Qwest Communications International Inc.

Centurylink Intellectual Property LLC

John Verbil

Richard Cerami

Paul Daniel Jaramillo

Martin R Marks

Tammy S Brown

Joel Frederick

Rich Cerami

Robert Eric Pflum

Jordan Alperin

Peggy S Schwend

Joseph E Vance

William C Catellier

Roberto Yslas

R Eric Pflum

Lotus A Mardick

Karen A Parry

Examples of the present disclosure provide a message relay service. The message relay service provides an application programming interface (API) with which messages can be sent and received without handling specific implementation details of a messaging system. When inbound messages are received, the message relay service may provide a push notification and/or may store the message for later access. In examples, one or more source addresses are used to send messages. If the client device indicates a group of addresses should be used, one address is selected from the group and used to send a message accordingly. In some examples, the message relay service determines that a messaging gateway need not be used to message a recipient address, and transmits the message without use of the messaging gateway. The same API may be used to send and receive messages across different messaging systems without a customer handling system-specific complexities.

Platform-agnostic message relay service for inbound messages

Platform-agnostic message relay service for outbound messages

Novel tools and techniques for providing enhanced services to telephone subscribers with multiple telephone lines, which can include one or more traditional telephone lines, wireless telephone lines, Internet protocol-based telephone lines, and/or the like. For example, certain tools can provide a subscriber with a unified voice mailbox for a plurality of the subscriber's telephone lines. In some cases, the subscriber does not need to check multiple voice mailboxes (each associated with one of the subscriber's telephone numbers) in order to ensure that the subscriber has received all messages intended for that subscriber. Instead, any incoming call on any of the subscriber's lines can be routed to a converged voice mailbox for easy retrieval by the subscriber of all messages from one location. Some tools employ a VoIP switch to handle routing of the incoming call to the correct voice mailbox.

Converged voice mail services

Novel tools and techniques for providing a subscriber with converged voice services, in which calls to one of the subscriber's telephone numbers is routed to some or all of the subscriber's telephone numbers (e.g., sequentially or simultaneously, depending on system configuration and/or subscriber preference). Some implementations employ a VoIP switch to handle call distribution among the subscriber's various phone lines, even if some (or all) of the subscribers telephone lines are not VoIP lines. In such implementations, upon receiving an incoming call directed to one of the subscriber's lines, a service switching point will route the call to a VoIP switch. Instructed by an application server, the VoIP switch will set up call legs (e.g., via the PSTN) to one or more of the subscribers' telephone numbers. Optionally, when one of the call legs is answered, the application server will instruct the VoIP switch to disconnect the other call legs.

Converged voice services

The disclosed embodiments include a system and method for initiating a video phone call using a standard phone device. For instance, in one embodiment, a method for initiating a video phone call from a first party to a second party is disclosed. The method includes receiving a call from the first party. The call is initiated using a standard phone device. The method determines whether the call is a voice call or a call request to initiate a video call. In response to a determination that the call is a call request to initiate a video call, the method terminates the call, initiates a call to a video phone device of the first party and also a communication device of the second party. The method establishes a communication session between the video phone device of the first party and the communication device of the second party.

System and method for initiating video phone calls

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing online advertisements to consumers. A method disclosed herein allows a consumer to provide contact information to a business in response to a search request submitted to a search engine. Subsequently, the business may initiate a communication to the consumer at the contact information provided by the consumer. As a result, the business has better assurance that the advertisement fees provided to the search engine is in fact generating better consumer contacts for the business. In an embodiment of the system disclosed herein a telecommunications service provider may receive the contact information from the consumer and establish a line of communication between the consumer and the business.

Systems and methods for advertising using pay-per-call

Systems, methods, and machine-readable media are disclosed to provide notification of receipt of a communication across multiple platforms of potential diverse types. Cross-platform message notification can comprise receiving a request to initiate a communication from an initiating end device. The request may identify a single intended recipient device. A plurality of possible recipient devices can be identified for the request to initiate a communication based on user profile information from a user of the initiating end device. The request to initiate a communication can be forwarded to each of the plurality of possible recipient devices at substantially a same time. The initiating end device can be connected to one of the plurality of possible recipient devices based on a response from at least one of the possible recipient devices.

Cross-platform message notification

Pass code security is provided for a teleconference call in an AIN-based telecommunications network. Participants to the conference call dial in to a bridge at a Service Switching Point (SSP). If a trigger is detected on the line associated with the bridge, a Service Control Point (SCP) is queried, which in turn causes an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) to generate a voice message asking the caller for a pass code. If a valid pass code is entered by the caller and received at the IP, the SSP connects the caller to the bridge.

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Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America

John Verbil