Patent Publication Number: US-2012039454-A1

Title: Call management

Description:
FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY 
     The technology disclosed herein (the “technology”) relates call management. More specifically, the technology relates to call management when a called party is unavailable. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings which show example implementations of the present application. 
         FIG. 1  shows, in block diagram form, an example system for managing enterprise-related mobile calls, including an enterprise communications platform. 
         FIG. 2  shows, in block diagram form, further details of an implementation of the enterprise communication platform. 
         FIG. 3  shows another implementation of the enterprise communications platform. 
         FIG. 4  shows yet another implementation of the enterprise communications platform. 
         FIG. 5  shows further details of the enterprise communications platform of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  illustrate methods of the technology in the context of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  illustrates system communication paths for some implementations of the technology. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the technology. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the technology only, not as a limitation of the technology. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present technology without departing from the scope or spirit of the technology. For instance, features described as part of one implementation can be used on another implementation to yield a still further implementation. Thus, it is intended that the present technology cover such modifications and variations that come within the scope of the technology. 
     The present application relates to the control and management of communications. Although reference may be made to “calls” in the description of example implementations below, it will be appreciated that the described systems and methods are applicable to session-based communications in general and not limited to voice calls. It will also be appreciated that the systems and methods may not be limited to sessions and may be applicable to messaging-based communications in some implementations. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 1 , which shows, in block diagram form, an example system, generally designated  10 , for the control and management of communications. The system  10  includes an enterprise or business system  20 , which in many implementations includes a local area network (LAN). In the description below, the enterprise or business system  20  may be referred to as an enterprise network  20 . It will be appreciated that the enterprise network  20  may include more than one network and may be located in multiple geographic areas in some implementations. 
     The enterprise network  20  may be connected, often through a firewall  22 , to a wide area network (WAN)  30 , such as the Internet. The enterprise network  20  may also be connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN)  40  via direct inward dialing (DID) trunks or primary rate interface (PRI) trunks. 
     The enterprise network  20  may also communicate with a public land mobile network (PLMN)  50 , which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) or, in some cases, a cellular network. The connection with the PLMN  50  may be made via a relay  26 , as known in the art. 
     The enterprise network  20  may also provide a wireless local area network (WLAN)  32   a  featuring wireless access points. Other WLANs  32  may exist outside the enterprise network  20 . For example, WLAN  32   b  may be connected to WAN  30 . 
     The system  10  may include a number of enterprise-associated mobile devices  11  (only one shown). The mobile devices  11  may include devices equipped for cellular communication through the PLMN  50 , mobile devices equipped for Wi-Fi communications over one of the WLANs  32 , or dual-mode devices capable of both cellular and WLAN communications. WLANs  32  may be configured in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 specifications. 
     It will be understood that the mobile devices  11  include one or more radio transceivers and associated processing hardware and software to enable wireless communications with the PLMN  50  and/or one of the WLANs  32 . In various implementations, the PLMN  50  and mobile devices  11  may be configured to operate in compliance with any one or more of a number of wireless protocols, including GSM, GPRS, CDMA, EDGE, UMTS, EvDO, HSPA, 3GPP, or a variety of others. It will be appreciated that the mobile device  11  may roam within the PLMN  50  and across PLMNs, in known manner, as the user moves. In some instances, the dual-mode mobile devices  11  and/or the enterprise network  20  are configured to facilitate roaming between the PLMN  50  and a WLAN  32 , and are thus capable of seamlessly transferring sessions (such as voice calls) from a connection with the cellular interface of the dual-mode device  11  to the WLAN  32  interface of the dual-mode device  11 , and vice versa. 
     The enterprise network  20  typically includes a number of networked servers, computers, and other devices. For example, the enterprise network  20  may connect one or more desktop or laptop computers  15  (one shown). The connection may be wired or wireless in some implementations. The enterprise network  20  may also connect to one or more digital telephone sets  17  (one shown). 
     The enterprise network  20  may include one or more mail servers, such as mail server  24 , for coordinating the transmission, storage, and receipt of electronic messages for client devices operating within the enterprise network  20 . Typical mail servers include the Microsoft Exchange Server™ and the IBM Lotus Domino™ server. Each user within the enterprise typically has at least one user account within the enterprise network  20 . Associated with each user account is message address information, such as an e-mail address. Messages addressed to a user message address are stored on the enterprise network  20  in the mail server  24 . The messages may be retrieved by the user using a messaging application, such as an e-mail client application. The messaging application may be operating on a user&#39;s computer  15  connected to the enterprise network  20  within the enterprise. In some implementations, the user may be permitted to access stored messages using a remote computer, for example at another location via the WAN  30  using a VPN connection. Using the messaging application, the user may also compose and send messages addressed to others, within or outside the enterprise network  20 . The messaging application causes the mail server  24  to send a composed message to the addressee, often via the WAN  30 . 
     The relay  26  serves to route messages received over the PLMN  50  from the mobile device  11  to the corresponding enterprise network  20 . The relay  26  also pushes messages from the enterprise network  20  to the mobile device  11  via the PLMN  50 . 
     The enterprise network  20  also includes an enterprise server  12 . Together with the relay  26 , the enterprise server  12  functions to redirect or relay incoming e-mail messages addressed to a user&#39;s e-mail address within the enterprise network  20  to the user&#39;s mobile device  11  and to relay incoming e-mail messages composed and sent via the mobile device  11  out to the intended recipients within the WAN  30  or elsewhere. The enterprise server  12  and relay  26  together facilitate “push” e-mail service for the mobile device  11  enabling the user to send and receive e-mail messages using the mobile device  11  as though the user were connected to an e-mail client within the enterprise network  20  using the user&#39;s enterprise-related e-mail address, for example on computer  15 . 
     As is typical in many enterprises, the enterprise network  20  includes a Private Branch eXchange (although in various implementations the PBX may be a standard PBX or an IP-PBX, for simplicity the description below uses the term PBX to refer to both)  16  having a connection with the PSTN  40  for routing incoming and outgoing voice calls for the enterprise. The PBX  16  is connected to the PSTN  40  via DID trunks or PRI trunks, for example. The PBX  16  may use ISDN signaling protocols for setting up and tearing down circuit-switched connections through the PSTN  40  and related signaling and communications. In some implementations, the PBX  16  may be connected to one or more conventional analog telephones  19 . The PBX  16  is also connected to the enterprise network  20  and, through it, to telephone terminal devices, such as digital telephone sets  17 , softphones operating on computers  15 , etc. Within the enterprise, each individual may have an associated extension number, sometimes referred to as a PNP (private numbering plan), or direct dial phone number. Calls outgoing from the PBX  16  to the PSTN  40  or incoming from the PSTN  40  to the PBX  16  are typically circuit-switched calls. Within the enterprise, e.g. between the PBX  16  and terminal devices, voice calls are often packet-switched calls, for example Voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls. 
     The enterprise network  20  may further include a Service Management Platform (SMP)  18  for performing some aspects of messaging or session control, like call control and advanced call processing features. The SMP  18  may, in some cases, also perform some media handling. Collectively the SMP  18  and PBX  16  may be referred to as the enterprise communications platform, generally designated  14 . It will be appreciated that the enterprise communications platform  14  and, in particular, the SMP  18 , is implemented on one or more servers having suitable communications interfaces for connecting to and communicating with the PBX  16  and/or DID/PRI trunks. Although the SMP  18  may be implemented on a stand-alone server, it will be appreciated that it may be implemented into an existing control agent/server as a logical software component. As will be described below, the SMP  18  may be implemented as a multi-layer platform. 
     The enterprise communications platform  14  implements the switching to connect session legs and may provide the conversion between, for example, a circuit-switched call and a VoIP call, or to connect legs of other media sessions. In some implementations, in the context of voice calls the enterprise communications platform  14  provides a number of additional functions including automated attendant, interactive voice response, call forwarding, voice mail, etc. It may also implement certain usage restrictions on enterprise users, such as blocking international calls or 1-900 calls. In many implementations, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) may be used to set-up, manage, and terminate media sessions for voice calls. Other protocols may also be employed by the enterprise communications platform  14 , for example, Web Services, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) protocol, Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), and various custom Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), as will be described in greater detail below. 
