Patent Application
20060227948
Current telephony networks support complex call controls by end-users. Call controls are rules that are applied to inbound and outbound calls to and from a subscriber's phone. The rules tell the underlying telephone network, in an identification portion of the rule, how to identify a call to which the rule applies; and, in a disposition portion of the rule, what to do with the call once it has been identified. Because the list of call control rules is often complex, it can be difficult for a customer to predict the consequences of changing their call control rules.
End-users have been unable to assess the impact of changes they make in their call control configuration. In one embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for implementing call controls in a telephony network. The method comprises processing a call log of actual calls for an individual end user of the telephony network to identify applicability, for each call of the call log, of each rule of a set of call control rules; and providing a display of a call disposition that would occur for at least one call in the call log, assuming implementation of the set of call control rules.
In further related embodiments, the set of call control rules may include call control rule changes proposed by the end user but not yet implemented. The display of the call disposition may be on the end user's customer premises equipment, or on a graphical user interface. The call log may comprise inbound calls to the end user, or outbound calls from the end user, or both. The telephony network may comprise a Voice over Internet Protocol network, a wireless network, a Time Division Multiplexed network, an Advanced Intelligent network, or any combination thereof. The method may be applied to a call log in a voicemail service, or in a Unified Messaging Service. The method may further comprise providing a user interface element to receive a request from the end user to initiate the processing of the call log based on the set of call control rules. The user interface element may comprise a button. The method may also further comprise receiving, via end user interaction with a user interface element, a request to initiate the processing of the call log based on the set of call control rules. Each call control rule of the set of call control rules may comprise an identification portion and a disposition portion. The calls may comprise facsimile calls. The method may further comprise providing a familiar name of a call control rule; such as providing a display of a familiar name of a particular call control rule that caused the call disposition for the at least one call. The method may further comprise displaying, in real time, the call control rule being applied to the call.
In another embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a further method for implementing call controls in a telephony network. The method comprises providing a call log of calls for an individual end user of the telephony network; and providing a display of a call control rule applied to a call of the call log, the display of the call control rule comprising: an identification of one or more criteria that triggered application of the call control rule, and a disposition of the call as a result of the call control rule.
In another embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a system for implementing call controls in a telephony network. The system comprises a call identification engine for processing a call log of actual calls for an individual end user of the telephony network to identify applicability, for each call of the call log, of each rule of a set of call control rules; and a customer rule change module for providing a display of a call disposition that would occur for at least one call in the call log, assuming implementation of the set of call control rules.
In further, related embodiments, the set of call control rules may include call control rule changes proposed by the end user but not yet implemented. The display may be on the end user's customer premises equipment, or on a graphical user interface. The system may further comprise a user interface element for receiving a request to initiate the processing of the call log based on the set of call control rules. The user interface element may comprise a button, which may be a button on the customer premises equipment.
In another embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a system for implementing call controls in a telephony network. The system comprises a call log module for providing a call log of calls for an individual end user of the telephony network; and a call control module for providing a display of a call control rule applied to a call of the call log, the display of the call control rule comprising: an identification of one or more criteria that triggered application of the call control rule, and a disposition of the call as a result of the call control rule.
The system may further comprise a user interface element for receiving a request to display the call control rule applied to the call of the call log.
In another embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for implementing call controls in a telephony network. The method comprises applying a call control rule to an actual call transmitted to the telephony network; and providing a display, in real time, of the call control rule being applied to the actual call, the display of the call control rule comprising: an identification of one or more criteria that triggered application of the call control rule, and a disposition of the call as a result of the call control rule.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
Because of the complexities of call control rules, users of telephony networks often cannot easily tell what the impact of changing their call control rules would be on their calls. A list of the identification portions of a set of call control rules for inbound calls, which tell how to identify calls to which each given rule applies, might be as in the following example list:
