| 摘要 |
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing an XML calendar-telephony interface. A calendar-telephony interface permits interchange of information between an electronic calendar and a telephony call control application. A telephony call control application (telephony application) can be interfaced to a PSTN through a TCAP interface utilizing, for example, Java APIs for Integrated Networks (JAIN). JAIN provides standardized open APIs which can be utilized to build and integrated services and components for communications networks such as the PSTN. In response to a call request initiated in the PSTN by a calling party, the telephony application can determine from callerlD information associated with the call request, the identity of the called party. This can include the called party's name or identity. Upon determination of the called party's identity, the telephony control application can access a calendaring tool from which XML formatted information pertaining to the identified called party can be extracted. Notably, in one aspect of the invention, the extracted information can contain one or more call routing instructions. In this case, the telephony application can provide the extracted call routing information to a routing device having a TCAP interface, which is necessary for communicating telephone signaling information during call routing. For example, the call routing information can be a call forwarding instruction. In this example, an XML formatted entry in the calendaring tool can specify that calls received during a given period are to be forwarded to a predetermined telephone number. If a call initiated by a caller to the called party is received by the telephony application during the given period, and the called party has a calendar entry with a call forwarding instruction, the telephony application can extract the specified forwarding number from the XML formatted calendar entry and can provide the forwarding number to a PSTN routing device via the TCAP interface. The PSTN routing device can accordingly route the call to the forwarded telephone number.
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