Caller-callee association of a plurality of networked devices

• US 20070112964A1
• Filed: 05/15/2006
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Guedalia, Jacob, Guedalia, Isaac
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/344 Out-of-band transfers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2596 Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1036 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/02 Calling substations, e.g. by ringing selective calling H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0069 comprising a residential gateway, e.g. those which provide an adapter for POTS or ISDN terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0075 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for establishing and maintaining communication between two or more communication devices coupled to communication networks. Some specific aspects relate to communication between a plurality of communication devices each of which is coupled to a respective network. Other aspects relate to establishing such communication by way of contact lists maintained and facilitated on systems coupled to the networks. Users of multiple communication networks, such as VoIP, PSTN and wireless, employ multiple communication devices to communicate with their contacts. For example, a VoIP enabled computer is necessary to access contacts on a VoIP network and a mobile or cellular telephone is used to access contacts on wireless and PSTN networks. A contact list, stored on one communication device, in some instances, cannot be accessed from another communication device. For example, a contact list stored in a VoIP enabled computer cannot be accessed from PSTN or wireless phone devices. Various embodiments described herein provide a convenient solution that can integrate contacts stored on different communication devices and make them accessible from a single device.

Claims

1. A method for establishing communication between a first device and a second device, comprising:

at a server, receiving a communication request from said first device coupled to said server over a network;

at the server, receiving a caller identification code from said first device identifying said first device or its user;

at the server, receiving an alphanumeric code from said first device identifying a callee user of said second device;

at the server, associating said alphanumeric code with a callee address stored at the server, said caller identification and said alphanumeric code and said callee address all being associated with a contacts list accessible to said server; and

responsive to said communication request and said alphanumeric code and associated callee address, the server establishing said communication between said first device and said second device associated with said callee address such that said first and second devices communicate over said network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing from said server to said first device information corresponding to said contacts list and including information indicative of a state of presence of at least one contact in said contacts list.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said state of presence comprises a state on being presently connected to a communication network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said state of presence comprises a permission state indicating that communication with said second device is permissible.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said server carries data from voice communication signals between said first and second devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said server passes said callee address to a second server that carries data from voice communication signals between said first and second devices.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at a second server a telephone call from said first device, said telephone call being served to its destination by said second server following said second server obtaining destination information from said server, said destination information including a callee network address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein associating said alphanumeric code and said callee address comprises looking up a network address of a user represented on said server by said alphanumeric code from a contacts lists associated with a user of said first device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said looking up comprises looking up said network address on an address server that provides address lookup services to said server.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating a contacts list update request from the first device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating the communication request from the first device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said alphanumeric code comprises a plurality of any of the standard ASCII characters.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said alphanumeric code consists of a plurality of characters in the alphabetical range “

A”

through “

Z”

.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said alphanumeric code consists of a plurality of characters selected from the alphabetical range “

A”

through “

Z” and

numbers from the integer range “

0”

(zero) through “

9”

.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said method provides communication between a first mobile communication device and a second mobile communication device.

16. A method for establishing communication between a first device and a second device, comprising:

receiving from the first device a contacts update request including first device identification information;

responsive to said contacts update request, sending to the first device a contacts list associated with the first device identification information, said contacts list including a contact identifier for each contact in the contacts list;

receiving from the first device a connection request, the connection request identifying at least one contact identifier;

mapping said contact identifier to an address of the second device; and

using said address of the second device to establish communication between the first device and the second device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising authenticating the contacts update request from the first device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising authenticating the connection request from the first device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising indicating to the first device which contacts from said contacts list are currently available for communication.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein indicating which contacts are currently available further comprises referencing presence information for said contacts to determine which contacts are currently available for communication.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising establishing a digital communication connection to the first device over which said contacts list information is passed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein establishing said digital communication connection comprises establishing said digital communication connection over a SIP compatible channel.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising establishing a voice communication connection between said first and second devices.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein establishing said voice communication connection comprises establishing a voice communication connection over a SS7 compatible channel.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein establishing said voice communication connection comprises establishing a voice communication connection using a telephony communication standard protocol.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein the first device comprises a wireless telephony communication device.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the second device comprises a voice over IP communication device.

28. The method of claim 16, further comprising correlating said contact identifier with an IP address associated with said second device.

29. The method of claim 16, further comprising correlating said contact identifier with a telephone number associated with said second device.

30. The method of claim 16, further comprising coupling at least two networks to establish said communication between said first and second devices, said at least two networks including at least a PSTN.

31. The method of claim 16, further comprising coupling at least two networks to establish said communication between said first and second devices, said at least two networks including at least an IP network.

32. The method of claim 16, further comprising coupling at least two networks to establish said communication between said first and second devices, said at least two networks including at least a cellular communication network.

33. The method of claim 16, further comprising updating said contacts list on a server coupled to a communication network that can be in turn coupled to said first device.

34. The method of claim 16, further comprising updating said contacts list on a server coupled to a communication network that can be in turn coupled to said second device.