     One of the functions of the enterprise communications platform  14  is to extend the features of enterprise telephony to the mobile devices  11 . For example, the enterprise communications platform  14  may allow the mobile device  11  to perform functions akin to those normally available on a standard office telephone, such as the digital telephone set  17  or analog telephone set  15 . Example features may include direct extension dialing, enterprise voice mail, conferencing, call transfer, call park, etc. 
     Reference is now made to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , which show example implementations of the enterprise communications system  14 . Again, although references are made below to “calls” or call-centric features it will be appreciated that the architectures and systems depicted and described are applicable to session-based communications in general and, in some instances, to messaging-based communications. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an implementation intended for use in a circuit-switched TDM context. The PBX  16  is coupled to the SMP  18  via PRI connection  60  or other suitable digital trunk. In some implementations, the PRI connection  60  may include a first PRI connection, a second PRI connection, and a channel service unit (CSU), wherein the CSU is a mechanism for connecting computing devices to digital mediums in a manner that allows for the retiming and regeneration of incoming signals. It will be appreciated that there may be additional or alternative connections between the PBX  16  and the SMP  18 . 
     In this implementation, the SMP  18  assumes control over both call processing and the media itself. This architecture may be referred to as “First Party Call Control”. Many of the media handling functions normally implemented by the PBX  16  are handled by the SMP  18  in this architecture. Incoming calls addressed to any extension or direct dial number within the enterprise, for example, are always first routed to the SMP  18 . Thereafter, a call leg is established from the SMP  18  to the called party within the enterprise, and the two legs are bridged. Accordingly, the SMP  18  includes a digital trunk interface  62  and a digital signal processing (DSP) conferencing bridge  64 . The DSP conferencing bridge  64  performs the bridging of calls for implementation of various call features, such as conferencing, call transfer, etc. The digital trunk interface  62  may be implemented as a plurality of telephonic cards, e.g. Intel Dialogic cards, interconnected by a bus and operating under the control of a processor. The digital trunk interface  62  may also be partly implemented using a processor module such as, for example, a Host Media Processing (HMP) processor. 
     The SMP  18  may include various scripts  66  for managing call processing. The scripts  66  are implemented as software modules, routines, functions, etc., stored in non-volatile memory and executed by the processor of the SMP  18 . The scripts  66  may implement call flow logic, business logic, user preferences, call service processes, and various feature applications. 
       FIG. 3  shows another implementation in which the PBX  16  performs the functions of terminating and/or bridging media streams, but call control functions are largely handled by the SMP  18 . In this implementation, the SMP  18  may be referred to as a call control server  18 . This architecture may be referred to as “Third-Party Call Control”. 
     The call control server  18  is coupled to the PBX  16 , for example through the LAN, enabling packet-based communications and, more specifically, IP-based communications. In one implementation, communications between the PBX  16  and the call control server  18  are carried out in accordance with SIP. In other words, the call control server  18  uses SIP-based communications to manage the set up, tear down, and control of media handled by the PBX  16 . In one example implementation, the call control server  18  may employ a communications protocol conforming to the ECMA-269 or ECMA-323 standards for Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications (CSTA). 
       FIG. 4  shows yet another implementation of the enterprise communications system  14 . This implementation reflects the adaptation of an existing set of call processing scripts to an architecture that relies on third-party call control, with separate call control and media handling. The SMP  18  includes a call processing server  74 . The call processing server  74  includes the scripts or other programming constructs for performing call handling functions. The SMP  18  also includes a SIP server  72  and a media server  76 . The separate SIP server  72  and media server  76  logically separate the call control from media handling. The SIP server  72  interacts with the call processing server  74  using a computer-implemented communications handling protocol, such as one of the ECMA-269 or ECMA-323 standards. These standards prescribe XML based messaging for implementing Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications (CSTA). 
     The SIP server  72  interacts with the media server  76  using SIP-based media handling commands. For example, the SIP server  72  and media server  76  may communicate using Media Server Markup Language (MSML) as defined in IETF document Saleem A., “Media Server Markup Language”, Internet Draft, draft-saleem-msm1-07, Aug. 7, 2008. The media server  76  may be configured to perform Host Media Processing (HMP). Other architectures or configurations for the enterprise communications system  14  will be appreciated by those ordinarily skilled in the art. 
