U.S. patent application number 11/408712 was filed with the patent office on 2006-09-14 for apparatus and method for merging wireless telephone service with existing wired telephone equipment in a facility.
Invention is credited to Maria Azua Himmel, Herman Rodriquez, Newton James JR. Smith, Clifford Jay Spinac.
Application Number | 20060205411 11/408712 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25478543 |
Filed Date | 2006-09-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060205411 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Himmel; Maria Azua ; et
al. |
September 14, 2006 |
Apparatus and method for merging wireless telephone service with
existing wired telephone equipment in a facility
Abstract
An apparatus and method for merging mobile, or wireless,
telephone service with existing wired telephone equipment in a
facility, such as a home or business, are provided. With the
apparatus and method, a converter is associated with the facility
such that a wireless telephone number is associated with the
converter. Telephone calls may be made to the facility via a
wireless telephone network and the converter. The converter
receives calls from the wireless telephone network directed to the
converter, converts the format of the wireless telephone call to a
wired telephone call format, and routes these calls to one or more
wired telephone units in the facility. Calls originating from the
wired telephone units in the facility are received by the converter
which converts the call signals to an appropriate format for
wireless network routing, and forwards the call to the wireless
network.
Inventors: |
Himmel; Maria Azua;
(Yorktown Heights, NY) ; Rodriquez; Herman;
(Austin, TX) ; Smith; Newton James JR.; (Austin,
TX) ; Spinac; Clifford Jay; (Austin, TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
IBM CORP (YA);C/O YEE & ASSOCIATES PC
P.O. BOX 802333
DALLAS
TX
75380
US
|
Family ID: |
25478543 |
Appl. No.: |
11/408712 |
Filed: |
April 21, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09942748 |
Aug 30, 2001 |
7082306 |
|
|
11408712 |
Apr 21, 2006 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/445 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 2242/30 20130101;
H04M 2207/206 20130101; H04M 2203/1091 20130101; H04W 88/021
20130101; H04M 3/42 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/445 |
International
Class: |
H04Q 7/20 20060101
H04Q007/20 |
Claims
1-26. (canceled)
27. A computer implemented method of routing calls from wired
telephone devices in a facility, the computer implemented method
comprising: receiving a call from a wired telephone device;
converting the call to a wireless telephone network format;
forwarding the call directly to a wireless telephone network
without routing the call through a wired telephone network external
to the facility; determining a location of a wireless telephone
device associated with the facility routing the call to the
wireless telephone device based on the location of the wireless
telephone device, wherein the call is routed to the wireless
telephone device only when the location of the wireless telephone
device is not a location within the facility.
28-30. (canceled)
31. The computer implemented method of claim 27, further
comprising: routing the call to both the wired telephone device and
the wireless telephone device.
32. The computer implemented method of claim 27, wherein the call
has one or more associated wireless telephone services, and wherein
the one or more associated wireless telephone services are provided
through the wired telephone device.
33. The computer implemented method of claim 32, wherein the wired
telephone device includes a wireless service unit that provides one
or more interfaces for providing the one or more wireless telephone
services to a user of the wired telephone device, wherein the
services are services a wireless user has subscribed to
receive.
34. The computer implemented method of claim 27, wherein the call
has an associated address, and wherein forwarding the call to the
wired telephone device includes looking up the associated address
in a directory of wired telephone devices associated with the
facility, wherein the associated address is a geographic location
of the facility and wherein determining if the last reported
location of the wireless telephone device coincides with the
geographical location of the facility with which the wireless
telephone unit is associated.
35. The computer implemented method of claim 27, further
comprising: storing tracking information for the wired telephone
device.
36. The computer implemented method of claim 35, wherein the
tracking information includes one or more of records of calls made
to or from the wired telephone device, wired telephone device
preferences, wired telephone capabilities, user preferences for a
user of the wired telephone device, and billing records for the
wired telephone device.
37. The computer implemented method of claim 31, wherein a
telephone number associated with the call has an associated
identifier for the wired telephone device and an associated
identifier for the wireless telephone device, and wherein the call
is routes to the wired telephone device and the wireless telephone
device based on the associated identifiers.
38. The computer implemented method of claim 31, further
comprising: determining when to route the calls to the wired or
wireless telephones associated with the facility; and routing the
call based upon the determination.
