Methods and systems of processing mobile calls

Abstract

A method of optimizing call dialing may include receiving a first call including one or more of a session identification number, a contact identification number, a contact name and a direct inward dialing number, determining a call provider and a callee provider based on the first call, determining cost information associated with one or more numbers corresponding to a callee and routing a second call between the caller and the callee based on one or more of the caller provider, the callee provider and the cost information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of selectively setting up a call at a server, comprising:
 receiving, by a callee gateway, a call from a mobile device associated with a caller, wherein the call is transmitted over a network via a caller gateway;   identifying a geographic and/or network origin of the call;   determining whether to accept or reject the call based on the geographic and/or network origin;   if the call is accepted, processing the call; and   if the call is rejected, alerting the caller that the call cannot be completed.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying a geographic and/or network origin of the call comprises:
 creating a first communication channel to bridge the call;   creating a second communications channel that communicates with a plurality of servers; and   transmitting an HTTP request to one or more of the plurality of servers, wherein the HTTP request comprises an indication of the origin of the call.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying a geographic and/or network origin of the call comprises:
 decoding one or more DTMF tones that have been encoded to represent the geographic and/or network origin of the call.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying a geographic and/or network origin of the call comprises:
 receiving information associated with the geographic and/or network origin via a data channel.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the caller gateway and the callee gateway are located in different countries. 
     
     
         6 . A callee gateway configured to set-up a call, comprising:
 means for receiving a call from a mobile device associated with a caller, wherein the call is transmitted over a network via a caller gateway;   means for identifying a geographic and/or network origin of the call;   means for determining whether to accept or reject the call based on the geographic and/or network origin;   means for processing the call if the call is accepted; and   means for alerting the caller that the call cannot be completed if the call is rejected.   
     
     
         7 . A method of ascertaining information associated with a callee, the method comprising:
 receiving a direct inward dialing number associated with a callee;   comparing the direct inward dialing number to one or more entries in a consolidated general registry, wherein each entry comprises contact information; and   if an entry having the direct dialing number is found, transmitting at least a portion of the contact information to the caller.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the contact information comprises one or more of a telephone number, a screen name and an email address. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 automatically connecting the call using one or more predetermined rules.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein transmitting at least a portion of the contact information to the caller comprises:
 downloading a portion of the contact information in one or more stages such that image quality associated with the downloaded portion in each stages progressively improves.   
     
     
         11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . A method of filtering one or more contacts in an address book on a mobile device, the method comprising:
 identifying one or more contacts in an address book associated with a mobile device;   automatically filtering the one or more contacts in real time based on one or more predetermined criteria, wherein each predetermined criterion corresponds to a tab; and   displaying the filtered contacts to the user on a mobile device, wherein the tab corresponding to each predetermined criterion includes the contacts associated with the predetermined criterion.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein automatically filtering the one or more contacts comprises filtering the one or more contacts based on one or more of the following:
 whether a contact has a landline telephone number;   whether a contact has a wireless telephone number;   whether a contact belongs to the same carrier as the mobile device user;   whether a contact has recently called the mobile device user; and   whether the mobile device user has recently called a contact.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the data channel corresponds to an out-of-band data channel with respect to a channel upon which the call is received at the callee gateway. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the data channel corresponds to a non-audio channel and the channel upon which the call is received at the callee gateway corresponds to an audio channel.