Intelligent telephone number processing

• US 8,838,078 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Shaffer, Joshua H., Brown, Jeremy Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): El-Zoobi, Maria
• Application Number:
  US13/225,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20120307991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/410
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27485 Appending a prefix to or inserting a pause into a dialling sequence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a device that converts a telephone number based on the location of a telephone is described. The device receives the telephone number, where telephone number is to be used to place a telephone call on the device. The device further determines if the telephone number is suitable to place the telephone call based on a content of the telephone number and a location of the device. If the telephone number is not suitable to place the telephone call, the device converts the telephone number to a telephone number suitable to be used to place the telephone call.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method of processing a stored telephone number, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of the stored telephone number, the stored telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone;

retrieving the stored telephone number;

analyzing the stored telephone number to determine a content of the stored telephone number;

determining a location of the telephone;

determining if the stored telephone number is in a format to place the telephone call based on the content of the stored telephone number and the determined location of the telephone; and

if the stored telephone number is not in the format to place the telephone call, converting the stored telephone number to a converted telephone number suitable in the format to place the telephone call from the determined location of the telephone, wherein converting the stored telephone number comprises;

if the stored telephone number includes a first international prefix, removing the first international prefix from the stored telephone number;

if the stored telephone number includes a first domestic prefix, removing the first domestic prefix from the stored telephone number;

determining a matching rule for the stored telephone number based on the determined location of the telephone; and

applying the matching rule to the stored telephone number,

wherein if the format to place the telephone call includes a second international prefix, applying the matching rule includes adding the second international prefix to the stored telephone number, and

wherein if the format to place the telephone call includes a second domestic prefix, applying the matching rule includes adding the second domestic prefix to the stored telephone number.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the converted telephone number in the format to place the telephone call is a fully qualified telephone number.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the fully qualified telephone number includes the second international prefix, a country code, an area code, and a local number.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating the telephone call using the converted telephone number.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the stored telephone number is not a fully qualified telephone number.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the matching rule is a formatting rule that is particular to the determined location of the telephone.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the stored telephone number is selected from the group consisting of a recents list entry, an address book entry, and a telephone Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location of the telephone is country information that is stored in the telephone.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location of the telephone is based on the current carrier of the telephone.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein if the stored telephone number includes a first country code, converting the stored telephone number further comprises:

removing the first country code from the stored telephone number.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein if the format to place the telephone call includes a second country code, applying the matching rule includes adding the second country code to the stored telephone number.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method of processing a stored telephone number, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of the stored telephone number, the stored telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone;

retrieving the stored telephone number;

analyzing the stored telephone number to determine a content of the stored telephone number, wherein the content includes a first international prefix and a first country code;

determining a location of the telephone;

determining that the stored telephone number is not in a format to place the telephone call based on the content of the stored telephone number and the determined location of the telephone;

removing the first international prefix and the first country code from the stored telephone number;

determining a matching rule for the stored telephone number based on the determined location of the telephone; and

applying the matching rule to the stored telephone number to create a converted telephone number that is in the format to place the telephone call from the determined location of the telephone, wherein applying the matching rule includes adding a second international prefix and a second country code to the stored telephone number.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the matching rule is a formatting rule that is particular to the determined location of the telephone.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the stored telephone number is selected from the group consisting of a recents list entry, an address book entry, and a telephone Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the location of the telephone is country information that is stored in the telephone.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the location of the telephone is based on the current carrier of the telephone.

15. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a selection of a stored telephone number, the stored telephone number to be used to place a telephone call on a telephone;

means for retrieving the stored telephone number;

means for analyzing the stored telephone number to determine a content of the stored telephone number;

means for determining a location of the telephone;

means for determining if the stored telephone number in a format to place the telephone call based on the content of the input telephone number and the determined location of the telephone; and

if the stored telephone number is not in the format to place the telephone call,

means for converting the stored telephone number to a converted telephone number in the format to place the telephone call from the determined location of the telephone, wherein the means for converting the stored telephone number comprises;

if the stored telephone number includes an international prefix, means for removing the international prefix from the stored telephone number;

if the stored telephone number includes a domestic prefix, means for removing the domestic prefix from the stored telephone number;

means for determining a matching rule for the stored telephone number based on the determined locations of the telephone; and

means for applying the matching rule to the stored telephone number,

wherein if the format to place the telephone call includes a second international prefix, the means for applying the matching rule includes means for adding the second international prefix to the stored telephone number, and

wherein if the format to place the telephone call includes a second domestic prefix, the means for applying the matching rule includes means for adding the second domestic prefix to the stored telephone number.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the converted telephone number in the format to place the telephone call is a fully qualified telephone number.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the fully qualified telephone number includes the second international prefix, a country code, an area code, and a local number.