System and method for active mobile collaboration

• US 20050041793A1
• Filed: 07/14/2004
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Orative Corp. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schramm, Steven D., Chatterjee, Saurav, Drewry, John S., White, Michael A., Nakaso, Andre M., Fulton, Paul R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,020 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/211.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/206 composed of PSTN and wireless network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

A communication system is provided that uses loosely-coupled client-server architectures to improve the efficiency of communications. The communication system includes client and facilitator applications. The client application is a component of processor-based mobile communication devices. The facilitator application is hosted on one or more servers or other processor-based devices, and communicates with the client application via one or more couplings. The facilitator application can also be distributed among one or more portable processor-based devices including the communication devices hosting the client application. The communication system improves efficiency of voice communications by allowing communication device users to dynamically manage how and when mobile calls take place, intelligently screen calls based on caller identity, urgency, and subject matter, determine which contacts in a directory are available to talk and which ones choose not to be disturbed, and increase accessibility of enterprise and personal contact information from mobile phones.

Claims

1. A method for communicating, comprising:

selecting at least one recipient to receive a voice call from a caller using a calling device and generating a call request at the calling device;

transferring the call request from the calling device to at least one target device of the recipient via a data coupling;

providing a delivery confirmation to the caller at the calling device in response to delivery of the transferred call request to the target device;

generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the call request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating the voice call; and

generating a response message in response to selection of a response option by the recipient on the target device and transferring the response message to the calling device over the data coupling.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising delivering the call request to the target device in accordance with context information, the context information including at least one of a connectivity state and an availability profile of the target device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising delivering the call request to one or more additional target devices of one or more additional recipients, wherein the target device and the additional target devices form a recipient group of target devices.

4. The method of claim 2, where the connectivity state includes information of a state of connectivity of the target device to a communication network.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the availability profile includes information of at least one of control parameters of the target device and call screening filters, wherein the availability profile is selected by the recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the call screening filters include one or more filters that filter the call request using at least one of identity of a caller originating the call request, priority of the call request, subject of the request, and requested time of the voice call.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the call screening filters include at least one of priority filters, allow filters, and block filters, wherein the priority filters define a minimum level of message priority for which the recipient is willing to receive notification, wherein the allow filters define at least one list of callers from whom the recipient will receive messages and calls, wherein the block filters define at least one list of callers from whom the recipient will not receive messages and calls.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the control parameters of the target device include at least one of speaker volume, ringer volume, audible alert type, audible alert volume, at least one vibrate alert parameter, and at least one visual alert parameter.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the connectivity state includes at least one of a reachable state and an unreachable state, wherein the target device is in a reachable state when the target device is in a powered state and connected to a corresponding communication network, wherein the target device is in an unreachable state when the target device is at least one of in an un-powered state, disconnected from the communication network, and engaged in a voice call.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a mapping between the caller and the calling device and establishing a mapping between the recipient and the target device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling device at which the caller selects the recipient is a first device of the caller to which the caller is electronically mapped at a time of the selection.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling device at which the caller receives the response message is an Nth device of the caller to which the caller is electronically mapped at a delivery time of the response message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device at which the recipient receives the call request is a first device of the recipient to which the recipient is electronically mapped.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device at which the recipient selects the response option is an Nth device of the recipient to which the recipient is electronically mapped.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring context information of the target device to the calling device over the data coupling.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying the context information in at least one list of contact information of the target device, wherein the context information is displayed to correspond to the recipient mapped to the target device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the context information includes at least one of presence information of the target device and a current availability state of the target device, wherein the current availability state is at least one of manually selected by the recipient and automatically selected in response to at least one of profile information, call filter information, location of the target device, and calendar information.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically transferring updates of the context information of the target device to the calling device over the data coupling.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically transferring a request for updates of the context information from the calling device over the data coupling.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a state of the call request and transferring state messages including the call request state to the calling device via the data coupling.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the state of the call request includes at least one of not sent, in transit, delivered, failed to deliver, request expired, being retracted, and failed to retract states.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the call request includes at least one of a request priority, a text subject, a voice subject, a phone number of a caller originating the request, and an expiration time.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically scheduling the call for a future time on at least one of the calling device and the target device in response to the selected response options of accepting the call request and postponing the call request.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising automatically generating a reminder at the future time and providing the reminder on the target device, wherein the reminder includes at least one of reminder messages, visual alerts, vibrate alerts, and audible alerts, wherein the reminder includes a prompt for use in initiating communication with the calling device.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising automatically generating a reminder at the future time and providing the reminder on the calling device, wherein the reminder includes at least one of reminder messages, visual alerts, vibrate alerts, and audible alerts, wherein the reminder includes a prompt for use in initiating communication with the target device.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising queuing the call request.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein queuing comprises automatically scheduling the call when context information of the caller and the recipient indicates the caller and the recipient are available.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein queuing comprises automatically initiating the call when context information of the caller and the recipient indicates the caller and the recipient are available.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically transferring a notification message to the calling device upon a change in a current availability state of the target device.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the calling device the response message accepting the call request, wherein the response message includes a prompt for use in initiating the call.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the calling device the response message postponing the call request;

