Patent Publication Number: US-11394826-B1

Title: Handling incoming communication during communication set up

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This innovation relates to the Communication Waiting (CW) telecommunication feature during the setup of a communication, such as a voice or video call. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The Communication Waiting (CW) telecommunications feature, sometimes referred to as Call Waiting, may apply to voice calls, voice conferencing, video calls, audio video conferencing communication, or other voice or video communication traffic. The CW feature helps the user to avoid missing important communications and gives the user the opportunity to select the most important of several concurrent or near concurrent communications. The feature informs a telecommunications user that very limited resources are available for an incoming communication and that a selection needs to be made. Once informed of a new incoming communication, the user has a choice of accepting, rejecting or ignoring the waiting communication. The rejected communication may be ignored, sent a busy signal, be routed to voicemail or be put on hold waiting for the intended recipient to end the selected communication. In some cases, the user may toggle back and forth to the communication that was on hold by using a “hook flash” or “flash.” On many devices, a user may hear a special tone or hear a stutter tone during an already established communication when another communication is waiting. Some User Equipment (alternately referred to as UE, UE 1 , UE 2 , UE 3  or “communication device” throughout this disclosure) may have a special button labeled “Flash”, “Hook Flash”, “R” or “Recall” button to toggle between the active and the inactive communication. On some other communication devices, such as on smart phones, the user may see on the display who is trying to reach them while they are engaged in another communication and may have soft keys on the display to acknowledge, terminate or initiate a communication. The CW feature, may be activated for a particular user, or activated at the network level for all users. 
     Currently, however, the communication waiting feature is only active when the party is actively in a communication, such as when actively engaged in an already established voice call. In the several second duration that a communication session is being set up, including when the called device may be ringing and waiting to be answered, the Communication Waiting feature is not available to either the called or calling party. A third party attempting to reach the called or calling party is blocked and receives a busy notification, or the third party is automatically routed to voicemail regardless of the wishes of the called party. This legacy restriction of blocking subsequent calls after the call setup procedure has started was mandated by the trunk blocking used in legacy circuit-switched calls. This treatment has continued into internet protocol communications routing, which historically attempts to mimic the functionality of circuit-switched calling. Since the call setup phase, including the ringing and the ring back, may take a window of several seconds of time, it is very possible for a third party to attempt to reach either the called or the calling party in that communication setup window of time, with the called party typically being unaware of the incoming call until she checks her voicemail. The lack of CW feature availability during setup of communications is an unmet need and is the problem solved by this innovation. 
     SUMMARY 
     The disclosed Communication Waiting (CW) service informs a telecommunications user, even during the setup of a communication, that limited resources are available for an incoming communication and prompts the user for a preferred communication given the limited resources. This resource may be the audio or video channel of the network provider or may include the microphone or camera of the communication device. 
     In internet protocol (IP) based telephony, the protocols may, unlike legacy telephony, often permit near-concurrent notifications to the same user. This concurrent notification may be enabled, for example, by the Session Internet Protocol (SIP), as described by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The SIP protocols include variants RSVP, RTP, RTSP, SDP, SIMPLE or DUALVIDEO protocols. The concurrent notification may also be enabled by any of several older H.323 protocols together with a Gateway Server. 
     An Application Server (AS) may be a SIP proxy as specified in sub clause 5.7.4 of 3GPP TS 24.229, and may operate as a routing back-to-back user agent (B2BUA) as specified in sub clause 5.7.5 of 3GPP TS 24.229. Also, for the purposes of this disclosure, an AS may also refer to a Gateway Server as specified by H.323 standards. 
     The Application Server, such as a Telephony Application Server (TAS), may be used to enable telecommunications features such as CW and may be modified as described in this disclosure. The AS contains the service logic that provides the basic call-processing services, including digit analysis, routing, call setup, call waiting, call forwarding, and conferencing. The AS also provides the service logic for invoking the media servers to provide the appropriate call progress tones and announcements. The service logic comprises executable instructions that are stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the AS. 
     If the calls are originating or terminating on the Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the TAS or AS also provides the SIP signaling to the Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) to instruct the media gateways to convert the PSTN Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) voice bit stream to an IP Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) stream. The TAS then directs the stream to an IP address of the correct IP phone. In this innovation, the AS is configured to enhance the communication waiting feature to provide notification of an incoming communication from a third party during the setup and ring back phases of a previously initiated communication between two other parties. 
