Automatic forwarding of incoming calls based on user interaction with devices
An automated registration service supported on an application server that interoperates with an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) core network is configured to dynamically register and deregister devices that are all associated with one or more commonly-utilized phone numbers. The service may assign the phone number to registered devices and, in contrast, un-assign the phone number from deregistered devices. The registration and deregistration of the devices may occur based on the amount of interaction with the device and other real-time contextual information. Furthermore, the automated registration service intelligently determines which registered devices to forward incoming video and/or audio calls to based on various contextual information, including the capabilities of device, identified location of a user, user preferences, etc. By intelligently selecting which devices should receive an incoming call, unnecessary use of bandwidth, data, and resources (e.g., battery power) can be reduced.
1. A method performed at a server associated with a service to direct incoming calls over a network, the method comprising:
assigning a commonly utilized phone number to each of a plurality of computing devices that are each configured with telephony capabilities;
receiving an indication of active status for one or more of the computing devices among the plurality;
registering computing devices having active status based on the received indication;
receiving a real-time incoming call directed to the commonly utilized phone number;
collecting real-time contextual information that is associated with each of the registered computing devices, in which the real-time contextual information describes current capabilities and locations of registered computing devices and wherein the capabilities of one or more of the registered devices are dynamically reconfigurable;
grouping registered computing devices based on the collected real-time contextual information;
analyzing the real-time contextual information collected for the group of registered computing devices; and
forwarding the call to certain registered computing devices in the group and suppressing the call to other registered computing devices in the group based on the analysis of the real-time contextual information.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a computing device has active status when, responsive to receiving user input, the computing device authenticates a user and the computing device's lock screen is bypassed.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a computing device has active status when the computing device is within a threshold proximate distance to another of the one or more computing devices.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising deregistering one or more computing devices of the plurality of computing devices based on one or more of lack of interaction at a computing device for a predetermined threshold of time, the computing device entering sleep mode or do-not-disturb mode, and the real-time contextual information.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising suppressing one or more of the registered computing devices from receiving the incoming call based on the real-time contextual information.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the real-time contextual information includes one or more of time elapsed since last user interaction, capabilities of a computing device, calendar data, contact data of caller associated with incoming call, proximity of one computing device relative to another computing device, or location data for a computing device.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the real-time contextual information related to the capabilities of the computing device includes:
whether a computing device includes one or more of a microphone, speaker, front-facing camera, rear-facing camera, and display; and
a battery level of the computing device, network connectivity strength of the computing device, performance level of the computing device, or quality of components of the computing device.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server and the plurality of computing devices communicate over an IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem) network.