Alternate Routing Patents (Class 379/221.01)
  • Patent number: 11924514
    Abstract: Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for a caller identification (ID) method and system that can provide caller ID information to display on devices other than the wireless equipment device that is receiving the phone call. This can include televisions and other streaming devices associated with the user receiving the phone call. The mobile wireless network associated with the user's wireless user equipment can determine whether the user has an additional device on which caller ID is to be displayed, and then identify a media server associated with the additional device. Once identified, the mobile wireless network can provide the media server with the caller ID information so that it can be displayed on the television or other streaming device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Charter Communications Operating, LLC
    Inventor: Ashutosh Kumar Sinha
  • Patent number: 11856135
    Abstract: Systems and methods for managing non-associative communications between devices is provided. A first call chain that indicates a routing between phone numbers is stored. A first phone call or a first SMS text is received from a first session initiation protocol (SIP) provider. Based on information provided by the first SIP provider, (i) a sender identity of the first phone call or the first SMS text; (ii) a receiver identity of the first phone call or the first SMS text; and (iii) an access mode of the call chain are determined. If the receiver identity corresponds to a first phone number in the first call chain, a second phone call or a second SMS text is initiated via a second SIP provider, from a second phone number in the first call chain, based on the sender identity and the access mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Cyber IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Edward Delaney, Chava Louis Jurado, Carl Bailey Jacobs, William Theodore Schoon
  • Patent number: 11805158
    Abstract: An apparatus and/or method discloses an automatic call-to-conference elevation (“ACE”) capable of facilitating a transition from a phone call to a video conference. An ACE process, in one embodiment, is able to activate an ACE application to elevate user devices from participating in an audio call to a video conference based on a conference selection selected by a meeting initiator, host, or attendee. After identifying the capabilities, attributes, and/or functionalities associated with the user devices in accordance with activation of ACE, a communication network coupling the user devices as meeting attendees is established for facilitating the video conference based on identified capabilities, attributes, and/or functionalities of the user devices. In one aspect, the process is capable of transitioning connections of the user devices from an audio call to a video conference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Defeng Lu, Bin Hu, Ji Park, Vi Dinh Chau
  • Patent number: 11799759
    Abstract: A method for configuring a communication link between a first node in a first of at least two networks and a second node in a second of at least two networks, wherein at least one of the first and second nodes is an automatable industrial device or an automatable industrial system, or a controller thereof. The at least two networks each individually form a homogeneous address space, but do not together form a homogeneous address space. A call is transmitted to configure the communication link between the first and second nodes, the call having routing path information specifying the routing path from the first node to the second node. The routing path information includes at least one identifier of each network or nodes to be traversed along the routing path, but not necessarily an identifier of the first network. The communication link is configured between the first and second nodes based on the routing path information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: KUKA Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Slawomir Sander, Christopher Schwarzer
  • Patent number: 11653284
    Abstract: A central routing function (CRF) platform. The CRF platform comprises at least one processor; a non-transitory memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor that stores a plurality of prioritized international call route lists where each prioritized international call route list associates alternative international communication service carrier routes in a prioritized order with an international telephone number; and a call process application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor, receives a request for a prioritized international call route list from a network element, where the request comprises an international telephone number, pads out the international telephone number received from the network element to form a 15-digit number, looks up a prioritized international route list using the 15-digit number in the non-transitory memory, and sends the prioritized international route list to the network element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC
    Inventors: Jia Barton, Prakasa R. Bellam, Manuel Berumen, Quang B. Doan, Arulraj Duraisamy, Muhammad Nauhman Bashir Gora, Gerald R. Jordan, Jr., Ramaswami Rangarajan, Gopalakrishna Sagar, Michael Tsai, Kun-cheng Yang
  • Patent number: 11374852
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for routing packets in a network, such as a satellite mesh network. Geographic routing is employed in which packets specify their physical destination location. Network nodes maintain physical location information for nodes, along with routing information, for a limited portion of the network which is local thereto. At each node and for each packet, a target node is selected from the limited portion. The target node may be the node which is closest in orthodromic distance to the physical destination location. Based on the routing information, a route through the limited portion of the network to the target node is determined, other nodes are configured (e.g. via source routing) to cause the packet to traverse the determined route, and the packet is forwarded toward the target node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hassan Halabian, Mehdi Arashmid Akhavain Mohammadi
  • Patent number: 11317275
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed towards employing parallel satellite and wire transmissions to facilitate 5G communications. A network origination system receives, via 5G communication, a message from an origination device for distribution to a destination device. The network origination system determines a priority of the message and selects a transmission mechanism—wire transmission, satellite transmission, or parallel transmission—in which to transmit the message to the network destination system based on the priority. The network origination system transmits the message to a network destination system via the selected transmission mechanism. The network destination system forwards the message to the destination device and determines if the message is tagged for the parallel transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: DISH WIRELESS L.L.C.
