Patent Application
20180054720
This disclosure pertains in general to communications, and more specifically to a mobile phone communication environment with multiple phones, each associated with an individual phone number and a shared phone number.
Mobile devices including smart phones and tablets have become ubiquitous. People use mobile devices for personal reasons to stay connected with family and friends, and also for business purposes. It is cumbersome to carry multiple mobile devices for different uses. Nevertheless, mobile devices are usually associated with one ID (e.g., a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an Electronic Serial Number (ESN), and the like), and are typically associated with one phone number. When using such devices for multiple purposes, it is complex to manage and track communications and costs, to safeguard secured or private communications, and to maintain work and life balance. Each individual typically has multiple phone numbers (e.g. office, mobile, home) for different purposes. As a result, communications between people are fragmented across multiple numbers. Further, mobile device architectures complicate the sharing a phone number between multiple individuals and across multiple mobile devices (analogous to the family phone number in the landline context).
A group of mobile phones can each be associated with a different personal phone number, and can also be associated with a common shared phone number. When a call is received at the shared phone number, an intermediate server routes a notification of the call to each phone in the group, and each phone can ring. If a first user answers a first phone of the group, a notification is sent by the first phone to the intermediate server, which in turn sends a notification to the remaining phones in the group that the call has been answered. The remaining phones then stop ringing. If no one answers the call, the caller is routed to a voicemail associated with the shared phone number, and a notification of a voicemail message is routed to each of the group of phones. If a first user in the group deletes the voicemail message, the intermediate server can delete the voicemail message for everyone, or can maintain the voicemail message for the remaining members of the group.
The features and advantages described in the specification are not all inclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings and specification. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.
The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The Figures (FIG.) and the following description relate to various embodiments by way of illustration only. It should be noted that from the following discussion, alternative embodiments of the structures and methods disclosed herein will be readily recognized as viable alternatives that may be employed without departing from the principles discussed herein. Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted that wherever practicable similar or like reference numbers may be used in the figures and may indicate similar or like functionality.
Embodiments relate to unified communication interfaces that provide and manage communication services. A unified communication service provides communication services to one or more of the users that are complementary to the communication services provided by the service providers of the users. A unified communication service allows users to unify activities across different interfaces, and communications associated with a single user across an associated group of contacts. A user may register and configure the service to receive various combinations of communication services provided by the unified communication service. A unified communication service can store and/or manage a user's contacts. A user's contact may be assigned to a contact group including contacts of the same type. The user may also create, edit, or manage a contact group including a set of contacts and the associated contact group settings. A unified communication service manages different types of communication services (e.g., calls, SMS, MMS, voicemails, video calls, conference calls, document/screen sharing, etc.) based on the contacts. The unified communication service allows a user to configure and manage different billing policies and determine costs of various communications. In addition, the unified communication service manages privacy settings for various communication services; a user can make various communications private to other users. In addition, a unified communication interface may allow integration with business software or interfaces such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
The users 102a-n (“users 102”) are connected to the network via their respective service providers 104a-n (“service providers 104”). The service providers 104 provide services (e.g., radio spectrum allocation, network infrastructure, back haul infrastructure, billing, customer care, provisioning computer systems) to the users 102 to access the network 110. A service provider of the service providers 104b-n may be the same as or different from the service provider 104a, and may be in the same region as or at a different region from the service provider 104a. For example, the service provider 104a and the service provider 104b are the same first local carrier in the U.S., the service provider 104c is a different second local carrier in the U.S., and the service provider 104n is a local carrier in France. As used herein, “service provider” refers to an entity that provides, through a combination of communicative hardware and software systems, a wireless communicative interface for use by a mobile device. Examples of service provides include AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, and the like.
The unified communication service 106 provides communication services to one or more of the users 102 that are complementary to the communication services provided by the service providers 104. For example, the unified communication service 106 can manage the communications among the users 102. A user may register with the unified communication service 106 and can select or subscribe to various communication services provided by the unified communication service 106 through a platform or interface provided by the unified communication service 106. For example, the unified communication service 106 can manage a user's contacts by associating each contact with a particular set or group of contacts, can manage outgoing and incoming calls for an associated device, can manage short message services (SMSs) and multimedia message services (MMSs), can provide voicemail services, can manage billing policies and device/communication service usage, can manage privacy policies for a user, etc. The user may access the unified communication service 106 via a user interface, a website, or an application installed on a device (e.g., a mobile device such as a cellphone, a smart phone, a tablet, or a laptop; a wearable device such as a watch or a glass; a laptop or a desktop; or a vehicle such as a car). The unified communication service 106 is described in great detail in conjunction with
The unified communication service 106 allows users to unify activities across different interfaces. For example, applications installed on a user's device and a user's web activities over a browser can be accessed via the unified communication service 106. Different mediums of communications (e.g., calls, text messages, emails, etc.) with different contacts are organized by contact identity rather than phone numbers or addresses. All activities in the network are managed and accessed by the unified communication service 106. For example, the unified communication service 106 may provide a threaded view per contact showing all activities with that contact over all activity mediums that go through the network 110 regardless of the device used by the contact or the medium through which the activity occurs. For example, a user may call a contact (Tom), may receive a voicemail from Tom, and may receive text messages from Tom from the user's web browser all within the unified communications service 106 that shows all the above-mentioned communications with Tom regardless of which device the user or Tom uses. The unified communication service 106 may provide a single threaded view that integrates communications of different mediums such as calls (to/from one or more phone numbers), messaging (text or instant messaging), voicemail, email, communications within apps, or any other suitable type of interaction. Accordingly, the unified communication service 106 can provide one continuous thread where a user can access all communication activities with a contact. The user can switch between on/off filters in the view of the threaded communications to include/exclude certain mediums. When a contact uses different numbers, that is, when a contact is associated with multiple numbers, the unified communication service 106 allows a user to merge different threads of communications with this contact into one single thread or to keep them apart (for instance, interactions associated with a personal phone number can be kept within a “personal” unified communication thread, and interactions associated with a work phone number can be kept within a “work” unified communication thread).
