METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING VIA VIRTUAL OFFICE TELEPHONE EXTENSIONS
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for (and a method of) selectively establishing communication with at least one wireless device associated with a single telephone number serving as a virtual office extension is provided. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes a wireless connect unit in communication with an enterprise private branch exchange (PBX) network. The wireless connect unit preferably serves as a gateway between the PBX and one or more remote communication devices, including at least one wireless device, associated with a virtual extension telephone number. The remote wireless device can be used as a standard PBX office telephone 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 wireless device even though it is not physically connected to the PBX. When the system receives an incoming call, it can route the call to a remote wireless device associated with a virtual extension, or to combination of devices simultaneously, or as desired by the user.
114 Citations
49 Claims
-
1-29. -29. (canceled)
-
30. A method of providing access to an enterprise telecommunication network to a wireless telephone, said method comprises:
-
receiving a telephone call from the wireless telephone;
identifying a wireless telephone number of the wireless telephone;
using the wireless telephone number to retrieve an enterprise telephone extension associated with the enterprise telecommunication network;
retrieving at least one user preference and at least one enterprise preference associated with the retrieved enterprise telephone extension;
generating a simulated dial tone;
sending the simulated dial tone to the wireless telephone; and
providing telecommunication access to the enterprise telecommunication network based on the retrieved at least one user preference and the retrieved at least one enterprise preference. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. A telecommunication device comprising:
-
a storage medium for storing at least one user preference and at least one enterprise preference associated with each extension of an enterprise telecommunication network; and
a telephony interface coupled to the storage medium and the enterprise telecommunication network, said telephony interface being adapted to;
receive a telephone call from a wireless telephone, identify a wireless telephone number of the wireless telephone, use the wireless telephone number to retrieve a first enterprise extension telephone number associated with an extension of the enterprise telecommunication network and with the wireless telephone, retrieve the at least one user preference and enterprise preference associated with the retrieved first enterprise extension telephone number from the storage medium, determine whether the wireless telephone can be provided access to services of the enterprise telecommunication network, and if it is determined that the wireless telephone can be provided access to services of the enterprise telecommunication network, the interface is further adapted to generate and send a simulated dial tone to the wireless telephone to alert the wireless telephone that access to the enterprise telecommunication network has been granted. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
42. A telecommunication device comprising:
-
a storage medium for storing at least one user preference associated with each extension of an enterprise telecommunication network; and
a telephony interface coupled to the storage medium and the enterprise telecommunication network, said telephony interface being adapted to;
receive a telephone call via a first communication path, identify a dialed telephone number associated with the call, use the dialed telephone number to retrieve at least one wireless telephone number and at least one user preference from the storage medium, use the at least one retrieved user preference to route the call to at least two wireless destination telephone numbers substantially simultaneously via respective second and third communication paths, and connect the call to a user by connecting the first communication path to the second or third communication path when the second or third communication path is authenticated by the user. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
Specification