Routing communications to a person within a facility

• US 8,610,576 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sweeney, Jeffrey Michael, Rooks, Kelsyn Donel Seven Sr., Robinson, Michael Clayton
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US13/537,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20120274464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 536 Days
• Field of Search: 340/286.07, 340/539.12, 340/572.1, 340/573.1, 379/106.02, 379/114.28, 379/126, 379/201.1, 455/404.2, 455/406, 705/2
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered

Abstract

A system and method for tracking a person at a facility to enable communications. A presence of the person is detected at a location at the facility. Communications intended for the person are associated with the location. The communications are routed to the person at that location.

Claims

1. A method for tracking a person at a facility to enable communications, the method comprising:

assigning, to the person at the facility, a telephone number for routing communications to the person while at the facility;

automatically detecting, for communication management, a presence of the person at a location, from a plurality of locations within a facility, as the person moves throughout the facility, without interaction from the person, the detecting comprising scanning an identifier comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag assigned to the person;

storing information, with a computer, about the location of the person in a database, the storing comprising updating a profile of the person to designate the location as a current location of the person for managing communications intended for the person;

automatically associating, with a computer, communications intended for the person with the location, wherein automatically associating the communications intended for the person with the location comprises associating the telephone number with a voice over Internet Protocol (“

VoIP”

) telephone at the location;

automatically transferring one or more individualized user settings associated with the person to the VoIP telephone at the location; and

automatically routing, with the computer, the communications to a telecommunications device located at the location, based on associating the communications with the location.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications device includes one or more of a computing device and a communications device, and wherein the profile comprises one or more communications identifiers selected from the group consisting of a phone number, an email address, a uniform resource locator (“

URL”

) of a website, and a username.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is incorporated in a bracelet.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

associating environmental conditions with the location.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

configuring the location to meet the environmental conditions in response to updating the profile to designate the location as a current location.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the environmental conditions include any of lighting, temperature, configuration of a bed, and entertainment options.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the person is a patient in a medical facility, the method further comprising:

configuring one or more displays at the location to display medical information about the person.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

displaying the medical information to authorized personnel at the location.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the displaying is performed in response to detecting an identifier associated with the authorized personnel.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

rerouting the communications to a new location, in response to detecting the person at the new location.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

billing the person for communications made from the one or more telecommunications devices.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location is a room within the facility.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the facility is a medical facility.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the communications on a television at the location.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein automatically detecting a presence of a person further comprises:

scanning, at the location, a bar code associated with the person.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communications comprise a voice over Internet Protocol (“

VoIP”

) communication.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more individualized user settings comprise one or more settings selected from the group consisting of voicemail configuration, call blocking settings, speed dial numbers, and soft key configuration.

17. A server for routing communications to a person at a facility, the server comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive an input from one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners configured to scan an identifier comprising an RFID tag assigned to the person, the input specifying an automatically detected presence of the person at a location, from a plurality of locations within a facility, as the person moves throughout the facility, based on locations of the one or more RFID scanners and the identifier;

a processor;

logic to program the processor to assign, to the person at the facility, a telephone number for routing communications to the person while at the facility;

logic to program the processor to store information about the location of the person in a database, including logic to program the processor to update a profile of the person to designate the location as a current location of the person for managing communications intended for the person;

logic to program the processor to automatically associate communications intended for the person with the location, wherein automatically associating the communications intended for the person with the location comprises associating the telephone number with a voice over Internet Protocol (“

VoIP”

) telephone at the location;

logic to program the processor to automatically transfer one or more individualized user settings associated with the person to the VoIP telephone at the location; and

logic to program the processor to automatically route the communications to a telecommunications device located at the location in response, based on associating the communications with the location.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the server further comprises a memory for storing environmental conditions associated with the person, wherein the room is configured to meet the environmental conditions response to detecting the presence of the person in the room.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with logic to program a processor of computer to route communications to a person at a facility, the logic comprising:

logic to program the processor to assign, to the person at the facility, a telephone number for routing communications to the person while at the facility;

logic to program the processor to receive an input from one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners configured to scan an identifier comprising an RFID tag assigned to the person, the input specifying an automatically detected presence of the person at a location, from a plurality of locations within a facility, as the person moves throughout the facility, based on locations of the one or more RFID scanners and the identifier;

logic to program the processor to store information about the location of the person in a database, including logic to program the processor to update a profile of the person to designate the location as a current location of the person for managing communications intended for the person;

logic to program the processor to automatically associate communications intended for the person with the location, wherein automatically associating the communications intended for the person with the location comprises associating the telephone number with a voice over Internet Protocol (“

VoIP”

) telephone at the location;

logic to program the processor to automatically transfer one or more individualized user settings associated with the person to the VoIP telephone at the location; and

logic to program the processor to automatically route the communications to a telecommunications device located at the location in response, based on associating the communications with the location.