Back to results
US 8,620,290 B2Granted
Method and system for scheduling phone call using SMS
AssigneeCellco Partnership
InventorKumar Sanjeev
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A schedule for a desired call, obtained, for example as an SMS message sent from a user's mobile station, enables a server to automatically initiate set-up of a voice call for the user's mobile station at a scheduled time selected by the user and indicated in the message. The user can specify time and a telephone number for the call, in advance, in the call scheduling request message. However, at the time of the call, the user does not need to read a reminder or dial the call. The call scheduling and automatic set-up services described by way of examples herein may be very useful, for example, for attending important conference calls. This may also be very useful for setting a reminder to call a special person to wish him/her well on his/her birthday/anniversary etc.
Claims11
A method of scheduling and setting up a voice call, comprising steps of:
- receiving a call scheduling request in a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) in communication with a mobile communication network, sent as a mobile messaging service message addressed to a short code from a user's mobile station through the mobile communication network, wherein the call scheduling request includes a scheduled time for the call and two or more telephone numbers for enabling communication with at least two other parties intended to be on the call;
- identifying, in the SMSC, an application server associated with the short code to which the mobile messaging service message is addressed;
- routing the mobile messaging service message from the SMSC through a packet network to a destination address of the identified application server associated with the short code;
- in response to the routing, receiving in the SMSC from the identified application server through the packet network, a response to the call scheduling request message,
- wherein the response to the call scheduling request message is automatically transmitted by the application server to the SMSC at the scheduled time;
- identifying the user's mobile station identified in the response to the call scheduling request message;
- and
- routing from the SMSC to the identified user's mobile station through the mobile communication network the response message for automatically initiating, at the scheduled time, set-up of a voice call communication for the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message, by sending a mobile messaging service message through the mobile communication network to the user's mobile station to cause the user's mobile station to automatically establish the voice call communication from the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message for the two or more other parties intended to be on the call.
5 more elements
A Short Message Service Center (SMSC) for providing a call scheduling and automatic call set-up service, comprising:
- an interface for communications, including at least communications through a mobile communication network;
- a programmable processor responding to and controlling communications of the SMSC through the interface;
- at least one storage device accessible by the processor;
- and
- programming for the processor stored in the at least one storage device,
- wherein the programming configures the processor so that the SMSC is capable of performing operations, including operations to:
- receive a call scheduling request, sent as a mobile messaging service message addressed to a short code from a user's mobile station through a mobile communication network, wherein the call scheduling request includes a scheduled time for the call and two or more telephone numbers for enabling communication with at least two other parties intended to be on the call;
- identify an application server associated with the short code to which the mobile messaging service message is addressed;
- route the mobile messaging service message through a packet network to a destination address of the identified application server associated with the short code;
- in response to the routing, receive from the identified application server through the packet network, a response to the call scheduling request message,
- wherein the response to the call scheduling request message is automatically transmitted by the application server to the SMSC at the scheduled time;
- identify the user's mobile station identified in the response to the call scheduling request message;
- and
- route to the identified user's mobile station through the mobile communication network the response message to automatically initiate, at the scheduled time, set-up of a voice call communication for the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message by sending a mobile messaging service message through the mobile communication network to the user's mobile station to cause the user's mobile station to automatically establish the voice call communication from the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message for the two or more other parties intended to be on the call.
11 more elements
A product of manufacture, comprising:
- at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium;
- and
- programming stored on the at least one medium for execution by one or more programmable processors, wherein execution of the processing by the one or more processors configures the one or more processors to schedule and set-up a voice call by performing functions comprising functions to:
- receive a call scheduling request, sent as a mobile messaging service message addressed to a short code from a user's mobile station through a mobile communication network, wherein the call scheduling request includes a scheduled time for the call and two or more telephone numbers for enabling communication with at least two other parties intended to be on the call;
- identify an application server associated with the short code to which the mobile messaging service message is addressed;
- route the mobile messaging service message through a packet network to a destination address of the identified application server associated with the short code;
- in response to the routing, receive from the identified application server through the packet network, a response to the call scheduling request message,
- wherein the response to the call scheduling request message is automatically transmitted by the application server at the scheduled time;
- identify the user's mobile station identified in the response to the call scheduling request message;
- and
- route to the identified user's mobile station through the mobile communication network the response message to automatically initiate, at the scheduled time, set-up of a voice call communication for the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message by sending a mobile messaging service message through the mobile communication network to the user's mobile station to cause the user's mobile station to automatically establish the voice call communication from the user's mobile station using the two or more telephone numbers included in the call scheduling request message for the two or more other parties intended to be on the call.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.