Resolving calling line identification information

• US 8,300,775 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Millett, Tom, Notario, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Tieu, Binh
• Application Number:
  US12/760,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20110255678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379 68- 70, 379/88.08, 379/88.11, 379/88.12, 379/88.14, 379/88.19, 379/88.2, 379/88.25, 379/88.26, 379/142.01, 379/142.04, 379/142.05, 379/142.14, 379/142.17, 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/245.247, 379/88.21, 379/142.06, 379/142.15
• US Class Current: 379/88.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile

Abstract

A computing device includes a processing unit and a system memory. The processing unit creates a normalization module programmed to modify a plurality of telephone numbers so that the telephone numbers conform to a specified format, creates a calling line manipulation module programmed to manipulate a calling line identification number to form a number for querying one or more databases including contact information, and creates a resource query module programmed to query the databases including the contacting information using the number, receive one or more query results from the databases, and select one of the query results for inclusion in a notification of a telephonic message.

Claims

1. A computing device programmed to deliver notification of a telephonic message, the computing device comprising:

a processing unit;

a system memory connected to the processing unit, the system memory including instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to;

create a normalization module programmed to modify a contact list having a plurality of telephone numbers, wherein the normalization module modifies one or more of the telephone numbers in the contact list to conform to a specified format, the normalization module further programmed to;

remove punctuation and whitespaces from each of the telephone numbers;

discard digits appearing to a right of any non-numeric character of each of the telephone numbers; and

invert remaining numbers of each of the telephone numbers;

create a calling line manipulation module programmed to manipulate a calling line identification number to form a number for querying one or more databases including contact information; and

create a resource query module programmed to query the databases including the contacting information using the number, receive one or more query results from the databases, and select one of the query results for inclusion in a notification of a telephonic message.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the normalization module is programmed to normalize the telephone numbers in one of an off-line process and an on-demand process.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the notification of the telephonic message includes rich information selected from one or more of the following:

calling party name, address, title, e-mail address, phone number, and on-line status.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the calling line manipulation module is further programmed to apply a mask to the calling line identification number.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the calling line manipulation module is further programmed to remove optional prefixes from the calling line identification number.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the resource query module is further programmed to apply a precedence to the optional prefixes.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the resource query module is further programmed to send the query to a local contact database.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the resource query module is further programmed to send the query to a reverse look-up database.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the resource query module is further programmed to send the query to a local contact database and a reverse look-up database.

10. A method for resolving calling line identification information, the method comprising:

formatting each telephone number entry in a contact list;

discarding digits appearing to a right of any non-numeric character of each telephone number entry in the contact list;

inverting remaining digits of each telephone number entry in the contact list;

receiving a calling line identification number associated with a voicemail message;

formatting the calling line identification number;

querying the contact list based on the formatted calling line identification number;

reviewing the query results to identify an unambiguous result; and

generating a notification to include contact information from the unambiguous result.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein formatting the contact list further includes:

removing white spaces and punctuation from each telephone number entry; and

discarding digits preceding a non-numeric character in each telephone number entry.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein querying the contact list further includes inverting the calling line identification number to perform a prefix-based query.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein querying the contact list further includes inverting the calling line identification number to perform a prefix-based query.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising applying a numbering plan mask to the calling line identification number.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising removing optional prefixes from the calling line identification number.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising applying a precedence to identify the unambiguous result.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending rich contact information for the notification.

18. A computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform steps comprising:

removing white spaces and punctuation from each telephone number entry in a contact list;

discarding digits preceding a non-numeric character in each telephone number entry;

inverting remaining digits of each telephone number entry in the contact list;

receiving a calling line identification number associated with a voicemail message;

formatting the calling line identification number;

applying a numbering plan mask to the calling line identification number;

removing optional prefixes from the calling line identification number;

inverting the calling line identification number to form a formatted calling line identification number;

performing a prefix-based query on the contact list based on the formatted calling line identification number;

reviewing the query results to identify an unambiguous result; and

generating a notification to include rich contact information from the unambiguous result.