Providing communication to a subscriber having a plurality of terminals

This application is the United States national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2009/005503, filed on Jul. 29, 2009, and claiming priority to German application no. 10 2008 036 257.3, filed on Aug. 4, 2008. Those applications are incorporated by reference herein.

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and devices for providing notification to intended communications subscribers.

2. Background of the Related Art

A known problem with communication systems is not being able to reach subscribers. There are many possible solutions for this, such as call forwarding, answering machines, voicemail, or automatic notification by e-mail or wireless mobile text messaging. However, these solutions have the disadvantage that it often occurs that important messages do not reach the intended subscriber promptly or at all.

In an embodiment of the invented method for providing communication, with multiple communication subscribers, with at least one first piece of address information assigned to a first communication subscriber, a second and at least a third piece of address information assigned to at least a second communication subscriber, and a fourth piece of address information assigned to a central control function, if a communication subscriber determined by the first piece of address information initiates a first attempt to connect to a second communication subscriber, using the second piece of address information, and that attempt fails, during a second attempt made after the failure by the first communication subscriber determined by the first piece of address information to connect to the central control function determined by the fourth piece of address information, the control function initiates the forwarding of the second connection to the second communication subscriber using the third piece of address information.

An easily implemented method for this is offered here, which increases the likelihood of reaching a communication partner to whom multiple communication terminals are assigned with respect to the telephone numbers or similar address information assigned to him, such as VoIP accounts, e-mail addresses, and similar connection to voice-based (telephone/fax) communication terminals. For urgent contact attempts, a technical solution is offered here that requires simply the knowledge of a (primary) number for the desired communication subscriber, as well as a central telephone number.

Preferably, when the first connection attempt fails, a first piece of information is stored and organized in such a way that the first piece of address information is assigned to the second piece of address information. This makes it easy to determine who attempted to make which subscriber connection. This organized storage is particularly advantageous if the caller is not part of a subscriber field defined by private transmission equipment, because otherwise this information would not be readily available.

Furthermore, the at least one third piece of address information is preferably stored assigned to the second communication subscriber, in particular by the central control function. This makes it possible to manage alternative contact options from a central point, making optimum use of the invented method.

As an alternative or addition, in an advantageous extension of the invention, the at least one third piece of address information can be taken from an address list. This allows additional flexibility and user-friendliness, making it possible to tell when members of the subscriber field no longer need to enter their alternative contact options again.

A further advantageous extension of the invented method allows the following:

when the first connection attempt fails, a timer starts counting down a preset time period, when the timer runs down, the first information is deleted.

This is a simple way to correlate a contact request with the degree of urgency.

It is also advantageous to extend the method such that:

when an additional first connection attempt is made before the timer runs down, the counter is incremented, the system checks to see if another third piece of address information exists, if there is another third piece of address information, another second connection attempt is made using the additional third piece of address information.

With this addition, when there are more than two pieces of address information (private and/or work-related cell phone numbers, private landline number) assigned to the desired subscriber, it is possible to make connection attempts using each of them in succession.

If the call is ended because there are no more available, this guarantees that the resources are freed up again as quickly as possible. A defined status indicating this negative case can be implemented.

As an alternative or an extension, it is advantageous to further expand the invention such that, if there are no more pieces of address information available,

the timer starts over, the counter is reset, the first piece of address information becomes the first third piece of address information, so that the at least one third piece of address information becomes the at least one additional third piece of address information.

In this way, the successive connection attempts with changing address information start over again, beginning with the primary number as the forwarding target, so the caller can continue to use the service according to the invention for as long as it takes to successfully forward the call or until he terminates the calling attempts.

The FIGURE shows a schematic representation of a scenario according to the communication system and a flow chart for one variation of the invented method.

In a preferred extension of the method according to an embodiment of the invention, the central control function includes a branch device, such that each second piece of address information for the at least second communication subscriber is generated based on an address space subordinated by the branch device's control. This is advantageous when the invented method is installed in private networks.

If, before the call is ended, a piece of information for the caller is transmitted to the caller's terminal and announced visually and audibly at the terminal, this offers the user more agreeable and efficient use of the service provided according to the invention and, if applicable, prevents additional calls with the corresponding resource waste.

The communication system according to the invention, which activates a performance indicator at a first communication terminal, is distinguished by a means of realizing the method as in one of the aforementioned versions and thus contributes to implementing the aforementioned advantages of each further extension of the method.

The FIGURE shows a schematic representation of a communication system for real-time voice communication with a telephone switching unit PBX shown as a square and, connected through a subscriber connection SL to the telephone switching unit PBX, a first telephone TA with the telephone number RA as the first communication terminal used by a first user. In the exemplary embodiment shown, a second telephone T 1 with telephone number R 1 is connected to the telephone switching unit PBX.

The communication system represents, for example, a private communication network in which, in addition to the telephones TA, T 1 shown, multiple telephones TA, T 1 . . . TN can be connected to the telephone switching unit PBX.

Correspondingly, at least one telephone number RA, R 1 . . . RN is assigned to each of these multiple telephones TA, T 1 . . . TN.