    Inventor: Ryan Richard Carey
  • Patent number: 11238844
    Abstract: Systems and methods for identifying a person's native language and/or non-native language based on code-switched text and/or speech, are presented. The systems may be trained using various methods. For example, a language identification system may be trained using one or more code-switched corpora. Text and/or speech features may be extracted from the corpora and used, in combination with a per-word language identify of the text and/or speech, to train at least one machine learner. Code-switched text and/or speech may be received and processed by extracting text and/or speech features. These features may be fed into the at least one machine learner to identify the person's native language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Educational Testing Service
    Inventors: Vikram Ramanarayanan, Robert Pugh, Yao Qian, David Suendermann-Oeft
  • Patent number: 11223540
    Abstract: Techniques are described for routing service requests. Actions performed by an individual in an application are detected and used to determine a category of product or service that the individual is interested in. An activity record can be stored in an activity data store, the activity record identifying the individual and the category of interest determined for the individual. On subsequently receiving a service request from the individual, to an environment such as a call center, the activity record can be accessed and used to predict the individual's service need as corresponding to the category determined based on their previous actions. The service request is then automatically routed to a service representative who is suited to handle requests in that particular category. In some implementations, the category can be predicted and/or inferred based on the detected user activities in particular portions of the application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventor: David Alexander Lilley
  • Patent number: 11212130
    Abstract: A user terminal emulation server is provided that provides operational functionality of a user terminal using a networked set of I/O user devices that are determined to be proximately located to a user and to have user interface capabilities that are combinable to provide the user with the ability to receive or initiate a communication service with another user terminal through a network entity. The operations for emulating a user terminal may alternatively be performed by an I/O user device that provides communication services using other I/O user devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Hans Hannu, Tommy Arngren, Peter Ökvist, Stefan Wänstedt
  • Patent number: 11133992
    Abstract: A computational instance of a remote network management platform may be dedicated to a managed network. The computational instance may include persistent storage that contains: (i) mappings between end-user networks, services available to the end-user networks, and allocation identifiers, (ii) mappings between end-user networks, computing resources allocated to the end-user networks, and resource identifiers, and (iii) mappings between the respective allocation identifiers and the respective resource identifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: ServiceNow, Inc.
    Inventors: Rahul Guha, Kavita Waldia, Ankur Jain
  • Patent number: 11005760
    Abstract: An approach is provided that selects a geographic location to which transmission of a data packet is disallowed. The approach identifies disallowed network devices that reside in the selected geographic location and builds a routing path through a public computer network through an allowed set of network devices with the allowed set of network devices not including any of the disallowed network devices. The approach then transmits the data packet from a transmitting network device to a receiving network device using the routing path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew Barnes, John Delaney, Alexander J. Harvilchuck, Kenneth Weber, Clea Zolotow
  • Patent number: 10721166
    Abstract: An approach is provided that selects a geographic location to which transmission of a data packet is disallowed. The approach identifies disallowed network devices that reside in the selected geographic location and builds a routing path through a public computer network through an allowed set of network devices with the allowed set of network devices does including any of the disallowed network devices. The approach then transmits the data packet from a transmitting network device to a receiving network device using the routing path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew Barnes, John Delaney, Alexander J. Harvilchuck, Kenneth Weber, Clea Zolotow
  • Patent number: 10693812
    Abstract: Various technologies pertaining to scheduling network traffic in a network are described. A request to transfer data from a first computing device to a second computing device includes data that identifies a volume of the data to be transferred and a deadline, where the data is to be transferred prior to the deadline. A long-term schedule is computed based upon the request, wherein the long-term schedule defines flow of traffic through the network over a relatively long time horizon. A short-term schedule is computed based upon the long-term schedule, where devices in the network are configured based upon the short-term schedule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Srikanth Kandula, Ishai Menache, Roy Schwartz
  • Patent number: 10613998
    Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: receiving an I/O having an associated expected execution time (EET) and I/O service level; selecting, in accordance with the EET and service level of the I/O, a first I/O queue from multiple pending I/O queues; inserting the I/O into the first I/O queue; and performing I/O shifting. I/O shifting may include shifting I/Os from one pending I/O queue to another that is ranked immediately higher than the one pending I/O queue. The multiple I/O queues may be ranked from a highest priority queue to a lowest priority queue. I/O shifting may shift I/Os from the highest priority queue to execution and shifting I/Os from another queue into the highest priority queue. I/O shifting is subject to remaining credits available of the multiple I/O queues and time distance between source and target queues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
