Method and system for online call management
View Patent ↗A method of managing a telephone call from a calling station to a called station having a telephone service, where the called station is capable of connection to the Internet comprising the steps of forwarding the called station telephone service to an intermediate server upon the called station launching an Internet connection responsive to a telephone call from a calling station received by the intermediate server, sending a communication to the called station including available calling station identification information and a query to the called station via the Internet requesting a decision from a list of call disposition options for the telephone call receiving a decision from the called station choosing at least one call disposition option and performing an action according to the call disposition option.
1. A method of managing a telephone call from a calling station to a called station having a telephone service, where the called station is connected to a data network comprising the steps of:
forwarding the called station telephone service to an application server;
responsive to a telephone call from a calling station, forwarding the telephone call to the application server regardless of a connection status of the called station;
at the application server, obtaining from an Internet Access Server, an IP address relating to the called station, wherein the Internet Access Server is a different server from the application server;
sending a screen viewable query to the called station via the data network requesting disposition of said telephone call, wherein the query includes a list of call disposition options for said telephone call, and wherein one of said list of call disposition options includes sending said telephone call to a voicemail system;
receiving a decision on the disposition of said telephone call from the called station;
performing an action according to the decision, wherein said action includes sending said telephone call to a voicemail system; and
logging information related to the telephone call and the decision on the disposition of the telephone call, wherein the information is viewable via the data network.
2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of answering said telephone call over the data network.
3. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of answering said telephone call using a public switched network.
4. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of ignoring said telephone call.
5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of forwarding said telephone call to a different telephone number.
6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of playing an announcement to the calling station.
7. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of placing the calling station on hold.
8. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of adding the calling station to a conference call bridge.
9. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said screen viewable query includes an option of hanging up said telephone call.
10. A method of managing a telephone call from a calling station to a called station having a telephone service, where the called station is capable of connection to the Internet comprising the steps of:
forwarding the called station telephone service to an intermediate server upon said called station launching an Internet connection;
responsive to a telephone call from a calling station, forwarding the telephone call to the intermediate server regardless of a connection status of the called station;
responsive to the telephone call from a calling station received by said intermediate server, obtaining from an Internet Access Server, an IP address relating to the called station, wherein the Internet Access Server is a different server from the intermediate server;
sending a screen viewable communication to the called station including available calling station identification information and a query to the called station via the Internet requesting a decision from a list of call disposition options for said telephone call, wherein said query includes an option of sending said telephone call to a voicemail system;
receiving a decision from the called station choosing at least one call disposition option;
performing an action according to the call disposition option; and
logging information related to the telephone call and the decision choosing at least one call disposition option, wherein the information is viewable via the Internet.
11. A method as in claim 10 , wherein one of said list of call disposition options includes answering said telephone call over the Internet and said step of performing an action includes answering said telephone call over the Internet.
12. A method as in claim 10 , wherein one of said list of call disposition options includes answering said telephone call using a public switched network and said step of performing an action includes answering said telephone call using a public switched network.
13. A method as in claim 10 , wherein one of said list of call dispositions options includes ignoring said telephone call.
14. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes forwarding said telephone call to a different telephone number and said step of performing an action includes forwarding said telephone call to a different telephone number.
15. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes playing an announcement to the calling station and said step of performing an action includes playing an announcement to the calling station.
16. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes placing the calling station on hold and said step of performing an action includes placing the calling station on hold.
17. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes adding the calling station to a conference call bridge and said step of performing an action includes adding the calling station to a conference call bridge.
18. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes hanging up said telephone call and said step of performing an action includes hanging up said telephone call.
19. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes adding the available calling station identification information to a database and said step of performing an action includes adding the available calling station identification information to a database.
20. A method as in claim 10 , wherein said list of call disposition options includes displaying information stored about the calling station and said step of performing an action includes displaying information stored about the calling station.