In addition, it is assumed that the telephone switching unit PBX is connected through a public utility line and/or through a chain of connection controllers to a mobile telephone MB on a mobile wireless network or to a third telephone TB (not shown) on a public communication network, which a second user uses as an alternative to the second telephone T 1 that is assigned to him in the private network.

A base station (not shown) can be connected through a voice connection line, which is not shown as part of the exemplary embodiment and therefore not described in detail here, to a public switching point. Transmitting text and multi-media messages from mobile wireless devices is further simplified by connecting the base station to a data network through a data connection line.

The public utility line and the mobile wireless connection MV are distinguished in the aforementioned exemplary embodiment in that they can transmit telephone number information for a sending subscriber via CLIP.

The telephone switching unit PBX is part of a connection controller VS according to the invention, shown as a shaded square, which in turn can include an SMS Gateway SMSGW, a CTI application (CTI: Computer Telephony Integration), a Directory Service LDAP, or a telephone switching unit database for the telephone switching unit PBX. Here the SMS Gateway has a connection through the aforementioned data network and the aforementioned data connection line DV to the base station, as well as a connection through an additional data connection line to the CTI application. This is further connected through a CTI interface to the telephone switching unit PBX and through an additional data connection line to the Directory Service.

The first telephone TA as the first communication terminal according to the invention is connected through the subscriber connection line SL to and controlled by the telephone switching unit PBX. As described above, the first telephone number RA is assigned to the first telephone TA, while a second telephone number R 1 is assigned to the second telephone T 1 and a third telephone number R 1 a is assigned to the mobile telephone MB. In addition, according to the invention, a central telephone number RZ is assigned to the telephone switching unit.

The arrangement described here is fundamental to the invented method, which should be explained in more detail using an example of a sequence. This begins at a first point in time t 1 with a call going out from the first telephone TA and directed to the second telephone T 1 . Because, according to the scenario in the example, the subscriber to whom the call is directed is absent, the call is unanswered or is answered with an invitation to leave a message in the subscriber's voice-mailbox.

This result of the call is normally satisfactory, but for particularly urgent calls requiring immediate or very prompt contact with the targeted subscriber, it is an inadequate solution.

The invention offers a solution in which, after the unsuccessful call placed at the first point in time t 1 to the second telephone T 1 , the caller can reach the subscriber by placing a call at a second point in time t 2 after the first point in time t 1 to the central telephone number RZ, which, according to the invention, recognizes that someone is trying to reach the subscriber to whom the second telephone T 1 is assigned and forwards the call at an immediately following third point in time t 3 to one of the alternative telephone numbers stored in the system.

In the preceding example, the third telephone number R 1 a is for the mobile unit MB of the subscriber who was not reached initially. According to the invention, however, it could also be the telephone number of the fourth telephone TB (not shown), which, for example, is not connected to the telephone switching unit PBX but instead can be a telephone that is reachable through the public network. This can be the private connection of the subscriber who was not reached at work through the telephone switching unit PBX.

To guarantee this functionality, according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention, a first process S 1 , specifically breaker-controlled and running in the background parallel to the processes required for routine communication, is implemented, and a second breaker-controlled process S 2 , also running in parallel in the background, is also implemented.

The first process S 1 and the second process S 2 , while they are active in the background during an outgoing transmission, perform a monitoring function in the receipt of calls to one or more telephone numbers provided to them, which are available or assigned to the telephone switching unit.

The first process S 1 thereby observes, in a first step S 1 _ 1 according to the exemplary embodiment, all of the telephone numbers RA, R 1 . . . RN assigned to the telephones TA, T 1 . . . TN connected to the telephone switching unit. Alternatively, the telephones, or rather their telephone numbers, dialed in the telephone switching unit PBX for the function according to the invention.

In a second step S 1 _ 2 , as part of the (observation) monitoring, the system tests, in closed-loop form, to see whether a call for the monitored telephone numbers is received.

If so, in a third step S 1 _ 3 , the target telephone number is stored; according to this scenario, the target telephone number is the second telephone number R 1 , assigned to the telephone number RA of the caller or of the first telephone TA, determined using CLIP.

Further, in the second step S 1 _ 2 or alternatively not until the third step S 1 _ 3 , or even immediately upon connection in a fourth step S 1 _ 4 , a timer is started. The timer's time can be a predefined fixed value or can be entered or preset. In general, if there is a predefined time value, it is determined, for example, by simulations or retrospectively to find an optimal execution or performance of the invented method. In addition, according to the invention example, a timer is provided for each of the (dialed) telephone numbers RA, R 1 . . . RN, because when the timer runs out, the unsuccessful stored call attempts to the respective telephone number RA, R 1 . . . RN are deleted, so separate monitoring of the individual telephone numbers RA, R 1 . . . RN is guaranteed.

If the first subscriber now calls the central telephone number RZ within the time window, i.e. the second point in time t 2 occurs before the timer has run out, then as part of the second process S 2 the first telephone number RA is captured and tested to see whether for this telephone number, during the first process S 1 , there is a piece of information stored assigning it to a telephone number R 1 . . . RN associated with an unsuccessful attempt. That is, in the scenario shown, whether the second telephone number R 1 is called by a terminal with the first telephone number RA and therefore a piece of assignment information R 1 (RA) is stored.

