Abstract:
A system and method for providing PBX-like functionality at a remote office location includes the capability of maintaining a network session with a mobile number associated with the remote worker once the worker terminates the remote office session. The system utilizes a remote office platform interposed between a data communications network and a conventional PBX switch (located either at a subscriber-based office location or within the communication network and shared by a number of different subscribers). A remotely located individual (such as a telecommuter) “logs in” to the remote office platform and, once the individual is authenticated, a graphical user interface (GUI) emulating a PBX station set is enabled at the remote employee&#39;s personal computer, the GUI including a field for entry of the user&#39;s mobile number. When the user ends the session at the remote location, the platform invokes a mobility process to maintain a communication session with the remote worker via the communication device associated with the mobile number.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/805,292, filed Mar. 13, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,197, issued on Nov. 23, 2004. 

   TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates to a method and system for incorporating user mobility with the implementation of enhanced call service features at a remote location such that the PBX-like features can be accessed at any desired location. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   During the past decade, the number of professionals that “telecommute” (i.e., work at home or other “virtual office” locations) has increased significantly. Although the proliferation of various types of computing and telephony equipment has enabled these workers to be effective, there remain a number of office-related advantages that cannot, without great expense, be duplicated at home. Additionally, in situations where an individual spends a significant amount of time traveling, it becomes even more difficult to provide certain advantages, such as PBX-based telecommunication features as are found in most conventional office environments. A private branch exchange (PBX) switch is commonly known in the art as a system useful in providing certain calling features such as abbreviated dialing, call transfer, hold, mute, and others, within an office complex served by the PBX switch. One exemplary PBX switch is the Definity™ switch sold by Avaya, Inc. 
   A PBX switch may be located “on site” as customer premise equipment—CPE—(one example of CPE being the Definity switch sold by Avaya) or located within the communications network and used by one or more different customers. An exemplary network-based PBX is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,596 issued to Y. Baratz et al. on Apr. 21, 1998. With a network-based PBX, the various office locations may be referred to as “remote” in the sense that the physical office locations need to establish a link with the network-based PBX to obtain the desired functionality. The office stations themselves, however, are equipped with the traditional PBX station set equipment. The actual location of the PBX switch, therefore, is of no concern to the office worker. 
   In some situations, “telecommuters” have incurred the expense of adding an additional phone line, or ISDN, to handle the increase in telephony traffic associated with working at home. While this solution is acceptable in some situations, it quickly becomes an expensive alternative for the employer. Further, the “traveling” employee has no “home office” within which to install such equipment, remaining disadvantaged with respect to the personnel at a traditional work location. Indeed, the technology deployed at the home office may “lag” the latest PBX-based innovations found in the office. 
   As described in our pending application Ser. No. 09/370,766, an individual at a location “remote” from the office may have “PBX-like” capabilities, with all communications being controlled by a remote office platform, linked to the remote worker. In particular, the remote office platform is linked to the office PBX system. Features such as abbreviated dialing for in-house calls, call forwarding, call transfer, hold, three-way calling, secretarial pick-up, and more, are provided at a remote location where an individual can connect to the remote platform and have a user interface display available. The graphical user interface (GUI), in a preferred embodiment, is a “soft phone”, displaying a PBX station-like set-up including a handset, call feature buttons, a message center, and the like. 
   The system as described in this pending application uses a remote office platform that communicates with both the office (or network) PBX and a data network coupled to the remote office location. The remote office platform includes the software necessary to “push” the GUI to the remote device and also comprises a database including necessary information regarding each employee permitted to access the “virtual PBX” system. Once activated by a remote worker, the remote office platform communicates with the office PBX so as to communicate all PBX-based requests from the remote location back to the office PBX. In the other direction, all incoming calls to the remote worker&#39;s PBX extension are forwarded by the PBX to the remote office platform and, ultimately, to the remote location. The term “office PBX” as used throughout this discussion is considered to include a customer-premise PBX, a network-based PBX (perhaps being shared by a number of different subscribers), or any other suitable PBX architecture. 
   In operation of this arrangement, a remote worker establishes authenticated communication with the remote office platform. Voice connectivity between the office PBX and remote worker can be provided over whatever telephony connection exists at the remote location (POTS over PSTN, cable, fixed wireless, among others). Data connectivity, used for transferring all call requests between the remote worker and the remote office platform, as well as enabling the PBX-like interface at the remote end, may be provided by any suitable data network including, but not limited to, the Internet. 
