Abstract:
An apparatus for enabling signals directed to a first telecommunications terminal to be forwarded intelligently to a second telecommunications terminal in the vicinity of the first terminal is disclosed. In particular, the illustrative embodiment automatically forwards signals from a first terminal to the closest terminal for which the first terminal is authorized to do so, wherein the first terminal and the closest authorized terminal belong to any respective ones of a plurality of networks. The illustrative embodiment employs a location coordinator that, in concert with logic embedded in each of the networks, determines the closest authorized terminal.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    The following patent applications are incorporated by reference:  
         [0002]    1. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/xxx,xxx, filed Feb. 27, 2003, entitled “Authorization-Based Forwarding,” (Attorney Docket: 630-017us);  
         [0003]    2. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/xxx,xxx, filed Feb. 27, 2003, entitled “Location-Based Forwarding,” (Attorney Docket: 630-019us);  
         [0004]    3. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/xxx,xxx, filed Feb. 27, 2003, entitled “Server-Based Discovery For Location-Based Forwarding,” (Attorney Docket: 630-020us); and  
         [0005]    4. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/xxx,xxx, filed Feb. 27, 2003, entitled “Peer-to-Peer Discovery For Location-Based Forwarding,” (Attorney Docket: 630-021us). 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, in particular, to forwarding a call or message from one telecommunications terminal to another.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    Telephone calls are sometimes forwarded from one telephone to another. For example, when a user leaves his or her office to work in a computer laboratory, the user might forward his or her office telephone to a telephone in the computer laboratory. The user thereby specifies ahead-of-time that any future call directed to his or her office telephone should be redirected to the telephone in the computer laboratory (i.e., a call directed to the office telephone will cause the computer laboratory telephone to “ring,” while the office telephone will not ring).  
           [0008]    As another example, when the user receives a call on his or her office telephone, he or she might wish to transfer the call to another telephone (e.g., a secretary&#39;s telephone, etc.) while the call is in progress. Alternatively, the user might wish to include another party in the conversation by bridging the call to an appropriate telephone; this is also known as conference calling.  
           [0009]    Forwarding is also commonly employed for email. In particular, a forwarding mechanism is established (e.g., creating a .forward file in a UNIX-based system, etc.) so that future email messages addressed to a first address are automatically forwarded to a second address.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The present invention is a method for enabling signals (e.g., voice, video, text, etc.) directed to a first telecommunications terminal (e.g., telephone, computer, pager, etc.) to be forwarded to a second telecommunications terminal, which is or was in the “vicinity” of the first terminal. In particular, the illustrative embodiment automatically forwards signals directed to the first telecommunications terminal to the closest telecommunications terminal that the first terminal is authorized to forward to, wherein the first terminal and the closest authorized terminal belong to any respective ones of a plurality of networks.  
           [0011]    The illustrative embodiment comprises: a receiver for receiving a first location of a first telecommunications terminal; a memory for storing a forwarding record for the first telecommunications terminal; and a processor for (i) ascertaining the identity of a second telecommunications terminal that is located closest to the first location, and (ii) populating the forwarding record so that a signal directed to the first telecommunications terminal is forwarded to the second telecommunications terminal. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireless network  100  in the prior art.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireline network  200  in the prior art.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireless network  100 , as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location server  310 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 3, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wireless switching center  150 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireline network  200 , as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location server  610 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 6, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of switch  250 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of an architecture for enabling location-based forwarding across multiple wireless networks  100 , as depicted in FIG. 1, and/or multiple wireline networks  200 , as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location coordinator  910 , as depicted in FIG. 9, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of the operation of location coordinator  910 , as depicted in FIG. 9, and its interaction with wireless networks  100 , as depicted in FIG. 1, and wireline networks  200 , as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     Definitions  
       [0023]    Although the illustrative embodiment is disclosed in the context of telephones, it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to use embodiments of the present invention for other devices such as pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Consequently, the term “contact identifier” and its inflected forms are defined as a string of symbols that uniquely specifies a telecommunications terminal (e.g., telephone number, email address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, etc.). Similarly, for the purposes of this specification the term “call” is defined to encompass all kinds of communications (e.g. telephone call, email message, interactive text chat, videoconference, etc.), and it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to use embodiments of the present invention for such alternative means of communication.  