39. An apparatus for routing calls from wired telephone devices in
a facility, comprising: a facility wired network interface; a
wireless network interface; and a controller coupled to both the
facility wired network interface and the wireless network
interface, wherein the controller receives a call from a wired
telephone device; converts the call to a wireless telephone network
format; forwards the call directly to a wireless telephone network
without routing the call through a wired telephone network external
to the facility; determines a location of a wireless telephone
device associated with the facility; routes the call to the
wireless telephone device based on the location of the wireless
telephone device, wherein the call is routed to the wireless
telephone device only when the location of the wireless telephone
device is not a location within the facility.
40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the controller routes the
call to both the wired telephone device and the wireless telephone
device.
41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the call has an associated
address, and wherein the controller forwards the call to the wired
telephone device includes looking up the associated address in a
directory of wired telephone devices associated with the facility,
wherein the associated address is a geographic location of the
facility and wherein determining if the last reported location of
the wireless telephone device coincides with the geographical
location of the facility with which the wireless telephone unit is
associated.
42. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the controller stores
tracking information for the wired telephone device.
43. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the controller determines
when to route the calls to the wired or wireless telephones
associated with the facility; and routes the call based upon the
determination.
44. A computer program product comprising: a computer usable medium
including computer usable program code for routing calls from a
wired telephone devices in a facility, the computer program product
including: computer usable program code for receiving a call from a
wired telephone device; computer usable program code for converting
the call to a wireless telephone network format; computer usable
program code for forwarding the call directly to a wireless
telephone network without routing the call through a wired
telephone network external to the facility; computer usable program
code for determining a location of a wireless telephone device
associated with the facility; computer usable program code for
routing the call to the wireless telephone device based on the
location of the wireless telephone device, wherein the call is
routed to the wireless telephone device only when the location of
the wireless telephone device is not a location within the
facility.
45. The computer program product of claim 44, further including:
computer usable program code for routing the call to both the wired
telephone device and the wireless telephone device.
46. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the call has
an associated address, and wherein forwarding the call to the wired
telephone device includes looking up the associated address in a
directory of wired telephone devices associated with the facility,
wherein the associated address is a geographic location of the
facility and wherein determining if the last reported location of
the wireless telephone device coincides with the geographical
location of the facility with which the wireless telephone unit is
associated.
47. The computer program product of claim 44, further including:
computer usable program code for storing tracking information for
the wired telephone device.
48. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein a telephone
number associated with the call has an associated identifier for
the wired telephone device and an associated identifier for the
wireless telephone device, and wherein the call is routes to the
wired telephone device and the wireless telephone device based on
the associated identifiers.
49. The computer program product of claim 44, further including:
computer usable program code for determining when to route the
calls to the wired or wireless telephones associated with the
facility; and computer usable program code for routing the call
based upon the determination.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Technical Field
[0002] The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method
for merging wireless telephone service with existing wired
telephone equipment in a facility.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Mobile, also called wireless, telephones are becoming more
prevalent in today's society. Many households have at least one
mobile telephone and many businesses now issue wireless telephones
to their employees. However, the mobile phone and phones used
within the home or business facilities are rarely the same.
Moreover, the mobile phone typically has a different telephone
number than the telephones in the home or business facilities. For
example, a telephone service subscriber may have a first telephone
number assigned to the land-line telephones in his/her home and a
second telephone number assigned to his/her mobile telephone.
[0005] Thus, telephone service subscribers must pay for two
separate telephone subscriptions and cope with having two different
telephone numbers. Furthermore, the persons that will attempt to
contact the subscriber must be made aware of both telephone numbers
and often must try both telephone numbers when attempting to
contact the subscriber.
[0006] Many subscribers would prefer to use their mobile telephones
everywhere and discontinue their subscriptions to wired telephone
service. There are many reasons why users may prefer to use their
mobile telephones. First, many services that have extra fees
associated with them in a wired telephone service are free with
mobile telephone service subscriptions, including CallerID and
VoiceMail. Second, the cost of usage may, depending on the mobile
telephone service subscription plan, be less than that of wired
service.
