Apparatus, Systems and Methods for Providing Telephony Services to Multiple Devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015271216-A1
Application number	US-201514732492-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 5, 2015
Priority date	Jul 26, 2013
Publication date	Sep 24, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described are call handling methods performed by a carrier network or client stations. A method performed by a carrier network includes designating rules for call handling for an account, receiving first and second voice calls for the account, wherein the voice calls may be either an incoming calls or originated calls and handling the first and second voice calls for the account based on the rules. A method performed by a client station includes receiving a first invitation to a first call, responding to the first invitation causing the first call to be active, receiving a second invitation to a second call while the first call remains active and responding to the second invitation causing the second call to be active and the first call to be on hold, the client station is prevented from originating a call when one call is active and one call is on hold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
at a carrier network:
designating a plurality of rules for call handling for an account, wherein the account has a plurality of associated client stations, wherein one of the associated client stations is designated a primary station and remaining client stations are designated secondary stations;
receiving a first voice call for the account, wherein the first voice call is one of an incoming call for the account or a voice call originated from one of the plurality of associated client stations;
receiving a second voice call for the account, wherein the second voice call is one of an incoming call for the account or a voice call originated from one of the plurality of associated client stations, wherein the second voice call is received while the first voice call is active; and
handling the first and second voice calls for the account based on the plurality of rules.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary station is connected to the carrier network using one of a cellular connection or a WiFi connection.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the secondary stations are connected to the carrier network using a corresponding WiFi connection.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rules includes a maximum number of associated client stations.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rules includes a maximum number of active call legs that each of the associated client stations handles.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rules for the secondary stations include at least one different rule from the plurality of rules for the primary station.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rules includes a rule that only one secondary station is handling an active call.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein when the carrier network invokes the rule that only one secondary station is handling the active call, the method further comprises:
one of,
rejecting voice calls originated from secondary stations that are not handling the active call; or
sending an indication that one of the secondary stations is handling an active call to the secondary stations that are not handling the active call.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rules includes rules that handle the incoming call for the account differently from the voice call originated from one of the plurality of associated client stations.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the handling the first and second voice calls is further based on information received from an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

11 . A method, comprising:
at a carrier network:
receiving an indication that a plurality of client stations are associated with an account;
receiving a first incoming voice call for the account;
sending a first invitation for the first incoming voice call to each of the client stations associated with the account;
receiving a first response to the first invitation from one of the plurality of client stations associated with the account;
receiving a second incoming voice call for the account while the first incoming voice call remains active; and
sending a second invitation for the second incoming voice call to each of the client stations associated with the account.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a third incoming voice call for the account while the first and second incoming voice calls remain active; and sending a third invitation for the third incoming voice call to each of the client stations associated with the account.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a second response to the second invitation from one of the plurality of client stations associated with the account; and when the first response and the second response are received from the same one of the plurality of client stations, preventing the same one of the plurality of client stations from originating a voice call while the first and second incoming calls remain active.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein one of the plurality of client stations is designated a primary station and remaining ones of the plurality of client stations are designated secondary stations, the method further comprising:
when the first response is received from one of the secondary stations, preventing the other ones of the secondary stations from originating a voice call while the first incoming call remains active.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein one of the plurality of client stations is designated a primary station and remaining ones of the plurality of client stations are designated secondary stations, wherein:
when the first response is received from one of the secondary stations, the sending of the second invitation is only to the primary station and the one of the secondary stations from which the first response was received.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first response is received from one of the client stations designated as a primary station, the method further comprising:
receiving a second response to the second invitation from one of the plurality of client stations designated as a secondary station; receiving a third incoming voice call for the account while the first and second incoming voice calls remain active; and sending a third invitation for the third incoming voice call to only the primary station and the secondary station from which the second response was received.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving a third response to the third invitation from one of the primary station or secondary station; and receiving a fourth incoming voice call for the account while the first, second and third incoming voice calls remain active; and sending a fourth invitation for the third incoming voice call to only the primary station and the secondary station.

18 . A method, comprising:
at a client station:
registering with a IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) of a carrier network;
receiving a first invitation to a first incoming call from the carrier network;
responding to the first invitation causing the first incoming call to be active on the client station;
receiving a second invitation to a second incoming call from the carrier network while the first incoming call remains active; and
responding to the second invitation causing the second incoming call to be active on the client station and the first incoming call to be on hold on the client station,
wherein the client station is prevented from originating a call when the second incoming call is active and the first incoming call is on hold.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the client station is associated with an account having a plurality of associated client stations and wherein the client station is designated a primary station of the account.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the client station is associated with an account having a plurality of associated client stations and wherein the client station is designated a secondary station of the account, the method further comprising:
receiving an indication from the carrier network that a further secondary station is actively handling a voice call; and preventing the client station from originating a call based on the indication that the further secondary station is actively handling a call.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mathias Arun
• Abdulrahiman Najeeb
• Lee Teck Yang
• Singh Ajoy
• Yerrabommanahalli Vikram
• Malthankar Rohan

Classifications

• H04L65/1096 Primary

  Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding (systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42) · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L65/1016

  IP multimedia subsystem [IMS] · CPC title

• H04L67/30

  Profiles · CPC title