Techniques for automatically activating or deactivating a phone associated with a virtual phone number

• US 9,220,006 B1
• Filed: 05/01/2014
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkham, Stephen, Bilinski, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisner, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US14/267,870
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/28 Number portability ; Network address portability

Abstract

A computer-implemented technique is presented. The technique includes determining, at a server including one or more processors, one or more phones associated with a virtual phone number associated with a user. The technique includes determining, at the server, a location for each of the one or more phones. The technique includes receiving, at the server, position information from a mobile phone associated with the user indicating the user crossed a geo-fence corresponding to a specific location of a specific one of the one or more phones. The technique includes determining, at the server, a status of the specific phone associated with the geo-fence based on a previous status of the specific phone and the position information. The technique further includes selectively forwarding, from the server, an incoming phone call to the virtual phone number to the one or more phones based on their respective statuses.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by one or more computing devices, a geo-fence for a telephonic device associated with a virtual telephone number, the virtual telephone number being associated with a user and the geo-fence being associated with a location of the telephonic device;

receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, position information from a mobile device associated with the user indicating that the user has crossed the geo-fence, the position information including a fence-cross indication;

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a call forwarding status for the telephonic device as active based at least in part on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved into the geo-fence from outside the geo-fence;

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the call forwarding status for the telephonic device as inactive based at least in part on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved to a location out of the geo-fence from a location within the geo-fence;

selectively forwarding, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, an in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the telephonic device based on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is active; and

selectively forwarding, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the incoming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the mobile device based at least in part on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is inactive.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the call forwarding status for the telephonic device is changed to active in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when a previous call forwarding status is determined to be inactive, and wherein the call forwarding status is changed to inactive in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when the previous call forwarding status is determined to be active.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location of the telephonic device is provided by the mobile device by at least one of (i) a global positioning satellite (GPS) system of the mobile device and (ii) manual entry of location-related information indicative of the location of the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of a size and a shape of the geo-fence is based at least in part on determining a type of structure associated with the location of the telephonic device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the telephonic device is a landline and the geo-fence for the location of the landline is stored within the mobile device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the position information obtained from the mobile device includes a geo-fence identifier identifying the geo-fence that was crossed.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geo-fence for the location is a circular geo-fence surrounding the location and having a radius.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the geo-fence for the location is a rectangular geo-fence having a length and a breadth.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a plurality of geo-fence areas for a plurality of telephonic devices associated with the virtual telephone number, and selectively forwarding the in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the plurality of telephonic devices based at least in part on determining their respective status.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a user location, wherein determining the call forwarding status for the telephonic device is further based at least in part on a proximity of the user location to the location associated with the telephonic device, and wherein the user location is determined based at least in part on at least one of flight information associated with the user, credit card usage information associated with the user, and electronic mail activity information associated with the user.

11. A computing system comprising:

a crossing determination module configured to;

determine a geo-fence for a telephonic device associated with a virtual telephone number, the virtual telephone number being associated with a user and the geo-fence being associated with a location of the telephonic device;

receive position information from a mobile device associated with the user indicating that the user has crossed the geo-fence area, the position information including a fence-cross indication;

a status determination module configured to;

determine a call forwarding status for the telephonic device as active based on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved from a location within the geo-fence from a location outside the geo-fence;

determine the call forwarding status for the telephonic device as inactive based on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved to a location outside the geo-fence from a location within the geo-fence; and

a call forwarding module configured to;

selectively forward an in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the telephonic device based on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is active;

selectively forward the incoming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the mobile device based on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is inactive.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the call forwarding status for the telephonic device is changed to active in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when a previous call forwarding status is inactive, and wherein the call forwarding status is changed to inactive in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when the previous call forwarding status is active.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the location of the telephonic device is provided by the mobile device by at least one of (i) a global positioning satellite (GPS) system of the mobile device and (ii) manual entry of location-related information indicative of the location of the user.

14. The computing system of claim 11, wherein at least one of a size and a shape of the geo-fence is based at least in part on a type of structure associated with the location of the telephonic device.

15. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the crossing determination module is further configured to determine a plurality of geo-fence areas for a plurality of telephonic devices associated with the virtual telephone number, and wherein the call forwarding module is further configured to selectively forward the in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the plurality of telephonic devices based at least in part on their respective status.

16. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform operations comprising:

determining a geo-fence for a telephonic device associated with a virtual telephone number, the virtual telephone number being associated with a user and the geo-fence being associated with a location of the telephonic device;

receiving position information from a mobile device associated with the user indicating that the user has crossed the geo-fence, the position information including a fence-cross indication;

determining a call forwarding status for the telephonic device as active based on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved into the geo-fence from outside of the geo-fence;

determining the call forwarding status for the telephonic device as inactive based on receiving the fence-cross indication configured to inform that the user has moved out of the geo-fence from inside of the geo-fence;

selectively forwarding an in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the telephonic device based at least in part on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is active; and

selectively forwarding the incoming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the mobile device based at least in part on determining that the call forwarding status of the telephonic device is inactive.

17. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein the call forwarding status for the telephonic device is changed to active in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when a previous call forwarding status is determined to be inactive, and wherein the call forwarding status is changed to inactive in response to receiving the fence-cross indication when the previous call forwarding status is determined to be active.

18. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein the location of the telephonic device is provided by the mobile device by at least one of (i) a global positioning satellite (GPS) system of the mobile device, and (ii) manual entry of location-related information indicative of the location of the user.

19. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein at least one of a size and a shape of the geo-fence is based on a type of structure associated with the location of the telephonic device.

20. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program when executed on the computer causes the computer to also determine a plurality of geo-fences for a plurality of telephonic devices associated with the virtual telephone number, and wherein the call forwarding module is further configured to selectively forward the in-coming telephone call designated for the virtual telephone number to the plurality of telephonic devices based on their respective status.