If this is the case, the second process S 2 tests to see whether an alternate telephone number has been provided for the first telephone number R 1 . According to the scenario shown, this is provided by the mobile number R 1 a assigned to the mobile device MB, so that, according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the call from the first terminal TA that reached the central telephone number RZ is forwarded to the alternate number R 1 a at the third point in time t 3 .

The invention makes it possible, without knowing the alternate telephone number, simply by calling a number designated in the system as such a number, to reach the desired subscriber at his second or third terminal.

So that the second process can also determine the target automatically, without having to direct questions back to the caller, it is a feature of the exemplary embodiment that only the last of the dialed but not reached telephone numbers RA, R 1 . . . RN for each source is stored. This means that, if a fourth telephone T 2 (not shown) announced to the telephone switching unit was called from the first telephone TA after the first point in time t 1 , the assignment would be deleted regardless of the expiration of the timer set for the first telephone number R 1 during the first process, and instead an assignment RA (R 2 ) for the telephone number of the fourth telephone T 2 would be stored. This ensures that there is a clear assignment of caller source to important target.

Alternatively, this can also be guaranteed if, in addition to the assignment, an additional quantity indicating the assignment is stored, such as the number of outgoing unsuccessful connection attempts directed from the first telephone TA to the second telephone T 1 and the fourth telephone T 2 , and the system depends on the (larger) number for determining the target as part of the second process S 2 .

As an additional extension or alternative, statistical values, especially referring to call logs, such as frequency of calls from the first terminal TA to the second terminal T 2 or times of calls to certain telephone numbers, are possible and can be used advantageously depending upon available resources.

In a fifth step S 1 _ 5 , when the timer starts, in addition a counter, which is responsible for recording connection attempts made according to the invention to one of the telephone numbers R 1 . . . RN from the same source within a time window established by the timer value, is reset, wherein this absolutely must not mean a reset to the “zero” value, but rather, referring to the first connection attempt related to this reset, can also be set to the value of “one.”

The first process S 1 performs the organized storage in such a way that, for each calling number RA, only the last telephone number R 1 . . . RN that it called is stored, and this assignment is deleted after the timer started in the fourth step S 1 _ 4 runs out.

The second process S 2 is responsible for monitoring the central telephone number RZ, wherein, as previously explained, this process runs in parallel with the first process S 1 and cooperates with it according to the invented method.

This occurs beginning with an initial status in the sixth step S 2 _ 1 , by means of which in a seventh step S 2 _ 2 there is closed-loop testing to determine whether a call to the central telephone number RZ has been received, and if this can be answered affirmatively, in an eighth step S 2 _ 3 a possible caller number RA assumed in the scenario is selected using the input stored in the first process S 1 .

If there is no input available, because no subscriber monitored in the first process S 1 was called from the first telephone TA or the timer set in the first process has run out and therefore an already existing input has been deleted, then the call is simply ended. As an alternative or extension, the caller can be informed of this by means of a message.

If, however, there is an input, then in a ninth step S 2 _ 4 a command is generated in the telephone switching unit PBX to forward the incoming call in a tenth step S 2 _ 5 to an alternate number, which is provided by a stored assignment R 1 (RA), because it has remembered the last unreached telephone number, and the third telephone number R 1 a assigned to that telephone number can be determined using that remembered unreached telephone number.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention that is not shown, the invented process can also be ended once this forwarding occurs. An advantageous and also illustrated further extension consists of having the assigned number also queried, depending on the current counter status, in the ninth step S 2 _ 4 , so that in the case where the second call to the central telephone number RZ has already gone out from the first telephone TA within a short time according to the timer, a possible second alternate number assigned by the user of the second telephone T 1 is set as the forwarding target, wherein the counter is increased by as many alternate numbers as have been assigned as locations where the user of the second telephone T 1 can be reached.

If no additional number is furnished, the call is simply ended by the central telephone number RZ, with a prior message if necessary.

As an alternative, it is conceivable that the first alternate number can be used again for forwarding, i.e., the alternate number is determined using modulo division.

The invented method therefore guarantees that an urgently sought communication subscriber can be reached more easily and without knowing all of his telephone numbers. It is necessary to know only one of his numbers and the central telephone number RZ.

While the invention was explained using the exemplary embodiment with voice devices, it can also be used with communication terminals such as video or multimedia terminals or data terminals such as faxes. In addition, the telephone terminals can also involve software telephone applications on a workplace computer or a PDA. Additionally, the communication method can be circuit-switched or packet-oriented, and the telephones can be circuit-switched or packet-oriented, wired or mobile terminals.

The first telephone TA making the call can generally be connected to a public or private communication network, a mobile wireless network, an ISDN network, a public or private data network, or a wireless data network, as long as a connection to the second telephone T 1 from the first telephone TA is possible.

Telephone numbers obviously can also include a VoIP account, in the form of an e-mail address, for example, or other information that identifies a User Agent.