The unified communication service 106 allows a user to manage when the user or associated users (e.g., employees of a company) can receive communication services associated with one or more particular numbers. For example, the unified communication service 106 may provide a do not disturb user interface via which the user can set according to the day and hour (e.g., DND for Work Number activates at 7 pm each day and deactivates at 8 am). The unified communication service adjusts the time for changes in time zone. As one example, a company can set active hours for business communications (e.g., phone calls, text messages, etc. from and to business numbers, emails from and to business email addresses) for selected employees and limit overtime wages.
The user management module 202 allows a user to manage communication services, and creates, manages, and stores user information in the user and contact store 204. The user management module 202 may provide an interface for a user to register, select, and manage communication services provided by the unified communication service 106. For example, the user may register to receive communication services provided by the unified communication interface via a website, where the user creates an account. The user may register by activating a user application of the unified communication service 106 and creating an account thereafter. In some embodiments, the user application may be preinstalled on the device or integrated with the firmware of the device. The user management module 202 creates a unified communication ID for the user when the user registers and associates the unified communication ID with the user and stores such association in the user and contact store 204. The unified communication ID may be linked to one or more phone numbers and may be associated with one or more devices the user selects to receive communication services. The mobile phone that the user registers with the unified communication service 106 has a phone number with the region code (e.g., country code, and/or area code) associated with the device ID (e.g., Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Electronic Serial Number (ESN), or other unique identifier associated with the device hardware).
In addition, the user can opt to link the mobile phone with the unified communication ID and the unified communication service 106, which in turn can associate the mobile phone with a virtual device ID (a unique identifier assigned to the mobile phone by the unified communication service 106). The communication service 106 can then associate the mobile phone with a second phone number associated with the virtual device ID. As such, the user's mobile phone is linked with two phone numbers—a first number associated with the device ID and a second number associated with the virtual device ID or unified communication ID. The user may associate multiple devices with his or her account and a unified communication ID may be associated with multiple devices associated with the user's account. The user may further associate his or her accounts at social network services, messaging services, and the like with the account at the unified communication service 106 and/or the unified communication ID. In one embodiment, a user's phone is linked to a work number associated with a virtual device ID or unified communication ID and a personal number associated with the device ID. In another embodiment, a user's phone is linked to a personal number associated with a virtual device ID or unified communication ID and a work number associated with the device ID. In some embodiments, a user's phone is linked to a set of work numbers and a set of personal numbers.
A user may customize the user's account to receive various combinations of communication services received provided by the unified communication service 106. For example, the user may select voice call services, video call services, SMS services, MMS services, voicemail services, caller ID services, billing services, privacy services, or any combination thereof from the communication services provided by the unified communication service 106. The user and contact store 204 stores information associated with the user, such as the user's account ID, the unified communication ID, the virtual device ID, registered devices including associated information (e.g., device IDs, device models, service providers, etc.), one or more devices associated with the unified communication ID or virtual device ID, voicemail boxes and associated passwords, voicemail greeting messages, billing accounts (e.g., corporate, personal), the user's personal information (e.g., birthday, home address, work address, etc.), the user's accounts at social network services, the user's accounts at messaging services, the user's contacts and associated information (e.g., a contact's name(s), the contact's phone number(s) (e.g., home phone number, cellphone number, work phone number), the contact's type (e.g., business, friends, family, or acquaintance), the contact's company, the contact's department, the contact's email, the contact's social network profiles, the contact's instant messaging IDs, the contact's chat tool IDs, a call alert type (e.g., ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with one of the contact's phone number(s), a SMS alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with one of the contact's phone number(s), an alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with one of the contact's social network update, an instant messaging alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with receiving a type of instant message from the contact, an alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with receiving a type of chat message from the contact, an alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) associated with receiving a voicemail from the contact, a contact's group (e.g., business, work, friends, family, or acquaintance), or whether or not a contact is blocked.) In addition, the user and contact store 204 can store one or more contact groups or sets of contacts, for instance a set of personal contacts and a set of work contacts. Ringtones can be selected from the device's native ringtones.
In some embodiments, information associated with the user and stored by the user and contact store 204 may further include subsidiary user accounts and associated information. For example, an entity's account may be stored with employee accounts that are subsidiary to the entity's account, or a parent's account may be stored with children's accounts that are subsidiary to the parent's account. A user may activate or deactivate a subsidiary account via the user management module 202. For example, the user may grant the subsidiary a license to register and use communication services provided by the unified communication service 106 and selected by the user. Under the license, a subsidiary account may be prohibited from registering and using some communication services provided by the unified communication service 106. When a user deactivates a subsidiary account, the license is revoked. The user may track, monitor, and manage subsidiary accounts. In one embodiment, a business may activate a subsidiary account for each of a set of employees, enabling the employees to access services provided by the unified communication service 106 and paid for/managed by the business.
The contact management module 206 manages a user's contacts stored in the user and contact store 204. When a user registers a device with the unified communication service 106, the contact management module 206 may recognize the user's contacts stored on the device. The user's contacts on the device but not associated with the user and stored in the user and contact store 204 can be copied from the device, associated with the user and stored in the user and contact store 204. The contact management module 206 may reconcile different contact information stored in the user and contact store 204 and on the device for the same contact and update the contact information accordingly stored in the user and contact store 204 or on the device. In some embodiments, the contact management module 204 may synchronize contacts of a user among devices registered and/or selected by the user. The contact management module may provide a user interface through which a user may create, edit, or manage a contact record storing a contact's information.
