Virtual area based telephony communications
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method in a network communications environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between an Internet Protocol (IP) client of a first communicant and a telephony client of a second communicant in a computer-managed virtual space that defines a respective communication context in the network communications environment, the method comprising:
- based on a login request from the IP client, by the network service, creating an instance of the virtual space and establishing a presence for the first communicant in the instance of the virtual space;
receiving, by the network service, a call request from the IP client of the first communicant who is present in the instance of the virtual space, wherein the call request comprises a telephone number associated with the telephony client of the second communicant;
initiating, by the network service, a realtime media transport protocol session for carrying audio data associated with the telephony client between an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) and a consolidation unit associated with the instance of the virtual space;
establishing, by the network service, a presence for the second communicant in the instance of the virtual space;
by a translation engine, translating signals generated by the ITSP based on telephony signals received from the telephony client into one or more commands executable by the network service to perform one or more actions in the virtual space; and
administering, by network service, transmission of audio data between the IP client and the telephony client over the realtime media transport protocol session in the context of the instance of the virtual space.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A persistent virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective network nodes connected to the virtual area even after all network nodes have disconnected from the virtual area is maintained. A presence in the virtual area is established for a user of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device. Transmission of data associated with the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method in a network communications environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between an Internet Protocol (IP) client of a first communicant and a telephony client of a second communicant in a computer-managed virtual space that defines a respective communication context in the network communications environment, the method comprising:
-
based on a login request from the IP client, by the network service, creating an instance of the virtual space and establishing a presence for the first communicant in the instance of the virtual space; receiving, by the network service, a call request from the IP client of the first communicant who is present in the instance of the virtual space, wherein the call request comprises a telephone number associated with the telephony client of the second communicant; initiating, by the network service, a realtime media transport protocol session for carrying audio data associated with the telephony client between an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) and a consolidation unit associated with the instance of the virtual space; establishing, by the network service, a presence for the second communicant in the instance of the virtual space; by a translation engine, translating signals generated by the ITSP based on telephony signals received from the telephony client into one or more commands executable by the network service to perform one or more actions in the virtual space; and administering, by network service, transmission of audio data between the IP client and the telephony client over the realtime media transport protocol session in the context of the instance of the virtual space. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
6. The method of 5, wherein the web browser comprises engines for administering audio and video data streams between the IP client and one or more other IP clients of one or more other communicants who are present in the instance of the virtual space.
-
11. A computer-implemented method in a network communications environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between communicants who are operating respective clients and are co-present in a computer-managed virtual space that defines a respective communication context in the network communications environment, the method comprising:
-
receiving, by the network service, call information corresponding to an in-bound call from a telephony client of a first communicant; sending the call information including a dialed number that is dialed by the telephony client to a call manager, wherein the call manager is configured to perform operations comprising determining, based on the dialed number, whether the in-bound call from the telephony client should be joined to a new instance of the virtual space or an existing instance of the virtual space, and receiving from a virtual space application a virtual space identification based on a result of the determining; receiving the virtual space identification from the call manager; establishing, by the network service, a presence for the first communicant in an instance of the virtual space corresponding to the virtual space identification; initiating, by the network service, a realtime media transport protocol session for carrying audio data associated with the telephony client between a consolidation unit associated with the instance of the virtual space and an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP); receiving, by the consolidation unit, a plurality of data streams associated with the instance of the virtual space corresponding to the virtual space identification, wherein the plurality of data streams includes at least one data stream of audio content that originated at the telephony client over a telephony network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an Internet Protocol (IP) based client over an IP network; consolidating, by the consolidation unit a set of the plurality of data streams into a consolidated audio stream; and transmitting the consolidated audio data stream over the realtime media transport protocol session to the ITSP for delivery to the telephony client. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. A method for integrating an inbound telephony call from a telephony client into a communication session in a virtual space, the method comprising:
-
receiving call information corresponding to an inbound telephony call from a telephony client; sending the call information including a dialed number that is dialed by the telephony client to a call manager that is configured to return information for identifying, based on the dialed number, a virtual space associated with the dialed number; receiving a data stream from an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) over a realtime media transport protocol session, wherein the data stream includes call content of the inbound telephony call; for a user of the telephony client, establishing a presence in an instance of the virtual space associated with the dialed number; receiving a plurality of concurrent data streams including at least one data stream of audio content that originated at a telephony client over a telephony network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an Internet Protocol (IP) client over an IP network; consolidating a set of the plurality of data streams into a consolidated audio stream; and transmitting the consolidated audio data stream over the realtime media transport protocol session to the ITSP for delivery to the telephony client. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
-
Specification