System and method for gathering information related to a geographical location of a callee in a public switched telephone network

• US 9,532,175 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, David, Gao, Xiaofeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Jagannathan, Melanie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ansari, Najeebuddin
• Application Number:
  US13/889,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20130244699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,329 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/414, 455/415, 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 1/56 Arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/04 Recording calls , or communications in printed, perforated or other permanent form
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/55 for hybrid networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/63 based on the content carried by the session initiation protocol [SIP] messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8292 Charging for signaling or unsuccessful connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/90 using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/016 Billing using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/202 VoIP; Packet switched telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2046 Hybrid network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 : Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 : Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 : using location based information parameters

Abstract

In a telecommunication system having at least two communicants (i.e., a caller and a callee), a system and method are presented for collecting information associated with the geographical location of either of the communicants. In one embodiment, the approach entails receiving a geographical location corresponding to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) telephone number, and collecting geographical location information associated with the received geographical location.

Claims

1. A data-gathering system, comprising:

a geographical location server configured to receive an instruction having a caller telephone number and a callee telephone number, wherein the caller telephone number is associated with a communication to the callee telephone number on a network, wherein the geographical location server is further configured to correlate the caller telephone number to a caller geographical location and correlate the callee telephone number to a callee geographical location in response to the received instruction;

an information server having information associated with a plurality of geographical locations, wherein the plurality of geographical locations includes the caller geographical location and the callee geographical location; and

a computer system configured to receive the caller geographical location and the callee geographical location from the geographical location server, wherein the computer system is further configured to collect caller geographical location information and callee geographical location information from the information server;

wherein the information server comprises a database having a plurality of news reports, a plurality of information on sporting events and a plurality of weather reports;

the computer system collecting a current caller news report, current caller sporting event and current caller weather report associated with the caller geographical location and collecting a current callee news report, current callee sporting event and current callee weather report associated with the callee geographical location;

the computer system providing the caller geographical location information to a callee device and the callee geographical location information to a caller device in response to the communication from the caller device to the callee device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical location server comprises a database comprising a plurality of telephone numbers, wherein the database further comprises a plurality of geographical locations, wherein each of the plurality of telephone numbers correlates to one of the plurality of geographical locations.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical location server, the information server and the computer system are separate systems.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the caller geographical location corresponds to an area code of the caller telephone number and the callee geographical location corresponds to an area code of the callee telephone number.

5. A data-gathering device, comprising:

geographical location server configured to receive a caller geographical location corresponding to a caller telephone number and a callee geographical location corresponding to a callee telephone number, wherein the geographical location server is configured to receive the caller geographical location and the callee geographical location in response to a communication from a caller to a callee; and

information collection logic configured to collect caller geographical location information associated with the caller geographical location and collect callee geographical location information associated with the callee geographical location,

wherein the information collection logic is further configured to collect current local news associated with the caller geographical location, a current local weather report associated with the caller geographical location and current local sporting events associated with the caller geographical location, and collect current local news associated with the callee geographical location, a current local weather report associated with the callee geographical location and current local sporting events associated with the callee geographical location;

the information collection logic providing the caller geographical location information to a callee device and the callee geographical location information to a caller device.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the caller geographical location corresponds to an area code of the caller telephone number and the callee geographical location corresponds to an area code of the callee telephone number.

7. The device of claim 5 wherein the information collection logic is further configured to collect a caller local time associated with the caller geographical location and a callee local time associated with the callee geographical location.

8. A data-gathering method, comprising:

receiving a caller geographical location and a callee geographical location in response to a telephone call from a caller to a callee, wherein the caller geographical location corresponds to a caller telephone number and the callee geographical location corresponds to a callee telephone number; and

collecting caller geographical location information associated with the received caller geographical location and collecting callee geographical location information associated with the received callee geographical location;

wherein collecting caller geographical location information comprises requesting information associated with the caller geographical location from an information server and collecting callee geographical location information comprises requesting information associated with the callee geographical location from the information server;

wherein collecting caller geographical location information includes requesting a current caller news report, current caller sporting event and current caller weather report associated with the caller geographical location and collecting the callee geographical location information includes requesting a current callee news report, current callee sporting event and current callee weather report associated with the callee geographical location;

providing the caller geographical location information to a callee device and the callee geographical location information to a caller device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein collecting caller geographical location information comprises requesting a caller local time and collecting callee geographical location information comprises requesting a callee local time.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the caller geographical location corresponds to an area code of the caller telephone number and the callee geographical location corresponds to an area code of the callee telephone number.