A user may also create, edit, or manage a contact group including a set of contacts and the associated contact group settings. Contacts of a contact group have the same contact type. In some embodiments, a contact can be only assigned to one contact group. In some embodiments, a contact can be assigned to multiple contact groups. Example contact groups include business contacts, personal contacts, family contacts, friend contacts, contacts of a geographic region, etc. A user may associate various device IDs, virtual device IDs, and/or phone numbers of the user with different contact groups. In the aforementioned example of a user linking two numbers with the user's mobile phone, the user may associate one number with a first contact group (e.g., business) and the other number with a second contact group (e.g., personal). A user may configure and apply a contact group setting to a group such as: an alert type (ringtone, volume, vibration, mute, or any combination thereof) for receiving voice calls, video calls, SMSs, MMSs, social network updates, instant messages, chat messages, or voicemails from a contact group; a frequency of receiving alerts associated with a contact group; whether or not to enable caller ID function for outgoing calls and a phone number associated with the mobile device to display to the receiving contact based on the contact group to which the receiving contact belongs; whether or not to enable caller ID for incoming calls from a contact and an indication within the caller ID of the contact group to which the contact belongs; whether or not to block communications from contacts within a contact group such that all incoming voice calls, video calls, SMSs, MMSs, social network updates, instant messages, chat messages, and voicemails, from the contact group cannot be completed, or a voicemail greeting message played to a contact based on the contact group to which the contact belongs. For example, a user may set a first ringtone for business contacts and a second ringtone for personal contacts, enabling the user to identify the contact group to which a contact calling the user belongs. Likewise, a user may select a “whisper” signal such that, when a user has answered a first call and receives a second call or a text message, the user is alerted to the received second call or text message by a soft audio signal that otherwise doesn't detract from the first call. For the purposes of simplicity, the remainder of the description herein will reference a mobile device associated with two phone numbers, a first associated with a personal contact group and a second associated with a business contact group.
Contacts can be classified as “personal” or “work” (and accordingly, assigned to the personal contact group or the work group) via the contact management module 206 in a number of ways. For instance, for an incoming call, if a contact calls the user's work phone number or personal phone number, the contact can be classified as a “work contact” or a “personal contact”, respectively. If a user corresponds with a contact using his or her work or personal email address, the contact can be classified as a “work contact” or a “personal contact”, respectively. For outgoing calls, a user can be prompted to press a button, provide a code, or speak a command after dialing an unknown contact's number in order to classify the contact's number as work or personal. For example, a user can be prompted to press “1” to classify a contact as a personal contact, and to press “2” to classify the contact as a work contact. In some embodiments, upon dialing an unknown contact's phone number, the contact management module 206 can query a user's personal contacts or work contacts to determine if a personal contact or work contact has previously dialed the phone number and, in response to such a determination, can classify the unknown contact as a personal or work contact, respectively.
Periodically (e.g., every week or every day), the contact management module 206 can provide a user 102a with a list of prospective contacts that has corresponded with the user 102a from their personal or work email addresses. The contact management module 206 determines whether the email address used by the user 102a for correspondence with each prospective contact is a personal or work address and classifies the contact based on the address used by the user 102a. The contact management module 206 does not recommend a contact to a user for classification when an email from a contact is deleted by the user 102a, either unopened or opened but with no further action taken. When a contact uses more than one address to correspond with the contact 102a, the contact management module 206 can use the last address used, a prioritized address (e.g., an address selected by the user), or the address used for a majority of correspondence as the basis for the assignment. The contact management module 206 can identify phone number sequences included in signature blocks in emails and can include these numbers in the prospective contact's record. The contact management module 206 can check whether a user 102a has called or received a call from the prospective contact. When a contact is already stored in user's contacts but is not assigned as a personal or work contact, the CSF classifies the contact based on the email address used in correspondence.
The contact management module 206 presents the analysis results of the prospective users to the user 102a. The user 102a may reject or change the classification of a prospective contact. When a user accepts a prospective contact, the contact management module 206 adds the contact to the user's contacts stored in the user and contact store 204 and/or the user's contact list stored in the user's device. The contact management module 206 also stores the contact group classification (e.g., a work contact or a personal contact) of the contact. In some embodiments, a user's contact group (e.g., work contacts, personal contacts) may be shared with one or more other users who are in the same group (e.g., a company group, a family group). The unified communication service 106 displays associated contact information for inbound calls to a main or any individual number to the user 102a.
In some embodiments, upon dialing an unknown contact's phone number, the contact management module 206 queries a user's contact database or social media account to determine if the unknown contact's phone number is associated with a contact within the contact database (such as a personal or work email account's address book) or social media/social network account, and if so, determines if the contact within the contact database or social media/social network account is a work contact or a personal contact. For example, if a contact is associated with an email account with a domain name associated with a user's employer, the contact can be classified as a work contact, and if a contact is associated with a “family relationship” in a social network, the contact can be classified as a personal contact. It should be noted that upon registering with the unified communication service 106, the contact management module 206 can query the user's contact database, social media account, or social network account in advance to classify potential contacts as work contacts and personal contacts, such that when the user calls a unknown contact number, the contact management module 206 can identify a pre-classified contact associated with the unknown contact number, and can classify the unknown contact based on the pre-classification. Furthermore, the contact management module 206 creates a draft contact record including the number and any information it has found for this contact. The contact management module 206 may store the created draft contact record and enable a user to approve or decline this contact as well as to edit or add the information for this contact.
