Method and apparatus for selectively establishing communication with one of plural devices associated with a single telephone number
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for (and a method of) selectively establishing communication with one of plural devices associated with a single telephone number is provided. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes a wireless connect unit connected between an enterprise private branch exchange (PBX) network and a public switched telephone network. The wireless connect unit preferably serves as a gateway between the PBX and one or more remote communication devices. The remote devices can be used as standard PBX office telephones for both inbound and outbound telephone calls. Thus, features of the PBX network (e.g., voice mail, direct extension dialing, corporate calling plan, etc.) are available to the remote device even though they are not physically connected to the PBX. When the system receives an incoming call, it can route the call to an office telephone and one or more of the remote devices simultaneously or as desired by the user.
106 Citations
79 Claims
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1-60. -60. (canceled)
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61. An apparatus for establishing communication between a first telephone call placed to a landline telephone and a wireless device, the landline telephone being associated with a primary telephone number and a first network, the wireless device being associated with a second network, the system comprising:
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a computer readable storage medium, said storage medium storing a secondary telephone number associated with the primary telephone number and corresponding to the wireless device; and
a telephony engine coupled to said computer readable storage medium and a first port adapted to be connected to a telephone extension associated with the primary telephone number, said engine adapted to retrieve the secondary telephone number from the storage medium upon detection of the first telephone call via the first port, said engine adapted to place a second telephone call to the secondary telephone number and to bridge the first telephone call to the wireless device when the wireless device answers the second telephone call before the landline telephone answers the first telephone call. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A system for establishing communication between a first telephone call placed to a telephone extension and a wireless device, the apparatus comprising:
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a database, said database storing connection information associating a primary telephone number and the telephone extension to the wireless device and a second telephone number associated with the wireless device; and
a processor in communication with the database and being coupled to a first port adapted to be connected to the telephone extension associated with the primary telephone number, said processor adapted to detect the first telephone call via the first port, retrieve the secondary telephone number from the database, place a second telephone call to the secondary telephone number, and to bridge the first telephone call to the wireless device when the wireless device answers the second telephone call. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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74. An apparatus for providing communication between a first communication device having a first communication number and a first extension associated with a first communication network and a second communication device associated with a second communication network, the apparatus comprising:
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a connect database, said database storing connection information associating the first communication number and extension to the second communication device and a second communication number associated with the second communication device, the second communication device being a wireless device;
a plurality of communication ports, a first port being connected to the extension and a second port being connected to the second communication network via a public switched telephone network; and
a processor, said processor adapted to connect a first communication placed to the first communication device and detected via the first port to the second communication device via the second port based on the associated connection information from the database. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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Specification