Inbound call identification and management

• US 8,548,143 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2012
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Inventors: Vendrow, Vlad
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US13/526,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20130016822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 379/211.01, 379/201.01, 379/207.12, 379/211.02, 379/212.01, 455/417, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/158 Call-type dependent routing route determination based on the nature of the carried application in packet switching networks H04L45/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/02 Calling substations, e.g. by ringing selective calling H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4211 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• 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 3/436 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

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for inbound call identification and management. One of the systems includes one or more repositories that can include data representing call action policies and data representing attributes associated with the caller devices and the callee devices; and one or more computing devices that include a call identifier (“IDer”) configured to characterize the attributes of the caller devices to form characterized attributes, a call management system controller configured to match the characterized attributes against routing criteria specified in the data representing the call action policies, and a call management system router configured to route calls from the caller devices to the callee devices responsive to a match between the characterized attributes and the routing criteria.

Claims

1. A call management system comprising:

a call identifier configured to identify a first attribute from a call received from a caller device and intended for a plurality of callee devices;

a call management system controller configured to match the first attribute against routing criteria specified in a first customized routing rule, and to substitute the customized routing rule to bypass the use of a default routing rule based on the match between the first attribute and the routing criteria; and

a call management system router configured to route the call from the caller device to a target callee device in the plurality of callee devices based on location data representing a first location associated with the caller device and a second location associated with the target callee device.

2. The call management system of claim 1, wherein the first attribute is data representing a phone number associated with the target callee device.

3. The call management system of claim 1, wherein the call management system further comprises:

a processor configured to execute instructions to extract data representing destination contact identifiers from applications executing on callee devices of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of matches between phone numbers identified in attributes of received calls with the extracted destination contact identifiers.

4. The call management system of claim 1, wherein the call management system controller is further configured to receive:

location data describing a geographic location of the caller device; and

location data describing geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of differences between the geographic location of the caller device and the geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices.

5. The call management system of claim 4, wherein the call identifier is further configured to:

identify a second attribute of the target callee device, the second attribute specifying location data describing a geographic location for the target callee device.

6. The call management system of claim 5, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify that the call management system router is to route the call to a nearest available callee device of the plurality of callee devices relative to the caller device,

wherein the target callee device is the nearest available callee device relative to the caller device.

7. The call management system of claim 5, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify that that the call management system router is to route the call to a farthest available callee device relative to the caller device in the plurality of callee devices,

wherein the target callee device is the farthest available callee device relative to the caller device.

8. A method comprising:

identifying a first attribute from a call received from a caller device and intended for a plurality of callee devices;

matching the first attribute against routing criteria specified in a first customized routing rule;

substituting the customized routing rule to bypass the use of a default routing rule based on the match between the first attribute and the routing criteria; and

routing the call from the caller device to a target callee device in the plurality of callee devices based on location data representing a first location associated with the caller device and a second location associated with the target callee device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first attribute is data representing a phone number associated with the target callee device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

extracting data representing destination contact identifiers from applications executing on callee devices of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of matches between phone numbers identified in attributes of received calls with the extracted destination contact identifiers.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving location data describing a geographic location of the caller device and location data describing geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of differences between the geographic location of the caller device and the geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying a second attribute of the target callee device, the second attribute specifying location data describing a geographic location for the target callee device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify routing the call to a nearest available device of the plurality of callee devices relative to the caller device, wherein the target callee device is the nearest available callee device relative to the caller device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify routing the call to a farthest available callee device relative to the caller device in the plurality of callee devices, wherein the target callee device is the farthest available callee device relative to the caller device.

15. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

identifying a first attribute from a call received from a caller device and intended for a plurality of callee devices;

matching the first attribute against routing criteria specified in a first customized routing rule;

substituting the customized routing rule to bypass the use of a default routing rule based on the match between the first attribute and the routing criteria; and

routing the call from the caller device to a target callee device in the plurality of callee devices based on location data representing a first location associated with the caller device and a second location associated with the target callee device.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

extracting data representing destination contact identifiers from applications executing on callee devices of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of matches between phone numbers identified in attributes of received calls with the extracted destination contact identifiers.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving location data describing a geographic location of the caller device and location data describing geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule include criteria for routing calls as a function of differences between the geographic location of the caller device and the geographic locations of the plurality of callee devices.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

identifying a second attribute of the target callee device, the second attribute specifying location data describing a geographic location for the target callee device.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify routing the call to a nearest available callee device of the plurality of callee devices relative to the caller device, wherein the target callee device is the nearest available callee device relative to the caller device.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein the routing criteria specified in the first customized routing rule specify routing the call to a farthest available callee device relative to the caller device in the plurality of callee devices, wherein the target callee device is the farthest available callee device relative to the caller device.