Adaptive rule-based mechanism and method for feature interaction resolution

In a telephony communication system wherein a service is to be performed in response to an event, said system including a plurality of executable conflicting features representing available options which can be performed to complete said service, an adaptive rule-based method to resolve feature conflicts during performance of said service comprising the steps of:

• determining the conflicting features available for execution;
• examining said conflicting features to determine whether one of said conflicting features takes priority over other conflicting features;
• if one of said conflicting features takes priority, executing said one conflicting feature thereby to complete said service;
• and
• if one of said conflicting feature does not take priority, prompting a user to select one of said conflicting features for execution to resolve said conflicting feature interaction and executing the selected conflicting feature thereby to complete said service.

An adaptive rule-based mechanism to resolve conflicting feature interactions when a plurality of conflicting features can be executed simultaneously in response to an event, said mechanism comprising:

• means for determining conflicting features available for execution in response to said event;
• means for examining said conflicting features to determine whether one of said conflicting features takes priority over other conflicting features;
• means for selecting the conflicting feature that takes priority for execution, if it exists;
• and
• means for prompting a user to make a selection to resolve said conflicting feature interaction if a conflicting feature taking priority does not exist.

In a system where two or more indeterminate features can be executed in response to an event resulting in a conflicting feature interaction, an adaptive rule-based method for resolving said conflicting feature interaction comprising the steps of:

• determining indeterminate features available for execution in response to an event;
• examining said indeterminate features to determine whether one of said indeterminate features takes priority over other indeterminate features;
• if one of said indeterminate features takes priority, selecting said one indeterminate feature for execution;
• and
• if one of said indeterminate features does not take priority, comparing levels assigned to the indeterminate features with the level assigned to a user associated with said event, if the level assigned to at least one of the indeterminate features is above the level of the user, automatically selecting one of the indeterminate features to resolve the conflicting feature interaction;
• otherwise prompting the user to make a selection to resolve the conflicting feature interaction.

In a telephony communication system wherein a telephone call completion service is to be performed in response to a telephone call, said system including a plurality of executable conflicting features representing available options which can be performed to complete said service, an adaptive rule-based method to resolve feature conflicts during performance of said service comprising the steps of:

• prompting a calling party to select one of a number of options;
• determining the conflicting features available for execution;
• examining said conflicting features to determine whether one of said conflicting features takes priority over the other conflicting features;
• if one of said conflicting features takes priority, executing said one conflicting feature thereby to complete said service;
• and
• if one conflicting feature does not take priority, examining rules associated with a policy governing feature selection to determine if the policy rules remove one or more features from the conflict;
• prompting a user to make a selection from the remaining conflicting features to resolve said conflicting feature interaction;
• and executing the selected feature thereby to complete said service.

A computer readable medium including computer program code for resolving conflicting feature interactions comprising:

• computer program code for determining conflicting features available for execution in response to an event;
• computer program code for examining said conflicting features to determine whether one of said conflicting features takes priority over other conflicting features;
• computer program code for selecting said one conflicting feature for execution if one of said conflicting features takes priority;
• and
• computer program code for prompting a user to select one of said conflicting features for execution if one of said conflicting features does not take priority thereby to resolve said conflicting feature interaction.