queuing a reminder in accordance with a postponement period of the response message.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising providing an alert message to the caller on the calling device in response to expiration of the postponement period and an available state of the target device, wherein the alert message includes at least one prompt for use in one of initiating the call and re-sending the call request to the target device.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising providing an alert message to the caller on the calling device in response to expiration of the postponement period and an unavailable state of the target device, wherein the alert message includes at least one prompt for use in one of initiating the call, re-sending the call request to the target device, and requesting monitoring of the unavailable state of the target device and notification when the unavailable state changes to an available state.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the call request is a data message.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the data message includes at least one of a text message and a voice message.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the call request further comprises automatically transferring contents of the call request to the target device in at least one of an electronic message of at least one form.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the electronic message includes at least one of an electronic mail message, an instant message, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, and an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a context of the target device and automatically broadcasting information of the context to the calling device.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the context information includes at least one of information of a state of connectivity of the target device to a communication network and availability of the recipient, wherein the availability of the recipient is determined using at least one of identity information of the caller, priority of the call request, subject of the request, and requested time of the call.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising automatically broadcasting information of the context to a plurality of other client devices.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the other client devices include information of the target device in a memory area.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a context of the calling device and automatically broadcasting information of the context to at least one of the target device and a plurality of other client devices.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the context information includes at least one of information of a state of connectivity of the calling device to a communication network and availability of the caller.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting context information of the target device to a first group of devices including the calling device via the data coupling.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising automatically maintaining and displaying information of a current availability state of the recipient in at least one phonebook of devices of the first group using the broadcasted context information.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the availability state of the recipient is at least one of manually selected by the recipient and automatically selected in response to at least one of profile information, call filter information, location of the target device, and calendar information.

47. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting context information of the calling device to a second group of devices including the target device via the data coupling.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising automatically maintaining and displaying information of a current availability state of the caller in at least one phonebook of devices of the second group using the broadcasted context information.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the availability state of the caller is at least one of manually selected by the caller and automatically selected in response to at least one of profile information, call filter information, location of the target device, and calendar information.

50. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling device includes a communication device on which the caller is currently logged in for use, wherein the mapping is in response to caller login and comprises updating on the calling device at least one of contact list information, information of one or more caller communication events, and currently-selected caller availability profiles including information of at least one of control parameters of the calling device and call screening filters.

51. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device includes a communication device on which the recipient is currently logged in for use, wherein the mapping is in response to recipient login and comprises updating on the target device at least one of contact list information, information of one or more recipient communication events, and currently-selected recipient availability profiles including information of at least one of control parameters of the target device and call screening filters.

52. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving contact information at the calling device, wherein the contact information includes identification information of each of a plurality of devices including the target device, wherein the call request is transferred using the contact information.

53. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of contact lists using information from one or more sources of contact information, wherein the contact information includes identification information of each of a plurality of devices including the target device; and

accessing the plurality of contact lists using the calling device, wherein selecting the recipient includes selecting the recipient from one of the contact lists.

54. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting at least one recipient further includes selecting one or more recipients using availability information of the recipients and contact information of the recipients.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the availability information is in one or more availability databases and the contact information is in one or more contact databases.

56. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling device is at least one of a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireline device, a voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) device, a private branch exchange device, a soft client, and a desktop client.

57. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device is at least one of a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireline device, a voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) device, a private branch exchange device, a soft client, and a desktop client.

58. A method for communicating, comprising:

selecting at least one recipient to receive a voice call from a calling device, wherein the recipient is mapped to a target device;

generating and transferring a call request in the form of a data message to the target device via a data coupling and continuously monitoring a state of the call request, wherein an originator of the call request is mapped to the calling device;

generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the call request, wherein the response options include at least one of postponing the call request and generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device;

automatically scheduling the call for a future time on at least one of the calling device and the target device in response to the selected response option; and

automatically providing a reminder that includes at least one of a reminder message and at least one type of alert on at least one of the calling device and the target device at the future time, wherein the reminder includes a prompt for use in initiating communication between the calling and target devices.

59. A method for communicating, comprising:

automatically monitoring a context of a target device and broadcasting the context to a group of devices including an originating device over a data coupling, the context including at least one of information of a state of connectivity of the target device to a communication network and availability of a recipient mapped to the target device;

selecting the recipient to receive a voice call from the originating device;

generating a call request appropriate to the context of the target device;

transferring the call request to the target device via the data coupling;

generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the call request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating the voice call; and

providing a response message to a user mapped to the calling device via the data coupling in response to a selected response option on the target device.

60. A method for communicating, comprising:

automatically determining and broadcasting a context of a first device to at least one group of devices that include a second device, the context including availability information of a first user mapped to the first device;

selecting the first user to participate in a communication event;

generating a request for the communication event appropriate to the context of the target device and transferring the request to the first device via the data coupling;

providing a plurality of response options on the first device in response to receipt of the request and transferring a response message to the second device appropriate to a selected response option, wherein a second user is mapped to the second device;

automatically scheduling the communication event at a future time on at least one of the first and second devices in response to the selected response option; and

automatically providing a reminder to at least one of the first and second users at the future time.

