Patent ID: 8761363

Claim:
A method for routing a communication to a preferred device, comprising: receiving information pertaining to a communication from a calling party to a device associated with a user being contacted by the calling party; retrieving data corresponding to the user being contacted by the calling party using the information pertaining to the communication; retrieving data corresponding to the calling party; determining a preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party based on the retrieved data corresponding to the user; determining a preferred device of the calling party from a plurality of devices associated with the calling party based on the retrieved data corresponding to the calling party; determining whether the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party requires a different data format than the preferred device of the calling party; automatically sending contact information identifying the preferred device of the calling party to the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party in the data format of the preferred device of the user in response to the determination that the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party requires a different data format than the preferred device of the calling party; establishing a communication between the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party and the preferred device of the calling party in response to the determination that the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party does not require a different data format than the preferred device of the calling party; and when unable to establish the communication between the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party and the preferred device of the calling party, sending information indicating that the calling party should contact the preferred device of the user being contacted by the calling party to the preferred device of the calling party.