     Various embodiments are described herein that provide improvements over the known art to the CW service including CW from a third party initiating a new communication to either the called party or the calling party while the previous call is still being setup. This can be accomplished in an IP telecommunications environment by changes in the configuration or in the executable instructions stored in the AS. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The figures described below depict various aspects of the system and methods disclosed herein. It should be understood that each figure depicts an embodiment of a particular aspect of the disclosed system and methods, and that each of the figures is intended to accord with a possible embodiment thereof. Further, whenever possible, the following description refers to the reference numerals included in the following figures, in which features depicted in multiple figures are designated with consistent reference numerals. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an example communication system in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, including a plurality of user equipment (UE) devices. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary message ladder diagram in which a call from User Equipment  1  (UE 1 ) is being set up to User Equipment  2  (UE 2 ). An incoming communication from User Equipment  3  (UE 3 ) to UE 1  is then received by the Application Server (AS) and directed to UE 1 , and a notification displayed on UE 1  before the call setup is completed between UE 1  and UE 2 . 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an example ladder diagram in which a call from User Equipment  1  (UE 1 ) is being set up to User Equipment  2  (UE 2 ). An incoming call from User Equipment  3  (UE 3 ) to UE 2  is received by the Application Server (AS) and transmitted by the AS to UE 2  with a notification displayed on UE 2  before the call from UE 1  is answered by UE 2 . The user of UE 2  is then given the option to select the communication from UE 1  or UE 3 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a method flow chart in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a method flow chart in accordance with further embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a sample screen of a user equipment device that has received an incoming communication while still setting up an outgoing communication. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a sample screen of another user device that has received a second incoming communication before the first incoming communication is acknowledged by the user. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following text sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments. However, it should be understood that the detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, in light of the teaching and disclosure herein, that numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communication system  100 .  FIG. 1  includes various components configured as an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), as well as its connectivity to a legacy network  126 . An IMS is a subsystem for delivering IP multimedia services to IP-based devices using IP-based protocols including voice and video, which typically uses Session Internet Protocol (SIP) or the H.323 protocol.  FIG. 1  shows communication devices, such as User Equipment  1  (UE 1 )  101  and User Equipment  2  (UE 2 )  102 , as well as an Application Server (AS)  150 . In  FIG. 1 , UE 1   101  and UE 2   102  are wireless devices communicating through one or more radio access networks (not shown). Both wireless devices eventually communicate through the radio access networks to a Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF)  130 , which, in the IMS architecture, is attached to the Interrogating-Call Session Control Function (I-CSCF)  132  that selects and attaches to a Serving-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF)  134 , which connects the communication to an application server (AS)  150 . The P-CSCF  130  may use Megaco/H.248 protocol to connect to either the Media Resource Function Processor (MRFP)  104  or the Media Resource Function Controller (MRFC)  120  and the same protocol may be used between the MRFP  104  and the MRFC  120 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the P-CSCF  130  is connected to the Access Transfer Gateway (ATGVV) and MRFP  104 , functionalities of which are combined in one box in this diagram. As also shown in  FIG. 1 , the AS  150  can connect to multimedia elements via the S-CSCF  134 . The S-CSCF  134  connects to the ATGW/MRFP 104  via a MRFC  120 . The S-CSCF  134  may also connect to a Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF)  122 . 
     In one embodiment, the AS  150  may be a specialized Telephony Application Server (TAS), which performs customary calling features or may be any of a variety of other Application Servers such as a Multimedia Telecommunication Application Server (MTAS) or a Video Conferencing Application Server, which performs conferencing, video features, or call center services. The AS  150  enables features which may be enabled on a per subscriber or network wide basis as enabled at a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)  140  which is contacted by the AS  150  to authorize features on a per subscriber basis. The AS  150  may also access the legacy network  126  by use of Media Gateway Controller Function (MGCF)  122 , Signaling Gateway  124  and Media Gateway  106 . The Legacy Network  126  may include other mobile networks such as 2G GSM or CDMA mobile networks as well as landlines accessed by the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN). Landline Phones  110  and Legacy 2G Mobile Phones  108  are accessible through the Legacy Network  126  as shown on  FIG. 1 . The AS  150  may also make use of the ATGW/MRFP  104  for media manipulation, such as outgoing tones, and collecting authorization password tones for conference call setup. The ATGW/MRFP  104  can access the AS  150  by way of the S-CSCF  134  and the MRFC  120 , for outgoing announcements as shown in  FIG. 1 . The AS  150  contains applications which may duplicate those found in a circuit based network and may include novel applications that involve media manipulation which may be used with, for example, video calling. In this environment, instead of being configured to mimic the known circuit based communication waiting feature found in the legacy network, a CW application of the AS  150  is configured to enhance the CW feature as described herein. 
