Multiple virtual telephones sharing a single physical address

Abstract

A shared multi-user IP telephone device for receiving, based on SIP, calls transmitted over VoIP network, a system using such a device and method thereof. The shared multi-user IP telephone device includes a storage device for storing user profiles, an ID extraction portion for receiving from the VoIP network a SIP packet including at least the callee's ID, and extracting the ID contained in the SIP packet, and a personalized feature presentation portion for searching in the storage device for the user profile corresponding to the ID according to the extracted ID for presenting the corresponding personalized feature according to the search result. Thus it is possible for everyone using such a phone to receive directly the call for him/herself without anyone else or other device forwarding the call.

1 . A shared multi-user IP telephone device which receives, based on SIP a call transmitted over a VoIP network, with the shared multi-user IP telephone device serving as a SIP user agent, and creating and managing a session between a caller and a callee according to SIP, wherein the shared multi-user IP telephone device comprises:
 a storage device for storing associatively in the form of a database a user profile including a user ID and a personalized feature descriptor corresponding to the user ID;   an ID extraction portion for receiving from the VoIP network a SIP packet including at least the callee's ID, and extracting the ID contained in the SIP packet, wherein the ID is unique for every user on the VoIP network; and   a personalized feature presentation portion for searching in the storage device for the user profile corresponding to the ID according to the ID extracted by the ID extraction portion, for presenting the personalized feature according to the search result.   
   
   
       2 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the user profile stored in the database includes the user profile of a caller who may call the users of the shared multi-user IP telephone device. 
   
   
       3 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the SIP packet is the packet transmitted by the caller's calling device to the VoIP network following the manner: the calling device receives the callee's ID input by the caller, encapsulates at least the callee's ID in the SIP packet, and send the SIP packet to the VoIP network. 
   
   
       4 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 3 , wherein the SIP packet includes both the caller's and the callee's IDs, the ID extraction portion extracts both the caller's and the callee's IDs in the SIP packet, and the personalized feature presentation portion searches in the storage device for the user profile corresponding to both the caller's and the callee's IDs according to both the caller's and the callee's IDs extracted by the ID extraction portion, and presents the personalized feature according to the search result. 
   
   
       5 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the ID extraction portion includes:
 a receiving device for receiving from the VoIP network the SIP packet including at least the callee's ID; and   an incoming call parsing device for extracting at least the callee's ID from the SIP packet output from the receiving device.   
   
   
       6 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the personalized feature presentation portion includes:
 a user profile mapping device for searching, according to the ID extracted by the ID extraction portion, for the user profile corresponding to the IDs in the storage device;   a personalized feature preparation device for preparing presentation data of the personalized feature according to a personalized feature descriptor in the user profile searched by the user profile mapping device; and   a personalized feature presentation device for presenting on the shared multi-user IP telephone device the presentation data of personalized feature prepared by the personalized feature preparation device.   
   
   
       7 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the personalized feature presentation portion includes a display screen for showing the personalized feature in a video form to the call answerer. 
   
   
       8 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the storage device keeps user profiles for at least two users. 
   
   
       9 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 1 , further including a user registration portion for receiving the user ID, receiving, deleting, or retrieving corresponding user profile over the VoIP network according to a user instruction, and storing the corresponding user profile in the storage device. 
   
   
       10 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the user registration portion includes:
 an access right configuration device used by a special user to configure access right for common users to the storage device; and   a verification device for storing the received or retrieved user profile in the storage device, or verifying the user's access right to the storage device before deleting the user profile from the storage device, and denying this registration operation if the user has no access right to the storage device.   
   
   
       11 . The shared multi-user IP telephone device as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the user registration portion operates to receive the user ID and the user profile through a method for registering a user in a shared multi-user IP telephone device which includes a storage device, the method comprising:
 determining the method for receiving user data;   receiving an ID and an instruction of the user with the determined receiving method; and   receiving or retrieving an user profile and storing the user profile in the storage device, or deleting an user profile in the storage device, according to the user instruction.   
   
