Systems and methods for terminating telephony communications to mobile telephony devices
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for terminating telephony communications to a mobile telephony device that is roaming outside of its native service area make use of a forwarding termination service. The forwarding termination service causes the native mobile telephony service provider that provides service to the mobile telephony device to forward incoming telephony communications directed the native telephone number of the mobile telephony device to a forwarding access number. The forwarding termination service receives telephony communications directed to the forwarding access number, and then terminates the telephony communication to the mobile telephony device via any one of multiple different methods. The mobile telephony service provider can be instructed to implement and cancel call forwarding instructions by dialing a special character string on the mobile telephony device.
1. A method of initiating call forwarding termination procedures, the method being performed by an application on a telephony device having one or more processors, the method comprising:
determining, through the application and using the one or more processors, that it is desirable to implement call forwarding termination procedures which result in a mobile telephony service provider that provides the telephony device with its native telephony service forwarding telephony communications directed to a native identifier of the telephony device to a forwarding access identifier;
notifying an IP telephony system that call forwarding termination procedures should be implemented;
receiving, from the IP telephony system, an indication that the IP telephony system is unable to cause the native telephony service provider to implement a call forwarding feature; and
sending a communication to the native telephony service provider that instructs the native telephony service provider to implement the call forwarding feature.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving step further comprises receiving information from the IP telephony system that can be used to send the communication to the native telephony service provider.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein sending a communication to the native telephony service provider comprises using the information received from the IP telephony system to cause a string of characters to be dialed by the telephony device, and wherein dialing the string of characters causes the native telephony service provider to implement the call forwarding feature.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that it is desirable to implement call forwarding termination procedures comprises determining that the telephony device is outside its native service area.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining step comprises determining that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on coordinate data indicating a location of the telephony device.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining step comprises determining that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on an IP address associated with the telephony device or a wireless access point which the telephony device uses to access a data network.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining step comprises determining that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on a roaming indication provided by the telephony device.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, through the application and using the one or more processors, that it is desirable to cancel forwarding termination procedures; and
causing forwarding termination procedures to be canceled.
9. A system for initiating call forwarding termination procedures, comprising:
means for determining that it is desirable to implement call forwarding termination procedures which result in a mobile telephony service provider that provides a telephony device with its native telephony service forwarding telephony communications directed to a native telephone number of the telephony device to a forwarding access telephone number;
means for notifying an IP telephony system that call forwarding termination procedures should be implemented;
means for receiving, from the IP telephony system, an indication that the IP telephony system is unable to cause the native telephony service provider to implement a call forwarding feature; and
means for sending a communication to the native telephony service provider that instructs the native telephony service provider to implement the call forwarding feature.
10. A system having a memory and one or more processors and for initiating call forwarding termination procedures, comprising:
a triggering unit that, via the one or more processors, determines that it is desirable to implement call forwarding termination procedures which result in a mobile telephony service provider that provides a telephony device with its native telephony service forwarding telephony communications directed to a native telephone number of the telephony device to a forwarding access telephone number; and
a forwarding termination instruction unit that, via the one or more processors, notifies an IP telephony system that call forwarding termination procedures should be implemented, receives from the IP telephony system, an indication that the IP telephony system is unable to cause the native telephony service provider to implement a forwarding feature, and sends a communication to the native telephony service provider that instructs the native telephony service provider to implement the forwarding feature.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the forwarding termination instruction unit also receives information from the IP telephony system that can be used to send the communication to the native telephony service provider.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the forwarding termination instruction unit causes the telephony device to dial a string of characters that cause the native telephony service provider to implement the forwarding feature.
13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the triggering unit determines that it is desirable to implement call forwarding termination procedures when it determines that the telephony device is outside its native service area.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the triggering unit determines that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on coordinate data indicating a location of the telephony device.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the triggering unit determines that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on an IP address associated with the telephony device or a wireless access point which the telephony device uses to access a data network.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the triggering unit determines that the telephony device is outside of its native service area based on a roaming indication provided by the telephony device.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the triggering unit also determines that it is desirable to cancel forwarding termination procedures, and wherein the forwarding termination instruction unit causes the forwarding termination procedures to be canceled.