Extending mobile phone networks
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, and computer program products for bridging mobile phone networks with other telephone networks. A telephone network comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines connected to telephones and to a gateway, which in turn is connected to one or more mobile phones and potentially to one or more landlines. When the gateway receives an inbound call from one of the mobile phones, or an outbound call from one or the telephones, the gateway applies routing rules to determine how to route the call. Routing may depend on a variety of factors, such as time of day, cost, the mobile phone receiving an inbound call. To help identify the mobile phone as the source of an inbound call, a distinctive ring may be selected. To account for differences in the mobile phone network and the telephone network, the gateway translates signals between the two networks.
38 Citations
53 Claims
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1-10. -10. (canceled)
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11. In a gateway for a telephone network that comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines and at least one telephone connected to at least one of the individually addressable telephone lines, a method of routing one or more calls, outbound from the at least one telephone to any of one or more mobile phones or to any of one or more landlines that are connected to the gateway such that any of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines can be used for the one or more calls outbound from the at least one telephone, the method comprising acts of:
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the gateway receiving an outbound call from a telephone connected to the gateway through one of the at least one individually addressable telephone lines;
the gateway applying one or more routing rules to the outbound call for selecting one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines that are connected to the gateway through which the outbound call should be routed; and
connecting the outbound call to the selected one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. In a gateway for a telephone network that comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines and at least one telephone connected to at least one of the individually addressable telephone lines, a method of routing one or more calls, inbound to one or more mobile phones connected to the gateway, to any of the individually addressable telephone lines such that any of the individually addressable telephone lines can be used to receive the one or more calls inbound to the one or more mobile phones, the method comprising steps for:
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for an inbound call addressed to a mobile phone connected to the gateway that is received at the gateway, applying one or more rules to the inbound call for determining which of one or more of the individually addressable telephone lines connected to the gateway should be used for routing the inbound call to one or more telephones;
determining which of one or more available ring options should be used to help identify the mobile phone as the addressee of the inbound call; and
routing the inbound call to the one or more of the individually addressable telephone lines that the gateway determined should be used for routing the inbound call to the one or more telephones. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. In a gateway for a telephone network that comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines and at least one telephone connected to at least one of the individually addressable telephone lines, a method of routing one or more calls, outbound from the at least one telephone to any of one or more mobile phones or to any of one or more landlines that are connected to the gateway such that any of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines can be used for the one or more calls outbound from the at least one telephone, the method comprising steps for:
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for an outbound call received at the gateway from a telephone connected to the gateway through one of the individually addressable telephone lines, determining which one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines connected to the gateway should be selected to carry the outbound call; and
routing the outbound call to the one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines that was determined to carry the outbound call. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A gateway for bridging one or more mobile phone networks supporting one or more mobile phones and a telephone network that comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines and at least one telephone connected to at least one of the individually addressable telephone lines, the gateway comprising:
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one or more mobile phone connectors that connect one or more mobile phones to the gateway so that the gateway can receive and route calls using the one or more mobile phones;
one or more telephone line connectors that connect the plurality of individually addressable telephone lines and the at least one telephone to the gateway so that the gateway can receive and route calls through the plurality of individually addressable telephone lines;
one or more storage media containing one or more routing rules that select from the one or more mobile phones and the plurality of individually addressable telephone lines for routing calls received and placed through the gateway; and
a processor that executes the routing rules and causes calls received and placed through the gateway to be routed according to the executed routing rules. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40-47. -47. (canceled)
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48. For a gateway connected to a telephone network that comprises multiple individually addressable telephone lines and at least one telephone connected to at least one of the individually addressable telephone lines, a computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method of routing one or more calls, outbound from the at least one telephone to any of one or more mobile phones or to any of one or more landlines that are connected to the gateway such that any of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines can be used for the one or more calls outbound from the at least one telephone, the method comprising acts of:
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the gateway receiving an outbound call from a telephone connected to the gateway through one of the at least one individually addressable telephone lines;
the gateway applying one or more routing rules to the outbound call for selecting one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines that are connected to the gateway through which the outbound call should be routed; and
connecting the outbound call to the selected one of the one or more mobile phones and one or more landlines. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification