ES2357925B1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETECTION OF PRESENCE OF USER FOR THE ROUTING OF CALLS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS. - Google Patents

Abstract

Method and system for routing calls using user presence detection in a certain coverage area obtained by sensors, together with location information of the user mobile. To do this, the signals from the sensors are translated into signaling messages, for example from the SIP protocol, used to acquire and provide user presence information. Incoming calls destined for a user can redirect incoming calls to at least one alternative destination based on the user presence information and location information provided.

Description

User presence detection system and method for routing calls in telecommunications networks. Field of the Invention

The present invention applies to the field of information and telecommunications technologies, more specifically, in new generation networks (NGN: "Next Generation Networks"), for fixed or mobile communications), deployed over IP networks (for example on Internet). Background of the invention

The concept of presence is known in the state of the art of telecommunications technology. The concept of virtual presence is used in instant messaging applications (MSN, Gtalk, Skype, etc.) in order to provide information on the availability status of the specific user in order to receive communication sessions. This type of architecture is described, for example, in IETF RFC 3856 -A Presence Event Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

This concept is also used in new generation network architectures (NGN: “Next Generation Networks”), in which a network presence server is defined to store the information related to the presence of all users subscribed to the service. In this way, communication services are enriched with user availability information.

This presence information is consumed by users (“Watchers”) who subscribe to notifications of changing the status of the presence of other users in which they are interested. The availability or presence information of the users is published by some entities (“Presentities”), which are the same users whose presence is stored in the presence server and is consumed by the “watchers” users.

Normally, both “presentities” and “watchers” users have an application in their terminals that generate the corresponding signaling, based on the user's availability status detected by the same application running in the user terminal.

An example of an existing solution that applies the previous architecture is described in JP2008035453, which refers to a presence information management system comprising a server, a user terminal generating presence information and intermediate elements dedicated to managing the handling of presence signaling information managed by both server and user terminal.

Another example, but this one applied to a mobility environment based on the Mobile IP protocol (“Mobile IP”, defined in IETF RFC 3344), is described in US2006149814, where certain registration / deregistration signaling procedures particular to the IP environment Mobile triggers transitions between different user presence states.

In general, the existing proposals are based either on applications located in the user terminal itself or on very specific sensors for the specific application, so that they deal with a signal processing problem without involving telecommunication or telephony technologies.

General Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method that allows a user of a mobile terminal to receive calls destined for the user by means of intelligent call routing, which takes into account both physical presence information of the user and location information of his terminal mobile. Making a comparison between both kinds of information, it is determined if the user is close to his mobile terminal and can therefore answer the incoming call or, otherwise, can receive it in another terminal device, for which the call is routed towards at least one alternative destination. The different possible destinations are defined by the user based on various call forwarding criteria, for example: calling number, time of day or day of the week in which the call is initiated, user proximity information to their obtained mobile terminal by an ad-hoc network of sensors, etc., and / or combination of several diversion criteria.

The invention facilitates the detection by suitable sensing means deployed for this purpose by forming an ad-hoc network capable of detecting the physical presence of a particular user in a specific area, defined by con fi guration of the service provider. Provided with the means for detecting the presence of the user, it is possible to export the user presence information captured (and properly formed) to repositories of information housed in a telecommunications network, so that this information can be used to enrich telephone or other services.

This facility facilitates the enrichment of services on the network with specific and timely information on the user's situation, without the user having to make an explicit notification of their situation to the service. The automatic sending of user presence information acquired by the sensor network to the operator network repositories allows the triggering or configuration of telephone services.

Ad-hoc user presence sensing devices can detect their physical presence in coverage areas of domestic, corporate or metropolitan networks, for example.

The inclusion of one or more repositories of user presence information can be done by hosting it or not in the operator's network; In any case, all information repositories can be interrogated by other servers to enrich existing services.

Likewise, the information repositories are capable of storing in real time all user presence changes detected by the sensor network, or interrogate the sensor network when the presence information repository or server receives a query from Some service or external agent. Thus, the invention avoids the persistent storage of user presence information, while decreasing the traffic of signaling information between the sensor network and the information repository.

The system of the invention comprises a signaling adapter between the ad-hoc sensor network, which in turn comprises sensor devices of different technology that generate signals of different nature, and a centralized repository of user presence information in the area of coverage of said sensor network. The function of the signaling adapter is to translate the different signals emitted by the different types of sensor networks into a standard and homogeneous protocol, which is supported by the centralized information repository.