         [0024]    For the purposes of this specification, the term “forwarding out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call from a first telecommunications terminal to a second telecommunications terminal as a result of a forwarding request originating at the first telecommunications terminal. Similarly, for the purposes of this specification the term “forwarding in” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call from a first telecommunications terminal to a second telecommunications terminal as a result of a forwarding request originating at the second telecommunications terminal.  
         [0025]    For some kinds of communication, such as telephone calls and interactive text chat, forwarding can be established either (i) before a call is initiated, or (ii) during a call (i.e., while a call is in progress). For some other kinds of communication such as email, however, forwarding typically applies to (i) only.  
         [0026]    For case (i), a call can be forwarded from a first terminal to a second terminal so that either (ia) only the second terminal is notified of the incoming call (i.e., only the second terminal “rings”), or (ib) both the first and second terminals are notified of the incoming call (i.e., both terminals ring). For case (ii), a call can be forwarded from a first terminal to a second terminal so that either (iia) the first communications terminal no longer participates in the call (i.e., only the second terminal participates), or (iib) the first terminal still participates in the call (i.e. both terminals participate).  
         [0027]    Consequently, for the purposes of this specification: the term “redirecting” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call or message in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connecting” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call or message in accordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call or message in accordance with (iia) above; and the term “bridging” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding a call or message in accordance with (iib) above.  
         [0028]    In addition, for the purposes of this specification: the term “redirecting out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connecting out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message in accordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message in accordance with (iia) above; and the term “bridging out” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding out a call or message in accordance with (iib) above.  
         [0029]    Similarly, for the purposes of this specification: the term “redirecting in” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with (ia) above; the term “connecting in” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with (ib) above; the term “transferring in” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with (iia) above; and the term “bridging in” and its inflected forms are defined as forwarding in a call or message in accordance with (iib) above.  
       The Illustrative Embodiments  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireless network  100  in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, wireless network  100  comprises N wireless switching centers  150 - 1  through  150 -N, where N is a positive integer, as is well known in the art. As shown in FIG. 1, wireless switching center  150 - 3  communicates with M base stations  160 - 3 - 1  through  160 - 3 -M, where M is a positive integer, as is also well known in the art. For clarity, base stations are shown for wireless switching center  150 - 3  only, even though each wireless switching center  150 - i  in wireless network  100  typically is connected to a respective plurality of base stations.  
         [0031]    As shown in FIG. 1, base station  160 - 3 - 1  communicates wirelessly with wireless telecommunications terminals  120 - 1  through  120 -U, where U is a positive integer, as is well known in the art. For clarity, wireless telecommunications terminals are shown for base station  160 - 3 - 1  only, even though each base station typically communicates with a respective plurality of telecommunications terminals.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireline network  200  (e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network [PSTN], etc.) in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, wireline network  200  comprises P switches  250 - 1  through  250 -P, where P is a positive integer, as is well known in the art. As shown in FIG. 2, switch  250 - 3  is connected to R subscriber loop carriers  260 - 3 - 1  through  260 - 3 -R, where R is a positive integer, as is also well known in the art. For clarity, subscriber loop carriers are shown for switch  250 - 3  only, even though each switch  250 - i  in wireless network  230  typically is connected to a respective plurality of subscriber loop carriers.  
