Location sensitive caller and callee based call prioritization

• US 8,693,654 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2009
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Narayan, Pramodh D., Ramanathan, Sri, Terry, Matthew A., Trevathan, Matthew B., Kashen, John J.
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US12/390,645
• Publication Number:
  US 20100215163A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.02, 379/210.01, 379/210.02, 379/211.01, 455/413, 455/419
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2038 Call context notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42187 Lines and connections with preferential service
• 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 system and method of call prioritization and, in particular, a system and method of location sensitive caller and callee based voice call prioritization are disclosed. A method includes: determining that an incoming call is designated as priority by a caller; determining that the caller is contained in a whitelist; and handling the incoming call as a priority call at a callee telephone when the incoming call is designated as priority by the caller and the caller is contained in the whitelist.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure for providing call prioritization, comprising:

determining that an incoming call includes a priority indication designated by a caller;

determining that the caller is contained in a whitelist; and

handling the incoming call as a priority call at a callee telephone when the incoming call includes the priority indication and the caller is contained in the whitelist.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising handling the incoming call as a normal call when at least one of:

the incoming call is not designated as priority by the caller, and the caller is not contained in the whitelist.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the handling the incoming call as a priority call comprises at least one of:

outputting a priority ring tone at the callee telephone;

outputting a priority audio signal at the callee telephone;

outputting a priority visual signal at the callee telephone; and

breaking through a “

busy”

setting of the callee telephone.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the whitelist contains an identification of at least one endpoint from which the callee is willing to receive a priority call.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving the identification of the at least one endpoint from the callee before the incoming call is received.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing the whitelist in a profile associated with the callee.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising accessing the stored profile to retrieve the whitelist when the incoming call is received.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the callee manages the whitelist using a browser interface.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the browser interface is displayed on the callee telephone.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the whitelist is associated with at least one of:

a predefined location and a predefined time of day.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining that the callee is within the predefined location.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining that the incoming call occurs during the predefined time of day.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the whitelist from a plurality of whitelists based on at least one of:

callee location when the incoming call is received, and time of day when the incoming call is received.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the incoming call is designated as priority by the caller comprises one of:

receiving an Intelligent Network feature code that was dialed by the caller when the incoming call was initiated; and

receiving a SIP message generated by a caller telephone.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports a computer infrastructure that performs the handling.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the handling is provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.

17. A computer program product comprising program code stored on a tangible storage device, which, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive and store a plurality of whitelists;

receive a call initiated from a caller telephone to a callee telephone, wherein the received call is designated as a priority call at the caller telephone when the call is initiated;

determine that the call is designated as a priority call;

obtain a callee location from a location platform;

determine a particular whitelist from the plurality of whitelists based on the obtained callee location;

determine whether the caller telephone is contained in the particular whitelist; and

one of;

generate a priority output at the callee telephone when the caller telephone is contained in the particular whitelist, and handle the call as a normal call when the caller telephone is not contained in the particular whitelist.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the plurality of whitelists are defined by the callee using a browser interface.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of whitelists is associated with at least one of:

a predefined location, and a predefined time of day.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the program code further comprises the computing device to determine at least one of:

that the callee is within the predefined location when the call occurs, and

that the call occurs during the predefined time of day.

21. A system for providing call prioritization, comprising:

a telephone device including a combination of hardware and software that operates to;

determine that an incoming call is designated as priority by a caller and that the caller is contained in a whitelist stored in the telephone device; and

generate one of a normal output and a priority output based on the determining,

wherein the call is designated as a priority call by the caller when the call is initiated.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the telephone device displays a dialing display including:

a first button that when selected designates an outgoing call as a normal call;

a second button that when selected designates the outgoing call as a priority call; and

a third button that when selected routes the outgoing call directly to voicemail of the callee.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the telephone device displays a browser interface through which the whitelist is managed.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the whitelist comprises an identification of at least one caller from which a subscriber is willing to receive a priority call.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein:

the dialing display includes a standard dialing keypad in addition to the first, second, and third buttons; and

the incoming call is treated as a priority call only when both (i) the incoming call is designated as priority by the caller when the incoming call is initiated and (ii) the caller is identified in the whitelist.