Systems and methods of assigning and using virtual telephone numbers
AssigneeVonage America Inc.
InventorTzahi Efrati
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A single virtual telephone number that is used to route telephony communications is assigned to first and second users if the first and second users rarely, if ever, communicate with the same party. When an incoming call is received on the virtual telephone number, telephony information for the first and second users is reviewed to determine if the calling party is one that has communicated with either of the first and second users in the past. If so, the telephony communication is routed to the user who has communicated with the calling party in the past.
Claims17
A method of determining how to assign virtual telephone numbers to users of a telephony service, comprising:
- obtaining telephony related information for first and second users of the telephony service, wherein the obtaining step comprises obtaining information from address books or contact lists for the first and second users;
- analyzing the obtained information to determine a degree of affinity between the first and second users, wherein the analyzing step comprises determining how many, if any, entries appearing in the address books or contact lists of the first user match entries appearing in the address books and contact lists of the second user, and wherein the greater the number of matching entries, the greater the determined degree of affinity;
- and
- determining whether to assign the same virtual telephone number to the first and second users based on the determined degree of affinity.
A system for determining how to assign virtual telephone numbers to users of a telephony service, comprising:
- means for obtaining telephony related information for first and second users of the telephony service, wherein the obtaining means obtains information from address books or contact lists for the first and second users;
- means for analyzing the obtained information to determine a degree of affinity between the first and second users by determining how many, if any, entries appearing in the address books or contact lists of the first user match entries appearing in the address books and contact lists of the second user, wherein the greater the number of matching entries, the greater the determined degree of affinity;
- and
- means for determining whether to assign the same virtual telephone number to the first and second users based on the determined degree of affinity.
A system for determining how to assign virtual telephone numbers to users of a telephony service, comprising:
- a user information obtaining unit comprising at least one processor that obtains telephony related information for first and second users of the telephony service, wherein the user information obtaining unit obtains information from address books or contact lists for the first and second users;
- and
- an information analyzing unit comprising at least one processor that analyzes the obtained information to determine a degree of affinity between the first and second users by determining how many, if any, entries appearing in the address books or contact lists of the first user match entries appearing in the address books or contact lists of the second user, wherein the greater the number of matching entries, the greater the determined degree of affinity and wherein the information analyzing unit also determines whether to assign the same virtual telephone number to the first and second users based on the determined degree of affinity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.