         [0033]    As shown in FIG. 2, subscriber loop carrier  260 - 3 - 1  is connected to wireline telecommunications terminals  220 - 1  through  220 -V, where V is a positive integer, either directly, or via private branch exchange  270 , as is well known in the art. Again, in the interest of clarity, wireline telecommunications terminals are shown for subscriber loop carrier  260 - 3 - 1  only, even though typically each base station communicates with a respective plurality of telecommunications terminals.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireless network  100 , as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, each wireless switching center  150 - i  has associated location server  310 - i.  Location server  310 - i  keeps track of the respective locations of wireless telecommunications terminals in wireless switching center  150 - i&#39; s area of coverage, as disclosed below in the description of FIG. 4.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location server  310 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 3, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, location server  310 - i  comprises receiver  410 - i,  processor  420 - i,  memory  430 - i,  and transmitter  440 - i.    
         [0036]    Receiver  410 - i,  receives (i) current locations for telecommunications terminals in wireless switching center  150 - i&#39; s area of coverage from wireless switching center  150 - i,  and (ii) forwarding requests from wireless switching center  150 - i.  As is well understood in the art, receiver  410 - i  can receive the locations of terminals in wireless switching center  150 - i&#39; s area of coverage by a variety of methods (e.g., a global positioning system [GPS] receiver embedded in each terminal, triangulation, radio beacons, radio-frequency fingerprinting [U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,294, incorporated by reference], etc.)  
         [0037]    When receiver  410 - i  receives a location, it passes the data to processor  420 - i.  Processor  420 - i  writes the location data to a location table stored in memory  430 - i,  in well-known fashion. If the terminal already has an entry in the location table, its location is updated accordingly; otherwise (e.g., the associated terminal entered the corresponding area of coverage, etc.), a new entry is added to the location table. In order to prevent the location table from monotonically increasing in size and potentially exhausting memory  430 - i,  wireless switching center  150 - i  can send a notification message to receiver  410 - i  when a terminal disconnects from wireless switching center  150 - i  (e.g., when the terminal is turned off, or when the terminal leaves wireless switching center  150 - i&#39; s area of coverage, etc.) In addition, each entry in the location table can have an associated timestamp, and processor  420 - i  can periodically remove entries from the table with stale timestamps.  
         [0038]    When receiver  410 - i  receives a forwarding request, it passes the request to processor  420 - i.  In some embodiments, the request might contain the current location of the requesting terminal, while in some other embodiments, the request might solely specify the contact identifier of the terminal, in which case processor  420 - i  performs a lookup on memory  430 - i  to determine the location of the requesting terminal.  
         [0039]    Processor  420 - i  consults memory  430 - i  to find the terminal closest to the requesting terminal. As is well-known in the art, there are a variety of ways to find the closest terminal, some more efficient than others. One way is to proceed through each entry in the list, computing the distance between the requesting terminal and the entry&#39;s location, and then selecting the terminal corresponding to the entry with the smallest distance. Another, more efficient way, is to maintain a spatial database containing each terminal&#39;s location; as is well known in the art, a spatial database stores a set of points in n-dimensional space (e.g., two-dimensional Cartesian locations, etc.) and is designed to efficiently perform geometric-based queries such as finding a point in the database closest to a particular location.  
         [0040]    In some embodiments, an authorization facility might be employed to prevent forwarding of calls from a first telecommunications terminal to a second telecommunications terminal when such forwarding is not authorized. For example, co-pending U.S. patent application “Authorization-Based Forwarding,” (Attorney Docket: 630-017us) discloses such a facility that employs authorization tables associated with each telecommunications terminal for determining whether a particular forwarding operation is allowed. In the above-referenced U.S. patent application, the authorization tables are stored in a centralized database; in some embodiments of the present invention, however, it might be advantageous to distribute the authorization tables among location servers  310  (i.e., store the locally-pertinent information in memories  430 ). In the latter arrangement, when a wireless telecommunications terminal moves from the coverage area of one wireless switching center  150 - i  to another wireless switching center  150 - j,  processor  420 - i  can send the authorization tables for that terminal to location server  310 - j  via transmitter  440 - i,  wireless switching center  150 - i,  and wireless switching center  150 - j.    
