The field of the invention relates call treatment for a call including call coverage and bridging treatment preferences and directives.
In communication's systems, there are a number of options for controlling who can reach an individual via telephone, as well as how and when. The need to stay in contact with other people has become extremely important for many business people. A conference call is a telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call. The conference calls may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call, or the call may be set up so that the called party merely listens into the call and cannot speak. It is sometimes called ATC (Audio Tele-Conference). Conference calls can be designed so that the calling party calls the other participants and adds them to the call; however, participants are usually able to call into the conference call themselves by dialing a telephone number that connects to a “conference bridge” (a specialized type of equipment that links telephone lines). Companies commonly use a specialized service provider who maintains the conference bridge, or who provides the phone numbers and PIN codes that participants dial to access the meeting or conference call.
An embodiment of the invention may therefore comprise a method for handling a call in a communications system, the system comprising a first telecommunications terminal, a second telecommunications terminal and a telecommunications network, the method comprising initiating a call from the first telecommunications terminal to the second telecommunications terminal, applying system behavior to the call based on preferences of the first telecommunications terminal, and proceeding with the call.
An embodiment of the invention may further comprise a method of handling a call in a communications system, the system comprising a first telecommunications device and a second telecommunications device in an enterprise system, the method comprising initiating a call from the first telecommunication terminal to the second telecommunications terminal, in the enterprise network, applying system behavior to the call based on preferences of the first telecommunications terminal, and proceeding with the call.
An embodiment of the invention may further comprise a system for handling a call in a communication system, the system comprising a first telecommunications terminal, and a second telecommunications terminal in an enterprise system, wherein the first telecommunications terminal is enabled to initiate a call to the second telecommunications terminal via a session initiation protocol INVITE request, and the enterprise system is enabled to apply system call settings to the call based on preferences of the first telecommunications terminal.
In an embodiment of the invention, a caller is enabled to specify call coverage and bridging treatment preferences and/or directives. A mechanism for this enablement may be through the use of SIP header parameters of an INVITE request associated with the call. The embodiment may include a server enabled to accept the directives and or preferences set by the caller and apply any related treatment options to the resulting call. It is understood that the server will also be enabled to deal with conflicts between the preferences and/or directives and treatment options on the called party's terminating side of the call.
The embodiment involves treatment of call privacy policy extension. A call may be able to specify that a particular call is a “private” call from the perspective of coverage features applicable on the call termination side. For example, a “private” call may accordingly not be reported to bridged line appearance users. Also, the ability of others to bridge into the particular call is accordingly restricted. The caller may be provided with the option of requesting setting the directive and/or preference to indicate that no other parties are allowed to bridge onto the call. This option may be used to override an exclusion policy that is set by the called party. The directive and/or preferences may be specified using an additional SIP header or header parameter in the call originated by the caller. For callers that are not in an enterprise network, the user may be given a voice activated prompt to activate this feature remotely for the call the use is initiating in regard to a called party that is in an enterprise network.
It is understood that SIP is Session Initiation Protocol. SIP is a signaling communications protocol used for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The protocol defines the messages that are sent between peers which govern establishment, termination and other essential elements of a call. SIP can be used for creating, modifying and terminating sessions consisting of one or several media streams. SIP can be used for two-party (unicast) or multiparty (multicast) sessions. Other SIP applications include video conferencing, streaming multimedia distribution, instant messaging, presence information, file transfer, fax over IP and online games. SIP works in conjunction with several other application layer protocols that identify and carry the session media. Media identification and negotiation is achieved with the Session Description Protocol (SDP). For the transmission of media streams (voice, video) SIP typically employs the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) or Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). For secure transmissions of SIP messages, the protocol may be encrypted with Transport Layer Security (TLS).
The embodiment of the invention allows a caller to specify that the caller does not desire that the call be covered or handled by any recipient except the called party. This allows a caller to prevent any other party from picking up the call. This may also include voice mail system. Only the called party is permitted to handle the call. Essentially, call functionalities such as team, call pickup, voice mail coverage and call forwarding type features may be disabled when a caller activates this request. As noted, this may be provided in the SIP INVITE sent by the caller in a flag or other means. Those skilled in the art will understand how to use SIP to enable embodiments of the invention. It is also understood that a caller's preferences to restrict or prevent bridging and coverage may be overridden by the communication policies set for the enterprise network. For example, the network may allow a certain subset of callers to have the ability to impose coverage restrictions.
A default communication system's behavior is to apply the called party's incoming call features, priorities and preferences. These may be referred to herein as call termination features in that the called party is the terminating end of a call. A default communication system's behavior default will provide visibility of an incoming call to bridged line appearances, to allow bridge-ons from other parties. The default may also enable coverage path features such as voice mail, coverage group functionality and other features known in the art. The call termination treatment on the called party side of the call may be customized following the options that the caller can set in the call setup request. For example, the call termination treatment may be set to not accept calls that disallow bridged line appearance visibility or other treatments as mentioned herein.
In a calling system, the system may comprise a network, which may be a telecommunications network, a gateway a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and a number or user devices connected to the system, such as telecommunications terminals. The system may include one or more mobile switching centers. Those skilled in the art will understand the use of the components of a telecommunications system in embodiments of the invention.
The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and other modifications and variations may be possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments of the invention except insofar as limited by the prior art.