Method and apparatus for shared line FMFM sub-mailbox determination, dynamic out dialing and call path duplication in a telephone system
First Claim
1. A method for providing a follow-me-find-me (FMFM) telephone service in response to an inbound call according to FMFM settings associated with a sub mailbox, comprising:
- assigning a plurality of sub mailboxes to a subscriber telephone number, at least one sub mailbox in said plurality of sub mailboxes containing at least one FMFM setting;
receiving an inbound call from a calling party including a called party telephone number matching the subscriber telephone number;
selecting the at least one sub mail box for processing the inbound call; and
providing the FMFM telephone service in accordance with the at least one FMFM setting contained in the selected at least one sub mailbox.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for a shared line Find-Me-Follow-Me (FMFM) voicemail application. Each person sharing a telephone number is provided a sub mailbox with FMFM contact numbers individually configured for each user sub mailbox. The invention further provides a method and apparatus for dynamic out dial determination that removes numbers from the FMFM contact number list that match numbers in the inbound call path to avoid looping. The present invention further provides a method and apparatus for FMFM call path duplication of the inbound call path onto the out dial call information to provide caller identification for the original calling party after the call is forwarded or processed using FMFM.
38 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for providing a follow-me-find-me (FMFM) telephone service in response to an inbound call according to FMFM settings associated with a sub mailbox, comprising:
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assigning a plurality of sub mailboxes to a subscriber telephone number, at least one sub mailbox in said plurality of sub mailboxes containing at least one FMFM setting;
receiving an inbound call from a calling party including a called party telephone number matching the subscriber telephone number;
selecting the at least one sub mail box for processing the inbound call; and
providing the FMFM telephone service in accordance with the at least one FMFM setting contained in the selected at least one sub mailbox. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for providing call path duplication for forwarding an inbound call to a call forwarding number in a telephone system comprising:
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receiving the inbound call from a calling party including a calling party number associated with the inbound call;
inserting the calling number associated with the inbound call as a calling number in a call information associated with the call; and
providing call path duplication by forwarding the call information to the call forwarding number. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A method for providing a call forwarding telephone service to a subscriber in response to an inbound call comprising:
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receiving a call information associated with the inbound call comprising at least a calling party number and a called party number, the called party number associated with the subscriber;
retrieving at least one contact number from a database associated with the subscriber;
determining if the at least one contact number is the same number as the calling party number;
skipping the at least one contact number if the at least one contact number is the same number as the calling party number; and
calling the contact number if the at least one contact number is not the same number as the calling party number.
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13. A method for providing a call forwarding telephone service to a subscriber in response to an inbound call comprising:
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receiving a call information associated with the inbound call comprising at least a calling party number and a called party number, the called party number associated with the subscriber;
retrieving at least one contact number from a database associated with the subscriber;
determining if the at least one contact number is the same number as the redirecting number;
skipping the at least one contact number if the at least one contact number is the same number as the redirecting number; and
calling the contact number if the at least one contact number is not the same number as the redirecting number.
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14. A telecommunications system for forwarding an inbound call associated with a subscriber to a contact number comprising:
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a database for storing a plurality of sub mailboxes associated with the subscriber, at least one of the sub mailboxes containing the contact number;
a first switch for receiving the inbound call associated with the subscriber;
a server for retrieving the contact number from the at least one sub mailbox; and
a second switch for forwarding the inbound call to the contact number from the at least one sub mailbox. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A telecommunications system for forwarding an inbound call associated with a subscriber to a contact number comprising:
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a database storing a contact number associated with the subscriber;
a switch for receiving the inbound call associated with the subscriber and an inbound call information associated with the inbound call comprising at least a called number, and at least one of a calling number and a redirecting number, the called number associated with the subscriber;
a server for retrieving the contact number from the database; and
a switch for calling the contact number if the contact number is not a calling number or a redirecting number in the inbound call information. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A telecommunications system for forwarding an inbound call associated with a subscriber to a call forwarding telephone number comprising:
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a switch for receiving the inbound call and a call information associated with the inbound call, the call information associated with the inbound call comprising at least a calling number for the inbound call;
a call information for an outbound call comprising at least a calling number associated with the outbound call;
an insertion component for inserting the calling number associated with the inbound call as the calling number in the call information associated with the outbound call; and
a switch for calling the call forwarding number with the outbound call information. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for providing a follow-me-find-me (FMFM) telephone service in response to an inbound call according to FMFM settings associated with a sub mailbox, comprising:
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assigning a plurality of sub mailboxes to a subscriber telephone number, at least one sub mailbox in said plurality of sub mailboxes, containing at least one FMFM setting;
receiving an inbound call from a calling party including a called party telephone number matching the subscriber telephone number;
selecting the at least one sub mail box for processing the inbound call; and
providing the FMFM telephone service in accordance with the at least one FMFM setting contained in the selected at least one sub mailbox. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for providing a call forwarding telephone service to a subscriber in response to an inbound call comprising:
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receiving information associated with the inbound call said information comprising at least a calling party number and a called party number, the called party number associated with the subscriber;
retrieving at least one contact number from a database associated with subscriber;
determining if the at least one contact number is the same number as the calling party number;
skipping the at least one contact number if the at least one contact number is the same number as the calling party number; and
calling the contact number if the at least one contact number is not the same number as the calling party number.
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24. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer performs a method for providing a call forwarding telephone service to a subscriber in response to an inbound call comprising:
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receiving a call information associated with the inbound call comprising at least a redirecting number;
retrieving at least one contact number from a database associated with the subscriber;
determining if the at least one contact number is the same number as the redirecting number;
skipping the at least one contact number if the at least one contact number is the same number as the redirecting number; and
calling the contact number if the at least one contact number is not the same number as the redirecting number.
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Specification