[0007] On the other hand, with wired telephone service, many wired
telephones may be connected and use the same telephone number with
no additional cost. In addition wire telephone units are typically
cheaper than mobile telephones (unless they are purchased through
special incentive offers provided by mobile telephone service
providers). Thus, it would be beneficial to have an apparatus and
method for merging mobile telephone service with existing wired
telephone service equipment in facilities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] An apparatus and method for merging mobile, or wireless,
telephone service with existing wired telephone equipment in a
facility, such as a home or business, are provided. With the
apparatus and method, a converter is associated with the facility
such that a wireless telephone number is associated with the
converter. Telephone calls may be made to the facility via a
wireless telephone network and the converter.
[0009] The converter receives calls from the wireless telephone
network directed to the converter, converts the format of the
wireless telephone call to a wired telephone call format, and
routes these calls to one or more wired telephone units in the
facility. Calls originating from the wired telephone units in the
facility are received by the converter which converts the call
signals to an appropriate format for wireless network routing, and
forwards the call to the wireless network.
[0010] In an alternative embodiment, a single telephone number may
be associated with a converter and with one or more wireless
telephones. When a call is received and is directed to the
telephone number, the telephone call is routed to both the wireless
telephone and the converter. The converter operates in the same
manner as in the previous embodiment. The wireless telephone
operates in a normal fashion. The telephone that first answers the
call receives the call signals and the routing of the call to the
other telephones is discontinued.
[0011] In addition, the wireless telephone may be equipped with a
location determination device that determines the wireless
telephone's geographic location. This geographic location may be
reported to the wireless service provider. When a call is received
for the telephone number associated with the wireless telephone and
the converter, a check is made to determine if the last reported
location of the wireless telephone was the location of the facility
associated with the converter. If the last reported location was
the same as the facility location, calls are not routed to the
wireless telephone and are only routed to the wired telephone units
via the converter.
[0012] Alternatively, telephone calls may be routed to both the
converter and the wireless telephone. In such an embodiment, both
the converter and the wireless telephone have an electronic ID
(EID), mobile identification number (MIN), or the like. A single
telephone number will have the two EIDs associated with it. When a
call is placed to the telephone number, the call will be sent to
both EIDs and thus, both the converter and the wireless telephone.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be described
in, or will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
in view of, the following detailed description of the preferred
embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention
are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself,
however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and
advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the
following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when
read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0014] FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a
telephone network according to the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a wireless to
wired telephone converter according to the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 3A is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of
the present invention when receiving a call from a wireless
network;
[0017] FIG. 3B is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of
the present invention when receiving a call from a facility wired
telephone;
[0018] FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a
telephone network in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment
of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 5 is an exemplary block diagram of a wireless service
provider according to the second exemplary embodiment; and
[0020] FIG. 6 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of
the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of a telephone network
in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the
telephone network 100 includes a wireless network 110, a wireless
service provider 115, a converter 120 and a facility 130 having one
or more wired telephone units 140-160. The wireless network 110 may
be a cellular network, satellite network, infrared network,
Bluetooth.TM. network, or the like. The wireless network 110 may
include a plurality of routers, switches, base stations, and the
like. Moreover, the wireless network 110 may include one or more
wireless networks of the same or different types. The wireless
network 110 operates in the same manner as generally known in the
art.
[0022] The wireless service provider 115 provides wireless
telephone services to the facility 130 via the converter 120. The
wireless service provider 115 may operate in the same manner as
generally known in the art with regard to providing wireless
telephone service to wireless telephone devices. In the present
invention, the converter 120 is considered a wireless telephone
device by the wireless service provider 115 and thus, the wireless
service provider 115 routes wireless telephone calls to the
converter 120 in much the same way that known wireless service
providers route wireless telephone calls to wireless telephone
devices.
[0023] In an alternative embodiment, as described in more detail
hereafter, the wireless telephone service provider may have its
operation modified from that generally known of existing wireless
telephone service providers, such that the wireless telephone
service provider determines whether to route wireless telephone
calls to a wireless telephone unit and/or the converter 120 based
on its current location.
[0024] The converter 120 couples the wireless network 110 to the
facility 130 and facilitates the merging of wireless telephone
service with the wired telephone equipment in the facility 130. The
converter 120 converts wireless call signals received from the
wireless telephone service provider 115 into a format useable by
the wired telephone units 140-160 associated with the facility 130.
The converter 120 then routes the call to the wired telephone units
140-160.
[0025] Conversely, the converter 120 may receive telephone call
signals from wired telephone units 140-160 and convert them to a
wireless network format. The converter 120 may then route the call
signals to the wireless telephone service provider 115 for routing
through the wireless network 110 to the designated destination.