       FIG. 2  and other examples in this disclosure assume that CW functionality is enabled at the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for each piece of user equipment individually or for the network as a whole. Shown in  FIG. 2  is an example message ladder diagram in which a communication between communication devices UE 1   101  and UE 2   102  is in the process of being set up when an incoming invitation from another party, User Equipment  3  (UE 3 )  203 , is received by the AS  150 . The ladder diagrams of  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  begin with the UE devices registration messages as shown by the REGISTER messages of the SIP protocol. In message  251 , UE 1   101  registers with the AS  150 . Likewise, message  252  registers UE 2   102 , and message  253  registers UE 3   203  consistent with the SIP protocol. Next, UE 1   101  sends a SIP INVITE message  256  destined to UE 2   102 , which is received and forwarded by the AS  150  to UE 2   102  as the SIP INVITE message  258 . However, the user associated with UE 2   102  does not yet answer the communication. Next, as illustrated, the AS  150  receives a SIP INVITE message  260  from UE 3   203  associated with another party. 
     Unlike known art, which would return a busy signal or perform a busy-transfer to voicemail under such conditions, the AS  150  then routes the SIP INVITE from UE 3   203  to UE 1   101  in message  262 . Also unlike the known art, in block  240 , UE 1   101  displays a notice of the incoming communication from UE 3   203  to indicate to the user of UE 1   101  that there is an incoming communication, thus offering the user of UE  1   101  a choice to continue the communication with UE 2   102  or cancel the communication with UE 1   101  and accept the communication from UE 3   203 . In block  280 , the user associated with UE 2   102  chooses to accept the incoming communication from UE 3   203 . Any call setup/control plane protocol can be used to achieve this goal such as, for example SIP protocol or, alternatively, HTTP/REST protocols. Based upon a user selection or a default rule, UE 1   101  transmits the user&#39;s selection to the AS  150  in a message  290 , such as in the payload of a SIP MESSAGE command used in this embodiment. Upon receiving the selection of UE 3   203 , the AS  150  is configured to send a cancellation message  291  to UE 2   102 . 
     The AS  150  then enables the communication between UE 3   203  and UE 1   101  by establishing a communication session  292  between the devices. After the communication has ended, either UE 1  or UE 3  may terminate the conversation. As illustrated, UE 3  sends a SIP BYE message  293  to the AS  150 . In other embodiments, UE 1   101  may send such a SIP BYE message to the AS  150 , or another request to terminate the communication may be used. The termination request is forwarded by the AS  150  to UE 1  in message  296 , and the AS  150  acknowledges the termination request from UE  3   203  with a 200 OK message  294  to UE  3   203 . In message  298 , the UE 1   101  acknowledges the BYE message to the AS  150 . 
     When the conversation between UE 1   101  and UE 3   203  is terminated, the AS  150  may be configured to automatically reconnect the communication between UE 1   101  and UE 2   102 . The AS  150  may also be configured to reconnect the communication after prompting the user of UE 1   101  if she wants to reinitiate the previously suspended call to UE 2   102  after the call between UE 1   101  and UE 3   203  is completed. This prompt may, for example, take the form of a SMS, MMS, or recorded announcement to the user of UE 1   101  to ask if the previously suspended call should be reinitiated. If the user of UE 1   101  indicates she wants to reinitiate the communication with UE 2   102 , then AS  150  sends SIP messaging, to reinitiate the previously terminated call with UE 1   101 . 