    Inventors: Jaeyoo Jung, Owen Martin, Sichao Zhu, Krishna Deepak Nuthakki, Benjamin A. Randolph
  • Patent number: 10445137
    Abstract: Requesting computational resources for executing a program including a number of program portions includes computing sets of requests. Each set, except an initial set, is processed by a computational resource manager only if the previously submitted sets were granted. One or more additional sets are formed for processing by the manager after the initial set. A request of the additional sets includes a partial request for a program portion that is in a least-fulfilled set of program portions. Each program portion is associated with a respective fulfillment ratio of its quantity of previously requested resources divided by an associated target quantity. The partial request requests a quantity of resources that is small enough so that, after the partial request is granted, each program portion in the least-fulfilled set will have a fulfillment ratio that is greater than its fulfillment ratio had been, and is still smaller than one.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Ab Initio Technology LLC
    Inventors: Jacky Cheuk Kei Chu, Stephen J. Schmidt, Bo Wang
  • Patent number: 10334470
    Abstract: A user equipment (UE), which is able to use a plurality of different wireless access technologies, receives a request to establish a voice call. In response to the request, the UE determines whether voice over a first wireless access technology of the different wireless access technologies is supported, and responsive to determining that voice over the first wireless access technology is not supported, the UE attempts to establish the voice call over a second wireless access technology of the different wireless access technologies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Hamid Mahmood
  • Patent number: 10224022
    Abstract: A computing device having the capability to dynamically select a voice that will be used by a speech synthesizer in creating synthesized speech for use in communicating with a user of the computing device is provided. For example, in some embodiments, the computing device: i) employs the speech synthesizer to have a first audible communication with the user using a first voice; ii) stores user satisfaction data that can be used to determine a user's satisfaction with an action the user took in response to the first audible communication; and iii) determines whether a different voice should be used during a second audible communication with the user based on the stored user satisfaction data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (publ)
    Inventors: Matthew John Lawrenson, Julian Charles Nolan
  • Patent number: 10218639
    Abstract: Various technologies pertaining to scheduling network traffic in a network are described. A request to transfer data from a first computing device to a second computing device includes data that identifies a volume of the data to be transferred and a deadline, where the data is to be transferred prior to the deadline. A long-term schedule is computed based upon the request, wherein the long-term schedule defines flow of traffic through the network over a relatively long time horizon. A short-term schedule is computed based upon the long-term schedule, where devices in the network are configured based upon the short-term schedule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Srikanth Kandula, Ishai Menache, Roy Schwartz
  • Patent number: 10205834
    Abstract: A system and method provides communication between subscribers of a telephone network and the subscribers of an OTT provider website wherein each of the subscribers of the OTT provider website is assigned a telephone number in a block which is not assigned to any particular country. The system includes terminating a call (e.g., having voice, video, data, and/or messaging) from the telephone network directed to a number in the block, and passing the terminated call to a nearby entry point to the OTT provider website, the OTT website being configured to associate the incoming call with the user's account to which the called number has been assigned. Calls can be placed in the opposite direction, in which case the assigned number is passed into the telephone system as the calling party's number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Tyntec Group Limited
    Inventor: Thorsten Trapp
  • Patent number: 10015316
    Abstract: Techniques are described for analyzing communications sent during a service session to provide (e.g., customer) service on a social media channel, the analysis to determine a quality of service provided during the session. Natural language processing, lexical analysis, pattern matching, or other types of analysis may be used to determine an empathy factor and a conversational factor for communications between a service representative (SR) and a user during a session. The factors may be combined with other factors, such as a timely acknowledgement factor and a timely resolution factor, to generate a response quality index (RQI) for the session. Based on the RQI, feedback information may be generated and sent to the SR. In some implementations, the communications may be analyzed and feedback information sent to the SR in real time during the session, to dynamically improve service quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Renee Lynette Horne, Julie Finlay
  • Patent number: 9998393
    Abstract: A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for managing resource capacity for the provision of cloud-based services. Application deployment and undeployment data is received, and then processed, to perform an update of a capacity-weighted graph to reflect a set of applications deployed in a cloud computing environment. The application deployment and undeployment data is then further processed to determine a set of resource dependencies associated with the set of deployed applications. Thereafter, monitoring operations are performed to monitor consumption of a set of services associated with the set of deployed applications. Further monitoring operations are then performed to monitor requests from the set of deployed applications to predict the need for the provision of a set of additional services for consumption at runtime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas T. Hanis, Claus T. Jensen, Eoin Lane, Zhuo Zhao
