US2012014382A1PendingUtilityA1

Systems and methods for terminating communication requests

45
Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Jun 24, 2010Filed: Sep 26, 2011Published: Jan 19, 2012
Est. expiryJun 24, 2030(~3.9 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Nicholas P. LazzaroMarc LefarMichael SouthJohn EricksonGregory Hardy
H04L 45/00H04L 2101/65H04L 2101/385H04L 61/5069H04L 61/4557H04L 61/5007H04L 61/00H04M 7/0024H04M 3/42263H04M 3/465H04M 15/7652H04M 15/77H04L 65/4061H04M 15/771H04M 15/8016H04L 65/4038H04M 15/773H04L 65/1069H04W 4/08H04M 15/56H04M 15/774H04M 2203/2044H04M 15/00H04M 15/8033H04L 61/106G06Q 30/04H04M 7/006H04L 12/14H04L 12/1457H04M 15/765H04M 15/31
45
PatentIndex Score
0
Cited by
0
References
0
Claims

Abstract

A IP telephony service allows customers to form user groups. Each user group can include multiple telephony devices that are associated with one or more users. One or more group identifiers would be associated with each user group. When an incoming communication is directed to a user group, a group identifier is used to retrieve a list of the members of the group, or a list of devices that correspond to the members of the user group. The communication is then sent to one or more members of the group, or to one or more of the devices that correspond to members of the user group. Handling preferences may determine how the incoming communication is delivered. In some instances, the incoming communication could be a telephone call. In other instances, the incoming communication could be a SMS message or an instant message.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
1 . A system for terminating communication requests, comprising:
 a receiving unit that receives a communication request that includes a group identifier;   a mapping unit that obtains a list of communication device identifiers that correspond to the group identifier, wherein at least one of the communication device identifiers is the device ID of an IP telephony device; and   a termination unit that attempts to terminate the communication request to at least one of the communication devices on the obtained list.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the group identifier is a telephone number. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the list of communication device identifiers comprises at least one device ID of an IP telephony device that is registered with the system. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the list of communication device identifiers further comprises at least one telephone number corresponding to a telephony device that is not registered with the system. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the termination unit attempts to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the termination unit attempts to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices on the obtained list at approximately the same time. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the termination unit terminates the communication request to the communication device that first responds to the termination attempt. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the termination unit terminates the communication request to a plurality of the communication devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the termination unit attempts to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices in a predetermined sequential order until one of the communication devices responds to a termination attempt. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the communication request is a request to deliver a SMS message. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the termination unit sends the SMS message to a plurality of the communications devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the termination unit sends the SMS message to a plurality of the communications devices on the obtained list based on predetermined instructions. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the termination unit generates a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for at least one communication device using information from the obtained list, and wherein the termination unit uses the URI to attempt to terminate the communication request. 
     
     
         14 . A system for terminating communication requests, comprising:
 means for receiving a communication request that includes a group identifier;   means for obtaining a list of communication device identifiers that correspond to the group identifier, wherein at least one of the communication device identifiers is the device ID of an IP telephony device; and   means for attempting to terminate the communication request to at least one of the communication devices on the obtained list.   
     
     
         15 . A method of terminating communication requests, comprising:
 receiving a communication request that includes a group identifier;   obtaining a list of communication device identifiers that correspond to the group identifier, wherein at least one of the communication device identifiers is the device ID of an IP telephony device; and   attempting to terminate the communication request to at least one of the communication devices on the obtained list.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the group identifier is a telephone number. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the obtaining step comprises obtaining a list of communication device identifiers that also includes at least one telephone number corresponding to a telephony device that is not registered with the system. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the attempting step comprises attempting to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the attempting step comprises attempting to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices on the obtained list at approximately the same time. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the attempting step comprises terminating the communication request to the communication device that first responds to the termination attempt. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the attempting step comprises terminating the communication request to a plurality of the communication devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the attempting step comprises attempting to terminate the communication request to a plurality of communication devices in a predetermined sequential order until one of the communication devices responds to the termination attempt. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the communication request is a request to deliver a SMS message. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the attempting step comprises sending the SMS message to a plurality of the communications devices on the obtained list. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the attempting step comprises sending the SMS message to a plurality of the communications devices on the obtained list based on predetermined instructions. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the attempting step comprises generating a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for at least one communication device using information from the obtained list, and attempting to terminate the communication request using the generated URI.

Join the waitlist — get patent alerts

Track US2012014382A1 — get alerts on status changes and closely related new filings.

We store only your email — no account needed. See our privacy policy.