[0026] When a call is received by the converter 120 from the
wireless network 110, the call is converted to a format usable by
wired telephone devices 140-160. Such conversion is performed in a
manner generally known in the art for sending mobile telephone
calls to land-line telephones. The conversion may include
converting signaling protocols used by the wireless network to
signaling protocols used by wired networks, for example. In the
present case, however, the call is not routed through an external
wired telephone network to arrive at the facility telephone units
140-160 but rather, is routed to the converter 120 via the wireless
network 110 and then from the converter 120 to the wired telephone
units 140-160.
[0027] Once the converter 120 converts the call to a wired
telephone network protocol, the converter 120 forwards the call to
one or more of the wired telephone units 140-160 associated with
the facility 130. Such forwarding causes the wired telephone units
140-160 to which the call is forwarded to ring to thereby notify
persons nearby that a telephone call is available to be
received.
[0028] In this way, the wired telephone units 140-160 are operated
in a normal fashion as if the call were routed through a wired
telephone network. Thus, the recipient of telephone call is not
aware of any difference in the telephone service that they receive.
Similarly, the calling party places a call in the same fashion as
they would without the presence of the present invention. The
present invention operates as a bridge between the wireless network
110 and the facility 130 such that telephone service may be
provided by a wireless telephone service provider to a wired
telephone in the facility 130 with little if any difference in the
operating experience of the caller and the call recipient.
[0029] In addition to the above, in forwarding the call to the
wired telephone units 140-160, any special telephone services
subscribed to by the wireless subscriber at the facility 130 will
be provided in the forwarding of the call. Thus, for example, if
the subscriber's wireless telephone service subscription includes a
voicemail service and a caller ID service, such services will be
provided to the wired telephone units 140-160, assuming the wired
telephone units 140-160 are equipped to make use of such services.
As a result, many services that do not require an additional charge
in the mobile telephone service subscription are provided to wired
telephone units without requiring an additional cost.
[0030] If the wired telephone units 140-160 are not equipped to
make use of the wireless telephone services, the wired telephone
units may be provided with a separate device coupled to the wired
telephone unit 140-160 that provides the necessary functionality.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the wired telephone unit 140 may
be provided with a wireless services unit 180 that provides one or
more interfaces, circuitry, and applications for providing wireless
telephone services to the wired telephone unit 140. Thus, when the
converter 120 forwards the call to the wired telephone unit 140,
the call is passed through the wireless services unit 180 which
provides any wireless services identified in the call signals.
Thus, even wired telephone units that are not equipped to handle
wireless telephone services may be provided with these services
with the aid of an additional hardware unit.
[0031] When placing an outbound call, a calling party may make use
of a wired telephone unit 140-160 in the facility 130 in a normal
manner. The calling party dials the telephone number and awaits
being connected to the called party. The converter 120 receives the
initiation call signals from the wired telephone unit and converts
them to a format useable with the wireless telephone network 110.
The converter 120 then forwards the call to the wireless network
110 which then routes the call in a normal fashion to the
destination telephone unit (either wired or wireless).
[0032] Moreover, while the present invention is being described in
terms of a single telephone number being associated with the
converter 120, the present invention is not limited to such.
Rather, multiple telephone numbers may be associated with a single
converter 120. This may be the case in a business type facility
130, where there may be a plurality of-different offices or the
like, each may have their own telephone number.
[0033] In such a case, the wireless service provider 115 will route
all calls to any of the telephone numbers associated with the
facility 130 to the converter 120. The converter 120 may then store
a table identifying which wired telephone units 140-160 correspond
to different destination telephone numbers. Based on the
destination telephone number of the call that was received, as may
be determined, for example, based on header information or header
signals, the converter 120 may identify the appropriate destination
wired telephone unit 140-160 to which the call should be forwarded.
The call is then forwarded to the wired telephone unit 140-160
based on this table look-up.
[0034] FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a converter
according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the
converter 200 includes a controller 210, a memory 220, a facility
wired network interface 230, and a wireless network interface 240.
The elements 210-240 are coupled to one another via the
control/data signal bus 250. Although a bus architecture is shown
in FIG. 2, the present invention is not limited to such and any
architecture that facilitates the communication of control/data
signals among the elements 210-240 may be used without departing
from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0035] The controller 210 controls the overall operation of the
converter 200 based on control programs stored in the memory 220.
