Call routing in a location-aware network

• US 20030235173A1
• Filed: 06/24/2002
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Wood, Stephen R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,251,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308

Abstract

A wireless network may report the location of assets to a call routing apparatus to aid in the routing of calls.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a call;

querying a location-aware network for a call recipient'"'"'s location; and

routing the call to a reception device near the call recipient'"'"'s location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein routing the call comprises routing the call to a mobile phone.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein routing the call comprises routing the call through the location-aware network to a mobile phone.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein routing the call through the location-aware network comprises communicating with the mobile phone using electromagnetic pulses from network access point devices.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein routing the call comprises routing the call to a stationary phone.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising influencing the stationary phone to display an identity of the call recipient.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

when the location-aware network is unable to locate the call recipient'"'"'s location, routing the call to a voice-mail system.

8. An article comprising a machine-accessible media having associated data, wherein the data, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

receiving an inquiry regarding the location of a call recipient;

receiving attributes of wireless signals originating from a device near the call recipient;

determining the location of the device; and

reporting the location of the device.

9. The article of claim 8 wherein the device is a stationary phone.

10. The article of claim 8 wherein the device is a personnel tag.

11. The article of claim 10 wherein the wireless signals comprise electromagnetic pulses.

12. The article of claim 11 wherein the personnel tag includes a transmitter and determining the location of the device comprises resolving the location using pulse arrival times.

13. The article of claim 8 wherein the device comprises a mobile phone.

14. The article of claim 8 further comprising routing a call to the device.

15. The article of claim 8 further comprising routing a call to a telephone near the device.

16. The article of claim 8 wherein the attributes comprise arrival times of electromagnetic pulses received at a plurality of network access points.

17. A network server comprising:

a port coupleable to a phone call routing apparatus to receive an inquiry of a call recipient'"'"'s location;

a transceiver coupleable to a plurality of network access point devices to receive attributes of wireless signals; and

a processor to determine the call recipient'"'"'s location from the attributes.

18. The network server of claim 17 wherein the transceiver is configured to receive time-of-arrival information describing arrival times of electromagnetic pulses at the plurality of network access point devices.

19. The network server of claim 17 wherein the network server is configured to route a call to a device near the call recipient'"'"'s location through one of the plurality of network access point devices.

20. The network server of claim 17 wherein the processor is configured to report the call recipient'"'"'s location to the phone call routing apparatus.

21. The network server of claim 20 wherein the processor is further configured to report an identity of at least one telephone in proximity to the call recipient'"'"'s location.

22. A telephone call routing apparatus comprising:

a first port coupleable to a public switched telephone network to receive a call;

a second port coupleable to a location-aware network to request a call recipient'"'"'s location; and

call routing circuitry to route the call to a telephone near the call recipient'"'"'s location.

23. The telephone call routing apparatus of claim 22 wherein the telephone call routing apparatus is configured to request locations of telephones near the call recipient'"'"'s location.

24. The telephone call routing apparatus of claim 23 wherein the call routing circuitry is configured to route the call to a stationary telephone near the call recipient'"'"'s location.

25. The telephone routing apparatus of claim 24 wherein the telephone call routing apparatus is configured to influence the stationary phone to display an identity of the call recipient.

26. The telephone call routing apparatus of claim 23 wherein the call routing circuitry is configured to route the call to a mobile phone near the call recipient'"'"'s location.

27. The telephone call routing apparatus of claim 23 wherein the call routing circuitry is configured to route the call to a voice-mail system when the location-aware network is unable to locate the call recipient'"'"'s location.

28. A wireless network comprising:

a plurality of wireless network access point devices, each of the plurality of wireless network access point devices including circuitry to measure attributes of received signals; and

a server coupled to the plurality of wireless network access point devices, the server configured to receive an inquiry for a call recipient'"'"'s location from a telephone system, and to determine the call recipient'"'"'s location from the attributes of the received signals.

29. The wireless network of claim 28 wherein the server is configured to determine a location of a stationary telephone from attributes of wireless signals transmitted by the stationary telephone.

30. The wireless network of claim 28 wherein the server is configured to route a telephone call through one of the plurality of wireless access point devices to a telephone near the call recipient'"'"'s location.