     Reference is now made to  FIG. 5 , which shows another implementation of the enterprise communications system  14  with a Third Party Call Control architecture. In this implementation, the SMP  18  is a multi-layer platform that includes a protocol layer  34 , a services layer  36  and an application layer  38 . The protocol layer  34  includes a plurality of interface protocols configured for enabling operation of corresponding applications in the application layer  38 . The services layer  36  includes a plurality of services that can be leveraged by the interface protocols to create richer applications. Finally, the application layer  38  includes a plurality of applications that are exposed out to the communication devices and that leverage corresponding ones of the services and interface protocols for enabling the applications. 
     Specifically, the protocol layer  34  preferably includes protocols which allow media to be controlled separate from data. For example, the protocol layer  34  can include, among other things, a Session Initiation Protocol or SIP  80 , a Web Services protocol  82 , an Application Programming Interface or API  84 , a Computer Telephony Integration protocol or CTI  86 , and a Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions or SIMPLE protocol  88 . It is contemplated that the interface protocols  80 - 88  are plug-ins that can interface directly with corresponding servers in the enterprise network  20 , which will be further described below. 
     For the purposes of this disclosure, SIP  80  will be utilized, although it is appreciated that the system  10  can operate using the above disclosed or additional protocols. As known by those of ordinary skill in the art, SIP is the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard for multimedia session management, and more specifically is an application-layer control protocol for establishing, maintaining, modifying and terminating multimedia sessions between two or more endpoints. As further known by those of ordinary skill in the art, the SIP protocol  80  includes two interfaces for signaling: SIP-Trunk (hereinafter referred to as “SIP-T”) and SIP-Line (hereinafter referred to as “SIP-L”). Specifically, the SIP-T interface is utilized when the endpoint is a non-specific entity or not registered (i.e., when communicating between two network entities). In contrast, the SIP-L interface is utilized when the endpoint is registered (i.e., when dialing to a specific extension). The specific operation of the system  10  utilizing SIP  80  will be described in further detail below. 
     The SMP  18  also includes a plurality of enablers, among other things, a VoIP enabler  90 , a Fixed Mobile Convergence or FMC enabler  92 , a conference services enabler  94 , a presence enabler  96  and an Instant Messaging or IM enabler  98 . Each of the enablers  90 - 98  are used by corresponding services in the services layer  36  that combine one or more of the enablers. Each of the applications in the application layer  38  is then combined with one or more of the services to perform the desired application. For example, a phone call service may use the VoIP or PBX enabler, and an emergency response application may use the phone call service, an Instant Messenger service, a video call service, and email service and/or a conference service. 
     The application layer  38  may include a conference services application  63  that, together with the conference services enabler  94 , enables multiple communication devices (including desk telephones and personal computers) to participate in a conference call through use of a centralized conference server  55 . As seen in  FIG. 5 , the conference server  55  is provided in the enterprise network  20  and is in communication with the conference services enabler  94  preferably through the SIP protocol  80 , although it is recognized that additional protocols that control media separate from data may be appropriate, such as the Web Services protocol  82  or the CTI protocol  86 . The conference call server  55  is configured for directing media and data streams to and from one or more communication devices (i.e., mobile devices  11 , telephones  17 , and computers  15 ). 
     Implementations of the technology employ one or more of availability information of a called party and availability information of a calling party when managing communications between a device, e.g., a mobile device  11 , of the calling party and a telephone, e.g., device  17 , of the called party. Availability information can include presence information, and future information (e.g., calendar and schedule information). 
     Typically, when a calling party dials a telephone number from a device  11 , the call is placed without regard to the availability of the called party. If the called telephone  17  is in use, a busy signal is returned to the calling device  11 . If the called telephone  17  goes unanswered for a number of rings, then it is typical for an answering machine to be connected so that an announcement may be presented to the calling party and the calling party may leave a message. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6   a , exemplary methods  600  of the technology are illustrated in the context of a system  10  of  FIG. 1 . In such methods, a third-party call control service management platform (SMP)  18  can receive a request  602  for an incoming call to a called number within the control of the SMP  18 . The SMP  18  can obtain presence information of a party associated with the called number  604  (the “called party”). For example, the SMP  18  can obtain presence information from a mail server  24  that maintains a calendar of the called party, or the SMP  18  can obtain presence information from a presence server (not shown) of the system  10 . The SMP  18  can present the presence information to the calling party  606 , e.g., via the calling device  11 . For example, upon dialing a called number presently in use, the technology can prompt the calling device  11 , with an “unavailable” status message of the called party obtained from a presence server shared by the calling device and the called device, such as “&lt;called party&gt; is in a meeting right now.” 