  • Patent number: 9965733
    Abstract: Method, apparatus, and communication systems of updating user data are provided. Business flow data and conversation flow data of a first user are obtained. Whether the first user has completed a preset first business task is determined according to the obtained business flow data, and whether the first user has completed a preset first conversation task is determined according to the obtained conversation flow data. After determining that the first user has completed the preset first business task and the preset first conversation task, a user data update volume corresponding to a first task group is obtained and updated. The introduction of the task group can help to prevent cheating behaviors, and can help to improve security of updating user data. The introduction of the conversation task can help to improve utilization of network resources, and help to promote business growth and better precipitation of user relationship chains.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Bo Xu
  • Patent number: 9949110
    Abstract: A call loop avoidance capability is provided for preventing formation of a call loop resulting from handling of a mobile terminated (MT) call in parallel with a location update for a mobile device (MD) in a wireless communication network. The call loop avoidance capability prevents formation of a call loop between an old mobility and call management entity (MCME) and a new MCME when delivery of an MT call to an MD is performed while the MD is in the process of moving from the old MCME to the new MCME using a location update procedure. An enhanced call routing procedure supports direct delivery of the MT call from the new MCME to the MD (rather than delivery of the MT call by the new MCME to the MD via the old MCME) in order to prevent formation of a call loop between the old MCME and the new MCME.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Lu Tian, Bruno Landais
  • Patent number: 9918216
    Abstract: Embodiments provide a call control device, an HSS, an AS, and a user service processing method. The call control device includes: a receiving module, configured to: receive an access domain confirmation request message, comprising an identifier of the called UE, sent by a call routing device on a home network; a determining module determining, according to the identifier, that the home network communicates with a visited network of the called UE by using a CS domain on the home network; and a sending module sending an access domain confirmation response message, carrying instruction information, to the call routing device and the instruction information is used to instruct the call routing device to route the call to the visited network by using the CS domain on the home network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Jinghua Zhou, Shixiang Liang, Guojun Xie, Fuxiang Xiong
  • Patent number: 9876826
    Abstract: A system for providing an architecture for enabling internet protocol (IP) carrier peering is disclosed. The system provides mechanisms for providing carrier telephone number mapping (ENUM)-based routing for subscribers of a first carrier to locate and connect with subscribers of another IP peering carrier. The system may receive an IP call from a first device of a first carrier that is destined for a second device of a second carrier. The call is forwarded to a breakout gateway control function/transit function that initiates a modified ENUM query to an internetwork packet exchange partner (IPX-P) network using an intercarrier ENUM apex domain. To retrieve a record for routing the call, the modified ENUM query is sent to an IPX-P ENUM via a domain name service name server record configuration directing to the IP address of the IPX-P ENUM. Based on the record, the call is then routed to the second device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
    Inventors: Bernard S. Ku, James W. Forsyth, Lakshminarashimhan Naidu
  • Patent number: 9877224
    Abstract: A user equipment (UE), which is able to use a plurality of different wireless access technologies, receives a request to establish a voice call. In response to the request, the UE determines whether voice over a first wireless access technology of the different wireless access technologies is supported, and responsive to determining that voice over the first wireless access technology is not supported, the UE attempts to establish the voice call over a second wireless access technology of the different wireless access technologies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Hamid Mahmood
  • Patent number: 9838319
    Abstract: A network component is provided for facilitating communication of traffic between a destination server and a client over a network comprising the plurality of network paths. The network component comprising memory for storing computer-readable instructions and a processor configured to implement the computer-readable instructions. The computer-readable instructions operable to implement the following: exchange control parameters with the client via a control channel using one or more of the plurality of network control paths; encapsulate the traffic for transmission to the client; decapsulate the traffic received from the client; and schedule traffic to the client via one or more of the plurality of network paths using logic common with the client based on network parameters. A client configured to work with the network component is also described, as is a communication system including both the client and network component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: WILMERDING COMMUNICATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Armstrong, Robert Robinson, Jakub Schmidtke
  • Patent number: 9736661
