Establishment of connections over a communication network to a participant of a meeting without said participant's telephone number being known

• US 9,131,051 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2007
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Unify GmbH & Co. KG (Atos SE)
• Inventors: Lederer, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pope, Kharye
• Application Number:
  US12/529,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20100034369A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,875 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142, 379/198, 379/201, 379/202.01, 379/203.01, 379/204.01, 379/205.01, 379/206.01, 370/260, 370/261, 370/262, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/357, 455/404.2, 455/414, 455/456, 455/457, 455/556, 455/416, 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4935 Connection initiated by DAS system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0024 Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services arrangements which combine a telephonic equipment and a computer H04M7/0012

Abstract

The present application relates to a method and a communication system with which participants of a scheduled meeting, in particular a business meeting or conference, can be reached by a telephone caller without the caller needing to know the telephone number of the participants. Conventionally, the caller who does not have available the corresponding number must obtain said number by calling a telephone switchboard or by searching in an electronic address book. This disadvantage is overcome by the subject matter of the application by the fact that a connection to a meeting participant, preferably the organizer of the meeting, is established using only the telephone number of the caller. For this purpose, the caller is identified by the caller'"'"'s telephone number, and thereafter an address book is examined to determine whether the caller is a participant in a meeting. If yes, the organizer of the meeting or the organizer'"'"'s telephone number is obtained, and the connection to the telephone number thus obtained is forwarded on.

Claims

1. A method for automatic establishment of a connection to a participant in a scheduled meeting via at least one communications network, comprising:

a calling terminal device connecting to a switchboard system to initiate a call;

the switchboard system determining address information associated with the calling terminal device in response to the calling terminal device connecting to the switchboard system to initiate the call;

the switchboard system transmitting the determined address information associated with the calling terminal device to a server;

the server transmitting the address information associated with the calling terminal device to an address book for determining an identity associated with the address information of the calling terminal device;

the server determining a calendar event associated with a user of the calling terminal device based upon the identity received from the address book;

the server determining an address of a terminal device associated with a calendar event participant that is not the user of the calling terminal device based upon the determined calendar event;

the server sending the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant to the switchboard system; and

the switchboard system automatically establishing a connection between the calling terminal device and the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant utilizing the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant received from the server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the server determining the calendar event associated with the user of the calling terminal device based upon the identity received from the address book comprises:

an application of the server transmitting a request to a calendar module of the server or a calendar module of a computer device to obtain information relating to any calendar events associated with the user of the calling terminal device; and

the server receiving calendar event information associated with the user of the calling terminal device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the calendar event information is comprised of an identity of the calendar event participant assigned to a calendar event to which the user of the calling terminal device is associated.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the calendar event information is also comprised of an address for at least one terminal device associated with the calendar event participant assigned to the calendar event to which the user of the calling terminal device is associated.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the server determining the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant that is not the user of the calling terminal device based upon the determined calendar event comprises:

the server transmitting a request to the address book comprising an identity of the calendar event participant assigned to the calendar event to obtain an address for at least one device associated with the identity of at least one participant;

the server receiving the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant from the address book.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the address book is hosted by a computer device and the calendar module is stored on the server.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the calendar event participant is an organizer and the calendar event is a conference organized by the organizer.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

upon a determination that the switchboard system establishing a connection between the calling terminal device and the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant results in an established connection with a voice mail function associated with the calendar event participant, the server determining an identity of another calendar event participant and an address of a terminal device associated with the other calendar event participant; and

the switchboard system establishing a connection between the calling terminal device and the terminal device associated with the other calendar event participant via the determined address of the terminal device associated with the other calendar event participant.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the address information is a telephone number of the calling terminal device and the calling terminal device is a telephone device and wherein:

the switchboard system automatically establishing the connection between the calling terminal device and the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant utilizing the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant received from the server occurs such that the switchboard system connects the calling terminal device to the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant in response to the calling terminal device connecting to the switchboard system to initiate the call such that input identifying the address of the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant is not needed to be transmitted from the calling terminal device to the switchboard system for establishing the connection between the calling terminal device and the terminal device associated with the calendar event participant.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the server is a first server and the address book is hosted by a second server and wherein the switchboard system has a virtual terminal device, the virtual terminal device having a predefined telephone number and wherein the calling terminal device connects with the virtual terminal device when connecting to the switchboard system to initiate the call.

11. A communication system for automatic establishment of a connection to a participant in a scheduled meeting comprising:

a first terminal device associated with a first user;

a second terminal device associated with a second user;

a switchboard system being communicatively connectable to the first terminal device and being communicatively connectable to the second terminal device, the switchboard system having a virtual terminal device;

a server having an application communicatively connectable to the switchboard system;

an address book communicatively connectable to the server;

the first terminal device connecting to the virtual terminal device of the switchboard system to initiate a call;

the switchboard system determining address information associated with the first terminal device and the virtual terminal device transmitting address information associated with the first terminal device to the server;

the server transmitting the address information associated with the first terminal device received from the switchboard system to the address book for determining an identity of the first user;

the address book identifying the first user to the server based upon the address information transmitted by the server;

the server determining a calendar event associated with the first user based upon the identity received from the address book;

the server determining that the second user is associated with the calendar event;

the server sending a communication address of the second terminal device to the switchboard system based upon the determination of the second user being associated with the calendar event; and

the switchboard system automatically establishing a connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device based upon the communication address of the second terminal device received from the server to connect the first terminal device to the second terminal device in response to the first terminal device connecting to the switchboard system to initiate the call such that input identifying the communication address of the second terminal device is not needed to be transmitted from the first terminal device to the switchboard system for establishing the connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the server determining the calendar event associated with the first user based upon the identity received from the address book comprises the server evaluating calendar entries stored in a calendar module of the server to determine the calendar event.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the server determining the calendar event associated with the first user based upon the identity received from the address book comprises the server sending a request to a calendar module stored on a computer device requesting information from at least one calendar entry stored in the calendar module associated with the first user.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the server determining that the second user is associated with the calendar event is comprised of:

the server sending a request to a calendar module that comprises an identity of the first user;

the server receiving a response from the calendar module that responds to the request sent to the calendar module;

the server determining that at least one of an identity of the second user and an address of the second terminal device is included within calendar event information within the response received from the calendar module.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the calendar module is stored in the server.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein upon a determination that the switchboard system establishing a connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device results in an established connection with a voice mail function associated with the second user, the server determining an identity of a third user that is a participant of the calendar event and an address of a terminal device associated with the third user;

and

the switchboard system establishing a connection with the terminal device associated with the third user via the determined address of the terminal device associated with the third user.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the server communicates with a calendar module to determine the identity of the third user and sends the identity of the third user to the address book to determine the address of the terminal associated with the third user.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the first terminal device is a device having an assigned telephone number and the second terminal device is a device having an assigned telephone number and wherein the virtual terminal device of the switchboard system has an assigned telephone number.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the server communicates with the switchboard system via a computer supported telecommunications application interface.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein the switchboard system is connected to a mobile telephony network and a wired communications network.