       FIG. 3  shows a message ladder diagram in which communication is being set up from UE 1   101  to UE 2   102 , during which an incoming communication from UE 3   203  destined to be routed to UE 2   102  also arrives at the AS  150 . In  FIG. 3 , the devices are all registered by messages  251 ,  252  and  253 . Next, UE 1   101  then sends a SIP INVITE message  256  destined to UE 2   102  that is routed through AS  150 . The AS  150  forwards this as message  258  to UE 2   102 . At this point, the communication initiated by message  258  has not yet been acknowledged, and the communication session between UE 1   101  and UE 2   102  has not yet been established. Prior to acknowledgement, UE 3   203  then sends a SIP INVITE message  301  to the AS  150  in an attempt to connection to UE 2   102 . The AS  150  forwards this SIP INVITE to UE 2   102  in message  302 , in contrast to previous systems. In block  304 , we see that the user associated with UE 2  is presented with a choice of two incoming communications awaiting input from the user (which may be similar to the example illustrated in  FIG. 6  for UE 1   101 , discussed below). In another embodiment of this disclosure, not illustrated, the AS  150  may delay the SIP INVITE  302  message for a predetermined period of time, playing a recorded announcement to the second caller until the user of UE 2   102  has made a selection to accept or reject the first received communication. Returning to the illustrated embodiment, in block  306 , the user associated with UE 2   102  selects one of the two incoming communications. In this embodiment, the user selects the communication with UE 3   203 . Based upon such selection, a SIP MESSAGE  307  is sent from UE 2   102  to AS  150  containing the user&#39;s selection. The AS  150  then establishes the communication between UE 2  and UE 3   203 . 
     The AS  150  may send one or more messages (not shown) to end communication from the AS  150  to end the call from UE 1  which was not selected by the user of UE 2 , or AS  150  may optionally send another message such as SIP INVITE (Announcement)  310 , to the MRFC  120 , as illustrated, which causes an announcement  311  to be played to UE 1   101 , This announcement may indicate, for example, that the user of UE 1  should “please stand-by” or “please wait to be connected.” The AS  150  then may send a message such as a SIP INVITE (HOLD)  312  to UE 1   101  which causes UE 1   101  to be placed on hold. The hold is shown in block  318 . In some embodiments, not illustrated, the AS  150  may route the attempted communication from UE 1   101  to voicemail to leave a message for the user of UE 2   102 . Meanwhile, communication between UE 2   102  and UE 3   203  continues until terminated by either party. As shown, the user of UE 2   102  may terminate the communication session by sending a SIP BYE message  320  to the AS  150 , causing the AS  150  to send a corresponding BYE message  322  to UE  3   203  and receive a 200 OK message  324  from UE 3   203  to terminate the call as per the SIP protocol. In the illustrated embodiment, the AS  150  automatically reinitiates the communication between UE 2   102  and UE 1   101  after the communication between UE 2   102  and UE 3   203  has terminated. This example shows the AS  150  automatically sending a SIP INVITE message  328  to UE 1   101 . This reconnection between UE 1   101  and UE 2   102  may happen automatically, such as when UE 1   101  has been on hold as shown in the  FIG. 3 , or may occur after prompting the user of UE 2   102  by any of several means if she wishes to reconnect with UE 1  (such as, for example, a recorded announcement, SMS, or MMS asking for confirmation from the user of UE 2 ). When a communication connection  340  is established between UE 1   101  and UE 2   102 , the users of such devices may communicate until the communication connection is terminated, such as by a SIP BYE message  340  from UE 2  to the AS  150 . Upon receiving such terminating message, the AS  150  sends a corresponding SIP BYE message  342  to UE 1   101 , which responds to the AS  150  with a 200 OK message  346 . The AS  150  then sends a corresponding response to UE 2   102  as a 200 OK message  348 , as which point the communication session is terminated. 
     In another embodiment, the AS  150  may terminate the connection with the nonselected attempted communication (i.e., the attempted connection between UE 2   102  and UE 1   101 ). In such embodiments, the AS  150  sends an immediate message, such as a SIP BYE message, to the UE associated with the nonselected communication to terminate that communication. In yet another embodiment, the nonselected communication attempt (which may be either the first or the second communication attempt) is routed by the AS  150  to a voicemail box associated with the user of UE 2   102 . This is notably different from the prior art, which always blocks or routes the second communication attempt, but not the first, to the voicemail box during the call setup phase. 