         [0041]    In embodiments employing an authorization facility, processor  420 - i  consults memory  430 - i  to find the closest terminal for which the requested forwarding operation (e.g., transferring out, bridging in, etc.) is permitted. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to incorporate an authorization facility into the techniques disclosed above (e.g., linear traversal of the location table, a spatial database query, etc.) to enable processor  420 - i  to provide this functionality.  
         [0042]    After the closest terminal (or the closest authorized terminal, as appropriate) is determined, processor  420 - i  sends, via transmitter  440 - i,  a message to wireless switching center  150 - i  containing (i) the contact identifier of the requesting terminal, and (ii) the contact identifier of the closest terminal. As is well understood in the art, for forwarding out of telephone calls, the forwarding message causes (i) the forward flag to be enabled in the record for the first telecommunications terminal&#39;s contact identifier, and (ii) the forwarding number in this record to be set to the closest terminal&#39;s contact identifier (or vice versa for forwarding in operations). For forwarding out of email messages, the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate email server to establish forwarding of messages directed to the requesting terminal (i.e., the requesting terminal&#39;s email address) to the closest terminal&#39;s email address (or vice versa for forwarding in operations), as is well understood in the art. For peer-to-peer communications employing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), such as instant messaging (IM), the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate SIP server; for forwarding out operations, this message specifies updating (a) the contact identifier (i.e., IP address) associated with the user of the requesting terminal t 1 , to (b) the closest terminal&#39;s IP address (or vice versa for forwarding in operations), as is well understood in the art.  
         [0043]    As will be understood by those skilled in the art, processor  420 - i  might be a programmed general-purpose processor, or a “hard-wired” or special-purpose processor. Similarly, memory  430 - i  can take a variety of forms, such as a random-access memory, a flash memory, a disk drive, etc.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of wireless switching center  150 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the functionality performed by location server  310 - i  in the first embodiment is performed by wireless switching center  150 - i,  thereby obviating the need for a separate location server  310 - i.    
         [0045]    As shown in FIG. 5, wireless switching center  150 - i  comprises receiver  510 - i,  processor  520 - i,  memory  530 - i,  switching fabric  540 - i,  and transmitter  550 - i.  As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the components of wireless switching center  150 - i  shown in FIG. 5 are typically found in a wireless switching center  150 - i  of the prior art (e.g., processor  520 - i  and memory  530 - i  typically support a multitude of tasks and services such as switching, handoffs, “caller ID,” etc.) Consequently, in this embodiment memory  530 - i  stores, in addition to the data of the prior art, the location tables (and, if appropriate, local authorization tables) stored in memory  430 - i  of location server  310 - i  in the first illustrative embodiment; similarly, processor  520 - i  performs, in addition to the usual functions of the prior art, the logic of location server  310 - i&#39; s processor  420 - i  in the first illustrative embodiment, as disclosed above.  
         [0046]    It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that some alternative embodiments might employ a combination of the first and second embodiments disclosed above. Such a combination would employ location server  310 - i,  as in the first embodiment, but would distribute the functionality concerning location and authorization between location server  310 - i  and wireless switch center  150 - i.  For example, some such combinations might store the authorization tables in memory  530 - i  and the location table in memory  540 - i,  with processors  420 - i  and  520 - i  accordingly dividing the logic disclosed above; it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use this combination, or other such possible combinations. It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these combinations are functionally equivalent to the first and second embodiments disclosed above.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of exemplary wireline network  200 , as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, each switch  250 - i  has associated location server  610 - i.  Location server  610 - i  keeps track of the respective locations of wireline telecommunications terminals in switch  250 - i&#39; s domain, as disclosed below in the description of FIG. 4.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location server  610 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 6, in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, location server  610 - i  comprises receiver  710 - i,  processor  720 - i,  memory  730 - i,  and transmitter  740 - i.    
         [0049]    Memory  730 - i  stores a location table (and, if appropriate, authorization tables) as disclosed above for memory  430 - i.    