    Abstract: A device associated with a subscriber database of a telecommunication network described herein is configured to receive a Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) message from a messaging center. The device then determines whether a user device specified by the SRI-SM message is associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration. In response to determining that the user device is associated with an IMS registration, the device sends the SRI-SM message to an IP Short Message Gateway (IP-SM-GW). In response to determining that the user device is not associated with an IMS registration, the device processes the SRI-SM message and responds to the messaging center based on the processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Babak Namiranian, Sasikala Mannepally, Nilesh Ranjan
  • Patent number: 9680870
    Abstract: A device determines a network attribute associated with a first network, transmits, to an orchestration device associated with a second network, information that identifies the network attribute, and receives, from the orchestration device, control information that specifies a routing policy, a security policy, or a load balancing policy associated with the first network. The device provisions network devices associated with the first network, based on the control information, and provides packets, associated with a traffic flow, to a network device, based on the control information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.
    Inventor: Benjamin J. Parker
  • Patent number: 9660878
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to facilitating a plurality of heterogeneous hosts to use a range of priority values. A method of facilitating a plurality of heterogeneous hosts to use a range of priority values is provided. The method retrieves a plurality of priority ranges from a plurality of network forwarding elements shared by a plurality of heterogeneous hosts. The network forwarding elements provide access to a set of storage devices that stores data for the plurality of heterogeneous hosts. The method generates, by a computer that comprises one of the heterogeneous hosts, a universal priority range from the plurality of priority ranges. The method maps a plurality of workloads performed by the computer to priority values in the universal priority range. The method sends the universal priority range to at least one other host of the heterogeneous hosts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dale F. Riedy, Peter B. Yocom, Harry M. Yudenfriend
  • Patent number: 9647956
    Abstract: Methods and systems for dynamic allocation of network resources for optimized voice capacity and quality management are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for dynamic allocation of network resources for optimized voice capacity and quality management may include providing; monitoring real-time call metrics and real-time network traffic capacity usage of a plurality of network devices having a network traffic capacity; and adjusting the network traffic capacity based on at least one of an analysis of historical network traffic, an analysis of the real-time call metrics, or an analysis of the real-time network traffic capacity usage, wherein adjusting network capacity comprises one of activating additional network devices to increase the network traffic capacity or deactivating one or more of the plurality of network devices to decrease the network traffic capacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Vonage America Inc.
    Inventors: Rohan Dwarkha, Alan Bugos
  • Patent number: 9641689
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a method and system for routing communications. A plurality of communication devices are coupled to a communications network. Each communication device has a device identifier. A user-programmable database associates each of a plurality of user identifiers with a device identifier. A call-routing switch arrangement is coupled to the communication network through a portal communication device having a portal identifier. A user designates a destination user identifier when making a communication. The call-routing switches the call, directing the call to a destination device identifier responsive to the user-programmable database association between the destination user identifier and a device identifier. According to certain aspects, communications are directed to users and are routed to associated equipment, a user identifier serving as a virtual extension number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: 8x8, Inc.
    Inventors: Jean Vincent, Tony Chan, Jean-Francois Catz
  • Patent number: 9577912
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for generating a status update message. The method involves defining one or more status update criteria and monitoring user activity in a software application for the one or more status update criteria. The method further involves determining, based on the user activity, that the one or more status update criteria have been met and generating, via a processing unit, a status update message. The status update message includes multimedia content related to a project associated with the software application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: AUTODESK, INC.
    Inventors: Wei H. Li, Tovi Grossman, Justin Frank Matejka, George Fitzmaurice
  • Patent number: 9560180
    Abstract: An Internet protocol (IP) telephony system terminates calls to certain groups of telephone numbers via multiple different telephony carriers. The IP telephony system will discontinue using a telephony carrier to terminate calls if the quality provided by the carrier falls below a threshold level. The IP telephony system includes a quality monitoring unit that determines when a particular group of telephone numbers are intrinsically impaired, such that no carrier could provide high quality when terminating calls to those numbers. In these circumstances, the IP telephony system adjusts the quality threshold to which a carrier's quality is compared when completing calls to the impaired numbers to account for the intrinsic impairment of the telephone numbers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Vonage Business Inc.