   
       12 . A method for registering a user in a shared multi-user IP telephone device which includes a storage device, comprising:
 determining the method for receiving user data;   receiving an ID and an instruction of the user with the determined receiving method; and   receiving or retrieving an user profile and storing the user profile in the storage device, or deleting an user profile in the storage device, according to the user instruction.   
   
   
       13 . The method for registering a user as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the storage device is configured with access right, and the method further includes:
 storing the received user profile in the storage device, or verifying the user's access right to the storage device before deleting the user profile from the storage device, and denying this registration operation if the user has no access right to the storage device.   
   
   
       14 . The method for registering a user as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the receiving method is at least one of following methods: short-range wireless communication, plug-and-play USB, ID card, biotech and network login. 
   
   
       15 . An IP telephone system that enables a shared multi-user IP telephone device to share a single physical IP address on a VoIP network, with every user on the VoIP network having a unique ID, comprising:
 a calling device for receiving at least the callee's ID and encapsulating it in a SIP packet, and transmitting the SIP packet to the VoIP network so that the SIP packet is routed through the VoIP network based on a SIP routing mechanism; and   a shared multi-user IP telephone device for serving as a SIP user agent, creating and managing a session between the caller and the callee according to SIP, comprising:   a storage device for storing associatively in the form of a database a user profile including a user ID and a personalized feature descriptor corresponding to the user ID,   an ID extraction portion for receiving from the VoIP network the SIP packet, and extracting the ID contained in the SIP packet from the received SIP packet, and   a personalized feature presentation portion for searching in the storage device for the user profile corresponding to the ID according to the ID extracted by the ID extraction portion, for presenting the personalized feature according to the search result.   
   
   
       16 . The IP telephone system as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the calling device receives both the caller's and the callee's IDs, and encapsulates them in the SIP packet. 
   
   
       17 . The IP telephone system as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the user profile stored in the database includes the user profile of a caller who may call the users of the shared multi-user IP telephone device. 
   
   
       18 . The IP telephone system as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the SIP packet includes both the caller's and the callee's IDs, the ID extraction portion extracts both the caller's and the callee's IDs in the SIP packet, and the personalized feature presentation portion searches in the storage device for the user profile corresponding to both the caller's and the callee's IDs according to both the caller's and the callee's IDs extracted by the ID extraction portion, and presents the personalized feature according to the search result. 
   
   
       19 . The IP telephone system as recited in  claim 15 , wherein user profiles for at least two users are registered in the shared multi-user IP telephone device. 
   
   
       20 . The IP telephone system as recited in  claim 15 , wherein at least two shared multi-user IP telephone devices are included and the user profile of one user is registered into the at least two shared multi-user IP telephone devices. 
   
   
       21 . A method for a shared multi-user IP telephone device to share a single physical IP address on a VoIP network, with every user on the VoIP network having a unique ID, comprising:
 receiving at least the callee's ID and encapsulating it in a SIP packet, and transmitting the SIP packet to the VoIP network so that the SIP packet is routed through the VoIP network based on a SIP routing mechanism;   extracting the ID contained in the SIP packet from the SIP packet received over the VoIP network; and   searching for the user profile corresponding to the ID according to the extracted ID, and producing and presenting a personalized feature according to the search result, wherein the user profile is stored in a storage device in the form of database.   
   
   
       22 . The method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein the step of receiving ID includes receiving both the caller's and the callee's IDs, and encapsulating them in the SIP packet. 
   
   
       23 . The method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein the user profile stored in the database includes the user profile of a caller who may call the users of the shared multi-user IP telephone device. 
   
   
       24 . An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing registration of a user in a shared multi-user IP telephone device, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of  claim 13 . 
   
   
       25 . A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing functions of a shared multi-user IP telephone device, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of  claim 1 .