Providing notifications of call-related services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9398164-B2
Application number	US-201313789500-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2013
Priority date	Jan 28, 2013
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a first near-end terminal, the first near-end terminal being a mobile user terminal operable to establish voice or video calls with one or more far-end user terminals over a network. A detection module detects when the first near-end terminal is within a relative proximity of a second near-end terminal available to provide a call-related service in relation to one or more of the voice or video calls. A notification module outputs a notification to a user of the first near-end terminal based on said detection, notifying the user of the call-related service. In response to said detection, a configuration module is operable to store a configuration configuring the first near-end terminal as having the second near-end terminal identified for later provision of the call-related service.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Apparatus for use in relation to a first near-end terminal, the first near-end terminal being a mobile user terminal operable to establish voice or video calls with one or more far-end user terminals over a network, the apparatus comprising:
a detection module arranged to detect when the first near-end terminal is within a relative proximity of a second near-end terminal available to provide a call-related service in relation to one or more of the voice or video calls, the detection comprising comparing environmental data detected by the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal to determine a correlation indicative of the relative proximity, the environmental data comprising sound sampled from surroundings of the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal;
a notification module arranged to output a notification to a user of the first near-end terminal based on said detection, notifying the user of the call-related service; and
a configuration module operable, in response to said detection, to store a configuration configuring the first near-end terminal as having the second near-end terminal identified for later provision of the call-related service.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the notification module is arranged to automatically output the notification when the first and second near-end terminals are detected to be within said proximity.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the notification prompts the user for a user selection as to whether to accept use of the call-related service, and the configuration module is arranged to store said setting on condition of said user selection being affirmative.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration module is arranged to automatically retrieve the configuration setting for making use of the call-related service after the first terminal and/or second near-end terminal has departed from and then returned to said proximity.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration module is arranged to automatically retrieve the configuration setting when the user later makes one of the voice or video calls, thereby making use of the call-related service in the call.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second near-end terminal is a user terminal providing a media end-point, and wherein the call-related service comprises use of the second near-end terminal to play out or generate at least one of an audio or video stream of the call.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first near-end terminal continues to control the call while the second near-end terminal plays out or generates the at least one stream.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first near-end terminal plays out or generates at least one other audio or video stream of the call.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second near-end terminal comprises an analogue telephone adaptor, the call-related service comprising use of the second near-end terminal to render a call received over the network.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect when the first and second near-end terminals are within said proximity based on one or more of:
the first and second near-end terminals both being connected to a same local network;
the first and second near-end terminals sharing an address space being a subset of addresses of a packet-switched network; or
the first and second near-end terminals both connecting to a same network interface address of an intermediate network equipment.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect when the first and second near-end terminals are within said proximity based on: using a satellite-based positioning system or other geographic localization technology to detect that a geographic location of the first near-end terminal is within a proximity of a geographic location of the second near-end user terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect when the first and second near-end terminals are within said proximity based on the first and second near-end terminals being separated by no more than a threshold number of hops.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect when the first and second near-end terminals are within said proximity based on a transmission time of a packet travelling between the first and second near-end terminals.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect when the first and second near-end terminals are within said proximity a type of access technology currently available for communicating between the first and second near-end terminals.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the detection module is further arranged to detect availability of the call-related service in further dependence on a shared authentication element of the first and second near-end terminals.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is implemented at the first near-end terminal.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises a packet-based network.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second near-end terminal is a mobile user terminal, mobile phone, tablet, laptop computer, desktop computer, games console, hi-fi or stereo system, television or set-top box.

19. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable memories, coupled to the one or more processors, comprising instructions for use in relation to a first near-end terminal, the first near-end terminal being a mobile user terminal operable to establish voice or video calls with one or more far-end user terminals over a network, the instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
detecting when the first near-end terminal is within a relative proximity of a second near-end terminal available to provide a call-related service in relation to one or more of the voice or video calls, the detecting comprising comparing environmental data detected by the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal to determine a correlation indicative of the relative proximity, the environmental data comprising sound sampled from surroundings of the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal;
based on said detection, outputting a notification to a user of the first near-end terminal notifying the user of the call-related service; and
in response to said detection, storing a configuration setting configuring the first near-end terminal as having the second-near end terminal identified for later provision of the call-related service.

20. A method to establish packet-based voice or video calls from a first near-end terminal with one or more far-end user terminals over a network, the method comprising:
detecting when the first near-end terminal is within a relative proximity of a second near-end terminal available to act as a media end-point for one or more of the voice or video calls established via the first near-end user terminal, the detecting comprising comparing environmental data detected by the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal to determine a correlation indicative of the relative proximity, the environmental data comprising sound sampled from surroundings of the first near-end terminal and the second near-end terminal;
when the first and second near-end terminals are detected to be within sai

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Gillett Mark Alastair

Classifications

• H04W8/005

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04M1/7253

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04N7/147

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · CPC title