Method and Apparatus for Routing Communications

• US 20070237135A1
• Filed: 06/07/2005
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ninety9.com Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Ninety9.com Pty Limited
• Inventors: Trevallyn-Jones, Nicholas, Trevallyn-Jones, Merdith
• Application Number:
  US11/628,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20070237135A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/354
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2876 Pairs of inter-processing entities at each side of the network, e.g. split proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A communication, such as a telephonic or data communication, is routed between an initiator (1) and a recipient (5) based on the preferences of the initiator, or of both the initiator and the recipient. A virtual end-point (61,66) is allocated for each user (1,5). Each virtual end-point (61,66) stores one or more end-points for the respective user, typically as address/protocol pairs representing the addresses of the user'"'"'s communication devices. The virtual end-points (61,66) are stored in a data store (60) accessible by a gateway (100) which communicates with the network(s) (80,85) with which the communication devices (2,6) of the initiator and recipient communicate. Preferences are associated with each virtual end-point, and specify the categories of protocols to which the end-points of that virtual end-point belong. The preferences may specify which of the end-points of the respective virtual end-point to use for a communication routing path when certain criteria are met. A routing engine (30) in the gateway (100) determines a routing path between an initiator end-point (82) and a recipient end-point (86), for example by rules-based processing, in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-points for the initiator and the recipient. The gateway (100) also converts the protocol or format of the communication from that of the initiator'"'"'s end-point to that of the recipient'"'"'s end-point, if required.

Claims

1. A method of routing a communication, including a telephonic or data communication, between an initiator and a recipient based on preferences of the initiator and the recipient, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of end-points for a user as a virtual end-point for that user, where the user includes an initiator or a recipient of the communication, each end-point being a representation of the source and/or destination of a communication from or to the respective users;

associating preferences with each virtual end-point, the preferences specifying which end-point from the plurality of end-points of the respective virtual end-point to use for a routing path for a communication when certain criteria are met; and

determining a routing path between an initiator end-point and a recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-points for the recipient and the initiator.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication has more than one recipient end-point, and a routing path is determined between the initiator end-point and each recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-points for the initiator and the respective recipients.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising deriving at least one additional communication from the communication, and determining a routing path between the initiator end-point and a respective recipient end-point for each additional communication.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein the preferences for a virtual end-point specify the categories to which the end-points of that virtual end-point belong, and the determining a routing path includes determining the best matching end-points by reference to category.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, further including enabling communication between the initiator end-point and the recipient end-point via the determined routing path.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein the recipient end-point has a different communication protocol and/or format from that of the initiator end-point, and wherein the method further comprises converting the protocol and/or format of the communication from that of the initiator'"'"'s end-point to that of the recipient'"'"'s end-point.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the converting the protocol and/or format includes converting the protocol and/or format of the communication from that of the initiator'"'"'s end-point to an intermediate protocol and then to that of the recipient'"'"'s end-point.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein the routing path is determined using rules-based processing.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein the determined routing path is stored in cache memory.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein each end-point in a virtual end-point is an address/protocol pair.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 4, wherein the preferences for each virtual end-point include one or more of the following:

(i) criteria with respect to other virtual end-points and/or end-points;

(ii) criteria with respect to types of communication including protocols and formats;

(iii) criteria with respect to categories of the end-points; and

(iv) criteria with respect to dynamic data.

4. A method of routing a communication, including a telephonic or data communication, between an initiator and a recipient based on preferences of the initiator, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of end-points for the initiator as a virtual end-point for that initiator, each end-point being a representation of the source and/or destination of a communication from or to the initiator;

associating preferences with the initiator'"'"'s virtual end-point, the preferences specifying which end-point from the plurality of end-points of the initiator'"'"'s virtual end-point to use for a routing path for a communication when certain criteria are met; and

determining a routing path between an initiator end-point and the recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-point for the initiator.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the recipient has multiple end-points and the determining a routing path includes selecting a recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-point for the initiator.

14. An apparatus for routing a communication, including a telephonic or data communication, between an initiator and a recipient based on preferences of the initiator and the recipient, the apparatus comprising:

a storage device configured to store a plurality of end-points for a user as a virtual end-point for that user, where the user includes an initiator or a recipient of the communication, each end-point being a representation of the source and/or destination of a communication from or to the respective user, and data relating to preferences associated with each virtual end-point; and

means for determining a routing path between an initiator end-point and a recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-point for the recipient and the initiator.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein said apparatus is connected to one or more communication networks and is adapted to communicate with the initiator end-point and the recipient end-point via the network(s).

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, further including means for establishing communication between the initiator end-point and the recipient end-point via the determined routing path.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein the recipient end-point has a different communication protocol and/or format from that of the initiator end-point, wherein the apparatus further comprises a converter for converting the protocol and/or format of the communication from that of the initiator'"'"'s end-point to that of the recipient'"'"'s end-point.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the converter converts the protocol and/or format of the communication from that of the initiator'"'"'s end-point to an intermediate protocol, and then to that of the recipient'"'"'s end-point.

20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein the means for determining a routing path comprises a rules engine capable of rules-based processing.

21. An Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, further comprising a cache memory for storing the determined routing path.

15. An apparatus for routing a communication, including a telephonic or data communication, between an initiator and a recipient based on preferences of the initiator, the apparatus comprising:

a storage device configured to store a plurality of end-points for the initiator as a virtual end-point for that initiator, each end-point being a representation of the source and/or destination of a communication from or to the initiator, and data relating to preferences associated with the virtual end-point; and

means for determining a routing path between an initiator end-point and a recipient end-point in accordance with the preferences associated with the virtual end-point for the initiator.