The invention described here resolves the deficiencies of the foregoing proposals, discussed above, in the sense that the present solution captures the presence information of a specific user by means of existing wireless technologies and this is propagated on the signaling protocols suitable to a data repository, from where the information can be used as standard by generic telephone services, such as intelligent routing of calls to the user to their mobile terminal or to another suitable one. And this is achieved by a combined use of the user's physical presence information and the location information of the mobile terminal.

The present invention uses a user's physical presence information (not virtual presence, as is the case with instant messaging discussed in the background) in a certain coverage area of the ad-hoc sensor network.

For this purpose, a set of sensors is deployed or installed whose objective is to determine the physical presence of a specific user in a specific area where the sensors are installed. The specific technology for acquiring this information can be diverse, with the following options (this list not being exclusive):

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RFID technologies Based on a bracelet or device carried by the user and detected by the sensors deployed. These technologies can be based on sensors installed in a specific home or area, or on a sensor installed in the user's own mobile terminal, etc.

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Technologies embarked on the mobile terminal. Some current user terminals include the ability to detect certain levels of movement, ambient brightness level, etc., which provide information about the user's proximity to their mobile terminal.

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Traditional detection technologies. These are volumetric detection systems that detect the presence or not of a user in a specific area.

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Any other current or future technology that provides similar results.

The information obtained by the sensors is sent to a repository of appropriate information housed in a telecommunications network. A possible implementation of this type of information repository is a convergent Presence Server (PS) externally accessible, for example hosted in the operator's network. The objective of the PS is twofold:

(i)

store the indications of the sensors related to the presence of the user in the specific area

(ii)

serve as a centralized information repository so that the above information can be used by other services, either in the operator's network or in any other area.

So that this Presence Server can fulfill these two basic objectives, the signal obtained by the sensor devices is adapted to the protocols that are supported by the Presence Server.

In the case of a converged Presence Server hosted in the operator's network, these protocols are standard operator network protocols, namely SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) protocol, which is used to transport user presence information (if Available, Not available, Disconnected, etc.) from the presence server that centralizes this information to the different applications that demand it, such as Instant Messaging clients. Other options are also possible. In the case of another different implementation, the protocols may vary, but in any case the signal accommodation function, from the sensor to the appropriate protocol must occur.

The presence server therefore stores, for each specific user identified by the unique identifier that corresponds according to the specific technology (some examples may be MSISDN, SIP URI, TEL URI, alias, etc.), the presence or not in the specific area covered by the deployed sensors.

On the other hand, the Location Services (LBS: “Location Based Services”) of the Access network (AN: “Access Network”) of the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN: “Public Lamed Mobile Network”) are available. It can be of any generation of mobile technologies (2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G or 4G), although other access networks are compatible with the architecture. These location services are based on the technology available through the access network itself, which may vary from case to case, including options such as CoO (Cell of Origin), AoA (Angle of Arrival), ToA (Time of Arrival), etc.

The location information of the user's mobile terminal is stored in a standard manner on a Location Server or LS ("Location Server"). This element may or may not coexist with the Presence Server or PS (“Presence Server”).

Finally, it is necessary a service that feeds on both information repositories (LS and PS) and reports the proximity or not of the user to his mobile terminal.

Additionally, this service has a profile for each user to whom it is serving, so that the possible destinations to which the call is routed are stored in the service in case the user is not in the vicinity of his mobile terminal. To be able to make the call routing corresponding to the profile selected by the user, the service must have the appropriate interface with the mobile public telephone network so that the service is interrogated before delivering the call to the original destination of the same (the user's mobile that is not near their mobile).

An example of a possible application of the invention is the forwarding of incoming calls directed to the user's mobile to another alternative mobile when the user is not next to his mobile terminal, in case of forgetfulness, loss or theft.

More specifically, one aspect of the invention refers to a user presence detection system for routing calls in land mobile telecommunications networks (PLMN), comprising a sensor network in a certain coverage area to detect the physical presence of users in the area, at least one user presence server (PS) and at least one mobile user terminal location server (LS). The proposed system also comprises a call routing server to receive incoming calls destined for a user and redirect them to the user's mobile or to at least one alternative destination, depending on the user presence information and the terminal location information User mobile. This system uses a signaling protocol adapter that receives the signals sent by the sensor network to the user presence server and adapts or translates them to the signaling protocol interface used by that presence server.

Another aspect of the invention is a method of detecting user presence for the routing of calls in telecommunications networks, implemented by the previous system. Description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the call routing system using presence server and location server, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a flow chart of the call routing method that uses presence server and location server information, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 represents a signaling diagram of the method of routing the call to an alternative destination using the presence and location server information, according to a possible embodiment of the invention. Detailed description of the invention

A possible practical example of implementation of the invention is described in detail below:

The user has a system of sensors installed in his home that determine the presence or not of this user as well as other members of his family, being able to discern between them through a detection system based on RFIDs or other technology with similar capacities

At any given time, the user signs up for the intelligent call routing service, providing the service with an alternative destination to route the calls that are destined for their mobile phone, in case they cannot answer them for not having at that time the mobile terminal in its possession, motivated by forgetfulness, loss, etc.

