Role based services

Abstract

The present invention allows individual providers to be assigned to one or more roles. A role corresponds to a function, service, or action that can be fulfilled by the provider who is assigned to the role. A media session may be initiated by sending a session request from a requester toward a given role instead of being initiated directly to a particular provider. The media session may include a voice or video call, instant messaging session, file transfer session, application sharing session, or the like. The session request is routed to a role server, which may direct the session request to the provider who is assigned to the corresponding role. Once a decision is made to route the session request to a particular provider, provider routing rules may further control how the session requests are routed to the provider terminals of the particular provider.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a session request in response to a requester initiating a communication session toward a desired role;   identifying a provider who is assigned to the desired role;   identifying at least one provider terminal associated with the provider; and   routing the session request toward the at least one provider terminal.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising assigning each of a plurality of providers to one or more of at least two roles wherein the provider is one of the plurality of providers and the desired role is one of the at least two roles. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the provider is concurrently assigned to at least two different roles of the at least two roles and the desired role is one of the at least two different roles. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving from the provider a registration request that identifies the desired role to which the provider desires to be assigned; and 
 determining whether to register the provider for the desired role in response to the registration request, wherein the provider is assigned to the desired role after being registered. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 receiving information bearing on whether an assignment criterion has been met; and 
 determining whether the assignment criterion has been met, wherein the provider is automatically assigned to the desired role upon determining the assignment criterion has been met. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the assignment criterion is presence information of the provider and the provider is assigned to the desired role and de-assigned from the desired role when the presence information changes. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the assignment criterion is a location of the provider and the provider is assigned to the desired role and de-assigned from the desired role when the location changes. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the assignment criterion is schedule information of the provider and the provider is assigned to the desired role and de-assigned from the desired role when the schedule information changes. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least two providers, including the provider, are assigned to the desired role and identifying the provider who is assigned to the desired role comprises:
 identifying the desired role from the session request; and 
 selecting the provider from the at least two providers based on a role selection criterion. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the role selection criterion is presence information of the provider and the provider is selected based on the presence information. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the role selection criterion is a location of the provider and the provider is selected based on the location. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the role selection criterion is schedule information of the provider and the provider is selected based on the schedule information. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the role selection criterion is a relative priority identified in the session request and the provider is selected based on the relative priority. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least two provider terminals, including the at least one provider terminal, are associated with the provider and identifying the at least one provider terminal associated with the provider comprises selecting the at least one provider terminal from the at least two provider terminals based on a routing selection criterion. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the routing selection criterion is presence information of the provider and the at least one provider terminal is selected based on the presence information. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the routing selection criterion is a location of the provider and the at least one provider terminal is selected for the desired role based on the location. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the routing selection criterion is schedule information of the provider and the at least one provider terminal is selected for the desired role based on the schedule information. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14  wherein a plurality of the at least two provider terminals are selected and the session request is routed toward each of the at least two provider terminals. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the routing selection criterion is a relative priority identified in the session request and the at least one provider terminal is selected based on the relative priority. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1  wherein identifying the provider who is assigned to the desired role comprises selecting a plurality of providers who are assigned to the desired role and routing the session request toward the at least one provider terminal comprises routing the session request toward a plurality of provider terminals, each of which being associated with a unique one of the plurality of providers. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising effecting delivery of session progress information to the requester to provide information bearing on how establishment of the communication session is progressing. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising effecting delivery of availability information to the requester to provide information bearing on an availability of the provider for the communication session. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving additional information from the requester after the session request is routed to the at least one provider terminal; 
 identifying a second provider who is assigned to the desired role; 
 identifying a provider terminal associated with the second provider; and 
 routing the session request toward the provider terminal. 
 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the session request is associated with a first priority and the session request is routed to the at least one provider terminal identifying the first priority, the method further comprising:
 prior to establishing the communication session with the provider, receiving from the requester additional information indicative of the first priority being changed to a second priority; and 
 delivering information to the provider indicative of the session request being associated with the second priority. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the communication session is established in part using a session initiation protocol. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the communication session is a voice session. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the session request is ultimately routed to a voicemail box assigned to the desired role. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the session request is ultimately routed to a back-up role if the provider is not available for the communication session. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the session request is routed to a queue until the provider is available for the communication session. 
     
     
         30 . A system comprising:
 at least one communication interface; and   a control system associated with the at least one communication interface and configured to:
 receive a session request in response to a requester initiating a communication session toward a desired role; 
 identify a provider who is assigned to the desired role; 
 identify at least one provider terminal associated with the provider; and 
 route the session request toward the at least one provider terminal. 
   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30  wherein the control system is further configured to assign each of a plurality of providers to one or more of at least two roles wherein the provider is one of the plurality of providers and the desired role is one of the at least two roles. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 30  wherein at least two providers, including the provider, are assigned to the desired role, and to identify the provider who is assigned to the desired role, the control system is further configured to:
 identify the desired role from the session request; and 
 select the provider from the at least two providers based on a role selection criterion.