System and method for active mobile collaboration

• US 8,644,484 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2011
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• 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: Fulton, Paul R., Nakaso, Andre M., Drewry, John S., White, Michael A., Schramm, Steven D., Chatterjee, Saurav
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US13/204,318
• Publication Number:
  US 20110286591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.01, 379/201.02, 379/211.01, 379/211.02, 379/210.01, 379/210.02, 379/212.01, 379/215.01, 455/414.1, 455/417, 455/445
• US Class Current: 379/211.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/206 composed of PSTN and wireless network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• 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

A communication system is provided that uses loosely-coupled client-server architectures to improve the efficiency of communications. The communication system includes client and facilitator applications. The client application is a component of processor-based mobile communication devices. The facilitator application is hosted on one or more servers or other processor-based devices, and communicates with the client application via one or more couplings. The facilitator application can also be distributed among one or more portable processor-based devices including the communication devices hosting the client application. The communication system improves efficiency of voice communications by allowing communication device users to dynamically manage how and when mobile calls take place, intelligently screen calls based on caller identity, urgency, and subject matter, determine which contacts in a directory are available to talk and which ones choose not to be disturbed, and increase accessibility of enterprise and personal contact information from mobile phones.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an interface; and

a processor coupled with the interface, the processor being operable to;

communicate with a first associated device connected with an associated network via the interface;

communicate with a second associated device connected with the associated network via the interface;

obtain context information for the first and second associated devices, the context information for the first associated device comprising reach data representative of a level of connectedness of the first associated device to the associated network and availability profile data representative of a willingness and ability of a user associated with the first associated device to receive communications, the context information for the second associated device comprising reach data representative of a level of connectedness of the second associated device to the associated network and availability profile data representative of a willingness and ability of a user associated with the second associated device to receive communications;

provide the context information for the first associated device to the second associated device;

provide the context information for the second associated device to the first associated device;

receive a call request from the first associated device directed to the second associated device;

determining in accordance with the reach data of the second associated device the level of connectedness of the second associated device to the associated network as a one of a reachable level or an unreachable level;

selectively queuing the call request to defer delivery of the call request while the level of connectedness of the second associated device to the associated network is the unreachable level; and

automatically delivering the queued call request to the second associated device when the level of connectedness of the second associated device to the associated network is the reachable level.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to provide a delivery confirmation of the call request to the first associated device responsive to delivering the call request to the second associated device.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the interface comprises a voice channel and a data channel;

the processor is further operable to receive a response to the call request from the second associated device via the data channel; and

the processor is further operable to deliver the response to the first associated device via the data channel.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the availability profile for the second associated device comprises data representative of at least one of a control parameter or a call screening filter.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the call screening filter includes at least one filter that filters call requests by using at least one of a group consisting of the identity of a caller originating the call request, a priority of the call request, a subject of the call request, and a requested time of a voice call.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the call screening filter includes at least one filter selected from a group consisting of a priority filter, an allow filter, and a block filter, wherein the priority filter defines a minimum level of message priority for which the user associated with the second associated device is willing to receive notification, wherein the allow filter defines at least one caller from whom the user associated with the second associated device will accept messages and calls, and wherein the block filter defines at least one caller from whom the user associated with the second associated device will not receive messages and calls.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to automatically receive updated context information from the first associated device and second associated device.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processor is operable to automatically deliver updated context information from the second associated device to the first associated device.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to provide a state of the call request to the first device;

wherein the state of the call request is selected from a group consisting of not sent, in transit, delivered, failed to deliver, request expired, being retracted, and failed to retract.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the call request includes data selected from a group consisting of a request priority, a text subject, a voice subject, a phone number of the user associated with the first associated device, and an expiration time for the request.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to automatically initiate communication between the first associated device and the second associated device responsive to the context information for the first associated device and the context information for the second associated device indicating the associated users of the first and second associated devices are available for the communication.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to receive the call request in an electronic format selected from a group consisting 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.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to obtain the context information for the second associated device as data representative of a user associated with the second associated device.

14. A method, comprising:

transferring by an associated network context information for a second device to a first device, wherein the context information comprises data representative of an availability profile of users of the first and second devices, and a connectivity state for each of the first and second devices representative of a level of connectedness of the first and second devices relative to the associated network, wherein the connectivity state includes a reachable state and an unreachable state;

receiving a call request from the first device directed to the second device;

selectively queuing the call request so as to defer transfer of the call request to the second device in accordance with the context information for the second device indicating that the second device is in the unreachable state;

automatically delivering the queued call request to the second device when the context information for the second device indicates that the second device is in the reachable state; and

providing a delivery confirmation to the first device in response to delivery of the call request to the second device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a response to the call request from the second device; and

forwarding the response to the first device.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically receiving updated context information from the second device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically providing the updated context information to the second device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically initiating communication between the first device and second device responsive to the context information for the first device and the context information for the second device indicating the users of the first and second devices are available for the communication.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically providing a state of the call request to the first device, wherein the state of the call request is selected from a group consisting of not sent, in transit, delivered, failed to deliver, request expired, being retracted, and failed to retract.

20. Logic encoded in a non-transitory computer readable medium for execution by a processor, and when executed operable to:

communicate by an associated network with a first device and with a second device;

obtain context information for the first and second devices, the context information for the first device comprising data representative of an availability profile for the first device comprising data representative of a willingness and ability of a user associated with the first device to receive communications, and a connectivity state representative of a level of connectedness of the first device with the associated network, the context information for the second device comprising data representative of an availability profile for the second device comprising data representative of a willingness and ability of a user associated with the second device to receive communications, and a connectivity state representative of a level of connectedness of the second device with the associated network;

provide the context information for the first device to the second device;

provide the context information for the second device to the first device;

receive a call request from the first device directed to the second device;

selectively queuing the call request to defer delivery of the call request to the second device while the second device is unreachable in accordance with the data representative of the connectivity state of the second device; and

automatically delivering the queued call request to the second device when the second device is reachable in accordance with the data representative of the connectivity state of the second device.

21. The logic in accordance with claim 20, and when executed being further operable to:

automatically initiate communication between the first device and second device responsive to the availability profile for the first device and the availability profile for the second device indicating the users of the first and second devices being available for the communication.