    Inventors: Casem Majd, Stephen Vansaders, Gopala Rao, Nirav J. Kadakia, Andrew Bucko
  • Patent number: 9553986
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system for a telephony server to provide services based upon a call from a user. A user communicates with the telephony server over a telephone communication device. The telephony server retrieves a voice application over a computer network from a remote web site and uses it to have a speech-based conversation with the user. The conversation results in obtaining service data from the user. The retrieved voice application performs the requested service based upon the user-provided service data. After the requested service is performed, the voice application and the user service data are removed from the telephony server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Shen, Umakanthan Shumaganathan
  • Patent number: 9516619
    Abstract: The present invention is to provide the mobile communication system which enables power consumption reduction for the mobile station with dual mode capability by unifying the location registration and paging processing for every mobile communication system. The mobile communication system is so arranged to perform location registration processing and paging processing for the mobile station by only one of radio communication systems. And the mobile station can access to any other radio communication systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hidenori Kato
  • Patent number: 9497616
    Abstract: A method in a switching node of a circuit-switched telecommunications network comprises the steps of receiving from a packet-switched telecommunications network a request to establish a call towards a mobile station of the circuit-switched telecommunications network, and sending a request message to a location register for an instruction comprising one or more parameters for allowing the continuation of the establishment of the call to the mobile station. Upon receiving the one or more parameters from the location register, at least one of the one or more parameters is used to establish the call towards the mobile station. Furthermore, at least one of the one or more parameters is sent to the packet-switched telecommunications network. The at least one or more parameters sent to the packet-switched telecommunications network relates to the location of the mobile station. Therefore, entities within a packet-switched telecommunications network (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventor: Rogier August Caspar Joseph Noldus
  • Patent number: 9392027
    Abstract: A Session Initiation Protocol Application Server of an IP Multimedia Subsystem having processing means for handling a message received from a Serving Call/State Control Function, the means being arranged to handle the message based upon a header of the message containing the URI of the served user, this header having been introduced by the Serving Call/State Control Function and being other than the P-Asserted Identity and the R-URI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Johannes Van Elburg, Alf Heidermark
  • Patent number: 9392499
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer readable media for the automatic transfer of mobile calls between wireless packet switched (PS) and guaranteed service (GS) networks based on quality of service (QoS) measurements are disclosed. One method includes establishing a call over the PS or GS network. The method may further include monitoring a quality of service (QoS) parameter associated with the PS network, and comparing the QoS parameter to a minimum quality threshold. The method may further include receiving instructions to initiate a call transfer based upon the comparison of the QoS parameter to the minimum quality threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: GENBAND US LLC
    Inventor: Dany Sylvain
  • Patent number: 9338284
    Abstract: A system, method and non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when read by a processor perform receiving a telephony connection request at a location in a telephony network, the location separated from an intended recipient of the telephony connection request by a target telephony network, determining addressing information regarding the intended recipient, the addressing information including at least routing information or a phone number, determining a status characteristic of the intended recipient based on the addressing information, based on the status characteristic, and determining whether the intended recipient would successfully receive the telephony connection request if the telephony connection request was forwarded to the intended recipient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventor: Douglas L. Davis
  • Patent number: 9325845
    Abstract: A customer support system diverts a customer to an integrated support service to serve the customer better in situations where the use of a single mode of interaction is insufficient. Embodiments of the invention find use where an email or SMS is sent to a customer's smart devices with a link to visual content which helps customer better understand the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: 24/7 Customer, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick Nguyen, Andrew Chang, Vedavyas Kadudas, Matt Oshry, Michael Bodell
  • Patent number: 9307489
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for preferring connections between networks. In one embodiment, a mobile device is capable of hybrid network operation (e.g. LTE and CDMA 1× operation), allowing the mobile device to be registered to a CDMA 1× network for voice calls while receiving and sending data traffic over a LTE network. However, any data sent by the LTE network may be lost if the data was transmitted during a tune-away to the CDMA 1× network to perform maintenance operations. In one variant, the mobile device can disable the idle voice connection to the CDMA 1× network based on a request from resident applications requiring real-time data streaming, which are more likely to experience data loss. Consequently, potential data loss due to a network tune-away is prevented, thereby improving data performance of the resident applications. In another embodiment, an adaptive transmit receive mode can be selectively disabled/enabled for data traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Vikram B. Yerrabommanahalli, Arun G. Mathias, Matthew S. Klahn
  • Patent number: 9282186
    Abstract: A system for handling an outbound call from a call originator to a plurality of call targets, including a database storing a plurality of outgoing telephone numbers, each outgoing telephone number having one of two or more area codes. The system including an information processor configured to process at least an area code of a telephone number of the call targets, select from the database telephone numbers from the plurality of outgoing telephone numbers where the selected telephone numbers have at least an area code the same as the area code of the telephone number of the call targets, set caller identification data of the outbound calls to the selected telephone numbers, and transmit the caller identification data to the call targets in connection with the outbound calls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: NobelBiz, Inc.