     The SMP  18  can also present one or more first action options  608  via the calling device, e.g., “continue with the call,” “check for a next available time of the called party,” and “cancel the call.” Any of the action options can be designated as a default action in the absence of receiving input from a user via the calling device  11 . The SMP  18  can receive an action choice  610  from among those action options presented via the calling device  11 . If at least one valid action choice is not received after a period of time, then the SMP  18  can timeout with regard to action choices and take a preselected default action  612 , e.g., cancel the call (though such preselected default actions are not limit to the action options presented to the calling device). If the SMP  18  receives “continue with the call” as an action choice  610   a,  then the SMP  18  can continue with the call  614  according to its protocols for calls. If the SMP  18  receives “cancel the call” as an action choice  610   b,  then the SMP can cancel the call  616 . 
     Referring also to  FIG. 6   b , if the SMP  18  receives the action choice “check for a next available time of the called party”  610   c,  then the SMP  18  can obtain future availability information  618 , can present the obtained information  624 , and can present one or more second action options  626  via the calling device (e.g., “automatically place call to called party at the next available time,” “invite the called party to an appointment at the next available time”). The “next available time” can be the next available time of the called party, the next mutually available time of the called party and the calling party, or in the case of multiparty sessions the next mutually available time of each party; and it can be a plurality of “next available times,” each of which can be presented to the calling party via the device  11 . Other variations on the method illustrated are contemplated, e.g. the second action options are presented without the first action options, presenting presence information  606  and presenting first action choices  608  can be combined, multiple actions can be chosen (e.g., resulting in requesting an appointment and scheduling an automatic call, at what can be different times). 
     The SMP receives choices from among section action options  628 . If at least one valid action choice is not received after a period of time, then the SMP  18  can timeout with regard to action choices and take a preselected default action  630 , e.g., cancel the call (though such preselected default actions are not limit to the action options presented to the calling device). If the SMP  18  receives “automatically place call to called party at the next available time”  628   a,  a call is scheduled and scheduled call information is presented to the calling party  632 . In some implementations, the technology presents an approval option to the calling party with regard to one or more presented “next available time(s).” If the SMP  18  receives “invite the called party to an appointment at the next available time”  628   b,  an invitation is sent to the called party. 
     While  FIG. 6  and its corresponding description herein disclose an SMP  18  capable of performing much of the exemplary method, other elements of the system  10 , or other systems, in communication with elements having access to the described data can be used. For example, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the calling device  11 A and the called device  11 B can serve as proxies for access to the data elements in enterprise network  20 A of the calling device  11 A and data elements in the system of the enterprise network  20 B of the called device  11 B. Such an approach can be used to transfer a portion of the processing demand to the devices and allow the devices to serve as an abstraction mechanism, facilitating, e.g., standardization of messages between devices with less regard for the system specific syntax requirements of the respective systems of the devices. 
     The present technology can take the forms of hardware, software or both hardware and software elements. In some implementations, the technology is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc. In particular, for real-time or near real-time use, an FPGA or ASIC implementation is desirable. 
     Furthermore, the present technology can take the form of a computer program product comprising program modules accessible from computer-usable or computer-readable medium storing program code for use by or in connection with one or more computers, processors, or instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium (though propagation mediums in and of themselves as signal carriers are not included in the definition of physical computer-readable medium). Examples of a physical computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. Both processors and program code for implementing each as aspect of the technology can be centralized or distributed (or a combination thereof) as known to those skilled in the art. 
     A data processing system suitable for storing a computer program product of the present technology and for executing the program code of the computer program product will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters can also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. Such systems can be centralized or distributed, e.g., in peer-to-peer and client/server configurations. In some implementations, the data processing system is implemented using one or both of FPGAs and ASICs.