System and method for providing telephone call notification and management in a network environment

• US 8,831,193 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Van Wyk, Ryan, Bearden, Brian, Steinbrueck, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): Laekemariam, Yosef K
• Application Number:
  US13/323,497
• Publication Number:
  US 20120083248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.12, 379/88.13, 379/88.21, 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/142.01, 379/142.04, 379/142.16, 379/142.17, 455/403, 455/412.2, 455/415, 455/550.1
• US Class Current: 379/142.16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to receive an incoming call message via a data interface upon activation of a trigger established with a voice communication network and activated when the voice communication network receives an incoming call to a destination identified by a pre-determined subscriber account; generate a call notification in response to the incoming call message; obtain a list of set-top boxes corresponding to the predetermined subscriber account; and route the call notification to the set-top boxes on the list.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an incoming call message at a server via a data interface upon activation of a trigger of a voice communication network that is activated when the voice communication network receives an incoming call to a destination identified by a pre-determined subscriber account;

generating a call notification in response to the incoming call message;

selecting a set top box from a group of set top boxes based on an identification of media content being presented by the set top box, wherein the group of set top boxes is associated with the pre-determined subscriber account; and

routing the call notification from the server to the selected set top box, wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on a time period for receiving call notifications that is associated with the set top box.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the incoming call message comprises receiving caller identity information.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising:

using the caller identity information to obtain a caller name associated with the incoming call; and

including the caller name in the call notification.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice communication network is a wireless network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice communication network is a voice-over-IP network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger of the voice communication network is provisioned by the server via an internet protocol multimedia subsystem.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on monitoring of a status of the selected set top box.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the call notification is configured for:

display on a display device; and

removal from the display device responsive to a control input originated at a remote control device of the display device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the call notification is configured to enable forwarding of the incoming call responsive to the control input.

10. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing computer instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an incoming call message upon activation of a trigger of a voice communication network that is activated when the voice communication network receives an incoming call to a destination identified by a pre-determined subscriber account;

generating a call notification in response to the incoming call message; and

routing the call notification to a set top box selected from a group of set top boxes based on an identification of a channel being presented by the set top box, wherein the group of set top boxes is associated with the pre-determined subscriber account, and wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on a time period for receiving call notifications that is associated with the set top box.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on a time period for receiving call notifications that are associated with the selected set top box.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on a monitored status of the selected set top box.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the incoming call message comprises caller identity information.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, comprising computer instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the operations comprising:

utilizing caller identity information associated with the incoming call message to obtain a caller name associated with the incoming call; and

providing the caller name with the call notification.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the trigger of the voice communication network is provisioned via an internet protocol multimedia subsystem.

16. A system comprising:

a memory storing computer instructions; and

a processor which when executing the computer instructions performs operations comprising;

receiving an incoming call message upon activation of a trigger of a voice communication network that is activated when the voice communication network receives an incoming call to a destination identified by a pre-determined subscriber account;

generating a call notification in response to the incoming call message;

obtaining user preferences for delivering call notifications to a group of set top boxes, wherein the group of set top boxes is associated with the pre-determined subscriber account, and wherein the user preferences comprise permitted time of delivery and permitted media content for interruption;

selecting a set top box from the group of set top boxes for receiving the call notification based on the user preferences; and

routing the call notification to the selected set top box, wherein the routing of the call notification is based in part on a time period for receiving call notifications that is associated with the set top box.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein a plurality of set top boxes are selected from among the group of set top boxes, wherein each of the group of set top boxes has corresponding user preferences for delivering call notifications, and wherein some of the user preferences are different for the corresponding set top boxes.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the user preferences comprise a permitted channel for interruption.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the selection of the set top box from the group of set top boxes for receiving the call notification is based in part on a monitored status of the selected set top box.