Instant messaging with voice conversation feature
First Claim
1. An instant message (IM) communication method comprising the steps of:
- inserting in an IM a voice communications identifier;
transmitting said IM to a recipient; and
, responsive to said recipient selecting said voice communications identifier, establishing a voice communications link with said recipient.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An instant message (IM) communication method. An IM communication method can include the steps of: detecting a voice communications identifier in an IM transmitted by a sender; responsive to detecting the voice communications identifier, displaying a selectable icon; and, responsive to a selection of the icon, establishing a voice communications link with the sender. The establishing step can include the step of, responsive to the recipient selecting the voice communications identifier, establishing a Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications link with the recipient. Alternatively, the establishing step can include the step of, responsive to the recipient selecting the voice communications identifier, establishing a telephony-based voice communications link with the recipient over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. An instant message (IM) communication method comprising the steps of:
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inserting in an IM a voice communications identifier;
transmitting said IM to a recipient; and
,responsive to said recipient selecting said voice communications identifier, establishing a voice communications link with said recipient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An instant message (IM) communication method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a voice communications identifier in an IM transmitted by a sender;
responsive to detecting said voice communications identifier, displaying a selectable icon; and
,responsive to a selection of said icon, establishing a voice communications link with said sender. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
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inserting in an instant message (IM) a voice communications identifier;
transmitting said IM to a recipient; and
,responsive to said recipient selecting said voice communications identifier, establishing a voice communications link with said recipient. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
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detecting a voice communications identifier in an instant message (IM) transmitted by a sender;
responsive to detecting said voice communications identifier, displaying a selectable icon; and
,responsive to a selection of said icon, establishing a voice communications link with said sender. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. An instant message (IM) article of manufacture for use between IM/Chat session clients in a computer communications network comprising:
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a header component encapsulating a reference to at least one of a sending node in the network and a recipient node in the network;
a text component encapsulating message text which can be extracted from the IM and displayed in an IM/Chat session client; and
,an executable voice communications link program component configured to establish a voice communications link between said sending and recipient nodes. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
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44. An instant message (IM)/Chat session client comprising:
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a conventional IM processor, said conventional IM processor extracting and displaying message text encapsulated in a received IM; and
,a voice conversation processor, said voice conversation processor identifying a voice communications link identifier encapsulated in said received IM, displaying a selectable icon in response to detecting said voice communications link identifier and, responsive to a selection of said selectable icon, establishing a voice communications link with a sender of said received IM.
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Specification