of contact that is associated with the universal point of contact identifier and a second destination device of the recipient user, one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact, based on a preference of the recipient user that identifies one of the first destination device and the second destination device associated with the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred destination device.

38. The communication device of claim 37, wherein the network interface unit transmits, to the initiating device, the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact associated with the preferred destination device.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the preference is a time of day at which the communication session is initiated.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the preference is a day of the week at which the communication session is initiated.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the preference is an identity of the initiating user.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein the preference of the recipient user is a selection by the recipient user that identifies the one of the first destination device and the second destination device associated with the one of the first point of contact and the second point of contact as the preferred destination device.