Method for decoupling caller routing services and off-net data acquisition

Abstract

Call routing system and method for routing calls based upon a calling party's location. The call routing system includes a communication interface structured and arranged to receive an incoming call, a routing network interface structured and arranged to route the incoming call to a termination point based upon a current location of the calling party, a location based service interface through which a query is transmitted to a location based service to request location data associated with the current location and through which a response including the location data is received from the location based service, and a processor structured and arranged to execute instructions to route the incoming call to a termination point that best pertains to the current location based on the location data. The calling party's call does not originate over a land line device.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A call routing system for routing calls based upon a calling party's location, the call routing system comprising:
 a communication interface structured and arranged to receive an incoming call;   a routing network interface structured and arranged to route the incoming call to a termination point based upon a current location of the calling party;   a location based service interface through which a query is transmitted over an Internet protocol based network to a service endpoint hosted by a server of a location based service provider to request location data associated with the current location of the calling party and through which a response including the location data is received from the location based service provider over the Internet protocol based network; and   a processor structured and arranged to execute instructions to route the incoming call to a termination point that best pertains to the current location based on the location data,   wherein the incoming call does not originate over a land line device.   
     
     
         2 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising an interactive call response unit structured and arranged to include the communication interface and the routing network interface. 
     
     
         3 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor executes a plurality of sounds in a predetermined order for transmission to the calling party. 
     
     
         4 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the query to be transmitted comprises a request identifier and a request payload. 
     
     
         5 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 4 , wherein the response received comprises the request identifier and a response payload. 
     
     
         6 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 4 , further comprising a gateway mediation service being coupled to the location based service interface and being configured to create a new service request for the query to be transmitted. 
     
     
         7 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 6 , wherein the new service request creates a child process which receives the response received from the location based service. 
     
     
         8 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the location data comprises at least a latitude and longitude for the current location. 
     
     
         9 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 8 , wherein the instructions executed by the processor includes instructions to convert the latitude and longitude of the current location to at least one of: an area code and exchange; a zip code; and a county. 
     
     
         10 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1  being configured as an intermediary between the calling party and the termination point until the incoming call is ended. 
     
     
         11 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the incoming call from the calling party is directed to a toil free number associated with an entity having multiple locations. 
     
     
         12 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the incoming call originates from one of a cell phone, voice over IP system, or the Internet. 
     
     
         13 . A method for routing calls based upon a calling party's location, the method comprising:
 receiving an incoming call from a calling party not originating from a land line device, the incoming call being directed to a number associated with a plurality of entities situated at different locations;   determining a current location of the calling party through a request transmitted to a service endpoint hosted by a server of a location based service provider over an Internet protocol based network and a response from the location based service provider forwarding location data of the current location of the calling party; and   routing the incoming call for termination to a selected one of the plurality of entities which best pertains to the current location.   
     
     
         14 . The method in accordance with  claim 13 , wherein the incoming call originates from one of a cell phone, voice over IP system or the Internet. 
     
     
         15 . The method in accordance with  claim 13 , wherein the forwarded location data comprise data points in a coordinate system, and the method further comprises converting the data points to at least one of: an area code and exchange; a zip code; and a county. 
     
     
         16 . The method in accordance with  claim 14  being executed at least in part by a processor in a call routing system configured as an intermediary between the calling party and the termination point until the incoming call is ended. 
     
     
         17 . A call system for bridging communication connections between an initiator and a receiving party based upon an initiator's location, the calling system comprising:
 a communication interface configured to receive an incoming communication directed to a receiving party identifier that corresponds to a number of different geographic locations of the receiving party;   a routing network interface configured to receive the receiving party identifier and to direct the incoming communication, via the communication interface as an outgoing communication, to a termination point corresponding to one of the different geographic locations of the receiving party that best pertains to the current location of the initiator, whereby the incoming communication and the outgoing communication are bridged at the communication interface;   a location based service interface through which a query is transmitted to a location based service provider to request location data associated with the current location of the initiator and through which a response including the location data associated with the current location of the initiator is received from the location based service provider,   wherein the incoming call does not originate over a land line device.   
     
     
         18 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 17 , wherein the location based service provider is an off-network service provider. 
     
     
         19 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 17 , wherein the incoming communication originates from one of a cell phone, voice over IP system, or the Internet. 
     
     
         20 . The call routing system in accordance with  claim 17 , further comprising:
 a database storing a plurality of sounds and   a processor configured to transmit at least some of the plurality of sounds to the initiator in a time period between the query transmission to the location based service provider and the response received from the location based service provider.