Virtual contact identifier

• US 9,241,078 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Forbes, Scott C., Cutler, Ross, Moore, Timothy M., Buch, Jeremy T., Bawcutt, Anthony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US11/770,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20090003569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,127 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 455/435.3, 380/255, 707/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates enhancing connectivity associated with data communications. An interface can receive a portion of communication state data, wherein the communication state data is related to at least one of a data communication mode and a user context state. A routing component can evaluate the portion of communication state data to identify an optimized data communication mode, wherein the optimized data communication mode is dynamically linked to a virtual contact identifier. Moreover, the routing component can automatically and seamlessly employ an optimized communication session utilizing the dynamically identified optimized data communication mode based upon an activation of the virtual contact identifier.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates enhancing connectivity associated with data communications, comprising:

an interface component that receives a portion of communication state data associated with a first user, the communication state data being related to at least one user context state, the at least one user context state comprising data relating to at least a power state of at least one device associated with the first user;

a routing component that evaluates the portion of communication state data to identify an optimized data communication mode from a plurality of disparate data communication modes, the optimized data communication mode being dynamically linked to a virtual contact identifier associated with the first user based at least in part upon the evaluation of the portion of communication state data;

the routing component automatically and seamlessly employing an optimized communication session utilizing the dynamically identified optimized data communication mode based upon an activation of the virtual contact identifier by a second user attempting to communicate with the first user associated with the activated virtual contact identifier; and

a cross-modality component that enables seamless and dynamic data transmission between the plurality of disparate data communication modes in their respective disparate data formats, the plurality of disparate data communication modes being associated with at least one of an incoming data communication from the second user, the optimal data communication mode, or an origin of the incoming data communication, the plurality of disparate data communication modes including at least two of voice, text, video, application sharing and whiteboarding.

2. The system of claim 1, the virtual contact identifier being associated with an identity and at least one data communication mode related to the identity.

3. The system of claim 1, the communication state data being associated with at least one of an available data communication mode, an available device, an available network, an available communication network, an available communication protocol, user contextual data, a user location, a user state, a data communication mode resource, a data communication mode constraint, a user-defined preference, a robustness of channel, a data communication mode strength, a likelihood of being dropped, a user environment surrounding, a resource-comparison between available data communication modes, a device-efficiency, an incoming data communication mode, or a compatibility.

4. The system of claim 1, the virtual contact identifier being at least one of:

a user-selected number, alpha-numeric sequence, letter, sound, graphic, icon, motion, telephone number, email address, alias, picture, identification for a third-party commercial service, or an identifier for a service provider;

or

a government issued identifier with a portion of personal data.

5. The system of claim 1, the data communication mode being a communication medium that relates to at least one of a device, a network, a message, a session, or configuration data, the device is at least one of a telephone, a land line, a hard-line, a work phone, a house phone, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a mobile device, a smartphone, a portable digital assistant, a computer, a portable PC, a personal computer (PC), a hand-held, a mobile communication device, a laptop, a media device, a text-messaging component, an electronic mail (email) device, a text message device, a voice call, a pager, an instant message component, or a video communication device.

6. The system of claim 1, the virtual contact identifier being logically representative of the optimal data communication mode identified in real time.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an evaluation component that monitors the portion of communication state data in real time in order to select the optimal data communication mode from a plurality of data communication modes associated with the virtual contact identifier.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a link component that employs a logical linkage between the virtual contact identifier and the optimal data communication mode in real time.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security component that secures a portion of data related to at least one of an incoming data communication targeted for the virtual contact identifier, the optimized data communication mode, the optimized communication session, or the portion of communication state data.

10. The system of claim 9, the security component ensuring an incoming data communication targeted to the virtual contact identifier being linked to the optimized data communication mode associated with a matching identity.

11. The system of claim 9, the security component identifying a security level with an incoming data communication and ensuring the optimal data communication mode includes a corresponding security level that matches or exceeds the security level for the incoming data communication.

12. The system of claim 9, the security component identifying a security level with the optimal data communication mode and ensuring an incoming data communication mode includes a corresponding security level that matches or exceeds the security level for the optimal data communication mode.

13. The system of claim 12, the routing component employing at least one of the following:

a selection of a disparate optimal data communication mode based upon the security level related to the incoming data communication not matching or exceeding the security level of the optimal data communication mode;

or a restriction to an incoming data communication based upon the security level related to the optimal data communication mode not matching or exceeding the security level of the incoming data communication.

14. The system of claim 1, the cross-modality component converting data in a first format to data in a second format, at least one of the first format or the second format being related to at least one of the incoming data communication or the optimal data communication mode.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an intelligent component that facilitates connectivity to the optimized data communication mode selected from the plurality of disparate data communication modes; and

a machine learning component that uses user feedback to train the system.

20. The system of claim 7, the evaluation component utilizing a speech server by enabling an incoming voice data to be converted to disparate mediums utilizing various speech recognition techniques/mechanisms.

16. A computer-implemented method that facilitates enhancing data communications connectivity, comprising:

receiving a portion of communication state data associated with a first user, the communication state data comprising data communication strength of at least one device associated with the first user;

evaluating the portion of communication state data;

selecting an optimal data communication mode from a plurality of disparate data communication modes based at least in part upon the evaluation;

dynamically linking the optimal data communication mode to a virtual contact identifier associated with the first user;

initiating a communication session with the optimal data communication mode based at least in part upon activation of the virtual contact identifier by a second user attempting to communicate with the first user; and

dynamically converting data from the second user from a first format into a second format corresponding to the selected optimal data communication mode, at least one of the first format or the second format being related to at least one of an incoming data communication, the communication state data, the optimal data communication mode, or the virtual contact identifier, the first format and the second format being associated with their respective plurality of disparate data communication modes including whiteboarding and at least one of voice, text, video and application sharing.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

continuously monitoring communication state data in real time; and

logically linking the virtual contact identifier to the optimal data communication mode in real time.

18. The method of claim 16, the communication state data being associated to at least one of an available data communication mode, an available device, an available network, an available communication network, an available communication protocol, user contextual data, a user location, a user state, a data communication mode resource, a data communication mode constraint, a user-defined preference, a robustness of channel, a likelihood of being dropped, a user environment surrounding, a resource-comparison between available data communication modes, a power status of a device, a device-efficiency, an incoming data communication mode, or a compatibility.

19. A computer-implemented system that facilitates enhancing connectivity associated with data communications, comprising:

means for receiving a portion of communication state data of a first user, the communication state data being related to at least one user context state, the user context state comprising at least one of a power state or data communication strength of at least one device associated with the first user;

means for evaluating the portion of communication state data to identify an optimized data communication mode from a plurality of disparate data communication modes;

means for dynamically linking the optimized data communication mode to a virtual contact identifier associated with the first user based at least in part upon evaluating the portion of communication state data;

means for automatically and seamlessly employing an optimized communication session utilizing the dynamically identified optimized data communication mode based upon an activation of the virtual contact identifier by a second user attempting to communicate with the first user; and

means for dynamic data transmission between the plurality of disparate data communication modes in their respective disparate data formats by enabling an incoming data communication from the second user targeted for the virtual contact identifier that is utilized to connect to the optimized data communication modes, the plurality of disparate data communication modes including application sharing and at least one of voice, text, video and whiteboarding.