Communication handling

• US 9,998,560 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2011
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Wendt, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hao
• Application Number:
  US13/198,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20130036207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,503 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709206, 709207, 709220, 709228, 709238, 455415, 455417, 379 8816, 37914202, 37920101, 37920102, 37920702, 37920703, 37921002, 37921101, 37921102
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

An apparatus, method, system and computer-readable medium are provided for abstracting a public facing identity associated with one or more devices, such as user devices. In some embodiments, a unique identity may be associated with a device. A mapping may be used to establish a relationship between the public facing identity and the unique identity. In some embodiments, configuration data may indicate how a communication (e.g., an incoming or outgoing communication) is to be handled or routed. For example, the configuration data may indicate preferences as to which device(s) amongst a plurality of devices is to receive an incoming communication and/or which public facing identity/identities amongst a plurality of public facing identities is to be used in transmitting an outgoing communication.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating preferences with a plurality of user devices associated with different public facing identities;

receiving, at a computing device, an outgoing communication from a first user device among the plurality of user devices, the outgoing communication indicating a first public facing identity as a source of the outgoing communication;

mapping the first public facing identity of the outgoing communication to a second public facing identity associated with a second user device among the plurality of user devices according to a schedule of the preferences indicating when the first public facing identity is to be mapped to the second public facing identity; and

routing the outgoing communication with an indication of the second public facing identity as the source of the outgoing communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping according to the schedule comprises mapping according to the schedule that indicates dates and times when the first public facing identity of the outgoing communication is to be mapped to the second public facing identity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the outgoing communication comprises substituting the first public facing identity of the outgoing communication with the second public facing identity of the outgoing communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the outgoing communication comprises receiving the outgoing communication comprising at least one of a phone call, an email, an instant message, an audio message, or a video conference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the preferences with the plurality of user devices comprises associating user specified preferences with the plurality of user devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping according to the schedule comprises mapping according to a user specified schedule.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping according to the schedule comprises mapping according to the schedule and additional user specified preferences.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating each of the plurality of user devices with a respective one of a plurality of unique identities, wherein at least one of the plurality of unique identities comprises an indication of a service provider.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, an incoming communication directed to a particular public facing identity; and

routing the incoming communication to a particular user device among the plurality of user devices.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, using user preferences and the particular public facing identity of the incoming communication, the particular user device from among the plurality of user devices.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, an outgoing communication indicating a first public facing identity as a source of the outgoing communication;

identifying a second public facing identity based at least in part on the first public facing identity of the outgoing communication, a date, and a time; and

transmitting the outgoing communication with an indication of the second public facing identity as the source of the outgoing communication.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

associating user preferences with the first public facing identity and the second public facing identity.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying the second public facing identity is further based on the user preferences associated with the first public facing identity.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the date comprises the date that the outgoing communication is received at the computing device and the time comprises the time that the outgoing communication is received at the computing device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifying the second public facing identity comprises searching a schedule associated with the first public facing identity based on the date and the time and retrieving the second public facing identity from the schedule.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the outgoing communication comprises replacing the first public facing identity with the second public facing identity.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising changing the indication from indicating the first public facing identity to indicating the second public facing identity prior to transmitting the outgoing communication.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an outgoing communication indicating a first user device, of a group of associated user devices, as a source of the outgoing communication;

changing a public facing identity of the outgoing communication from a first public facing identity associated with the first user device to a second public facing identity associated with a second user device of the group of associated user devices, wherein the second user device is determined based on a schedule; and

transmitting the outgoing communication that indicates the second user device of the group of associated user devices as the source of the outgoing communication.

19. The method of claim 18,

wherein the schedule indicates which user device, among the group of associated user devices, to use as the source of the outgoing communication at a time and date the outgoing communication is received by the computing device.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

associating user devices with the group of associated user devices based on at least one user input.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating or modifying the schedule based on at least one user input.