Systems and methods of making a call

• US 8,504,048 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2008
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Upland Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: GEOS Communications IP Holdings Incorporated A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Augme Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Bender, Douglas F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Application Number:
  US12/098,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20090156222A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,947 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 455/445, 370/351, 379/142, 379/220.01
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1013 Network architectures, gateways, control or user entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier

Abstract

Systems and methods of making calls are provided. A particular method includes receiving input indicating a destination address at a mobile communication device. The method also includes determining whether the destination address is of a predetermined type. The method further includes initiating a call to a communication bridge via a mobile communication network when the destination address is of the predetermined type. The method also includes sending an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication connection to the destination address.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a mobile communication device, input indicating a first communication address;

performing a comparison of the first communication address to one or more communication address patterns stored in a memory of the mobile communication device;

determining, at the mobile communication device based on the comparison, whether the first communication address is of a predetermined type; and

when the first communication address is of the predetermined type, initiating a call, via a mobile communication network, to a second communication address that is different than the first communication address, wherein the second communication address is associated with a communication bridge; and

sending an instruction to the communication bridge to initiate a communication connection to the first communication address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the first communication address is not of the predetermined type, initiating a communication to the first communication address via the mobile communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending authentication information to the communication bridge via the mobile communication network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the authentication information comprises caller identification information.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein authentication information is not received from a user at the mobile communication device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the comparison of the first communication address to one or more communication address patterns comprises analyzing alpha-numerical digits of the first communication address with respect to the one or more communication address patterns.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises an international telephony address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises a long-distance telephony address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined type comprises an interne address.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the first communication address is of the predetermined type comprises accessing user configuration data to determine the predetermined type.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a user does not dial the second communication address associated with the communication bridge to initiate the call to the communication bridge.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a user does not enter an access code associated with the communication bridge to initiate the communication to the first communication address.

13. A tangible processor-readable medium, comprising:

instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive input indicating a destination address;

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a comparison of the destination address to one or more destination communication address patterns stored in a memory and to determine, based on the comparison, whether the destination address is of a predetermined type;

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to initiate a call to a second address associated with a communication bridge via a mobile communication network when the destination address is of the predetermined type, wherein the second address is different than the destination address; and

instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send an instruction to the communication bridge via the call to initiate a communication to the destination address.

14. The processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions are adapted to be executed by a processor of a mobile communication device.

15. The processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the communication bridge comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol telephony bridge, and wherein the communication comprises a Voice over Internet Protocol call.

16. The processor-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising, instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive data from a device associated with the destination address via the communication bridge after the communication to the destination address is initiated.

17. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the data comprises voice data.

18. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the data comprises non-voice data.

19. A mobile communication device, comprising:

an input device to receive input indicating a destination communication address;

an address analysis module to perform a comparison of the destination communication address to one or more destination communication address patterns stored in a memory of the mobile communication device, and to determine whether the destination communication address is of a predetermined type based on the comparison; and

a call module to initiate a call to a second address associated with a communication bridge when the destination communication address is of the predetermined type, wherein the second address is different than the destination address; and

to send an instruction to the communication bridge, via the call to initiate a communication connection to the destination communication address.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 19, wherein the call module is further adapted to send voice communication data to the communication bridge via the call to be converted to Voice over Internet Protocol data to communicate to the destination communication address.

21. The mobile communication device of claim 19, wherein the address analysis module compares alpha-numeric digits of the destination communication address to the one or more destination communication address patterns to determine whether the destination communication address is of the predetermined type.

22. A system, comprising:

an access interface to receive a call to a telephony address associated with the access interface, wherein the call is automatically initiated by a mobile communication device to the telephony address in response to an automatic determination at the mobile communication device to route the call via the access interface based on a comparison of a destination communication address received at the mobile communication device to one or more destination communication address patterns stored in a memory of the mobile communication device, wherein information indicating the destination communication address and an access code for the mobile communication device are received via the call; and

a communication bridge to initiate a connection to the destination communication address, to convert data received via the call from the mobile communication device in a first communication protocol to an alternate communication protocol for communication to the destination communication address, and to convert data received at the communication bridge from the destination address to the first communication protocol for communication to the mobile communication device via the call.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising an accounting module to authenticate the mobile communication device based on authentication information received from the mobile communication device.