The user leaves dinner with their partner and forgets the mobile terminal in the house. The house is empty during dinner, therefore. The mobile is in the house.

The location server of the operator's backbone network in which the user has a mobile phone subscription stores the location of the mobile terminal, specifically the location of the user's address.

On the other hand, the same operator will have a presence server, to which the presence sensors installed in the user's home will propagate the appropriate signal, indicating that the user is not currently at home. This information repository can be hosted either in the operator's network or in the user's own address.

During dinner, an important call is made to the user's mobile terminal. Before delivering the call to the mobile terminal of the same, causing this device to start ringing, the intelligent call routing service interrogates the location server about the location of the mobile terminal, as well as the presence information repository in order to Obtain user location data and not from your Terminal. The service compares both responses and indicates that the user is not with his mobile terminal at that time.

Based on the configuration data of the service, it routes the call to a new alternative destination with greater possibilities of being answered. The criteria for the realization of the intelligent routing of the incoming call can be, among others, the following: originating number of the call, time or day of the week in which it originates, etc.

Specifically, the user has set the mobile terminal of his partner in the service as an alternative destination, so that he receives the call and passes the phone to the user who can answer it.

This example can be implemented with the system object of the invention and schematically represented in Figure 1, which shows:

-

A network of sensors (1) deployed in a specific coverage area that allows obtaining the presence of a user in that particular area. Different sensors or technologies can be used for this purpose, such as volumetric detectors in a home sensor network.

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A signaling protocol adapter to which the sensor network (1) has an interface (2) to send the signals generated by the sensors at its output. The signaling protocol adapter performs the corresponding translations between the signals emitted by the sensor network (1) and the messages of the protocols handled by a user presence information server (5).

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Between the signaling protocol adapter

(3) and the user presence server (5) or presence information repository, the system has a signaling protocol interface (4) to provide the user presence information stored in the repository.

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A PS or user presence server (5) in the determined areas where there is adequate presence detection coverage provided by the sensor network (1). This server or information repository can be hosted on the operator's own network.

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The mobile terminals (6) of the users subscribed to the service and subscribed to the operator's PLMN.

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Between the mobile terminal (6) of the user and the access network (8) of the operator's PLMN network, there is a standard radio interface (7) corresponding to the Terminal's technology: 2G, 2.5G, 3G, etc.) .

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Also, between the access network (8) radio and the LS or location server (10) of the operator's backbone network, the corresponding standard LBS interface (9) is provided, corresponding for example to CoO, AoA, ToA technologies , etc.

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The location server (10) which is the location information repository of the mobile user terminals with subscription to the corresponding operator. The location information of the terminals that is stored can be of varying precision.

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Interface between the network service that intelligently routes incoming calls to users and the corresponding operator location server (11). The nature of this interface is standard, with various implementation options existing in the market and standardized. The one that best suits the purpose and scope of this proposal is SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), but there are others applicable in other environments, such as IN (Smart Network) protocols.

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Interface between the intelligent call routing service and the user presence information repository in the determined area covered by the ad-hoc sensor network (12).

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Intelligent call routing server (13) towards possible alternative suitable destinations depending on the presence of service users and the location of their mobile terminals (6). This service is hosted in the operator's network to be able to route incoming calls, and has user interfaces for con fi guration, which include, at least, data from an alternative destination to which calls directed to the user of the service if it is not physically located next to its user mobile terminal (6).

Figure 2 shows the flow chart of the execution of the proposed process. In parallel, the physical presence of the user is captured through a sensor system, whose implementation is not binding on this proposal, as well as the location of the user's mobile terminal position, through the capabilities of the cellular access network.

When an incoming call arrives at the user's mobile terminal, the service asks the presence and mobile location servers for both types of information.

If the user physically encounters his mobile, the service advances the incoming call to it.

If the user is not physically with his mobile terminal, the service diverts the call to an alternative destination.

The message flow between the entities is represented in Figure 3. When the call enters the mobile terminal of the service user (17), based on the presence information of the user that stores

(15) the user presence server (5) and location information of the mobile that stores (16) the location server (10), the relative location between user and his mobile (18) is determined. In this example, the user does not meet his mobile terminal (6) and therefore the call is diverted to an alternative destination (14) by the call routing server (13).