35. The method of claim 16, wherein establishing said communication comprises bridging a communication between a first PSTN compatible network and a second voice over IP compatible network.

36. The method of claim 16, further comprising maintaining a plurality of contacts lists associated with a first peer user of said first device, said plurality of contacts lists being kept in a corresponding plurality of databases, each database including a corresponding contacts list.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said plurality of databases are coupled to a plurality of servers.

38. The method of claim 16, further comprising redirecting said first device'"'"'s connection request to one of a plurality of servers adapted for processing said communication between said first and said devices.

39. The method of claim 16, further comprising redirecting voice communication packets exchanged between said first and second devices through at least one server coupled to both a first network associated with said first device and to a second network associated with said second device.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said at least one server communicates with said first network over a first communication protocol and communicates with said second network over a second communication protocol.

41. The method of claim 16, wherein said method provides communication between a first mobile communication device and a second mobile communication device.

42. A system for establishing communication between a first device and a second device, comprising:

a communication port adapted to receive from the first device a contacts update request including first device identification information;

a data storage unit that stores a contacts list associated with said first device identification information, said contacts list including a contact identifier for each contact in the contacts list;

a processor coupled to said communication port and coupled to said data storage unit that receives said contacts update request by way of said communication port and responds to said contacts update request by sending information from said contacts list to the first device by way of said communication port;

said processor further adapted to receive from the first device a connection request by way of said communication port, the connection request identifying at least one contact identifier;

said processor further adapted to associate said contact identifier with an address of the second device; and

said processor further adapted to using said address of the second device to establish communication between the first and second devices.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein said processor is disposed on a server adapted to communicate over a communication channel with said first and second devices.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein said processor is disposed on a server adapted to communicate with said first device over a first communication channel and with said second device over a second communication channel.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein said first communication channel comprises a mobile network and said second communication channel comprises a voice over IP (VoIP) network.

46. The system of claim 42, further comprising a second communication port adapted for communicating with said second device.

47. The system of claim 42, wherein said processor comprises a server running a first process that communicates with said first device using a first communication protocol and communicates with said second device using a second communication protocol.

48. The system of claim 42, wherein said processor is adapted for establishing communication between the first, second, and a third device.

49. The system of claim 42, further comprising a data structure stored on said data storage device, said data structure including information corresponding to said contacts and further including information corresponding to a state of said contacts.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein said state comprises a state of presence on a network.

51. The method of claim 42, wherein said method provides communication between a first mobile communication device and a second mobile communication device.

52. A system for providing communication between a first device coupled to a mobile network and a second device coupled to a data network, comprising:

a first server computer coupled to said first device through at least said mobile network using a mobile communication protocol;

a first data storage apparatus, coupled to said first server computer, having a contacts list associated with said first device, said contacts list including information corresponding to a plurality of contacts, and said contacts list corresponding to first device identification information;

a second computer, coupled to said first server computer through at least a data network; and

a second data storage apparatus, coupled to said second computer, having data stored thereon and usable to establish a communication connection between said first server computer and said second computer;

said second computer also being configured to communicate with a third computer using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) communication.

53. A signaling system for establishing communication between a first mobile telephony device coupled to a mobile telephony network and a second communication device coupled to a data network, comprising:

first communication means for signaling communication between said first mobile telephony device and a server;

a data storage and retrieval means, coupled to said server, for storing and maintaining a server contacts list of a plurality of contacts associated with said first mobile telephony device;

a mobile contacts list correlated with said server contacts list and indicative of a state of information in said server contacts list, said mobile contacts list being accessible by said first mobile telephony device to provide a selected one or more contacts from said mobile contacts list to said server; and

a second communication means for signaling communication between said second communication device and said server according to an address correlation at said server correlating said selected one or more contacts received over said mobile telephony network with a corresponding data network address of said second communication device.

54. An apparatus for communication over a network, comprising:

a data storage component for storing a contacts list on-board said apparatus;

a display permitting perception of a state of a contact from said stored contacts list;

a selector permitting entry of a selection to select at least said contact from said stored contacts list; and

a transmitter that transmits a communication request signal from said apparatus over said network, the communication request signal including information corresponding to at least;

an identification of said apparatus caller identification code, and an identification for said contact, said identification for said contact including a direct inward dial (DID) code for a destination associated with said contact.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said apparatus comprises a mobile device communicating over a wireless cellular communication network.

56. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the display comprises a screen that provides a visual display of a plurality of contacts from said contacts list and permits perception of a state of presence of said contact.

57. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the selector comprises a hardware user interface element that is constructed to receive an input from a user to select said contact from said stored contacts list.

58. The apparatus of claim 54, further comprising a receiver permitting receipt of contacts list information from a server over said network.

59. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said state of said contact comprises a state of availability of said contact for communication.

60. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said state of said contact comprises a permission state set by said contact indicating whether said contact may be called.

61. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said transmitter comprises a digital transmission feature that transmits digital information comprising:

the identification of said apparatus caller identification code, and said identification for said contact.