IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,154,145

Granted Patent B1

US 10,154,145 · App. 15/954,036 · Granted Dec 11, 2018

Virtual telephony assistant

Inventors: Jared Kashimba (Micanopy, FL); Sai Rathnam (Raleigh, NC); Justin Milam (Burgaw, NC); Jon Schniepp (Raleigh, NC); Sam Quaile (Durham, NC); Jesse Stimpson (Raleigh, NC); James Mulcahy (Raleigh, NC)

Assignee: Republic Wireless, Inc.

H04M7/0057 G10L15/265 H04M3/02 H04M3/42042 H04M3/42068

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,154,145
App. No.: 15/954,036
Granted: Dec 11, 2018
Kind: B1

External Links

USPTO Patent Center↗ Full Patent PDF↗

Abstract

Examples are disclosed for placing an outbound telephony call using a smart speaker as a proxy device for a telephone account. A smart speaker may receive a verbal command to initiate the telephone call that includes identifying information for the called party. The verbal command may be forwarded to a smart speaker server where it may be converted to a computer instruction to initiate the telephone call. The computer instruction may then be forwarded to a communications server. The communications server may determine the telephone number to call based on the identifying information for the called party. The communications server may then establish a first communication link between itself and a telephony endpoint of the called party and a second communication link between itself and the smart speaker device. The communication links may then be bridged into a communications session between the smart speaker device and the telephony endpoint of the called party.

Claims (58)

1. A method of initiating a telephone call from a calling party to a called party, comprising:

associating an outbound telephone number to a smart speaker device, the outbound telephone number known to a communications server;

receiving, at the smart speaker device, a verbal command to initiate the telephone call, the verbal command including identifying information for the called party, wherein the verbal command to initiate the telephone call further includes a name of the calling party that is associated with a second outbound telephone number known to the communications server, the second outbound telephone number different from the smart speaker device outbound telephone number;

associating the second outbound telephone number of the smart speaker device to the verbal command to initiate the telephone call;

forwarding the verbal command to initiate the telephone call from the smart speaker device to a smart speaker server;

converting the verbal command to a computer instruction to initiate the telephone call, the instruction including the identifying information for the called party;

forwarding the computer instruction to initiate the telephone call from the smart speaker server to the communications server, the computer instruction including the second outbound telephone number;

determining the telephone number of the called party based on the identifying information for the called party;

establishing a first communication link between the communications server and a telephony endpoint of the called party;

establishing a second communication link between the communications server and the smart speaker device; and

bridging the first and second communication links into a communications session between the smart speaker device and the telephony endpoint of the called party.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart speaker server and the communications server are the same server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying information included in the verbal command to initiate the telephone call is a telephone number to be called.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying information included in the verbal command to initiate the telephone call is a name of the called party.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the name of the called party is associated with a telephone number and stored in a contact database accessible to at least one of the smart speaker server and the communications server.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

using the second outbound telephone number that is known to the communications server and associated with a telephony subscriber to identify the calling party when establishing the first communication link.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

running the second communication link between the communications server and the smart speaker device through the smart speaker server.

8. A communications system comprising:

one or more processors configured to execute instructions to initiate a telephone call from a calling party to a called party, the instructions to:

associate an outbound telephone number to a smart speaker device, the outbound telephone number known to a communications server;

receive, at the smart speaker device, a verbal command to initiate the telephone call, the verbal command including identifying information for the called party, wherein the verbal command to initiate the telephone call further includes a name of the calling party that is associated with a second outbound telephone number known to a communications server, the second outbound telephone number different from the smart speaker device outbound telephone number;

associate the second outbound telephone number of the smart speaker device to the verbal command to initiate the telephone call;

forward the verbal command to initiate the telephone call from the smart speaker device to a smart speaker server;

convert the verbal command to a computer instruction to initiate the telephone call, the instruction including the identifying information for the called party;

forward the computer instruction to initiate the telephone call from the smart speaker server to the communications server, the computer instruction including the second outbound telephone number;

determine the telephone number of the called party based on the identifying information for the called party;

establish a first communication link between the communications server and a telephony endpoint of the called party;

establish a second communication link between the communications server and the smart speaker device; and

bridge the first and second communication links into a communications session between the smart speaker device and the telephony endpoint of the called party.

9. The communications server of claim 8 , wherein the smart speaker server and the communications server are the same server.

10. The communications server of claim 8 , wherein the identifying information included in the verbal command to initiate the telephone call is a telephone number to be called.

11. The communications server of claim 8 , wherein the identifying information included in the verbal command to initiate the telephone call is a name of the called party.

12. The communications server of claim 11 , wherein the name of the called party is associated with a telephone number and stored in a contact database accessible to at least one of the smart speaker server and the communications server.

13. The communications server of claim 8 , the one or more processors executing instructions to:

use the second outbound telephone number that is known to the communications server and associated with a telephony subscriber to identify the calling party when establishing the first communication link.

14. The communications server of claim 8 , the one or more processors executing instructions to:

run the second communication link between the communications server and the smart speaker device through the smart speaker server.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that when executed enable processing circuitry to execute instructions to initiate a telephone call from a calling party to a called party, the instructions to: