Caller-callee association of a plurality of networked devices

摘要

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for establishing and maintaining communication between two or more communication devices coupled to communication networks. Some specific aspects relate to communication between a plurality of communication devices each of which is coupled to a respective network. Other aspects relate to establishing such communication by way of contact lists maintained and facilitated on systems coupled to the networks. Users of multiple communication networks, such as VoIP, PSTN and wireless, employ multiple communication devices to communicate with their contacts. For example, a VoIP enabled computer is necessary to access contacts on a VoIP network and a mobile or cellular telephone is used to access contacts on wireless and PSTN networks. A contact list, stored on one communication device, in some instances, cannot be accessed from another communication device. For example, a contact list stored in a VoIP enabled computer cannot be accessed from PSTN or wireless phone devices. Various embodiments described herein provide a convenient solution that can integrate contacts stored on different communication devices and make them accessible from a single device.

主权项

1. A method of operating a server, comprising:
maintaining a contact list of a user that includes contact information for each contact in a set of contacts for the user, the contact information for each contact in the set of contacts including at least a contact identifier that uniquely identifies the contact and a network address at which the contact can be contacted; receiving, from a first device operated by the user, a contacts update request; transmitting, to the first device in response to the contacts update request, a portion of the contact information for the set of contacts in the contact list of the user, the portion of the contact information including a given contact identifier that uniquely identifies a given contact within the set of contacts; receiving, from the first device in response to the transmission, a connection request that includes the given contact identifier; mapping the given contact identifier to a corresponding network address for a second device associated with the given contact within the contact list; and attempting to bridge communication between the first device and the second device using the mapped network address in response to the connection request.