Claims (13)

1. User presence detection system for routing calls in telecommunications networks, comprising:

-

a network of sensors (1) deployed in a certain coverage area to detect the physical presence of users in the coverage area,

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at least one user presence server

(5)

comprising storage means for storing user presence information in the coverage area and a signaling protocol interface (4) to provide the stored user presence information,

- at least one location user mobile terminal server (10) comprising storage means for storing location information of mobile terminals in an access network

(8)

of a Public Land Mobile Network of an operator that connects mobile terminals (6), characterized in that it additionally comprises:

-

a call routing server (13) comprising means for receiving incoming calls intended for a user and means for redirecting incoming calls to at least one alternative destination (14) based on user presence information and location information of the mobile terminal of the user that the user presence server (5) and the location server of mobile user terminals (10) respectively provide,

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a signaling protocol adapter comprising means for receiving signals from the sensor network (1) and translating them to the signaling protocol interface (4) of the user presence server (5).

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the call routing server (13) is hosted on the Operator's Public Land Terrestrial Network.

3.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the user presence incident server (5) is housed in the Operator's Public Land Mobile Network.

Four.

System according to claim 3, characterized in that the signaling protocol interface (4) is the standard interface of the SIP protocol.

5.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the user presence incident server (5) and the mobile user terminal location server (10) are housed in the same network node.

6.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor network (1) comprises RFID sensors deployed in the

vile (6).

7.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor network (1) comprises presence sensors installed in the mobile terminals (6) that are selected between motion sensors and luminosity sensors.

8.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensor network (1) comprises volumetric detectors.

9.

System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the call routing server (13) additionally comprises means for redirecting incoming calls to at least one alternative destination (14) based on at least one call forwarding criterion that is Select between the originating number of the call, the time the call originates and the day the call originates.

10.

User presence detection method for routing calls in telecommunications networks, comprising:

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detect the physical presence of users in a certain coverage area, obtaining user detection signals,

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acquire user presence information in the coverage area from the user detection signals and provide access to the user presence information,

-

acquire location information of mobile terminals (6) of a Public Land Mobile Network from an operator and provide access to location information of mobile terminals (6),

characterized in that it additionally comprises:

-

translate user detection signals to messages of an interface of signaling protocols (4) used to acquire and provide user presence information,

-

receive incoming calls intended for a user and redirect incoming calls to at least one alternative destination (14) based on user presence information and location information provided.

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the signaling protocol interface (4) used to acquire and provide user presence information is the standard interface of the SIP protocol. 12. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that redirecting incoming calls to at least one alternative destination (14) use at least one call forwarding criterion that is selected from the originating number of the call, the time the call originates and the day the call originates. SPANISH OFFICE OF THE PATENTS AND BRAND Application no .: 200900526 SPAIN Date of submission of the application: 25.02.2009 Priority Date: REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE 51 Int. Cl.: H04M3 / 42 (2006.01) H04W48 / 14 (2009.01) RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Category

Documents cited Claims Affected

Y

US 7394345 B1 (EHLINGER JAMES C et al.) 01.07.2008, summary; columns 3-7; 1-12

Figures 1A, 1B, 2.

Y

EP 1347624 A2 (OPENWAVE SYS INC) 24.09.2003, summary; paragraphs 17-20; 1-12

Figures 1,3,4,9,12,16.

TO

US 2002048356 A1 (TAKAGI TSUNEYOSHI et al.) 25.04.2002, the whole document. 1-12

Category of the documents cited X: of particular relevance Y: of particular relevance combined with other / s of the same category A: reflects the state of the art O: refers to unwritten disclosure P: published between the priority date and the date of priority submission of the application E: previous document, but published after the date of submission of the application

This report has been prepared • for all claims • for claims no:

Date of realization of the report 15.04.2011

Examiner J. Santaella Vallejo Page 1/5

REPORT OF THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE Minimum documentation sought (classification system followed by classification symbols) H04M, H04W Electronic databases consulted during the search (name of the database and, if possible, terms of search used) INVENES, EPODOC, WPI, Internet  WRITTEN OPINION Date of Completion of Written Opinion: 04.04.2011 Statement

Novelty (Art. 6.1 LP 11/1986)

Claims Claims 1-12 IF NOT

Inventive activity (Art. 8.1 LP11 / 1986)

Claims Claims 1-12 IF NOT

The application is considered to comply with the industrial application requirement. This requirement was evaluated during the formal and technical examination phase of the application (Article 31.2 Law 11/1986).  Opinion Base. This opinion has been made on the basis of the patent application as published.  WRITTEN OPINION 1. Documents considered. The documents belonging to the state of the art taken into consideration for the realization of this opinion are listed below.