In some embodiments, a user can select one of a work contact and a personal contact as a default setting such that when the user calls new contacts, the new contact is classified according to the select default classification. Classified contacts can be subsequently reclassified by the user, for instance via an interface presented by the contact management module 206, or by entering a code or pressing a particular button after dialing the contact's phone number.
The outgoing call management module 208 manages outgoing calls including voice calls or video calls. The outgoing call management module 208 may provide an interface where a user may place an outgoing call. The interface may request the user to select a phone number associated with a mobile device of the user from which a call should be initiated and prepares the call using the selected number. For example, the outgoing call management module 208 may ask the user to speak or press one to call a recipient from the phone number associated with the business contact group or to speak or press two to call a recipient from the phone number associated with the personal contact group. The user may also call a recipient from the device's native call interface and the outgoing call management module 208 manages the call according to the contact type of the recipient, thus enabling a user to make a call with one of two phone numbers based on the contact type without requiring a modification to the user's mobile device. The contact type of the recipient may be determined by looking up the phone number associated with the recipient that the user calls in the user and contact store 204. The phone number of the user associated with the contact group to which the recipient belongs may be used to call the recipient. When the number selected by the user and the number associated with the contact group to which the recipient belongs conflict, the outgoing call management module 208 confirms with the user which number to use. The user's call is routed to the recipient with caller ID information identifying the phone number of the user used to make the call, beneficially enabling a user to prevent, for example, business contacts form seeing a phone number of the user associated with the personal contact group and vice versa.
When the recipient's phone number is unknown, the outgoing call management module 208 asks the user to select a phone number of the user to use for making the call. The user has the ability to turn this prompt on and off and to select a default number to use for unknown phone numbers, in both cases with a single touch. A contact record may be created and stored for the recipient and the recipient's number, and the recipient's contact type can be determined according to the phone number from which the user calls the recipient. For example, if a user calls a contact for a first time using the business phone number associated with the user, the contact and associated contact information can be stored as a business group contact within the user and contact store 204. In addition, the contact management module 206 creates a draft contact including the recipient's phone number and any information it has found for this contact. The contact management module 206 may store the created draft contact and enable a user to approve or decline this contact as well as to edit or add the information for this contact. The outgoing call management module 208 manages the outgoing call according to any user settings such as a setting associated with a contact group to which a call recipient belongs. In some embodiments, when the recipient does not answer, the outgoing call management module 208 may remind the user to call back the recipient after a predetermined time period. The predetermined time period may be specified by the user or according to the contact type of the recipient.
Referring back to
The phone number of the user associated with the contact group to which the caller belongs or the contact type of the caller may be used to determine whether or not a call should be routed and how the user should be notified. The incoming call management module 210 may determine the contact type of the caller by looking up the caller's phone number from the user and contact store 204. Settings associated with that caller or contact group may be determined similarly. For example, a call should not be routed to the user when the caller, or the contact group of the caller, is blocked by the user at the time when the user is being called. Notification settings including ringtone, volume, vibration mode and level, response actions (e.g., answer, reject, mute, or respond by text messages, instant messages, chats, or emails), user interfaces, or call back reminders, may be determined according to the contact type and any settings associated with the caller, contact type, and/or contact group. Additional devices to alert the user and associated notification settings may be determined similarly.
When the caller's number is unknown, the incoming call management module 210 may notify the user via a user interface for unknown numbers, which in turn may enable the user to classify the caller as a work contact or a personal contact. A contact record for the caller may be created and stored within the user and contact store 204 based on the selection of a contact group for the caller by the user. The caller's contact type can be determined according to the user's number that the caller has called. For instance, if the caller calls the phone number of the user associated with the business contact group, the caller can be classified as a business group contact. The incoming call management module 210 manages an incoming call according to any user setting such as a contact group's setting that is applicable to the caller. In some embodiments, when the user does not answer, the incoming call management module 210 may, based on the contact group associated with the caller, remind the user to call back the caller after a predetermined time period or respond by text messages, emails, instant messages, or chat messages. Content of the text messages, emails, instant messages, or chat messages may be communicated to the user according to the contact type of the caller.
Referring back to
The number associated with the contact group to which the caller belongs or the contact type of the caller may be used to determine whether or not and how the caller can leave a voicemail as well as whether or not and how a user should be notified. The voicemail management module 210 may determine the contact type of the caller and settings associated with the caller by looking up the caller's phone number from the user and contact store 204. For example, a professional voicemail greeting message can be used when the caller is a business contact and a casual voicemail greeting message can be used when the caller is a personal contact.
Notification settings including ringtone, volume, vibration including mode and level, response actions (e.g., review, forward, delete, remind later, or respond by text messages, instant messages, chats, or emails), user interfaces, or call back reminders, may be determined according to the contact type and any settings associated with the caller, contact type, and/or contact group. In some embodiments, a notification setting includes generating a transcription of a voicemail, and sending the transcription to a user by email or SMS message. In some embodiments, a notification setting includes converting a voicemail message to an MMS message with a transcription and audio attachment (for instance, in the MP3 format), beneficially enabling a user to reply via SMS message instead of requiring the user to listen to the voicemail and respond via a voicemail or dialer interface. In some embodiments, a user is notified by sending a notification via a mobile phone application. Additional devices or ways to alert the user and associated notification settings may be determined similarly.
When the caller's number is unknown, the voicemail management module 212 may determine whether or not a caller can leave a voicemail and can select a voicemail greeting message. A contact record may be created and stored for the user to store the caller and the caller's number. The caller's contact type can be determined according to the user's number that the caller has called. The voicemail management module 212 manages a voicemail message according to any user's setting such as a contact group's setting that is applicable to the caller. In some embodiments, the voicemail management module 212 may remind the user to call back the caller after a predetermined time period or respond by text messages, emails, instant messages, or chat messages. The predetermined time period may be specified by the user or according to the contact type of the caller.
