Telephonic communications – Special services – Locating using diverse technology
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-23
2001-06-05
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Special services
Locating using diverse technology
C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C379S093170, C379S207030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243452
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of computer graphical user interfaces and to the field of telecommunications. More specifically, this invention is related to the use of a computer graphical user interface to report the status of a telecommunication session to a user.
2. Description of the Problem Solved
Historically, voice telecommunications and data telecommunications have been largely separate to most computer users. Recently, however, telecommunication systems which have components of voice communication and computer or data communication integrated together have begun to proliferate. For example, many computer users are making use of data communication systems which include voice capability where the voice communication path is terminated by the user's personal computer. Such a system makes use of some type of voice data conversion, such as voice-over-Internet-protocol. Yet another type of system is disclosed in U.S. patent application No. 09/065,124, filed Apr. 23, 1998, entitled, “Integrated Telecommunication Collaboration System,” which is assigned to the assignee the of the present application and incorporated herein by reference. This system provides for integration between data communication and high-quality PSTN voice communication.
While current systems are extremely useful, they suffer from basic deficiencies in the way that they present information to the computer user via the user interface. Many telecommunication systems provide a separate, dedicated application which displays the status of a particular telecommunication activity, such as a conference call. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,110 to Pinard et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. The system described in Pinard graphically displays various aspects of the status of certain types of telecommunication calls. However, it displays the status within a separate application; there is no integration with either a computer operating system interface or with general purpose desktop applications such as word processors and spread sheets. Also, the current systems provide no way to monitor the status of a PSTN telephone connection which may be used in implementing the telecommunication session.
Products such as NetMeeting™ by Microsoft provide toolbar buttons which can be activated from either within applications or from an operating system interface such as the taskbar application tray. However, the buttons provided by these products don't provide an accurate indication of the status of the telecommunication session. While they may be used to activate various functions, they do not change state in accordance with the status of various activities which form part of the telecommunications session. In fact, such systems often lead a user to believe he or she can activate a function which in fact cannot be activated because it is already in use, or the state of the system does not allow for its use.
What is needed is a computer graphical user interface which not only allows a user to activate various telecommunication session functions, but also dynamically indicates the status of various calls and activities within a telecommunication session. Such an interface should be able to be integrated with common desktop applications, or with the operating system interface. Such a system would not only keep a user informed of the status of a telecommunication session, but also would prevent the user from trying to activate functions which cannot be used at the present time.
SUMMARY
The present invention meets the above needs by providing a computer system graphical user interface which presents accurate voice and data call status to a user. The graphical user interface elements of the present invention can be integrated into the toolbar of desktop applications, and/or into the system application tray of a personal computer operating system. The interface of the present invention presents a status of a communication session which includes data and voice call components. In addition, the interface of the present invention can indicate the status of a PSTN telephone which is associated with the communication session. Status includes such things as whether a user's phone is on-hook, off-hook, on hold, ringing, or in a call. The status also includes data related information such as whether the user is in the data call, and whether in application is currently being shared via a collaborative telecommunication system.
The present invention is realized through a computer implemented method of dynamically indicating a status of the communication session using graphical user interface elements. The graphical presentation system tracks changes in the status of the communication session. In the case where the graphical user interface elements are integrated with the desktop application, an application-specific macro registers these elements with the application. A state persistence agent changes the state of one or more of the application-integrated graphical user interface elements in accordance with a change in status of the communication session. In the case where the graphical user interface elements are displayed in an operating system interface, the state persistence agent likewise changes the state of one or more operating system graphical user interface elements in accordance with a change in status of the communication session.
The software system which implements the graphical presentation interface of the present invention includes a communications agent which monitors and synchronizes data and voice elements of a communication session, application-specific macros which are invoked in response to user actions on application-integrated graphical user interface elements, an integration agent which processes user requests and monitors the communications agent, and the state persistence agent which processes requests to update graphical user interface elements.
The software which implements many aspects of the present invention can be stored on a media. The media can be magnetic such as diskette, tape or fixed disk, or optical such as a CD-ROM. Additionally, the software can be supplied via the Internet or some type of private data network. A workstation which typically runs the client software includes a plurality of input/output devices, a connection for a network, and a system unit which includes the hardware and software necessary to run the graphical call status presentation system.
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SoftTalk Inc., “Phonetastic; A New Dimension In Workgroup Productivity”, brochure, Oct. 11, 1994.*
Research Disclosure, May 1993 pp 302; 34936 Using Distribution Test to Initiate Teleconferences.
Monroe, Jr. Robert Donald
O'Shaughnessey Patrick Michael
Hong Harry S.
Nortel Networks Limited
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