Call handling using social network data

• US 8,983,440 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2013
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Inventors: Saylor, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Htun, San
• Assistant Examiner(s): Navar, Erica
• Application Number:
  US13/735,107
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/415, 455/417
• US Class Current: 455/415
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

Call handling options are selected for calls using social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of a caller to a call recipient in a social networking platform. An identifier for a calling device is used to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform. A call handling option for a call is selected, from among multiple, different call handling options, based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at an electronic device and from a caller, a call, the electronic device being associated with a call recipient;

obtaining an identifier associated with a calling device from which the call originated;

using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in a social networking platform;

selecting, from among multiple, different call handling options, a call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, wherein selecting the call handling option comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, a connection type of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, the connection type being selected from a set of connection types including at least connection types of directly connected, indirectly connected, and unconnected; and

in response to determining the connection type of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, selecting, as the call handling option for the call, a call handling option associated with the determined connection type, the selected call handling option being selected from among at least;

a first call handling option associated with the connection type of directly connected;

a second call handling option associated with the connection type of indirectly connected, the second call handling option being different from the first call handling option; and

a third call handling option associated with the connection type of unconnected, the third call handling option being different from the first call handling option and the second call handling option; and

using the selected call handling option to perform a call handling action for the call.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein receiving, at the electronic device and from the caller, the call, the electronic device being associated with the call recipient, comprises receiving, at a phone associated with the call recipient, an incoming phone call;

and

wherein obtaining the identifier associated with the calling device from which the call originated comprises identifying a phone number associated with a phone from which the call originated.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises selecting the call handling option from among a set of call handling options designating different call handling actions, the different call handling actions comprising two or more of:

providing an alert for the call and permitting the call to be answered;

without disconnecting the call, suppressing an alert for the call;

blocking or disconnecting the call;

forwarding the call to another device;

forwarding the call to voicemail;

providing a missed call alert after the call terminates;

suppressing a missed call alert for the call;

adding the call to a call list;

excluding the call from a call list;

sending a message to the calling device;

sending, to the calling device, data regarding a calendar associated with the call recipient; and

sending a message to a third device that is different from the electronic device and the calling device.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform;

accessing call handling data that associates each of the multiple, different call handling options with a different relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform;

comparing the determined relationship to the call recipient with the accessed call handling data; and

based on comparison results, selecting a call handling option designated for calls received from callers having the determined relationship to the call recipient.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller is a friend of the call recipient; and

in response to determining that, in the social networking platform, the caller is a friend of the call recipient, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from callers that are not friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform.

6. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller is included in a predefined subset of friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform; and

in response to determining that the caller is included in the predefined subset of friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform that are included in the predefined subset and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform that are not included in the predefined subset, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform that are included in the predefined subset.

7. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller is a friend of a friend of the call recipient; and

in response to determining that, in the social networking platform, the caller is a friend of a friend of the call recipient, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from callers having a relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform other than being a friend of a friend, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from friends of friends of the call recipient in the social networking platform.

8. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller is designated as a family member of the call recipient; and

in response to determining that, in the social networking platform, the caller is designated as a family member of the call recipient, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from callers designated as family members of the call recipient in the social networking platform and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from callers not designated as family members of the call recipient in the social networking platform, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from callers designated as family members of the call recipient in the social networking platform.

9. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller is not directly connected to the call recipient in the social networking platform;

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller and the call recipient are both members of a group defined within the social networking platform; and

in response to determining that the caller and the call recipient are both members of a group defined within the social networking platform, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from members of the group defined within the social networking platform and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from callers that are not members of the group defined within the social networking platform, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from members of the group defined within the social networking platform.

10. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller is not connected to the call recipient within a predetermined level of proximity; and

in response to determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller is not connected to the call recipient within a predetermined level of proximity, selecting, from among at least a call handling option that is designated for calls received from callers that are not connected to the call recipient within a predetermined level of proximity and at least one other call handling option designated for calls received from callers that have a relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform, the call handling option that is designated for calls received from callers that are not connected to the call recipient within a predetermined level of proximity.

11. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1:

wherein the operations further comprise receiving, prior to receiving the call, first user input designating a call handling option for calls received from callers having a first relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform; and

wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller has the first relationship to the call recipient; and

in response to determining that, in the social networking platform, the caller has the first relationship to the call recipient, selecting the call handling option for calls received from callers having the first relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1:

wherein the operations further comprise receiving, prior to receiving the call, first user input designating (i) a particular call handling option for calls received from callers having a first relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform and (ii) a range of time during which the particular call handling option should be used for calls received from callers having the first relationship to the call recipient in the social networking platform; and

wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, that, in the social networking platform, the caller has the first relationship to the call recipient;

identifying a time of the call;

determining that the identified time of the call is within the designated range of time; and

in response to determining that, in the social networking platform, the caller has the first relationship to the call recipient and that the identified time of the call is within the designated range of time, selecting the particular call handling option.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises accessing, from a storage unit of the electronic device, social network data received, prior to receiving the call, from a social networking service that operates the social network, the social network data being descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein using the phone number to access social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

after receiving the call and before using the selected call handling option to perform the call handling action for the call;

providing the identifier to a social networking service that operates the social network; and

receiving, over a network and from the social networking service that operates the social network, the social network data.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises:

identifying, based on the social network data, a first location associated with the caller at a time of the call;

identifying a second location associated with the call recipient, the second location being a location of the call recipient at the time of the call;

determining a distance between the first location and the second location;

accessing a threshold distance;

comparing the distance between the first location and the second location to the threshold distance;

based on comparison results, determining that the distance between the first location and the second location are within the threshold distance; and

selecting the call handling option for the call based on determining that the first location and the second location are within the threshold distance.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises receiving social network data that enables determination of one or more events experienced by the caller;

wherein selecting, from among the multiple, different call handling options, the call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, a relationship of the caller to the call recipient;

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller has experienced an event;

identifying a particular call handling option designated for calls received from callers that have experienced the event, the call handling option being different from a second call handling option designated for calls received from callers having the determined relationship to the call recipient that have not experienced the event; and

selecting the particular call handling option as the call handling option for the call.

17. A method performed by one or more processing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, at an electronic device and from a caller, a call, the electronic device being associated with a call recipient;

obtaining an identifier associated with a calling device from which the call originated;

using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in a social network;

selecting, from among multiple, different call handling options, a call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, a connection type of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, the connection type being selected from a set of connection types including at least connection types of directly connected, indirectly connected, and unconnected; and

in response to determining the connection type of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, selecting, as the call handling option for the call, a call handling option associated with the determined connection type, the selected call handling option being selected from among at least;

a first call handling option associated with the connection type of directly connected;

a second call handling option associated with the connection type of indirectly connected, the second call handling option being different from the first call handling option; and

a third call handling option associated with the connection type of unconnected, the third call handling option being different from the first call handling option and the second call handling option; and

using the selected call handling option to perform a call handling action for the call.

18. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at an electronic device and from a caller, a call, the electronic device being associated with a call recipient;

obtaining an identifier associated with a calling device from which the call originated;

using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in a social networking platform, wherein using the identifier to access the social network data comprises receiving social network data that enables determination of one or more events experienced by the caller;

selecting, from among multiple, different call handling options, a call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, a relationship of the caller to the call recipient;

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller has experienced an event;

identifying a first call handling option designated for calls received from callers that have experienced the event, the call handling option being different from a second call handling option designated for calls received from callers having the determined relationship to the call recipient that have not experienced the event; and

selecting the first call handling option as the call handling option for the call; and

using the selected call handling option to perform a call handling action for the call.

19. A method performed by one or more processing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, at an electronic device and from a caller, a call, the electronic device being associated with a call recipient;

obtaining an identifier associated with a calling device from which the call originated;

using the identifier to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in a social networking platform, wherein using the identifier to access the social network data comprises receiving social network data that enables determination of one or more events experienced by the caller;

selecting, from among multiple, different call handling options, a call handling option for the call based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform, wherein selecting the call handling option for the call comprises;

determining, based on the social network data, a relationship of the caller to the call recipient;

determining, based on the social network data, that the caller has experienced an event;

identifying a first call handling option designated for calls received from callers that have experienced the event, the call handling option being different from a second call handling option designated for calls received from callers having the determined relationship to the call recipient that have not experienced the event; and

selecting the first call handling option as the call handling option for the call; and

using the selected call handling option to perform a call handling action for the call.