     In yet another embodiment, when the nonselected communication is on hold, the user of UE 2   102  may toggle between the selected and the nonselected communications (i.e., between UE 1   101  and UE 3   203 ), placing the initially selected communication on hold while communication is initiated or continues with the previously nonselected entity. This toggle between communications may, for example, involve the “Flash”, “Hook Flash” or an “R” or “Recall” button on the user equipment. Additional or alternative methods of handling the nonselected communication attempt may be used in various embodiments. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a method  400  in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method  400  may be implemented by the AS  150  to manage communication connections upon the occurrence of appropriate conditions (i.e., receiving a second conflicting attempt to establish communication involving a UE while a first communication connection involving the same UE is being set up). This flow chart assumes that the CW feature has been enabled for all devices at the HSS  140 . In block  420 , the UEs (UE 1   101 , UE 2   102 , and UE 3   203 ) are then registered at the AS  150 , as would be consistent with the SIP protocol. 
     In block  430 , the AS  150  receives from UE 2   102  a SIP INVITE message containing parameters to connect UE 2   102  to UE 1   101 . In block  432  of this figure, the AS  150  sends to UE 1   101  the invitation from UE 2   102 . In block  440  of this figure, prior to establishing the first connection between UE 2   102  and UE 1   101 , the AS  150  then receives another SIP INVITE message, this time from UE 3   203  asking to initiate another connection, also to UE 1   101 . In block  450 , the AS  150  forwards this second SIP INVITE to UE 1  before the user associated with UE 1   101  acknowledges the invitation from UE 2   102 . UE 1   101  should then have a call being set up to UE 2   102  as well as an incoming notification that UE 3   203  wishes to communicate. 
     The choice of accepting the communication from UE 3   203  or connecting with UE 2   102  is presented at the UE 1   101  user interface. The user of UE 1   101  is prompted to make a selection between connecting with either UE  2   102  or UE  3   203  or with neither (e.g., ignoring both calls). In block  460 , the AS  150  receives the notification that the user associated with UE 1   101  has decided to communicate with UE 3   203 . This notification, for example could be transmitted in the payload of a SIP MESSAGE command. In block  470 , we see the AS  150  suspending the unselected communication, which may involve placing the communication on hold, or terminating the call with UE 2   102  via a SIP BYE message. Alternately, the AS  150  could be configured to return a busy signal to UE 2   102 , or route UE 2   102  to the voicemail box of UE 1   101 , which may optionally include an outgoing announcement. In block  480 , UE 1  and UE 3  are connected as previously selected by UE 1   101 . In block  482 , the connection is terminated at the request of either UE 1   101  or UE 2   101 . In the SIP protocol, this is accomplished by a BYE message received by the AS  150  as shown in block  484  that is responded to by a “200 OK” message. 
     Once the communication between UE 1  and UE 3   203  has been completed, in one embodiment, as shown in block  484 , we see that the AS  150  may automatically restart the communication between UE 2   102  and UE 1   101  by sending a SIP INVITE message immediately after UE 1   101  has completed its preferred call. Upon receiving a response, the AS  150  may connect UE 2   102  and UE 1   101  as shown at block  486 . In yet another embodiment, the AS  150  may be configured to prompt the user associated with UE 1   101  to select an option to connect to UE 2   102  if they want to complete a communication to UE 2   102 , which UE 1   101  had previously terminated, suspended or placed on hold. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of a method  500  in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. The method  500  may be implemented by the AS  150  to manage communication connections upon the occurrence of appropriate conditions (i.e., receiving a second conflicting attempt to establish communication involving a UE while a first communication connection involving the same UE is being set up). In  FIG. 5 , a communication is being set up between UE 2   101  and UE 1   101  when another communication is received by the AS  150  from UE 3  destined for UE 2 . 
     In block  420  of  FIG. 5 , the communication devices UE 1   101 , UE 2   102 , and UE 3   203  are all registered with the AS  150 . Next, in block  530 , the AS  150  receives a SIP INVITE from UE 2   102  destined for UE 1   101 . In block  540 , shortly thereafter, the AS  150  forwards the SIP INVITE to UE 1   101 . In block  550 , prior to receiving a response from UE 1   101 , the AS  150  receives another invitation from UE 3   203  destined for UE 2   102 . At block  560 , the AS  150  forwards this SIP INVITE from UE 3   203  to UE 2   102 . At this point UE 2   102  has not received acknowledgement from UE 1   101 . The user of UE 2   102  is then prompted with a choice to continue communication with UE 1   101  or select the incoming communication from UE 3   203 . At block  570 , the AS  150  receives a selection message from UE 2   102 , which (in this example) contains a selection of the preferred communication from UE 3   203 . For example, this selection may be carried in the body of a SIP MESSAGE command or another appropriate message. In block  580 , the AS  150  then cancels the communication being setup between UE 2   102  and UE 1 . Then, in block  590 , the AS  150  continues to establish the connection between UE 3   203  and UE 2   102 . 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a sample screen of UE 1   101  as it might interact with method  400 . In this embodiment of the innovation, UE 1   101  is illustrated after it has received a second incoming communication before the first incoming communication has been acknowledged. In this figure, UE 1   101  has a screen  602 , which displays an indication of a first incoming communication  610  that has not yet been acknowledged, as well as an indication of a second incoming communication  620  that has also not yet been acknowledged. Either communication is available to be answered by the user of UE 1 . The user interface on the screen  602  also includes an accept button  612  for the first communication and an accept button  614  for the second communication. Alternately, the user may be presented with a choice to decline a communication, which may cause the system to default to accepting the remaining communication. 