         [0050]    Receiver  710 - i  receives (i) current locations of cordless wireline telecommunications terminals (for example, short-range cordless telephones , as are well-known in the art) in switch  250 - i&#39; s domain from switch  250 - i,  and (ii) forwarding requests from switch  250 - i.  When receiver  710 - i  receives one or more terminal locations, it passes the data to processor  720 - i.  Processor  720 - i  writes the location data to a location table stored in memory  730 - i  in well-known fashion.  
         [0051]    The location table in memory  730 - i  differs from the location table in memory  430 - i  (i.e., for wireless telecommunications terminals) in that the contact identifiers stored in the location table rarely change, since a contact identifier typically is within the domain of a particular switch  250 - i  for very long periods of time, if not permanently. In addition, many of the locations in the location table in memory  730 - i  are static (e.g., corresponding to conventional corded wireline telephones, etc.), thus obviating the need for storing a timestamp and checking for stale entries.  
         [0052]    The location table in memory  730 - i  specifies a one-to-one relation between contact identifiers and locations, as is the case for the location table in memory  430 - i.  For wireline telecommunications terminals that are uniquely identified by a contact identifier (e.g., a payphone, an office desktop phone connected to a PBX, etc.), as is the case for wireless telecommunications terminals as practiced in the art, memory  730 - i  stores locations in the same manner as memory  430 - i.  For wireline telecommunications terminals that are not uniquely identified by a contact identifier, however (e.g., a wireline telephone in a residential house with a single telephone line and multiple wireline telephones, etc.), the location table in memory  730 - i  specifies a single “virtual” location for the contact identifier (e.g., the geographic center of multiple locations, etc.)  
         [0053]    When receiver  710 - i  receives a forwarding request, it functions in the same manner as receiver  410 - i  (i.e., it passes the request to processor  720 - i ). Processor  720 - i  consults memory  730 - i  to find the terminal closest to the requesting terminal (or, as appropriate, the closest authorized terminal) in the same manner as processor  420 - i  above.  
         [0054]    After the closest terminal is determined, processor  720 - i  sends, via transmitter  740 - i,  a message to switch  250 - i  containing the same information as disclosed above for processor  420 - i  (i.e., the contact identifiers of the requesting terminal and the closest terminal). For telephone calls, switch  250 - i,  upon receiving the message, sets the appropriate record&#39;s forwarding flag and forwarding field as disclosed above for wireless switching center  150 - i.  For forwarding out of email messages, the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate email server to establish forwarding of (a) messages directed to the requesting terminal&#39;s email address, to (b) the closest terminal&#39;s email address (or vice versa for forwarding in operations), as disclosed above. For peer-to-peer communications, the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate SIP server, and specifies updating of the appropriate IP address, as disclosed above.  
         [0055]    [0055]FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of switch  250 - i,  as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, switch  250 - i  comprises receiver  810 - i,  processor  820 - i,  memory  830 - i,  switching fabric  840 - i,  and transmitter  850 - i.    
         [0056]    As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the components of switch  250 - i  shown in FIG. 8 are typically found in a switch  250 - i  of the prior art. Consequently, in this embodiment memory  830 - i  stores, in addition to the data of the prior art, the location table (and, if appropriate, local authorization tables) stored in memory  730 - i  of location server  610 - i  in the first illustrative embodiment; similarly, processor  820 - i  performs, in addition to the usual functions of the prior art, the logic of location server  610 - i&#39; s processor  720 - i  in the first illustrative embodiment, as disclosed above. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that some alternative embodiments might employ a combination of the first and second embodiments comprising location server  610 - i  and switch  250 - i,  as disclosed above for location server  310 - i  and wireless switching center  150 - i.    