Document

Publication or Identification Number publication date

D01

US 7394345 B1 (EHLINGER JAMES C et al.) 01.07.2008

D02

EP 1347624 A2 (OPENWAVE SYS INC) 24.09.2003

D03

US 2002048356 A1 (TAKAGI TSUNEYOSHI et al.) 04.25.2002

2. Statement motivated according to articles 29.6 and 29.7 of the Regulations for the execution of Law 11/1986, of March 20, on Patents on novelty and inventive activity; quotes and explanations in support of this statement For the realization of this written opinion the claims contained in the application have been used. The claimed invention relates to presents. A method and a user presence detection system for routing in telecommunications networks. For this, a network of sensors determines the physical presence and through a communications node determines to which terminal to re-route the call. The state of the art document closest to the invention is D01 and discloses. A system to indicate the presence of users through a network of sensors and according to the presence status the device routes the call through the user's switchboard. For clarity, and as far as possible, the same wording used in claim 1 is used. The references in parentheses correspond to D01. Technical characteristics not found in document D01 are indicated in square brackets. Claim 1 User presence detection system for routing calls in telecommunications networks (title and summary), which includes; -a sensor network deployed in a certain coverage area to detect the physical presence of users in the area of coverage (summary; column 6, lines 12-30; figures 1A and 1B, elements 111-119),

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at least one user presence server (summary; column 4, lines 51-65; figures 1A and 1B, element 102) comprising storage means for storing user presence information in the coverage area (column 5, lines 6- 61; Figures 1A and 1B, item 105) and an interface of signaling protocols to provide stored user presence information,

-

at least one user mobile terminal location server comprising storage means for storing mobile terminal location information in an access network of a Public Land Mobile Network of an operator connecting mobile terminals (column 3, lines5 8-63; Figures 1A and 1B, elements 151-153), characterized in that it additionally comprises:

-

a call routing server comprising means for receiving incoming calls intended for a user and means for redirecting incoming calls to at least one alternative destination based on the user presence information and location information of the user's mobile terminal that the user presence server (column 4, lines 11-57; figures 1A, 1B, elements 101A and 101B) [and the mobile user terminal location server respectively provide],

-

a signaling protocol adapter comprising means for receiving signals from the sensor network and translating them into the signaling protocol interface of the user presence server (column 6, lines 12-14; figures 1A, 1B, elements 103).

The difference between D01 and the invention is that the presence server does not acquire information from the mobile terminal location server, that difference causes the routing server does not have that information to make its decision. However, these characteristics have already been used for a similar purpose, for the presence server to obtain information from the mobile terminal location server, see document D02, (summary; paragraph 17; figures 1, 3, 4.12 and 16 ). It would be obvious to the person skilled in the art, especially when the same result is to be obtained, to apply these characteristics with their corresponding effect to D01 in accordance with document D02, so that the same effect as the first claim is obtained. Therefore, in light of D01 and D02, the invention described in the first claim is new but lacks inventive activity as set forth in articles 6 and 8 of the 1986 Patent Law.  WRITTEN OPINION Claim 2-5 Where the call routing server and the user presence incident server are housed in the operator's Public Land Mobile Network (D02 figures: 1, 3, 4, 12 and 16) the incident server being able to be of presence of users and the location server of mobile user terminals are housed in the same network node (Figure 1A and 1B, element 106). [Signaling protocols is the standard interface of the SIP protocol] The use of signaling protocols using SIP is material known to the person skilled in the art. Therefore, in light of D01 and D02, claims 2-5 are new but lack inventive activity as set forth in articles 6 and 8 of the 1986 Patent Law. Claims 6-9 The sensor network comprises RFID sensors, motion sensors, brightness sensors or volumetric detectors. D01 shows some examples of the type of presence sensor networks that are identical or equivalent to those in the application (summary; column 6, lines 12-30 and column 6, line 46 - column 7, column 16; figures 1A and 1B, elements 111-119). The call routing server additionally comprises means to redirect incoming calls to at least one alternative destination based on at least one call forwarding criterion that is selected from the number originating from the call, time at which the call originates and day where the call originates (figure 2). Therefore, in light of D01 and D02, claims 6-9 are new but lack inventive activity as set forth in articles 6 and 8 of the 1986 Patent Law. Claims 10-12 User presence detection method for routing calls in telecommunications networks, performs the necessary steps to develop the system described in claims 1-9 solving the same technical problem. Claims 10-12 are previously known from the cited document or are obvious to a person skilled in the art. In the light of D01 and D02, claims 10-12 are new but lack inventive activity as set forth in articles 6 and 8 of the 1986 Patent Law.