The text management module 214 manages outgoing and incoming text messages including SMSs and MMSs. The text management module 214 may manage outgoing and incoming text messages according to the recipient and the sender, respectively. For example, the text management module may determine a number from which to send a text message according to the recipient. The text management module 214 may determine a text message setting according to the text message sender's number. For example, the text management module 214 determines whether or not the user should be notified and how the user should be notified according to the text message sender. The text message module 214 may provide an interface where a user may edit and send a text message as well as review and respond to a text message. For outgoing text messages, the interface may request the user to select a number from which to send a text message. The user may also send a text message to a recipient from the device's native text message interface and the text management module 214 manages the text message according to the contact type of the recipient. The contact type of the recipient may be determined by looking up the number the user texts in the user and contact store 204. The number of the user associated with the contact group to which the recipient belongs or the contact type of the contact may be used to text the recipient. When the number selected by the user and the number associated with the contact group to which the recipient belongs conflict, the text management module 214 confirms with the user which number to use. The user's text message or a push notification on is routed to the recipient with the caller ID unless the caller ID is otherwise disabled by the user.
When the recipient's number is unknown, the text management module 214 prompts the user to determine a number to use for sending a text message. The text management module 214 temporarily stores the sent SMS and replies via SMS to the user requesting whether to treat the recipient as a business contact or a personal contact. This SMS conversation happens between the text management module 214 and the user to determine which contact group to use and should be completed within a specific time period (30 seconds for example) or the original SMS will be sent with the default contact group. The user can turn this prompt on and off, and can also set a number to use as a default for unknown numbers. A contact record may be created and stored for the user to store the recipient and the recipient's number, during which process, the recipient's contact type can be determined according to the number from which the user texts the recipient. The recipient may be assigned to a contact group according to the number from which the user texts the recipient. The outgoing call management module 208 manages the outgoing call according to any user's setting such as a contact group's setting that is applicable to the recipient.
For incoming text messages, the interface may provide and request the user to respond (e.g., retrieve, review, reply, delete, forward, or send read receipts) to an incoming text message by selecting or speaking a corresponding action. The user may also respond to an incoming text message from the device's native text message interface and the text management module 214 manages the text message according to the caller. The text management module 214 may determine a text message setting according to the sender's number or contact type. For example, the text management module 214 determines whether or not the user should be notified and how the user should be notified according to the sender's contact type. The number associated with the contact group to which the sender belongs or the contact type of the sender may be used to determine whether or not the sender's text message should be routed and whether or not and how a user should be notified are determined by the contact type of the sender and any settings associated with that sender. The text management module 214 may determine the contact type of the sender by looking up the sender's phone number from the user and contact store 204, or by determining whether the sender texted the user's phone number associated with the business contact group or the personal contact group. Settings associated with that sender may be determined similarly. Notification settings including ringtone, volume, vibration including mode and level, response actions (e.g., review, forward, delete, remind later, send read receipts, or respond by text messages, instant messages, chats, or emails), or user interfaces, may be determined according to the contact type and any settings associated with the sender, contact type, and/or contact group. Additional devices or ways to alert the user and associated notification settings may be determined similarly.
When the sender's number is unknown, the text management module 214 may notify the user via a user interface for unknown numbers. A contact record may be created and stored for the user to store the sender and the sender's number. The sender's contact type can be determined according to the user's number to which the sender sends a text message. The text management module 214 manages an incoming text message according to any user's setting such as a contact group's setting that is applicable to the caller. In some embodiments, when the user does not reply, the text management module 214 may remind the user to respond to the sender after a predetermined time period and/or responding by calls, text messages, emails, instant messages, or chat messages. The predetermined time period may be specified by the user or according to the contact type of the sender. Content of the text messages, emails, instant messages, or chat messages may be specified by the user or according to the contact type of the sender.
In some embodiments, the text management module 214 can route text messages differently based on the classification of a contact. For instance, for text messages sent to and received from personal contacts, the text management module 214 can route the text messages directly to and from a user's device (via the device's native text messaging applications) without routing the text messages through or exposing the text messages to the user's employer. Similarly, for text messages sent to and received from work contacts, the text management module 214 can route such text messages through the employer's servers or through an application at the unified communication service 106. In such embodiments, a user's employer can incorporate such text messages into customer relationship management (“CRM”) processes, enabling the user's employer to potentially access such text messages, for instance for the purpose of creating business records or documents, for communication management purposes, for enabling customer support of the user, and the like. In some embodiments, an application associated with the unified communication service 106 can run on the user's device, and can directly receive such text messages. In these embodiments, the application can notify the user of a new text message from a work contact (beneficially enabling the user to identify when a text message from a work contact is received), and can route the text message to the device's native messaging application, enabling the user to access text messages from both personal contacts and work contacts within the same interface.
In some cases (for instance, where a user's device is an IPHONE®), the text management module 214 may route text messages via a device-specific messaging server (such as iMessage) when both the sender device and recipient devices are determined to be IPHONES®. The text management module 214 may only allow text messages being routed via iMessage when the recipient is a personal contact of the sender's. The text message module 214 may prevent text messages from being routed via iMessage when the recipient is a business contact of the sender's. This is because iMessage is a private communication channel and best suited for personal communication. Messages exchanged with contacts in the business group are only routed via the unified communication service 106, and messages exchanged with contacts in the personal group are routed via the unified communication service 106 as well as, optionally, a native interface (e.g., iMessage). As such, the unified communication service 106 may integrate business processes to exchange messages with business contacts. For example, in some embodiments, the unified communication service 106 allows using business processes such as CRM to exchange messages with business contacts. In some embodiments, the unified communication service 106 delivers messages exchanged with contacts as data but free of data roaming charges. For example, for users who are on a roaming network, the unified communication service 106 may allow communication to this business message delivery mechanism free of roaming charges by allowing data communications with those servers when the user is in the roaming network even if the user has turned off data roaming, provided the user has not also turned off voice and SMS roaming.