The controller 210 operates to convert calls from a mobile network
format to a wired telephone format, and vice versa, so that calls
may be made to and from the wired telephone units associated with
the facility to which the converter 200 is assigned. In addition,
the controller 210 may use a lookup table in the memory 220 to
identify to which one of the wired telephone units to forward the
call based on the destination telephone number of the received
call.
[0036] The facility wired network interface 230 provides a
communication interface for sending and receiving calls to and from
wired telephone units associated with the facility. The wireless
network interface 240 provides a communication interface for
sending and receiving calls to and from wireless telephone units
via the wireless network 110, for example. The wireless network
interface 240 may include, for example, a transceiver through which
calls are sent and received in a wireless manner.
[0037] In addition to providing a gateway through which calls to a
wireless telephone number may be routed to land-line telephones in
a facility, the converter of the present invention may also keep
track of the calls to and from each existing wired telephone, keep
track of which telephone in the building the call was sent to or
from, store telephone preferences for each wired telephone, user
preferences for each user of the wired telephones, store data
regarding the telephone capabilities, maintain billing records, and
the like. The converter may be provided with data storage devices
and applications for providing these functions.
[0038] FIG. 3A is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of
the present invention when receiving a call from a wireless
network. As shown in FIG. 3A, the operation starts with the receipt
of a call from a wireless network device (step 310). The call is
converted from the wireless network format to a wired network
format (step 320) and then routed to one or more of the wired
telephone units in the facility (step 330). Such routing of the
call to a wired telephone unit in the facility may include a table
look-up based on the destination telephone number as previously
described.
[0039] FIG. 3B is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of
the present invention when transmitting a call received from a
wired telephone unit associated with the facility. As shown in FIG.
3B, the operation starts with receiving a call from a wired
telephone unit in the facility destined for an outside telephone
number (step 340). The format of the call is converted from a wired
telephone network format to a wireless network format (step 350)
and the call is transmitted to the wireless network (step 360). The
call is then routed through the wireless network in a normal
fashion until it reaches the destination telephone unit (either
wired or wireless).
[0040] Thus, the present invention provides an apparatus and method
by which telephone calls may be routed to wired telephone units via
a wireless network without the need for an external wired telephone
network. By virtue of the present invention, wireless calls are
routed directly to the facility to which the calls are destined. A
converter in the facility then routes the call to an appropriate
wired telephone unit. Thus, the facility owner/operator need only
have one telephone service provider, i.e. the wireless telephone
service provider. Moreover, the facility owner/operator may make
use of many of the financial benefits of wireless networks, such as
free voicemail and caller ID services, and reduced costs due to
having a single telephone service provider.
[0041] As a further embodiment of the present invention, the
functionality of the present invention may be extended such that
both wired and wireless telephones may be associated with the
facility, and the present invention may discern when to route calls
to the wired or the wireless telephones. FIG. 4 is an exemplary
block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with this further
embodiment. The elements in FIG. 4 are the same as those in FIG. 1
with the exception that a wireless telephone unit 190 is associated
with the facility 130.
[0042] The wireless telephone unit 190 may be carried by a user
outside the location of the facility 130. In one embodiment of the
present invention, calls to a telephone number associated with the
converter 120 may be routed to the wireless telephone unit 190 in a
similar manner as that described above with regard to FIG. 1. The
difference here is that since the telephone unit 190 is wireless,
the forwarding of the call to the wireless telephone unit 190 does
not require conversion of the call to a wired telephone network
format. Further, the call is forwarded using the wireless network
110 rather than the facility wired network interface 230.
[0043] In an alternative embodiment, the wireless telephone service
provider 115 may transmit the call to both the converter 120 and
the wireless telephone unit 190 rather than relying on the
converter 120 to forward the call to the wireless telephone unit
190. Such functionality requires the wireless telephone service
provider 115 to maintain in its database an identifier of the
converter and the wireless telephone unit 190 such that it can
transmit a call signal to both units. For example, as single
telephone number may have two or more different telephone unit
identifiers associated with it, e.g., a first telephone identifier
for the converter 120 and a second telephone identifier for the
wireless telephone unit 190. When a call is placed to the telephone
number, the call is routed to both the converter 120 and the
wireless telephone unit 190. The first telephone unit to answer the
call will have the call forwarded to it.
