Location-based call control

• US 8,849,267 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Garg, Neeraj Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US11/688,388
• Publication Number:
  US 20080233935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,751 Days
• Field of Search: 370259-263, 370/335, 370/352, 4554141-4144, 455415-417, 4554561-457, 455/445, 455/461, 455/456.2, 455/428, 455/433, 455/439, 455/456.3, 455/456.4, 37921102-21104, 379/212, 379/1, 379/201, 379/2, 379/224, 379/88.16, 379/211.8, 37920107-2011, 37921101-21201, 379/269, 379/142.07, 3791421-14214, 379/220.01, 709/239, 340/988, 340/689, 340/994, 340/995.25, 342/457, 342/107, 342/357.62
• US Class Current: 455/417
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks

Abstract

An architecture is presented that automatically detects a location of a user and forwards messages to a pre-configured number associated with the detected location. A location system is provided that comprises a location component and a routing component. The location component publishes presence information of a mobile device. The presence information is associated with a physical location of the mobile device. Once the mobile device'"'"'s presence information is published, the routing component automatically sets the call forwarding to the physical location for communication to a user of the mobile device. The message is routed to a pre-configured number associated with the physical location of the mobile device. A user of the mobile device pre-configures numbers associated with various frequently visited physical locations (e.g., home, club, etc.).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented location system to automatically detect a location of a user and forward messages to a pre-configured number associated with the detected location, comprising:

a communications server to process presence information to automatically detect a physical location of a mobile device, the presence information is provided by a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client running on the mobile device, automatically route a message to a pre-configured number for a second device at the physical location for communication to a user of the mobile device, and selectively manage access by a watcher to information about the physical location of the mobile user, wherein the physical location of the mobile user is made available to the watcher based on specific permissions granted to the watcher.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence information is based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) that provides the SIP client running on the mobile device which publishes the presence information to the communications server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein routing is to a pre-configured number associated with the physical location.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the routing component automatically forwards the message from a first location to the physical location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence information is associated with the location of the mobile device on an IP network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the message is a telephone call.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence information is published based in part on a short message service (SMS) broadcast.

8. A method of automatically detecting location of a user and forwarding messages to a pre-configured number associated with the detected location, comprising:

detecting a location of a mobile device;

publishing presence information of a mobile device to a communications server, the presence information associated with a physical location of the mobile device and based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP);

automatically routing a message to the pre-configured number associated with the physical location from a first location to the physical location, wherein the pre-configured number is for a second device; and

selectively managing access to information about the physical location of the mobile device, wherein the physical location of the mobile device is published and made available to a watcher based on specific permissions granted to the watcher.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the location of the mobile device is detected via GPS.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the location of the mobile device is detected via triangulation.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the location of the mobile device is detect via location services (LCS).

12. The method of claim 8, wherein a SIP client running on the mobile device publishes the presence information to a communications server.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the physical location of the mobile device is published and made available to a watcher.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the physical location of the mobile device is published and not made available to a watcher, unless the watcher has been granted permission to view the location.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the mobile device comprises one of a multimedia player, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, a smart device, and a hand held computing device.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the message is a telephone call.

17. A system of automatically detecting location of a user and forwarding messages via SMS to a pre-configured number associated with the detected location, comprising:

means for detecting a location of a mobile device;

means for publishing presence information of a mobile device to a communications server, the presence information associated with a physical location of the mobile device and based on a signaling protocol, wherein a signaling protocol client running on the mobile device publishes the presence information to a communications server;

means for automatically routing a message to the pre-configured number associated with the physical location from a first location to the physical location, wherein the pre-configured number is for a second device; and

means for selectively managing access to information about the physical location of the mobile device, wherein the physical location of the mobile device is published and made available to a watcher based on specific permissions granted to the watcher.