Referring back to
The billing management module 216 enables a network administrator, employer account administrator, or the like to create one or more billing policies to govern a user's device usage and to route expenses related to such usage to the appropriate account (such as a work account paid for by an employer, or a personal account paid for by the user). In some embodiments, a billing policy can identify a contact group (such as “work contacts”) or a set of numbers associated with a work account such that calls to work-related numbers are paid for by the employer, while calls to other numbers are paid for by the user. Billing policies can also identify an amount of data a user can send and receive via a work account, such that an employer will pay for data up to the identified amount, and the user will pay for the remainder of data used (for instance, within a billing period). Billing policies can likewise identify a number of calling minutes and/or text messages that are covered by a work account (and thus paid for by an employer), such that call time or text messages over the identified thresholds are billed to a personal account (and thus paid for by the user).
Billing policies can also specify particular URLs or websites, and can route costs incurred with navigating to the specified URLs and websites to a particular account (such as a work account). Likewise, billing policies can blacklist particular URLs or websites, such that costs incurred with navigating to the blacklisted URLs and websites are prevented from being routed to a particular account (such as a work account) and are instead routed to a different account (such as a personal account). Billing policies can also specify other services/charges, and can specify a particular account which to route charges associated with the specified services/charges. Examples of such services/charges include roaming charges, map or navigation services, email services, text or SMS charges, app services or charges, and the like.
Referring back to
The home number management module 222 can enable multiple phones, such as phones belonging to members of a family, to share a phone number. The home phone number is in addition to a user's personal and work phone numbers. A user can register a home phone number with the unified communication service 106 via the user management module 202, which in turn can assign a second virtual device ID to a user's device, and can associate the home phone number with the second virtual device ID. The user can then, via the home number management module 222, associate the home phone number with devices of family members, which in turn are assigned virtual device IDs, which are then associated with the home phone number. In other words, the home number management module 222 enables multiple users to receive calls made to the same number, emulating the traditional family/household land line phone number.
The home number management module 222, in response to receiving a call to a home phone number of a group of users, can ring all phones sharing the home phone number. In some embodiments, when one user in the group of users answers the call, the phones of the other users in the group of users stop ringing. In some embodiments, when a user in the group of users answers the call, the user is prompted to either answer the call or divert the call to voicemail. In response to the user selecting to divert the call to voicemail, the phones of the other members of the group of users continue to ring until one user opts to answer the call. If all users in the group of users opt to divert the call to voicemail, or if no user opts to answer the call within a pre-designated amount of time, the call is routed to voicemail.
The home number management module 222, in response to the creation of a voicemail by a contact calling a home phone number, can store the voicemail in the voicemail inboxes of one or more users sharing the home phone number. For instance, the voicemail can be left in the voicemail inbox of the head of household or of the user that initially registered the home phone number; alternatively, every user sharing the home phone number can receive the voicemail in their inbox. In some embodiments, the home number management module 222 routes the voicemail to a shared voicemail inbox accessible to all users that share the home phone number. In such embodiments, if one user deletes the voicemail, the other users sharing the shared inbox can no longer access the voicemail.
In some embodiments, the home number management module 222 identifies calls to the home phone as home calls, enabling devices of users sharing the home phone number to ring using a ringtone, vibration pattern, or other notification dedicated to calls to the home phone number. The home number management module 222 can direct calls to the home phone number directly to the devices of the users associated with the home phone number, preventing (for example) a user's employer from intercepting or otherwise being notified about the calls. In some embodiments, family members can specify times and days when calls to the home phone number will cause their phones to ring or otherwise notify the family members, will be routed directly to voicemail, etc.
The business integration module 224 may allow integration with business software or interfaces such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Business communication, as a result, can be accessed and tracked by the integrated systems. A user (e.g., a person or entity) may configure an account with a selected CRM system and application program interface (API) credentials to access the selected CRM system. The business integration module 224 may automatically integrate business communication (e.g., communication with a business CRM contact, lead, or account) into the selected CRM system. The business integration module 224 may 1) record that a call is made or received, and whether it is answered; 2) record calls made and store the recorded audio; 3) record calls made, transcribe the audio into text, store the text, and make the call text searchable and analyzable; 4) store text messages received and sent as individual events or as conversations within a given timespan; or 5) store voicemails received and optionally transcribe them.
The business integration module 224 may further provide a business software or system interface that allows a user to interact with business contacts using their mobile phone and/or mobile phone number, from the business software or system interface. The business integration module 224 may establish a communication connection with a user prior to contacting the user's business contact. For example, the business integration module 224 may call the user's cellphone number to establish a connection or to use a virtual version of their mobile phone as a web application (for instance, via webRTC) to communicate to the unified communication service 106. The business integration module 224 may then contact the user's business contact to establish a communication channel between the user and the user's business contact via the unified communications service 106. A user may continue a voice or text conversation from the interface, which may open up a window surfacing recent or all communications up to date with that business contact. In some embodiments, all communication with the business contact from all employees associated with an entity may be aggregated and presented to a user. The full extent of communications including conversations or messaging threads across the entity with a business contact may be presented to users that are associated with the entity and authorized to view such communications. As such, different users may communicate with a business contact via a shared number (e.g., a sales number or a customer support number).
