Communication systems and related methods for communicating with devices having a plurality of unique identifiers

摘要

A communication system comprises a server configured to associate a plurality of communication devices with each other in a user group. Each communication device of the plurality of communication devices is associated with a group-wide individual unique identifier that is unique as to other members of the same group; a network-wide individual unique identifier that is unique as to other communication devices of the network; and a group unique identifier that is shared with the plurality of communication devices of the user group. A method comprises receiving a call request including a group-wide individual unique identifier, and sending an outgoing call to the individual communication device. The group-wide individual unique identifier is unique to an individual communication device within a user group of communication devices that is smaller than a number of communication devices configured for communication on a network.

主权项

1. A video communication system, comprising:
a server hardware device configured to:
associate a plurality of video communication devices with each other in a user group that is associated with a single hearing-impaired user, wherein each video communication device of the plurality of video communication devices is associated with each of the following unique identifiers:
a group-wide individual unique identifier that is unique as to other members of the same group;a network-wide individual unique identifier that is unique as to other video communication devices of the network; anda group unique identifier that is shared with the plurality of video communication devices of the user group; andestablish communication between a first communication device and a second communication device in response to the server hardware device receiving an initial call request from the first communication device including at least one of the unique identifiers corresponding to the second video communication device from the first communication device, wherein:
receiving the initial call request including the group unique identifier causes the server hardware device to attempt to establish communication with the plurality of video communication devices of the same group responsive to the initial call request;receiving the initial call request including the network-wide individual unique identifier causes the server hardware device to attempt to establish communication with the associated individual video communication device responsive to the initial call request;receiving the initial call request including the group-wide individual unique identifier causes the server hardware device to attempt to establish communication with the associated individual video communication device when the first communication device and the second communication device are members of the same user group; androute the communication through a video relay service for providing translation services for hearing-impaired users responsive to determining that one of the parties to the communication is a hearing-capable user and another party to the communication is a hearing-impaired user; wherein the group-wide individual unique identifier is translated to the network-wide individual unique identifier by either the first communication device retrieving group information maintained by the server hardware device and performing the translation using the group information prior to sending the initial call request or by the server hardware device receiving the group-wide individual unique identifier from the first communication device and performing the translation using the group information maintained by the server hardware device and shared with other communication devices of the same user group.