[0044] In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, the
wireless telephone unit 190 may be equipped with a location
determination device, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS),
Loran, or the like. The wireless telephone unit 190 may
periodically report its current position to the wireless telephone
service provider 115 which updates the current position in a
database.
[0045] When a call is received for the wireless telephone unit 190,
the wireless telephone service provider 115 first checks the last
reported current position against a geographical location database
to determine whether the wireless telephone unit 190 is in the same
location as the facility 130. If not, the call is forwarded to the
wireless telephone unit 190. If it is in the same location, the
call is forwarded to one of an appropriate wired telephone unit in
the facility 130 only via the converter 120, or both the wired
telephone unit and the wireless telephone unit 190. The decision
whether to send to one or the other is purely implementation
specific, and may be user selectable.
[0046] In these alternative embodiments, the converter 120 is the
same as shown in FIG. 2, however the wireless telephone service
provider has additional functionality than that of standard
wireless telephone service providers. FIG. 5 is an exemplary block
diagram illustrating the primary operational components of the
wireless telephone service provider according to these alternative
embodiments.
[0047] As shown in FIG. 5, the wireless telephone service provider
includes a controller 510, a memory 520, a communication interface
530, a geographical location database 540, and a wireless unit
database 550. These elements 510-550 are coupled to one another via
the control/data signal bus 560. Although a bus architecture is
shown in FIG. 5, the present invention is not limited to such and
any architecture that facilitates the communication of control/data
signals among the elements 510-550 may be used without departing
from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0048] The controller 510 controls the overall operation of the
wireless telephone service provider and orchestrates the operation
of the other elements 520-550. The controller 510 may operate based
on control programs stored in memory 520, for example. The
controller 510 controls the routing of calls to the wireless
telephone units and the converters associated with facilities via
the interface 530.
[0049] The geographical location database 540 stores geographical
location information for various facilities registered with the
wireless telephone service provider. Such geographical location
information may include, for example, geographical coordinates of
the facilities, their identifications, associated telephone
numbers, and the like.
[0050] The wireless unit database 550 stores information regarding
the various wireless units that are currently under the supervision
of the wireless telephone service provider. Such information may
include identifications of the wireless units (this includes
converters), associated telephone numbers, last reported current
geographical locations, and the like.
[0051] In one of the alternative embodiments, when a call is
received for a wireless telephone unit, the wireless telephone
service provider compares the last reported current location from
the wireless unit database 550 to the geographical location
information stored in the geographical location database 540 to
determine if the last reported location coincides with the
geographical location of the facility with which the wireless
telephone unit is associated. If so, the call may be routed to one
or more of an appropriate wired telephone unit in the facility via
the converter, and the wireless telephone unit.
[0052] FIG. 6 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of a
wireless telephone service provider according to this alternative
embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the operation starts with receipt
of a call destined for a wireless telephone unit associated with a
facility (step 610). The wireless telephone service provider
retrieves a last reported current location for the destination
wireless telephone unit (step 620). The last reported current
location is then compared to location information in the
geographical location database (step 630). A determination is then
made as to whether the wireless telephone unit is in the same
location as the facility (step 640). If not, the call is routed to
the wireless telephone unit (step 650). If so, the call is routed
to the converter 120 and thereby to one or more of an appropriate
wired telephone units in the facility. The call may also be routed
to the wireless telephone unit (step 660).
[0053] Thus the present invention provides a mechanism by which
telephone calls may be sent to wired telephones directly from a
wireless network without first going through a wired telephone
network. While the present invention provides such functionality,
this does not preclude the wired telephones from also receiving
calls from other wired telephone devices via a wired telephone
network. In other words, the present invention may operate in
conjunction with wired telephone networks although the present
invention itself does not make use of these wired telephone
networks.
[0054] It is important to note that while the present invention has
been described in the context of a fully functioning call
processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will
appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable
of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of
instructions in a variety of forms and that the present invention
applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing
media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of
computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a
floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and
transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications
links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission
forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave
transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of
coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular data
processing system.
[0055] The description of the present invention has been presented
for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended
to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed.
Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of
ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described
in order to best explain the principles of the invention and their
practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in
the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with
various modifications as are suited to the particular use
contemplated.
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