61. A communication system comprising communication devices that include a first component of a communication management system (CMS) configured to:

map information of a first user to a first device of the communication devices;

generate and transfer a request from the first device to a second device via a data coupling, wherein the request is a request for a voice call via a voice coupling with the second device;

maintain and provide state information of the request to the first device;

provide a plurality of response options on the second device in response to delivery of the request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the request, postponing the request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the originating device, and initiating the voice call; and

automatically provide a response message to the first user via the data coupling in response to selection of a response option on the second device.

62. A communication device including at least one processor coupled to at least one user interface, the device configured to:

generate a call request to at least one recipient in response to selection of the recipient by an originator, wherein the call request includes information of a requested communication event with the recipient at a future time, wherein the call request automatically provides the recipient with a plurality of response options on the target device, the response options including at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating the voice call;

transfer the call request to at least one target device to which the recipient is mapped via a data coupling;

automatically receive state messages of a state of the call request transfer via the data coupling; and

receive a response message via the data coupling in response to selection of a response option by the recipient on the target device.

63. A communication system, comprising:

means for selecting on an originating device at least one recipient to participate in a communication event with an originator who is mapped to the originating device;

means for generating a request to participate in the communication event in response to selection of the recipient;

means for transferring the request from the originating device to at least one target device via a data coupling, wherein the recipient is mapped to the target device;

means for automatically monitoring a state of the request and providing messages of the state on the originating device via the data coupling;

means for generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the request, postponing the request, generating a return data message to the originating device, and initiating the communication event; and

means for automatically generating a response message in response to selection of a response option by the recipient on the target device and transferring the response message to the originating device over the data coupling.

64. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for delivering the request to the target device in accordance with context information, the context information including at least one of a connectivity state and an availability profile of the target device.

65. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for transferring context information of the target device to the originating device over the data coupling.

66. The system of claim 65, further comprising means for displaying the context information in at least one list of contact information of the originating device, wherein the context information is displayed to correspond to the recipient mapped to the target device.

67. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for automatically scheduling the communication event for a future time on at least one of the originating device and the target device in response to the selected response options of accepting the request and postponing the request.

68. The system of claim 67, further comprising means for automatically generating a reminder at the future time and providing the reminder on the target device, wherein the reminder includes at least one of reminder messages and audible alerts, wherein the reminder includes a prompt for use in initiating the communication event with the originating device.

69. The system of claim 67, further comprising means for automatically generating a reminder at the future time and providing the reminder on the originating device, wherein the reminder includes at least one of reminder messages and audible alerts, wherein the reminder includes a prompt for use in initiating the communication event with the target device.

70. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for queuing the request.

71. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for automatically transferring a notification message to the originating device upon a change in a current availability state of the target device.

72. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for receiving at the originating device the response message accepting the request, wherein the response message includes a prompt for use in initiating the communication event.

73. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

means for receiving at the originating device the response message postponing the request; and

means for queuing a reminder in accordance with a postponement period of the response message.

74. The system of claim 63, wherein the request is a data message that includes at least one of a text message and a voice message.

75. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for monitoring a context of the originating device and automatically broadcasting information of the context to at least one of the target device and a plurality of other devices, wherein the context information includes at least one of information of a state of connectivity of the originating device to a communication network and availability of the originator.

76. The system of claim 63, further comprising means for providing contact information at the originating device, wherein the contact information includes identification information of each of a plurality of devices including the target device, wherein the request is transferred using the contact information.

77. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

means for generating a plurality of contact lists using information from one or more sources of contact information, wherein the contact information includes identification information of each of a plurality of devices including the target device; and

means for accessing the plurality of contact lists using the originating device, wherein selecting the recipient includes selecting the recipient from one of the contact lists.

78. A machine readable medium including instructions which, when executed in a processing system, provide communications by:

selecting at least one recipient to receive a voice call from a calling device and generating a call request at the calling device, wherein an originator of the call request is mapped to the calling device;

transferring the call request from the calling device to at least one target device via a data coupling, wherein the recipient is mapped to the target device;

continuously monitoring a state of the call request and transferring state messages including the call request state to the calling device via the data coupling;

generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the call request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating the voice call; and

generating a response message in response to selection of a response option by the recipient on the target device and transferring the response message to the calling device over the data coupling.

79. A method for communicating, comprising:

selecting at least one recipient to receive a voice call from a calling device and generating a call request at the calling device, wherein an originator of the call request is mapped to the calling device;

transferring the call request from the calling device to at least one target device via a data coupling, wherein the recipient is mapped to the target device;

continuously monitoring a state of the call request and transferring state messages including the call request state to the calling device via the data coupling;

generating a plurality of response options on the target device in response to receipt of the call request, wherein the response options include at least one of accepting the call request, postponing the call request, generating a return data message including at least one of a text message and a voice message to the calling device, and initiating the voice call; and

generating a response message in response to selection of a response option by the recipient on the target device and transferring the response message to the calling device over the data coupling.