Patent ID: 9438728
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: H04M

Claim Text:
1. A method for telephone number grouping, comprising: provisioning, by a telephone service provider, a plurality of telephone numbers including associating each of the plurality of telephone numbers with a distinct physical telephone service user device of a grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices, the quantity of the plurality of telephone numbers being no greater than the quantity of the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices; registering, with a telephone number grouping service, at least two telephone numbers of the plurality of telephone numbers as grouped telephone numbers with respect to incoming and outgoing telephone calls to and from the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices; providing, by the telephone service provider to the telephone number grouping service, at least partial call control for incoming and outgoing telephone calls with respect to the grouped telephone numbers; with respect to incoming telephone calls to the grouped telephone numbers, activating one or more of the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices associated with the grouped telephone numbers in accordance with a grouped telephone number incoming call policy that governs incoming telephone calls to the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices, the grouped telephone number incoming call policy being capable of causing activation of multiple of the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices responsive to an incoming call; and with respect to an outgoing telephone call from a physical telephone service user device associated with the grouped telephone numbers, causing the outgoing telephone call to appear to originate from a selected telephone number of the grouped telephone numbers in accordance with a grouped telephone number outgoing call policy that governs outgoing telephone calls from the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices, the grouped telephone number outgoing call policy being capable of designating each of the grouped telephone numbers associated with the grouped plurality of physical telephone service user devices as the selected telephone number.