1. Number is (or is not) in Personal Address Book
2. Number is (or is not) equal to a provided telephone number.
3. Number matches (or does not match) a provided pattern (e.g. 210-886-*).
4. Number is (or is not) UNKNOWN.
5. Number is (or is not) PRIVATE.
6. Number station class is (or is not) a payphone, hotel, or other given station class.
7. Number is (or is not) Inter-LATA.
8. Name is (or is not) a provided caller name.
9. Name matches (or does not match) a provided pattern (e.g. PEARSON*).
10. Time equals (or does not equal) a provided time.
11. Time is (or is not) between a provided start time and a provided stop time.
As an example of the uses of identification portions of rules such as the above, a service emulating a privacy manager may use the “Number is UNKNOWN” rule to identify when a call should be handled by the privacy manager. A service may emulate Anonymous Call Rejection by using the “Number is PRIVATE” rule to identify when to reject a call. A service may emulate Selective Call Forwarding by using a rule whose identification portion is “Number in List {provided number 1, . . . , provided number N}.”
From the number of identification portions in the above list, however, it is clear that call controls can become quite complex. They become more complex when a similar example of a list of the disposition portion of rules for inbound calls, which indicate what to do with a call once it has been identified, is considered:
1. Pass the call through.
2. Pass the call through with a special ring tone.
3. Call Forward to voicemail.
4. Call Forward to a provided system defined announcement.
5. Call Forward to a provided customer defined announcement.
6. Call Forward to a provided number.
7. Interactive call screening (like a privacy manager) with or without PIN or PRIVATE override.
8. Interactive call blocking with or without PIN or PRIVATE override.
9. Find-Me-Follow-Me (also known as Single Number Reach).
10. Makebusy.
11. Make Ring No Answer.
As an example of the uses of disposition portions of rules such as the above, a privacy manager may use “Interactive Call Screening” as a disposition. Anonymous Call Rejection may use an announcement (“Interactive Call Blocking”). Selective Call Forwarding may use “Call Forward to a provided number” as a disposition.
From the number of such identifications and dispositions listed above, it can be seen that the consequences of changing call control rules can be very difficult for a customer to predict. Generally, inbound and outbound call logs are made available to customers, in telephony networks that provide complex call controls, so that customers can see calls made to or from their telephone number. However, existing call logs do not show the customer which call control rules were applied to their calls.
Therefore, in order to improve the customer's interaction with call control rules, a first embodiment according to the invention allows a customer to see the impact of their call control changes on their own call log of actual calls, before that change is activated in the telephone system. A second embodiment provides a call log that identifies which, if any, call control rule was applied to each call, thereby telling the customer specifically what about the call made it trigger the call control rule.
In this way, embodiments according to the invention allow customers to experiment with complex call controls in a controlled environment before making configuration changes to their live active telephone service. Customers are therefore less likely to blame the service for configuration mistakes; and can know that changes to their call controls will not change their service in unpleasant or unanticipated ways.
Before generating the display of
Once the user has viewed the applied call controls 405 of
In another embodiment according to the invention, a technique similar to that of the embodiment of
It should be appreciated that the methods described herein may be implemented in a variety of ways, including by using one or more processors to execute one or more sequences of instructions, which may be embodied on a computer-readable medium, or as a computer program product embodied on a propagated signal on a propagation medium. Such computer-readable media and computer program products may be embodied on any of a variety of different kinds of computer memories, such as floppy disks, conventional hard disks, CD-ROM's, Flash ROM's, non-volatile ROM's, RAM, Storage Media, or on any kind of signal containing instructions. In addition, techniques described herein may be used in a variety of different telephony networks, including Voice over Internet Protocol networks, wireless networks, Time Division Multiplexed networks, Advanced Intelligent networks, and combinations of such networks. Also, such techniques may be used in messaging services, such as voicemail services and Unified Messaging Services. For example, in a unified messaging service that includes call log and Find-Me-Follow-Me functionality, a customer could assess how changes in the Find-Me-Follow-Me, Key Contacts List, and notification (such as pager notification) option configurations would apply to calls in their call log. Methods described herein may be applied to various different kinds of calls, including both voice and facsimile calls.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
