System and method for providing emergency call forwarding services

• US 8,798,603 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2008
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Johnny, Schermerhom, Rich, Toner, Victoria M., Gupta, Shekhar, Roberts, Mike A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gao, Jing
• Application Number:
  US12/172,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20100009665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,213 Days
• Field of Search: 455/417, 455/414.2, 455/440, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2038 Call context notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• 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 3/46 Arrangements for calling a number of substations in a predetermined sequence until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

A system and method for forwarding a telephone call includes routing a telephone call from a calling party to a first telephone of a called party. A determination may be made that the telephone call was not answered by the called party. A determination may be made as to whether the telephone call is to be forwarded to an unrelated second telephone within a predetermined distance of the first telephone. Geographic coordinates of the first telephone may be determined. A determination of geographic coordinates of at least one second telephone may be made. A determination as to whether the at least one unrelated second telephone is within the predetermined distance of the first telephone. An unrelated second telephone determined to be within the predetermined distance of the first telephone may be selected. The telephone call may be forwarded to the selected unrelated second telephone.

Claims

1. A method for forwarding a telephone call, said method comprising:

routing a telephone call from a calling party to a first telephone of a called party;

in response to determining that the telephone call was not answered by the called party and that an emergency code was received with the telephone call, determining that the telephone call is to be forwarded to another telephone within a predetermined distance of the first telephone of the called party, the another telephone being unrelated to either the calling party or the called party;

determining geographic coordinates of the first telephone;

determining geographic coordinates of at least one unrelated second telephone;

determining whether the at least one unrelated second telephone is within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

selecting an unrelated second telephone determined to be within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

playing a message to a first user of the unrelated second telephone to notify the first user that the telephone call for the called party within the predetermined range of the first user is being re-routed to the second telephone because the telephone call to the first telephone was not answered;

enabling the first user to accept or reject the telephone call;

in response to the first user accepting the telephone call, forwarding the telephone call to the unrelated second telephone, without routing through the first telephone; and

in response to the first user rejecting the telephone call,

selecting an unrelated third telephone determined to be within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

playing a message to a second user of the unrelated third telephone to notify the second user that the telephone call for the called party within the predetermined range of the second user is being re-routed to the third telephone because the telephone call to the first telephone was not answered;

enabling the second user to accept or reject the telephone call; and

in response to the second user accepting the telephone call, forwarding the telephone call to the unrelated third telephone, without routing through the first telephone.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether the called party has activated an emergency call forwarding service.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the telephone call was not answered by the called party, playing a message to the calling party to enable the calling party to selectively enable the telephone call to be forwarded to the unrelated second telephone.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the emergency call code includes receiving the emergency call code as a prefix to a telephone number of the called party.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the geographic coordinates of the first telephone includes receiving Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates from the first telephone.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the telephone call is to be forwarded to the unrelated second telephone within the predetermined distance of the first telephone includes determining whether the unrelated second telephone is within approximately 30 feet.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein forwarding the telephone call from a calling party to the unrelated second telephone includes forwarding the telephone call to a mobile telephone.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining geographic coordinates of at least one unrelated second telephone includes determining geographic coordinates of at least one mobile telephone.

9. A system for forwarding a telephone call, said system comprising:

an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate over a communications network;

a storage unit configured to store a data repository, the data repository including telephone numbers of telephones and respective geographic coordinates of the telephones;

a processing unit in communication with said I/O unit and storage unit, said processing unit configured to;

route a telephone call from a calling party to a first telephone of a called party;

in response to determining that the telephone call was not answered and that an emergency code was received with the telephone call, determine that the telephone call is to be forwarded to another telephone within a predetermined distance of the first telephone of the called party, the another telephone being unrelated to either the calling party or the called party;

determine geographic coordinates of the first telephone;

determine, from information stored in the data repository, geographic coordinates of at least one unrelated second telephone;

determine whether the at least one second telephone is within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

select an unrelated second telephone determined to be within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

play a message to a first user of the second telephone to notify the first user that the telephone call for the called party within the predetermined range of the first user is being re-routed to the second telephone because the telephone call to the first telephone was not answered;

enable the first user to accept or reject the telephone call;

in response to the first user accepting the telephone call, re-route the telephone call to the unrelated second telephone, without routing through the first telephone; and

in response to the first user rejecting the telephone call,

select an unrelated third telephone determined to be within the predetermined distance of the first telephone;

play a message to a second user of the unrelated third telephone to notify the second user that the telephone call for the called party within the predetermined range of the second user is being re-routed to the third telephone because the telephone call to the first telephone was not answered;

enable the second user to accept or reject the telephone call; and

in response to the second user accepting the telephone call, reroute the telephone call to the unrelated third telephone, without routing through the first telephone.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said processing unit is further configured to determine whether the called party has activated an emergency call forwarding service.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein said processing unit is further configured to, in response to determining that the telephone call was not answered by the called party, play a message to the calling party to enable the calling party to selectively enable the telephone call to be forwarded to the unrelated second telephone.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein the emergency call code is a prefix to the telephone number of the called party.

13. The system according to claim 9, the geographic coordinates are Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined distance is within approximately 30 feet.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the unrelated second telephone is a mobile telephone.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the geographic coordinates of at least one second telephone are geographic coordinates of at least one mobile telephone.