IP Library Granted Patent US 8,200,189
Granted Patent B2
US 8,200,189 · App. 12/142,237 · Granted Jun 12, 2012

Voice portal to voice portal VoIP transfer

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,200,189
App. No.
12/142,237
Granted
Jun 12, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method includes receiving at a voice portal a telephone call from a caller and acquiring from the caller a billing telephone number. The method also includes determining, based on the billing telephone number, that the telephone call should be transferred to a specific call center; identifying an exchange number for the specific call center; assembling a refer message based on the billing telephone number and the exchange number of the specific call center; and sending the refer message to a network device.

Claims (73)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a voice portal, a telephone call from a caller;

identifying a first billing telephone number associated with an automatic number identification associated with the telephone call;

acquiring, from the caller, a second billing telephone number;

determining that the first billing telephone number is different than the second billing telephone number;

determining, based on the second billing telephone number, to transfer the telephone call to a specific call center;

identifying an exchange number for the specific call center;

assembling a refer message based on the second billing telephone number and the exchange number of the specific call center;

sending the refer message to a network device;

changing the automatic number identification to the second billing telephone number based on determining that the first billing telephone number is different than the second billing telephone number; and

transferring the telephone call to the specific call center based on changing the automatic number identification.

2. The method of claim 1 , where determining to transfer the telephone call to the specific call center comprises:

retrieving information about the second billing telephone number from a cross-portal directory associated with the specific call center.

3. The method of claim 1 , where determining to transfer the telephone call to the specific call center comprises:

retrieving information about the second billing telephone number from a cross-portal directory accessible to more than one voice portal through a network.

4. The method of claim 1 , where acquiring the second billing telephone number comprises:

providing the first billing telephone number to the caller; and

obtaining, via an interactive voice response unit, the second billing telephone number in response to providing the first billing telephone number.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transferring the telephone call to the specific call center using a two b-channel transfer protocol (TBCT).

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transferring the telephone call to the specific call center using a network comprising one or more public switch telephone networks (PSTNs).

7. A system comprising:

a voice portal to:

receive a telephone call from a caller, the telephone call including an automatic number identification,

identify a first billing telephone number associated with the automatic number identification,

request a second billing telephone number from the caller,

receive the second billing telephone number from the caller,

determine that the first billing telephone number is different from the second billing telephone number received from the caller,

identify a separate voice portal for the second billing telephone number based on determining that the first billing telephone number is different from the second billing telephone number,

assemble a refer message to indicate an exchange number of the separate voice portal and the second billing telephone number,

change the automatic number identification to the second billing telephone number based on determining that the first billing telephone number is different than the second billing telephone number, and

transfer the telephone call from the voice portal to the separate voice portal based on changing the automatic number identification.

8. The system of claim 7 , where the voice portal is further to:

send the refer message to a network device to initiate the transfer of the telephone call from the voice portal to the separate voice portal, and

where changing the automatic number identification causes the transferred telephone call to appear to originate from the second billing telephone number.

9. The system of claim 7 , where the voice portal further comprises:

a memory to store a cross-portal directory of billing telephone numbers, and

where the separate voice portal is identified based on the cross-portal directory.

10. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:

a cross-portal directory of billing telephone numbers that is accessible to more than one voice portal through a network, and

where, when identifying the separate voice portal, the voice portal is to:

determine that the second billing telephone number comprises a mobile telephone number, and

identify the separate voice portal further based on determining that the second billing telephone number comprises the mobile telephone number.

11. The system of claim 7 , where the refer message complies with two b-channel transfer protocol (TBCT).

12. A non-transitory memory device comprising instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive a telephone call that includes an automatic number identification;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to identify a first billing telephone number associated with the automatic number identification;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to request, through an interactive voice response unit, a second billing telephone number;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive the second billing telephone number;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine that the first billing telephone number is different than the second billing telephone number;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine, based on the second billing telephone number, to transfer the telephone call to a call center;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to identify an exchange number associated with the call center;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to assembly a refer message based on the second billing telephone number and the exchange number of the call center;

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to change the automatic number identification to the second billing telephone number based on determining that the first billing telephone number is different from the second billing telephone number; and

one or more instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to transfer the telephone call to the call center based on changing the automatic number identification.

13. The memory device of claim 12 , further comprising:

one or more instructions to send the refer message to a network device.

14. The memory device of claim 13 , where the one or more instructions to send the refer message include:

one or more instructions to use of a two b-channel transfer protocol (TBCT), when sending the refer message to the network device.

15. The memory device of claim 12 , where the one or more instructions to identify the first billing telephone number include:

one or more instructions to retrieve information identifying the first billing telephone number from a cross-portal directory.

16. A system, comprising:

means for identifying a first billing telephone number associated with an automatic number identification of a received telephone call;

means for acquiring from a caller a second billing telephone number;

means for determining that the second billing telephone number is different from the first billing telephone number;

means for determining, based on the second billing telephone number, that a telephone call should be transferred;

means for identifying an exchange number to transfer the telephone call based on the second billing telephone number;

means for assembling a refer message that includes the second billing telephone number and the exchange number;

means for changing the automatic number identification to the second telephone billing number based on determining that the second billing telephone number is different from the first billing telephone number; and

means for transferring the telephone call based on changing the automatic number identification.

17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:

means for initiating the transfer of the telephone call to cause a transfer recipient to receive the second billing telephone number as an automatic number identification of the transferred call.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 18, 2009
From: VERIZON DATA SERVICES LLC
To: VERIZON PATENT AND LICENSING INC.
Reel/Frame 023112/0047 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 19, 2008
From: DESAI, PRASHANT; VASQUEZ, JUAN; HEGDE, MAYURESH MOHAN; POI, PARIND
To: VERIZON DATA SERVICES LLC
Reel/Frame 021121/0089 →