   Although the system as disclosed in our pending application is extremely proficient in allowing a “remote worker” access to many of the available office features, once the worker “logs out” of the system, all of the interconnect information is lost, and the worker must go through the entire process of logging in to be re-connected. While this is not very problematic for instances where the remote worker remains at the same off-site location, for those individuals that spend any quantity of time “on the road” or at multiple locations, it may become burdensome to constantly require the worker to re-activate the remote office system. 
   Thus, a need remains in the remote office environment for addressing the mobility of most remote workers, allowing such individuals to remain in communication with a remote office platform. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The need remaining in the prior art is addressed by the present invention, which relates to a method and system for incorporating user mobility with the implementation of enhanced call service features at a remote location such that the PBX-like features can be accessed at any desired location. 
   In accordance with the present invention, mobility is incorporated into a remote worker&#39;s environment by allowing the individual to enter a mobile number prior to ending an interconnect session with a remote office platform. Once the individual terminates a particular remote session, the stored mobile number associated with that individual will be used by the remote office platform to maintain an active session with the remote worker. In particular, a mobility process is created and maintained at a central server in the network so as to run in background mode, transparent to the user. When an individual terminates a remote session, the process will be triggered to initiate the mobile session. Thus, until the worker terminates the mobile session, the mobile number will be used by the remote platform to maintain contact with the remote worker. In one embodiment, the process may be implemented as a Java script applet, although other implementations are possible. 
   In accordance with the present invention, the mobile number is used only when the remote worker is not logged into the system; the mobile number remaining inactive, but ready to be re-activated once the individual ends the session. The worker may, at any time, change the mobile number stored within his data record at the remote platform database. 
   Other and further aspects of the remote worker mobility features of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Referring now to the drawings, 
       FIG. 1  contains a block diagram of an exemplary “remote worker” system incorporating the mobility aspect of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary “soft phone” graphical user interface (GUI) available for a remote worker, including a mobile number interface; and 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating the utilization of the mobility concept of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   An exemplary architecture  10  for implementing the mobility feature of a “remote office” platform is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Throughout the remainder of this discussion, the term “remote office” will be used interchangeably with the term “virtual PBX”, since in most instances it is PBX-like features that are implemented, via a soft phone graphical user interface (GUI) described below in association with  FIG. 2 , in a remote office location. In particular,  FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary arrangement including a conventional office station set  12  and PBX switch  14  located within an office structure  16 . Each station set  12  includes conventional PBX features such as call forward, mute, conference, hold, etc. PBX  14  is shown as connected to a voice network  18  (e.g., PSTN) and data network  20  (e.g., Internet). As mentioned above, the physical location of PBX switch  14  is not critical to the implementation of the present invention. That is, the PBX may comprise customer premise equipment—CPE—as shown in  FIG. 1 , or may, alternatively, reside in the network (e.g., a PBX switch  14   p  as shown in phantom within PSTN  18  of  FIG. 1 ). A network-based PBX may then be “shared” by a number of different customers. Regardless of its location, however, PBX switch  14  is considered as the “home” PBX for the purposes of the present invention, and it is the PBX functionality of that switch which is emulated in the remote/mobile environment by the remote worker in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
   A “remote”/home office location  22  is also shown in  FIG. 1 , utilizing a connection  24  (such as, for example, a cable connection) to provide all communication access (i.e., voice and data) to location  22 . In particular, a cable modem  26  is connected to cable  24  and used to supply the various signals to different devices within location  22 . At a cable headend  28  as shown in  FIG. 1 , a voice connection  30  is made to PSTN  18  and a data connection  32  is made to Internet  20 . 
   The “remote office” features are provided to location  22  via a remote office platform  34 , configured as shown in  FIG. 1  to be communication with the conventional office  16  (or network-based PBX  14   p ) to effectively re-route traffic destined for station set  12  to a remote station set  36  and/or computer terminal  38 . Remote office platform  34  includes a switch controller  42 , service controller  44  and database  46 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 1  where PBX switch  14  is located within office  16  (i.e., as a CPE PBX), switch controller  42  is directly connected to PBX  14 . In the case where a network-based PBX is used, an additional switch (illustrated in phantom as switch  40  within PSTN  18 ) may be used to direct the information flow from switch controller  42  to a network-based PBX  14   p  (also illustrated in phantom within PSTN  18  of  FIG. 1 ). A data connection  50  is shown as coupling data/Internet network  20  to service controller  44 . 
