Call Routing by Contact Group and Availability Status
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication systems fail to dynamically adjust to the recipient's availability and relationship with the caller, leading to interruptions, missed urgent calls, and inefficient handling of incoming communications.
Innovation Solution
A virtual assistant system that categorizes contacts into groups and sets availability statuses, allowing users to create rules for managing communications based on these factors, providing tailored responses such as audio prompts, voicemail, or direct calls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If all phone calls are directed to voicemail and notifications are turned off, then the recipient can focus on tasks without interruptions, but the recipient must review all voicemails and triage recorded calls which may result in emergency or urgent calls being missed or delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments incoming calls into different categories based on the caller's contact group (e.g., work contacts, personal contacts, emergency contacts). This segmentation allows the system to apply different handling rules to different call types, enabling the recipient to maintain focus while ensuring emergency calls are not missed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different quality levels of attention to different call sources. Calls from emergency contacts or specific high-priority groups can break through voicemail restrictions, while calls from less critical groups are routed to voicemail. This local differentiation maintains recipient focus while preserving reliable emergency communication.
2Device complexity
If all calls are treated the same way, then the system is simple to manage, but the recipient must spend valuable time and concentration to sort through a batch of missed communications
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically segments calls into categories based on contact groups and applies predefined handling rules to each segment. This eliminates the need for the recipient to manually sort through all missed calls, reducing time loss while maintaining manageable system complexity through automated classification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically categorizing and routing calls before they reach the recipient. Predefined rules handle common scenarios in advance, so when the recipient checks communications, the information is already organized and prioritized, reducing the time needed to process missed calls.
3Productivity
If the system provides detailed call categorization and automated routing rules, then communication management is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a universal contact group framework that can accommodate multiple call types and scenarios within a single structured approach. By defining calls in terms of contact groups rather than requiring separate rules for each scenario, the system achieves high communication management efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system manages complexity by changing parameters at the contact group level rather than at the individual call level. Users configure rules once per contact group, and the system automatically applies these rules to all calls from that group. This parameterization approach maintains detailed categorization capability while reducing the number of configurations required.
Data Source
AI summary
An example method comprising receiving a plurality of categories of availability statuses, receiving a plurality of categories of different contact groups, identifying, for each contact, at least one contact group, receiving a plurality of rules for call handling, each of the plurality of rules being associated with at least one of the different availability statuses and at least one of the different contact groups, receiving a telephone call from a first caller, identifying a caller identifier of the first caller, determining a contact group of the first caller, determining a current availability status of the recipient, identifying an applicable rule based on the contact group of the first caller and the current availability status of the recipient, selecting an audio prompt based on the applicable rule, and presenting the audio prompt to the first caller based on the applicable rule, the audio prompt indicating a preference of communication.