Referring back to
The incoming call management module 210 can generate a notification message based on the caller's contact type. For instance, the notification message can include the caller's contact type and the phone number of the caller. The incoming call management module 210 can determine a caller's contact type based on the number of the user that the caller is calling and/or based on the caller's phone number. The incoming call management module 210 can determine the contact type of the caller by looking up the caller's phone number from the user and contact store 204. In the event that the caller's phone number is not previously known, the incoming call management module 210 can determine the caller's contact type based on the contact group associated with the user's number that the caller is calling. For example, the incoming call management module 210 determines that a caller is a business contact if the caller calls the user's phone number that is associated with the business contact group, and determines that a caller is a personal contact if the caller calls the user's phone number that is associated with the personal contact group.
In addition to including the determined contact type of the caller, the notification message includes an identification of the caller. In some embodiments, the identification of the caller is the caller's phone number, while in other embodiments, the identification of the caller is a unique identifier representative of the caller (such as an identifier of a contact within the user and contact store 204, a name of the caller, and the like). The incoming call management module 210 may further generate an identifier for the caller by looking up the caller's telephone number within social network services, in the user's emails, the user's company directory if the caller is calling the user's business number, and the like.
The incoming call management module 210 sends the generated notification messages to the users' devices. In some embodiments, the incoming call management module 210 sends the generated notification to the user via a data connection channel to the user's device. In such embodiments, the user device maintains a data connection channel with the unified communication service 106 so that a notification message identifying a contact group and identity of a caller can be received from the incoming call management module 210 ahead of receiving the incoming call of the caller over the voice channel of the user device. The data connection channel can be supported by the user's device in a variety of contexts. For example, the operating system of the user device can include a communication channel functionality that enables the user device to maintain a data channel with the unified communication service 106. Likewise, an application running on the user device can maintain a data channel with the unified communication service 106.
Concurrently to generating and sending a notification message to the user's device via a data channel with the user's device, the incoming call management module 210 processes and routes the incoming call to the user's device via a voice channel with the user's device, such as the voice channel supported by a service provider corresponding to the user's device. The notification works to take advantage of the inherent delays in routing calls to user devices over voice channels, so that the user's device receives the notification message over the data channel prior to receiving the incoming call over the voice channel. Responsive to receiving the incoming call over the voice channel, the user's device is configured to display notifications based on a contact record corresponding to the incoming call, for example, via the user's native incoming call interface.
The user device receives the generated notification message, parses out the caller identity and the contact group of the caller, and generates or modifies a contact record based on the notification message. For example, the user's device may look up the caller's phone number in locally stored contact records (such as an address book of the user device), or may query external contact records (such as contact records stored by the user and contact store 204). In response to the user device being unable to locate a contact record corresponding to the caller's phone number, the user device can generate a contact record based on the caller's phone number. In such embodiments, the generated contact record can include the caller's phone number, and can include an identification of the contact group of the caller within the contact record (such as the text “work” or “personal”). In response to the user device being able to locate a contact record corresponding to the caller's phone number, the user device can modify the located contact record to include an identification of the contact group. In some embodiments, including the identification of the contact group of the caller involves modifying the “label” field of the contact record (traditionally used to identify a type of phone number associated with the caller, such as “home”, “mobile”, “work”, etc.) to include the text “personal”, “on personal number”, “work” or “on work number”. The generated or modified contact record is stored by the user device. In the event that an existing contact record is modified, the existing contact record is also stored.
Responsive to receiving the incoming call request via the voice channel, the user device accesses the contact record associated with the phone number of the caller. As the notification message is received on the data channel before the incoming call is received on the voice channel, the accessed contact record of the caller is the contact record that was generated or modified in response to the notification message, and accordingly includes the contact group identification associated with the caller. The user device then displays a notification of the incoming call by displaying the contact record within an incoming call interface of the user device. The displayed notification includes the identifier of the caller (such as the phone number of the caller, the name of the caller, or a name associated with the contact record), and includes the contact group identifier associated with the caller (such as the text “personal” or “group”).
After the call, the modified contact record is reverted back to the original contact record, for instance in response to determining a user has terminated the incoming call, the voice and/or data connection is disconnected, or the application corresponding to the maintained data channel is terminated. Alternatively, the modified contact can be saved, for instance in response to an input from the user. In the event that the contact record was newly generated in response to receiving the incoming call, the generated contact record can be saved, for instance in response to an input from the user. Responsive to users' request to update contact information associated with the caller, the modified contact records and/or the temporary contact records created may be stored in the user and contact store 204 and/or on the users' devices.
Historically, households included a telephone account associated with one number that, when dialed, rang every landline in the house. By ringing multiple phones each at a different location, the likelihood that a call is answered is increased. Further, the number of individuals that can answer the phone in a multi-person household increases, as any one individual can answer any ringing phone. However, these benefits of a shared phone line (such as a household line) aren't available in a context where mobile phones have a single number and are used by a single user.
In order to realize the benefits of a shared household line (or “shared family number”, though the benefits of the shared household line described herein aren't limited to family contexts), the multi-number mobile phone architectures described herein can be leveraged to accommodate a shared family number. For instance, each mobile phone in a family (or in another set of mobile phones corresponding to a group of users) can be associated with two numbers: a personal number and a shared family number. When a personal number is called, only the mobile phone corresponding to the personal number will ring, and if the call is unanswered, the caller will be routed to a personal voicemail associated with the corresponding mobile phone. When the shared family number is called, each mobile phone in the family rings, and the first person in the family to answer the call is connected to the caller. At the same time, all other phones in the family stop ringing.