   The following discussion will provide details associated with “call flow” to/from a remote worker prior to activating the “mobility” option of the present invention, since it is important to first understand the workings of the remote office platform and the implementation of the PBX-like features for a remote worker. As mentioned above, a remote worker must first “log in” to the virtual PBX system in order to avail himself of any of the call features discussed above. To log in, a remote worker dials in, via his endpoint terminal (such as computer terminal  38 ) over data network  20  to a security system  52  within service controller  44 . 
   Various security arrangements can be used to authenticate the remote worker and his capability to access the virtual PBX system. For example, a personal ID number and password may be used. Other arrangements are possible. Once the remote worker is authenticated, service controller  44  sends a message to switch controller  42 , indicating that the control of all telecommunications associated with the identified remote worker are to be passed by PBX  14  to remote platform  34 . Switch controller  42  then sends a message identifying the remote worker to PBX  14  and as a result, PBX  14  will now hand off all call control to remote platform  34  for calls received for the remote worker&#39;s identified station  12  within office  16  (whether the calls originate within the office or outside of the office) and PBX  14  will react based upon instructions from remote platform  34 . Obviously, the same mechanism will be utilized for a network-based PBX, where switch controller  42  instructs switch  40  to locate PBX switch  14   p  and function as described above to hand off all telecommunications traffic destined for the remote worker to remote office platform  34 . 
   An important feature of the “virtual PBX” arrangement which is particularly advantageous when incorporating the mobility aspect of the present is that the remote worker&#39;s actual location is not necessary for others to know in order reach him at his usual office phone number. That is, a caller places a call to the remote worker in the usual fashion, dialing the office phone number associated with the remote worker (for internal calls, abbreviated dialing in terms of a 4 or 5-digit number may be dialed; for external calls, the conventional full number is dialed). PBX  14 , upon recognition of the dialed number, will “hand off” the incoming call to remote platform  34  via (for example) a CTI link  56  to switch controller  42  (network PBX  14   p  utilizing a similar CTI link  56   p ). The call is then passed to service controller  44  which performs a look-up in database  46  to determine the “reach” number for the remote worker. As will be discussed in detail below, the “reach” number becomes, by default, the worker&#39;s mobile number once a “remote session” is completed. Once the reach number is obtained, service controller  44  sends an “incoming call” message to the remote worker&#39;s “soft phone” via data network  20 . If the remote worker is on another call, they have the option to place the first call on hold (such as by “clicking” the “hold” button  62  on soft phone display  60  of  FIG. 2 ) and take the second call. In reality, when the “hold” button is activated on display  60 , a “hold call” message is sent, via data network  20 , back to PBX  14  which will, in fact, place the first call on “hold” within PBX  14 . If there is no answer or a “busy signal” is encountered at the remote location, remote platform  34  will instruct PBX  14  to forward the call to, for example, a voice messaging system (not shown, but may be included within service controller  44 ). Upon being notified that a voice message has been recorded, service controller  44  will send an indication to endpoint terminal  38  that a new voice message has been received, resulting in “lighting” a voice mail indicator  64  on soft phone display  60 . Obviously, in situations where the endpoint terminal does not include a display device, an alternative type of indication (such as a different ring pattern) may be used as the indicator. 
   The remote worker is also capable of placing outbound calls from endpoint terminal  38 , where these calls will ultimately be processed by PBX  14 . Therefore, the remote worker may use a speed dialing list, or any other PBX-like feature associated with his office station set  12  and stored in database  46  of remote office platform  34 . The request to place the call may be initiated by activating, for example, “connect” button  66  on display  60 . The “call connect” message is then sent, via data network  20 , to remote platform  34 . Service controller  44 , in turn, tells switch controller  42  to instruct PBX  14  to place the call. PBX  14  ultimately connects the parties by launching a first call to the remote worker&#39;s station and a second call to the called party number, then bridges the calls together. In this “virtual PBX” arrangement, therefore, the remote worker&#39;s telephone will remain “on hook” for outbound calls until the remote platform calls back to bridge the calls together. 
   An exemplary “soft phone” display  60  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , and illustrates some of the various PBX station-type functionalities available for the remote worker. In accordance with the present invention, a mobile number (designated “MN” in  FIG. 1 ) associated with the user is entered into field  70  on soft phone display  60  and will thereafter be used to control the remote mobility process of the present invention. That is, once a remote user ends a session at a remote location such as location  22 , a remote mobility process  72  located (for example) on remote office platform  34  will be activated, passing the mobile number from service controller  44  to switch controller  42 . In one embodiment, mobility process  72  may be implemented as a Java script applet; however, various other tools may be used to generate the process controls necessary to provide the remote functionality. Referring back to  FIG. 2 , switch controller  42  will then inform PBX  14  to forward all calls to the mobile number (which may be, for example, the remote worker&#39;s cell phone number or reach number associated with any suitable PDA  74 ). Therefore, even though a remote worker ends a particular “virtual PBX” session at location  22 , the remote worker will remain accessible via the activation of mobility process  72 . The process will continue to run until the remote worker logs in again, returns to the office location, or otherwise terminates the mobile session. 