    Inventor: James Siminoff
  • Patent number: 9195966
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable mediums for managing a subset of user contacts on a telecommunications device are provided. In one embodiment, a software application executed by a processor of a telecommunications device determines at least two contact groups from a subset of contacts accessible by a telecommunications device. The software application executed by the processor of the telecommunications device also generates a contact display including at least one contact group associated with the subset of contacts based on a current context of a user of the telecommunications device. The current context can include, for example, one or more of a location, time, date, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: T-MOBILE USA, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Steffen Vance, Jeffrey Allen Armantrout, Jared Benson, Christian Robertson, Shilpa R. Shah, Gabriel J. White
  • Patent number: 9042538
    Abstract: Network architectures, methods, and operations for routing telephone calls are disclosed. A customer premise includes a conventional POTS dedicated communication line to a central office switch and a broadband connection to a data network. The central office switch and the data network are connected by a communication link. A first telephone call originated at the customer premise may be connected via the dedicated communication link. A second or subsequent call originated at the customer premise may be connected via the data network. Optionally, the same call identifier may be assigned to the first and second or subsequent calls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: Qwest Communications International Inc.
    Inventors: J. Clark Stevens, F. Joseph Glynn
  • Patent number: 9036625
    Abstract: Systems and methods for mitigating phantom call traffic in a communication system are disclosed. A call may be received at a communications exchange. A jurisdiction of the call may be determined in real-time, and egress signaling information and a route of the call to a terminating local exchange may be determined based on the jurisdiction. At least a portion of the egress signaling information may be provided to the terminating exchange in call signaling and/or in call detail billing records so that the terminating exchange is enabled to correctly charge for call termination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: PEERLESS NETWORK, INC.
    Inventors: Scott D. Kell, James E. Brewer, Anthony J. Hiller
  • Patent number: 9036804
    Abstract: Architecture for enabling identification of a call party's representative during calls on behalf of the call party. The call representative is delegated to initiate or answer an IP call on behalf of the call party. An IP-telephony component initiates or answers the IP call by the call representative on behalf of the call party. The IP-telephony component can be an IP telephone, or any other suitable IP calling interface. An identification component presents a representation notification identifying the call representative to a connected call party. The representation notification can be displayed on a caller ID display on an IP phone, or can be displayed on a user interface of the personal computing device, for example. The calls can be point-to-point IP calls with a single participant, or can be conference calls with multiple participants, and can be performed with one or more suitable protocols.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Pradipta Kumar Basu, Brandon V. Taylor, Rajesh Ramanathan
  • Patent number: 9025755
    Abstract: Methods and systems for routing multimedia traffic are described. A method may include receiving a communication originating from a user, transposing an alias transport network over one or more existing networks to route the communication, and routing the communication based on mapping rules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Vijay Jayapalan, Susan Blake, Frederick Eugene Diehl, Jr., Jerry Scott Beene, Michael Sjolander
  • Patent number: 9020127
    Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems are provided such that enterprise network administrators may create and display a dial plan management arrangement using enterprise canonical format and number normalization and friendly display tables. A solution is provided for creating and managing call routing simply and graphically using enterprise canonical format rather than through a legacy routing scheme using of a series of tables with no graphic depiction and multiple formats. By using a single format with a graphical representation when administering dial planning, implementation and management are significantly simpler and more efficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Avaya Inc.
    Inventors: Joel M. Ezell, Kurt Haserodt, William T. Walker