Enhanced telephony computer user interface allowing user interaction and control of a telephone using a personal computer

• US 8,635,554 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cadiz, Jonathan J., Gupta, Anoop, Jancke, Gavin, Narin, Attila, Boyle, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nunez, Jordany
• Application Number:
  US12/370,579
• Publication Number:
  US 20090207991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,804 Days
• Field of Search: 715/802, 715/753, 379/142.07
• US Class Current: 715/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2473 Telephone terminals interfacing a personal computer, e.g. using an API (Application Programming Interface) details of API H04M7/0021
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2478 Telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice services, e.g. email, internet access centralized arrangements where telephones services are combined H04M7/0024; for recording text messages H04M3/5322; for accessing Internet H04M3/4938
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/042 with variable loudness of the ringing tone, e.g. variable envelope or amplitude of ring signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/558 Databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile

Abstract

An enhanced telephony (ET) computer user interface that seamlessly integrates features of a personal computer (PC) and a telephone into a coherent user interface. The user is provided with a rich variety of functionality that leverages the fact that the PC has considerably more processing power and greater access to variety of data than the ordinary telephone. This processing power and data access is used to the user'"'"'s advantage as the telephone'"'"'s capabilities and functionality are greatly expanded. In general, the ET user interface includes a plurality of environments for the user to choose. These environments include a My Contacts environment, a communication preferences environment, and a Call History environment. Each of these environments contains certain available processes and features for controlling and managing telephones.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing system having a processor and memory for enabling a user to transfer an incoming call, the method comprising:

the computing system receiving user input comprising one or more alternative telephone numbers corresponding to different locations where a user may be located;

the computing system receiving an indication that a first telephone having a first telephone number is receiving an incoming call;

the computing system identifying calendar information of the user from a personal calendar database of the user;

the computing system identifying by the computing device a location associated with the identified calendar information;

the computing system automatically determining, based on the location, a set of one or more of the alternative telephone numbers to automatically add to a drop-down list;

the computing system displaying an electronic display notification by the computing device to the user an indication that the first telephone is receiving an incoming call along with calendar information of the caller, the electronic display notification including selectable entries associated with the set of one or more of the alternative telephone numbers included in the drop-down list, each of the selectable entries comprising a transfer option to transfer the incoming call to a corresponding one of the one or more alternative telephone numbers included in the drop-down list,

the computing system displaying a quick transfer button with the one or more alternative telephone numbers included in the drop-down list, which are obtained from the calendar information of the user, such that the quick transfer button is displayed simultaneously with the indication that the first telephone is receiving the incoming call, calendar information of the caller, and the one or more telephone numbers in the drop-down list from the calendar information of the user;

the computing system receiving by the computing device from the user a selection of the transfer option indicating the incoming call is to be transferred to the one of the one or more alternative telephone numbers from the quick transfer list corresponding to the selected transfer option; and

the computing system subsequent to and only after receiving the selection of the transfer option by the user, directing by the computing device that the incoming call be transferred to the one of the one or more alternative telephone numbers from the drop-down list.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user defines telephones to which the incoming call may be transferred.

3. The method of claim 1 including displaying an option to transfer the incoming call to voice mail.

4. The method of claim 1 including displaying an option to silence ringing of the telephone that is receiving the incoming call.

5. A hardware computer-readable storage medium for controlling a computing device with a processor and memory to transfer an incoming call, the hardware computer-readable storage medium having stored computer executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, implement a method comprising:

receiving by the computing device an indication that a first telephone is receiving an incoming call from a caller;

identifying calendar information of the caller from a personal calendar database of the caller;

displaying by the computing device to a user notice that the first telephone is receiving an incoming call, including the identified calendar information of the caller, and a quick transfer button to transfer the incoming call to one or more alternative telephones to which the incoming call may be transferred and which are obtained from the calendar information of the callee and which are displayed in a drop-down list, wherein the notice that the first telephone is receiving the incoming call is displayed simultaneously with the calendar information of the caller and the one or more alternative telephones in the drop-down list with the quick transfer button;

receiving by the computing device from the user a selection of the quick transfer button including a selection of one of the alternative telephones; and

in response to receiving the selection of the quick transfer button, directing by the computing device the incoming call to be transferred to the selected alternative telephone.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein an alternative telephone is identified based on current location of the user as indicated by the calendar of the user.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 including displaying an option to transfer the incoming call to voice mail.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 including displaying an option to silence ringing of the telephone that is receiving the incoming call.

9. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory for transferring an incoming call, wherein the memory stores computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, implement a method comprising;

a component that receives an indication that a first telephone with a first telephone number is receiving an incoming call;

a component that identifies a condition of the computing device;

a component that, when the identified condition indicates that a user of the computing device is not currently at the computing device, automatically forwards the telephone call to a second telephone;

a component that when the identified condition indicates that the user of the computing device is currently at the computing device, displays to the user an indication that the first telephone is receiving an incoming call from a caller along with calendar information of the caller, a quick transfer button, and a drop-down list of alternative telephones with alternative telephone numbers to which the incoming call may be transferred, the drop-down list being populated with an alternative telephone identified based on current location of the user as identified from a calendar of the user, wherein the indication that the first telephone is receiving an incoming call is displayed simultaneously with the calendar information of the caller, the quick transfer button and the drop-down list;

a component that receives a selection of the quick transfer button and a selection of one of the alternative telephones; and

a component that, in response to receiving the selections, directs that the incoming call be transferred from the first telephone to the selected alternative telephone

wherein the components are implemented as instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor.

10. The computing device of claim 9 wherein the component that displays further displays an option to transfer the incoming call to voice mail and including a component that, in response to receiving an indication that the user has selected the option to transfer the incoming call to voice mail, transfers the incoming call to voice mail.

11. The computing device of claim 9 wherein the component that displays further displays an option to silence a telephone that is receiving the incoming call and including a component that, in response to receiving an indication that the user has selected the option to silence the ringing, directs the silencing of the ringing of the incoming call.

12. The computing device of claim 9 wherein the condition is the computing device being locked.

13. The computing device of claim 9 wherein the condition is a screen saver being displayed by the computing device.