   In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, once a “mobile” remote session is active, a check is made to determine if PDA  74  can support a “mobile” soft phone GUI (such as display  60  of  FIG. 2 ). If it can support such a display, the soft phone GUI is pushed, via data network  20 , to PDA  74 . Voice communication between remote platform  34  and PDA  74  will be maintained, in most cases, by a connection between PSTN  18  and PDA  74 . However, the capability of utilizing IP telephony delivered via data network  20  cannot be ruled out. Alternatively, a “mobile” soft phone GUI may be implemented as software resident on the worker&#39;s remote device, where the software is activated upon initiation of the mobile session. Broadly speaking, in either embodiment, mobile process  72  of the present invention functions to “enable” the GUI at the mobile device (i.e., by “pushing” it across the data connection or activating the resident software). 
   Various other features may be included in soft phone display  60 , and utilized at either the remote worker&#39;s “home” office equipment  38  or PDA  74  (if possible). As shown a graphical handset  75  may be included and activated to go “off-hook” by a mouse click—either to answer an incoming “soft phone” call (to be forwarded to the office PBX for completion). Display  60  may also include a set of line indicators, in this example, a pair of line indicators  76  and  80  (showing that two separate “soft phone” lines are coming into endpoint terminal  38 ), where the indicators will illustrate the presence of an incoming call (by changing color, for example) or the “hold” state of one call while another is being answered (by “blinking”, for example). Other elements, discussed in detail in our co-pending application include, speed dialing, a message area (in which information such as caller ID may be displayed). Display  60  may also include “message waiting” lights and indicators to activate various types of call treatment (e.g., hold, forward, conference, mute, etc.). 
     FIG. 3  contains a flowchart  100  illustrating the process steps associated with invoking the remote worker mobility system of the present invention. At an initial step  110 , a remote worker decides to end a particular remote session, for example, when the worker is leaving location  22 . As the worker terminates, a check is made (step  120 ) to determine if the user has entered a mobility number MN (such as in field  70  in display  60  of  FIG. 2 ). This number may be stored, for example, in the subscriber&#39;s information within database  46  of remote office platform  34  and then forwarded to mobile process  72  when required. If no mobility information has been entered, the session will end in usual fashion (step  130 ), returning control to station set  12  associated with PBX  14 . Alternatively, if a mobility number is found, mobility process  72  will be activated (step  140 ) and a check will be made (block  150 ) to determine if mobile device  74  associated with the particular mobility number includes a display to which the soft phone GUI may be sent (or alternatively, this step may be used to send a command to mobile device  74  to “activate” its resident GUI software). If a GUI display is not available at the mobile device, the session will be maintained (block  160 ) in the best way possible using the existing voice and data communication capabilities (in terms of implementing call forwarding, transferring, etc.). If the display on mobile device  74  supports the soft phone GUI, it will be enabled at device  74  (block  155 ) prior to activating the session with mobility device  74  (block  160 ). One aspect of process  72  will be to monitor the activity of the remote user, in particular, looking for an occasion when the user either logs back into remote platform  34 , returns to a location (e.g., the actual office location) which allows for direct access to PBX  14 , or otherwise terminates the mobile session, where any of these actions results in “deactivating” the mobile session (step  170 ). Once a “deactivate mobile session” message is perceived by process  72 , the mobility number will be deactivated (step  180 ) and either a remote session or “office” session may resume (step  190 ). Again, once the remote worker terminates a subsequent session, the mobility number will be reactivated (unless and until changed or removed by the remote worker). 
   In an environment as described above where the mobile device cannot support a soft phone GUI, the remote worker&#39;s mobile access to remote office platform  34  is limited to a traditional telephone set (that is, the mobility number is a conventional cell phone with no data connection), the “virtual PBX station” attributes can be provided by using various DTMF tones to determine call control. 
   While the present invention has been described in connection with the illustrated embodiments, it will be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that the particular embodiments shown and described are by way of illustration and in no way intended to be considered limiting. Therefore, references to details of a particular embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which in themselves recite only those features regarded as essential to the invention.