If the call to the shared family number is not answered, the caller is routed to a family voicemail, and all family members can access the voicemail message. For instance, a notification of the voicemail message can be sent to each mobile phone in the family. In some embodiments, when a user listens to and deletes the family voicemail message, the remaining family members can still access the voicemail message. In other embodiments, when a user listens to and deletes the family voicemail message, the voicemail is deleted for all users in the family.
In some embodiments, each mobile phone in a set of phones is associated with a different personal number corresponding to the hardware of the mobile phone. Likewise, in some embodiments, each mobile phone in the set of phones is associated with a shared family number corresponding to a virtual phone number assigned to each mobile phone by an intermediate server (such as a server corresponding to the unified communication service 106 as described above). In such embodiments, when a call is made to the shared family number, the intermediate server intercepts the call, establishes a connection with each of the mobile phones in the family which in turn ring, and when a user answers one of the mobile phones, the intermediate server establishes a connection between the user and the caller.
As described above, a mobile phone corresponding to a shared family number can display or emit a first notification when a call to the mobile phone's personal number is received (such as a notification saying “personal call” or a user-selected personal ring tone), and can display or emit a second notification different from the first notification when a call to the family shared number is received by the mobile phone (such as a notification saying “family call” or a ring tone corresponding to family calls).
In some embodiments, calls to the shared family number cause all mobile phones in the family to ring simultaneously or substantially simultaneously. Alternatively, the mobile phones in the family can be associated with a priority order such that calls to the family phone number cause a first/highest priority mobile phone in the family to ring first, and then after a threshold amount of time passes without the user corresponding to the first mobile phone answering the call, subsequently cause one or more lower priority mobile phones in the family to ring. The order of priority of mobile phones in a family can be selected by a user, such as a head of household or user associated with the family phone number account.
A user can opt to subscribe to a shared family number, for instance by submitting a request through an application or website corresponding to a service or entity that provides the family phone number (such as a service or entity corresponding to the intermediate server described above). In such embodiments, a user may be required to enter a password or PIN associated with the family phone number within an interface corresponding to the user's mobile phone. The service or entity corresponding to the family phone number can then verify the user, and can add the user's mobile phone to the family phone number account. In some embodiments, a user must be added to an account corresponding to a family phone number by an owner of the account or a user responsible for the account.
A shared family number can also be used to enable mobile phones corresponding to the family phone number to receive family text or SMS messages. For instance, a text message sent to the family phone number can be sent by the intermediate server to each mobile phone in the family. Each mobile phone can display the received text message within a separate text message interface from the interface used to display text messages sent to the personal phone number of the mobile phone. Alternatively, each mobile phone can display text messages sent to the family phone number and the personal number of the mobile phone within the same interface (for instance, in conjunction with identifiers that identify each text message as having been sent to the personal number of the mobile phone or the family phone number). Response text messages sent by one mobile phone in the family can be sent only to the sender of the text message, or can be sent to the sender of the text message and all other mobile phones corresponding to the family phone number. The recipients of such text messages can be selected by a user of a mobile phone in the family, by an account owner or manager of the family phone number, and the like.
As noted above, if a first user answers a call made to a shared family number, the other phones corresponding to the family phone number stop ringing. However, in some embodiments, a second user can select to join the family call after the mobile phone corresponding to the second user stops ringing (in response to the first user answering the call). In some embodiments, the second user selects to join the family call via an application running on the mobile phone. In such embodiments, the intermediate server establishes and maintains the connection between the first user and the caller, and while the call is ongoing, the intermediate server communicates the status of the call to all other mobile phones in the family, for instance by sending a status signal to each mobile phone over a data channel established between the intermediate server and the mobile phones in the family. When the second user selects to join the call, the mobile phone of the second user sends a request to join the call to the intermediate server (for instance, over the data channel), and the intermediate server connects the second user to the call between the first user and the caller.
It should be noted that in some embodiments, a first family member can determine (for instance, via an application on a mobile device of the first family member) whether a second family member is currently using a phone line associated with the shared family number. In some embodiments, the first family member can also see the identity of the entity to whom the second family member is connected. In some embodiments, the first family member can add one or more other family members to join a call, for instance by calling the phone associated with the other family members, by sending a text message, or by sending a “join call” notification option to the devices of the other family members.
The intermediate server can play a sound or notification to the first user and the caller indicating that the second user has joined the call. In some embodiments, the first user or the caller can select an option (for instance, via an application corresponding to the intermediate server) that prevents other users in the family from joining the call. In such embodiments, the option to the join the call is not presented to the second user (for instance, the option displayed via the application described above is greyed out or is otherwise not selectable).
The intermediate server 1106 then routes 1220 Carlos 1108 to a family voicemail account. Carlos leaves 1222 a message with the family voicemail account, and the intermediate server 1106 notifies 1224a, 1224b the phones of Bob 1102 and Alice 1104 of the voicemail. Bob 1102 can subsequently listen to and delete 1126 the voicemail message, and the intermediate server 1106 can delete 1228 the voicemail message in response to receiving an indication of the deleted voicemail message from Bob. In some embodiments, the intermediate server 1106 can delete the voicemail message so that Alice and other family members cannot listen to the voicemail. Alternatively, the intermediate server 1106 can maintain the voicemail message for other family members, but can delete the notification corresponding to the voicemail for the other family members. In other embodiments, the intermediate server 1106 maintains the voicemail, and maintains the notifications corresponding to the voicemail for all other family members except for Bob 1102.
Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciate still additional alternative designs for a unified communication interface providing various communication services. Thus, while particular embodiments and applications of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein and that various modifications, changes and variations which will be apparent to those skilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the method and apparatus of the present disclosure disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims.