       The Illustrative Embodiment for Multiple Networks  
       [0057]    Up to this point, the specification has disclosed implementations of location-based forwarding for wireless network  100  and wireline network  200  in isolation. However, it might be advantageous to have location-based forwarding work across wireless network  100  and wireline network  200 . For example, a user of a wireless telecommunications terminal might want to forward a call to the closest telecommunications terminal, regardless of whether the closest terminal is wireless or wireline. In addition, it might be desirable to have location-based forwarding work across multiple wireless and/or wireline networks. For example, currently in the United States there are several wireless service providers (e.g., AT&amp;T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, Cingular Wireless, etc.), and in some embodiments a user might want to automatically forward a call to the closest telecommunications terminal, regardless of whether that terminal is subscribed to the same service as the forwarding terminal. The foregoing disclosure teaches how to augment the illustrative embodiments disclosed above to provide this functionality.  
         [0058]    [0058]FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of an architecture for enabling location-based forwarding across multiple wireless networks  100 , as depicted in FIG. 1, and/or multiple wireline networks  200 , as depicted in FIG. 2, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the architecture comprises location coordinator  910 , X wireless networks  100 - 1  through  100 -X, where X is a positive integer, and Y wireline networks  100 - 1  through  100 -Y, where Y is a positive integer. As shown in FIG. 9, location coordinator  910  communicates with each wireless network  100  and each wireline network  200  via respective bidirectional communication channels. The operation of location coordinator  910 , and its interaction with wireless networks  100 - 1  through  100 -X and wireline networks  100 - 1  through  100 -Y, is disclosed below in the descriptions of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11.  
         [0059]    [0059]FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of location coordinator  910  in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, location coordinator  910  comprises receiver  1010 , processor  1020 , memory  1030 , and transmitter  1040 , as are well-known in the art. The operation of these components in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention is disclosed below in the description of FIG. 11.  
         [0060]    [0060]FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of the operation of location coordinator  910 , wireless networks  100 , and wireline networks  200 , in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0061]    At task  1110 , receiver  1010  receives a forwarding request from the network  100 - i  (or  200 - i ) corresponding to the telecommunications terminal t 1  that submitted the request, and passes this forwarding request to processor  1020 . The forwarding request comprises (i) t 1 &#39;s contact identifier, (ii) t 1 &#39;s location, (iii) the contact identifier of the telecommunications terminal t 2  in network  100 - i  (or  200 - i ) closest to t 1 , and (iv) the location of t 2 .  
         [0062]    At task  1120 , processor  1020  broadcasts, via transmitter  1040 , a query to every wireless and wireline network (except  100 - i  [or  200 - i] ) specifying the location of to and requesting the contact identifier and location of the terminal in that network closest to t 1 . As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the query might equivalently request, instead of the location of the closest terminal, the distance between the closest terminal and t 1 . Similarly, for embodiments employing an authorization facility, the query would specify the requested forwarding operation (e.g., transferring out, bridging in, etc.) and request the closest terminal for which the forwarding operation is permitted.  
         [0063]    At task  1130 , receiver  1010  receives responses to the query and passes these responses to processor  1020 .  
         [0064]    At task  1140 , processor  1020  selects, from among t 2  and all the responses, the telecommunications terminal t 3  closest to t 1 .  
         [0065]    At task  1150 , processor  1020  sends, via transmitter  1040 , a forwarding message to network  100 - i  (or  200 - i ) to effect forwarding from t 1 &#39;s contact identifier to t 3 &#39;s contact identifier. As is well understood in the art, for telephone calls the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate switch or wireless switching center, which causes: (i) the forward flag to be enabled in the record for the first telecommunications terminal&#39;s contact identifier, and (ii) the forwarding number in this record to be set to terminal t 3 &#39;s contact identifier. For email messages, the forwarding message is directed to the appropriate email server to establish forwarding of messages directed to t 1  (i.e., terminal t 1 &#39;s email address) to terminal t 3 &#39;s email address, as is well understood in the art. For peer-to-peer communications employing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), such as instant messaging (IM), the forwarding message is an update message directed to the appropriate SIP server for updating the contact identifier (i.e., IP address) associated with the user of terminal t 1  to terminal t 3 &#39;s IP address, as is well understood in the art.  
         [0066]    It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.