Method and system for providing informative incoming call alerts

• US 9,402,170 B1
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vonage Business Inc (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Vonage Business Inc (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Shaltiel, Natan, Ben Arie, May
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US14/608,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20160227386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 544 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.2, 455/422.1, 709/227, 709/202, 709/220, 379/207.11, 379/211.01, 379/265.02
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1066 Session management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• 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 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2033 Call handling or answering restrictions, e.g. specified by the calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2038 Call context notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4288 Notifying a called subscriber of an incoming call during an ongoing call, e.g. Call Waiting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4365 based on information specified by the calling party, e.g. priority or subject
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1295 Details of dual tone multiple frequency signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing informative incoming call alerts are provided herein. The method includes receiving an incoming call from a second device; transmitting, to the second device, a first message regarding the incoming call; receiving, from the second device, a second message responsive to the first message regarding the incoming call; receiving a selection of one of a plurality of options based on the received second message; and processing the selected option.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing informative incoming call alerts, comprising:

receiving an incoming call from a second device;

transmitting, to the second device, a first message regarding the incoming call;

receiving, from the second device, a second message responsive to the first message regarding the incoming call;

receiving a selection of one of a plurality of options based on the received second message;

processing the selected option;

receiving a selection of an option to request an automatic call back to the second device after a telecommunication session with a first device has ended;

transmitting a message directed to the second device indicating that the incoming call will be returned upon completion of the telecommunication session with the first device;

terminating the telecommunication session with the first device; and

receiving a call request to establish a telecommunication session with the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming call is received from the second device during a telecommunication session established with the first device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the telecommunication session is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecommunication session.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is a request regarding the urgency of the incoming call, and the second message is a reply regarding the urgency of the incoming call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is an interactive voice response (IVR) message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one option of the plurality of options comprises sending the incoming caller one of an auto-generated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message comprising pre-defined text or a short message service (SMS) or multimedia messaging service (MMS) message comprising user specified text.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message regarding the incoming call is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message regarding the incoming call is based on a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tone response.

9. A system for providing informative incoming call alerts, comprising:

a) at least one processor;

b) at least one input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing processor-executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method including;

receiving an incoming call from a second device;

transmitting, to the second device, a first message regarding the incoming call;

receiving, from the second device, a second message responsive to the first message regarding the incoming call;

receiving a selection of one of a plurality of options based on the received second message; and

processing the selected option;

receiving a selection of an option to request an automatic call back to the second device after a telecommunication session with a first device has ended;

transmitting a message directed to the second device indicating that the incoming call will be returned upon completion of the telecommunication session with the first device;

terminating the telecommunication session with the first device; and

receiving a call request to establish a telecommunication session with the second device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the incoming call is received from the second device during a telecommunication session established with the first device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the first message is a request regarding the urgency of the incoming call, and the second message is a reply regarding the urgency of the incoming call.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the first message is an interactive voice response (IVR) message.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the second message regarding the incoming call is based on a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tone response.

14. A computer-implemented method for displaying incoming messages received during a telecommunication session, comprising:

intercepting an incoming message;

extracting a message identifier from the incoming message; and

displaying the incoming message when it is determined that the message identifier from the incoming message is associated with a caller identifier of a user taking part in the telecommunication session.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the incoming message is one of a short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages, or email message.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the message identifier is compared to contact information extracted from an address book.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the incoming message is displayed in a user interface of a telecommunication application that is processing the telecommunication session, and wherein the telecommunication application is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecommunication application.