Granted Patent B1

US 9,967,813 · App. 15/451,169 · Granted May 8, 2018

Inventor: Michael Stimpson (Taylorsville, UT)

Assignee: Sorenson IP Holdings, LLC

H04W48/18H04L41/20H04W72/10H04L61/1594

Abstract

Claims (96)

1. A computer-implemented method to establish an outbound communications session, the method comprising:

creating a priority order among two or more transport media based on an availability of each transport medium when a request to establish an outbound communication session is received;

receiving the request to establish an outbound communication session with a contact;

selecting a transport medium of the two or more transport media based on the priority order and based on one or more user identifications associated with the contact;

in response to the selection of the transport medium, selecting a software controller based on the software controller being associated with the selected transport medium;

sending the request to establish the outbound communication session with the contact to an electronic device of the contact by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium; and

establishing the outbound communication session with the electronic device of the contact by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the priority order is further based on a cost to send, receive, or participate in communication sessions for each transport medium and user preferences.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact comprises a name and the user identifications comprise one or more of the following: an identification number, a username, a phone number, and an email address.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transport media comprise one or more of the following: a wireless data transmission protocol that communicates using short-wavelength ultra high frequency (UHF) radio waves in the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band, a plain old telephone service (POTS), a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, a video calling service, a video chat service, a cellular telephone service, a wireless calling service, and an audio messaging service.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to place the outbound communication session on hold by sending a signal to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send audio to the second transport medium, and starting to receive audio from the second transport medium.

6. At least one non-transitory computer readable media configured to store one or more instructions that in response to being executed by at least one computing system, cause the at least one computing system to perform the method of claim 1 .

7. A computer-implemented method to establish an outbound communications session, the method comprising:

creating a priority order among two or more transport media based on an availability of each transport medium when a request to establish an outbound communication session is received;

receiving the request to establish an outbound communication session with a user identification;

determining a type for the user identification;

selecting a transport medium of the two or more transport media based on the priority order and based on the type for the user identification;

in response to the selection of the transport medium, selecting a software controller based on the software controller being associated with the selected transport medium;

sending the request to establish an outbound communication session with the user identification to an electronic device of the user identification by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium; and

establishing the outbound communication session with the electronic device of the user identification by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the priority order is further based on a cost to send, receive, or participate in communication sessions for each transport medium and user preferences.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the user identification comprises one or more of the following: an identification number, a username, a phone number, a name, and an email address.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the transport media comprise one or more of the following: a wireless data transmission protocol that communicates using short-wavelength ultra high frequency (UHF) radio waves in the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band, a plain old telephone service (POTS), a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoW) service, a video calling service, a video chat service, a cellular telephone service, a wireless calling service, and an audio messaging service.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to place the outbound communication session on hold by sending a signal to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send audio to the second transport medium, and starting to receive audio from the second transport medium.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to terminate the outbound communication session by sending a signal of termination to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send audio to the second transport medium, and starting to receive audio from the second transport medium.

13. At least one non-transitory computer readable media configured to store one or more instructions that in response to being executed by at least one computing system, cause the at least one computing system to perform the method of claim 7 .

14. A communication device comprising:

a speaker configured to output first audio;

a microphone configured to capture second audio;

at least one non-transitory computer readable media configured to store one or more instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the speaker, the microphone, and the at least one non-transitory computer readable media, the at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to cause the communication device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

creating a priority order among two or more transport media based on an availability of each transport medium when a request to establish an outbound communication session is received;

receiving the request to establish an outbound communication session with a contact;

selecting a transport medium of the two or more transport media based on the priority order and based on one or more user identifications associated with the contact;

in response to the selection of the transport medium, selecting a software controller based on the software controller being associated with the selected transport medium;

sending the request to establish the outbound communication session with the contact to an electronic device of the contact by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium; and

establishing the outbound communication session with the electronic device of the contact by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium, the first audio obtained from the electronic device of the contact during the outbound communication session and the second audio provided to the electronic device of the contact during the outbound communication session.

15. The communication device of claim 14 , wherein the priority order is further based on a cost to send, receive, or participate in communication sessions for each transport medium and user preferences.

16. The communication device of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to place the outbound communication session on hold by sending a signal to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send the second audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive the first audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send third audio to the second transport medium from the microphone, and starting to receive fourth audio from the second transport medium to be output by the speaker.

17. A communication device comprising:

a speaker configured to output first audio;

a microphone configured to capture second audio;

at least one non-transitory computer readable media configured to store one or more instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the speaker, the microphone, and the at least one non-transitory computer readable media, the at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to cause the communication device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

creating a priority order among two or more transport media based on an availability of each transport medium when a request to establish an outbound communication session is received;

receiving the request to establish an outbound communication session with a user identification;

determining a type for the user identification;

selecting a transport medium of the two or more transport media based on the priority order and based on the type for the user identification;

in response to the selection of the transport medium, selecting a software controller based on the software controller being associated with the selected transport medium;

sending the request to establish an outbound communication session with the user identification to an electronic device of the user identification by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium; and

establishing the outbound communication session with the electronic device of the user identification by the selected software controller through the selected transport medium, the first audio obtained from the electronic device of the user identification during the outbound communication session and the second audio provided to the electronic device of the user identification during the outbound communication session.

18. The communication device of claim 17 , wherein the priority order is further based on a cost to send, receive, or participate in communication sessions for each transport medium and user preferences.

19. The communication device of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to place the outbound communication session on hold by sending a signal to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send the first audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive the second audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send third audio from the microphone to the second transport medium, and starting to receive fourth audio from the second transport medium to be output by the speaker.

20. The communication device of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to establish a second communication session through a second software controller associated with a second transport medium, the second transport medium being different from the selected transport medium;

providing to a user, through a manager, an indication of the request;

obtaining a direction from the user to accept or reject the request; and

in response to obtaining the direction to accept the request:

sending a request to the selected software controller associated with the selected transport medium to terminate the outbound communication session by sending a signal of termination to the selected transport medium, ceasing to send the first audio to the selected transport medium, and ceasing to receive the second audio from the selected transport medium;

sending a request to the second software controller to activate the second transport medium; and

establishing the second communication session by sending an indication of acceptance to the second transport medium, starting to send third audio from the microphone to the second transport medium, and starting to receive fourth audio from the second transport medium to be output by the speaker.

Assignments (14)