     If the user chooses to accept the first communication by selecting button  612 , the AS  150  may be configured, by implementing instructions on its non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, to cause the second caller to receive a busy signal or the second caller to be routed to voicemail or placed on hold, and the communication continues with the first caller. If the user chooses to accept the second communication via the accept button  614  or other means, the AS  150  may similarly cause the first caller to receive a busy signal, be placed on hold, or routed to voicemail, and the second communication is then connected. Alternately, the executable instructions stored on the AS  150  may be configured to cause the processor of the AS  150  to put the first caller on hold when the second caller is accepted by selection of the accept button  614  or similar acknowledgement by the user. The AS  150  may also be configured to give a recorded announcement (“please stand by”) or a Short Message Service (SMS) or Multi-Media Message (MMS) message to the first caller while on hold to indicate their communication will be restarted shortly. The AS  150  may be further configured to support toggling by the user of UE 1   101  between a communication placed on hold and the previously connected party. In another embodiment, the AS  150  is configured to automatically connect UE 1   101  with any parties that were suspended or on hold when a previous communication is terminated. For example, the AS  150  may be configured to maintain a record of the party on hold and send a SIP INVITE to the party on hold when the previous communication is toggled or terminated. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a sample screen of a user device that has received an incoming communication while still setting up an outgoing communication as per method  500 . Illustrated is UE 2   102 , which contains a screen  702 . The screen shows an indicator of an outgoing communication  710  to a carpet company that is in ring back status  712  as may be indicated on the display or with an audio ring back. While the outgoing communication is being setup, and before it is answered, UE 2   102  receives a notification of an incoming communication  720  from another device, which may be more important to the user of UE 2   102  than the outgoing communication  710 . In this example, the user of UE 2  is given an option of selections to accept  722  or reject  724  the incoming communication that is available to be answered or acknowledged. In this example, the incoming call from “Jenny” may be more important than the not yet answered outgoing call to a carpet company. An acceptance of the incoming communication would result in a cancelation or postponement of the outgoing communication. A rejection of the incoming communication or selection to continue the outgoing communication would result in the incoming call receiving a busy signal, being placed on hold, a recorded announcement or being routed to voicemail with the call routing configured in the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of AS  150 . The AS  150  may be further configured to prompt the user of UE 2   102  to continue or restart the outgoing communication after the termination of the previously selected incoming communication. 
     For ease of explanation, the disclosure may generally refer to specific components as performing the various calculations and other functions implemented by the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood that any suitable function described herein is not limited to the particular component for which its functionality is described. 
     Although the foregoing text sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment because describing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. In light of the foregoing text, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent application. 
     Throughout this specification, plural instances may implement components, operations, or structures described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently in some instances. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter herein. 
     Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, or instructions. These may constitute either software (code embodied on a non-transitory, tangible machine-readable medium) or hardware. In hardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as a module that operates to perform certain operations as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, a module may be implemented mechanically or electronically. For example, a module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to perform certain operations. A module may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a module mechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations. 
     Accordingly, the term “module” should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time. 
     Modules can provide information to, and receive information from, other modules. Accordingly, the described modules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple such modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect the modules. In embodiments in which multiple modules are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such modules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple modules have access. For example, one module may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further module may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Modules may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and may operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information). 
     The various operations of example methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modules referred to herein may, in some example embodiments, comprise processor-implemented modules. 
     Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors or processor-implemented modules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may be located in a single geographic location (e.g., at a location of a mobile computing device or at a server farm). In other example embodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may be distributed across a number of geographic locations.