System and method for reconnecting dropped cellular phone calls
The present invention relates to a system and method of reliably determining that a cellular phone call has been dropped and then automatically reconnect the call. The invention is applicable for use in telephone systems that have off-premises call hunting algorithms and thereby use separate telephony channels for the inbound and outbound legs of a call.
1. A method for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, said telephone connection having been established by a telephone call having been initially placed by the calling party to a primary number of the called party through a telephony server, thereby establishing an inbound call from the calling party to the server and an outbound call from the server to the called party, said method comprising:
monitoring by the server the status of the inbound call;
monitoring by the server the status of the outbound call;
detecting by the server a situation where the status of the inbound call is active and the status of the outbound call is dropped;
monitoring words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and
attempting by the server to reestablish the telephone connection with the called party only if said one or more standard closing remarks are not detected in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of monitoring of words used by the called party, the calling party, or both comprises the step of monitoring words used by the called party without monitoring words used by the calling party.
3. The method of claim 1 comprising the additional step of requesting confirmation from the calling party before reconnecting the outbound call.
4. A system for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, said telephone connection having been established by a telephone call having been initially placed by the calling party to a primary number of the called party through a telephony server, thereby establishing an inbound call from the calling party to the server and an outbound call from the server to the called party, said system comprising:
a first monitoring means contained in said server for monitoring the status of the inbound call;
a second monitoring means contained in said server for monitoring the status of the outbound call;
a detecting means contained in said server for detecting a situation where the status of the inbound call is active and the status of the outbound call is dropped;
a third monitoring means for monitoring of words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped; and
a means contained in said server for attempting to reestablish the telephone connection with the called party only if said one or more standard closing remarks are not detected in time proximity to the outbound call being dropped.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein said third monitoring means does not monitor words used by the calling party.
6. The method of claim 4 including confirmation means for confirming with the calling party that the outbound call should be reconnected before attempting to reconnect the outbound call.
7. A method for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, comprising:
monitoring the status of the call;
monitoring words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used;
detecting that the call has been dropped; and
attempting to automatically reestablish the telephone connection only if said one or more standard closing remarks are not detected within a given time of the call being dropped.
8. The method of claim 7 including the additional step of confirming with the calling party or the called party that the connection should be reestablished before attempting to automatically reestablish the telephone connection.
9. A system for reconnecting a dropped telephone connection between a calling party and a called party, comprising:
a first monitoring means for monitoring the status of the call;
a detecting means for detecting that the call has been dropped;
a second monitoring means for monitoring words used by the called party, the calling party, or both during the telephone connection to detect if one or more standard closing remarks are used; and
a reconnect means for attempting to automatically reestablish the telephone connection with the called party only if said one or more standard closing remarks are not detected within a given time period of the call being dropped.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein said reconnect means obtains authorization from the calling party or the called party before attempting to automatically reestablish the telephone connection.