systems, methods and apparatus for tracking on-call activity

• US 20030215064A1
• Filed: 05/15/2002
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yau, Debbie M.Y., Dehlin, Joel P., Pappalardo, Susan, Padawer, Andrew D., Seres, Andy, Andrew, Felix Gti
• Granted Patent: US 7,180,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition

Abstract

A first electronic device engages in a voice communication with another electronic device. The voice communication is associated with data stored by the first electronic device. In some instances, the data is generated the first electronic device or received by the first electronic device from the second electronic device in response to, or as a consequence of the voice of the voice communication. During the voice communication, or sometime after the voice communication is terminated, the first electronic device determines that the data is associated with the voice communication. The data is then made available to an application program, so that the data can be associated with other data. Thus, a human user of the first electronic device is relieved of identifying data within a context, and relieved of the task associating the data with other data.

Claims

1. A system that conducts voice calls, each voice call having a context, the system comprising:

one or more applications that process user data within the contexts of voice calls; and

a component that associates different user data within an overlapping voice call context.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the context of a voice call is determined with reference to a time period relative to the voice call.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the context of a voice call is not determined with reference to a time period relative to the voice call.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the context of a voice call is not determined with reference to a time period relative to the voice call and the context of a voice call is determined from application data having a substantial relationship to each other.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the component that associates different user data accessed within overlapping voice call contexts further comprises:

a component that integrates different user data within overlapping voice call contexts.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an open platform operating system configured to support a plurality of user-installable applications.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the different user data resides on different systems.

8. A system to leverage the value of application data in electronic commerce comprising:

a processor;

a storage device coupled to the processor;

means for conducting a voice call having a context; and

software means executable by the processor for determining that a first application data and a second application data are both within the context of the voice call and associating the first application data and the second application data.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

an application program to associate the first application data and the second application data by integrating the first application data with the second application data.

10. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

an application program to associate the first application data and the second application data by providing pointers of the first application data and of the second application data.

11. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

a component to receive the first application data from a second system that receives the voice call.

12. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

a component to receive the first application data from a system that initiates the voice call.

13. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

A program to associate the context with a globally unique identifier, and to send application data that is associated with the globally unique identifier to an application program that is associated with the globally unique identifier and to send an integration message to the application program that is associated with the globally unique identifier.

14. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

a program to determine the context based at least in part on an identity of a receiver, and at least in part on data and an application program that are accessed during the voice call.

15. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

an application program to determine the context of the voice call at least in part from short-messaging-system calendar data formatted according to an open standard of calendar information that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call, and at least in part from at least one operation on the short-messaging-system calendar data formatted according to an open standard of calendar information that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

16. A method, comprising:

initiating a voice call; and

identifying application data that is within a context of the voice call.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from an identity of a party engaged in the voice call.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from the time and date of the voice call.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from the identity of a party engaged in the voice call, data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call, and the time and date of the voice call.

20. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

21. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from locally-addressed data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the locally-addressed data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

22. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from remotely-addressed data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the remotely-addressed data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

23. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call.

24. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call; and

terminating the voice call before the making.

25. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call; and

terminating the voice call after the making.

26. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call; and

sending application data that is within the context of the voice call to an application program operable on an electronic device that manages data, wherein the application program operates within the context of the voice call.

27. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call, and

wherein the initiating and the making are performed by a first electronic device, and wherein the making further comprises;

sending application data that is within the context of the voice call to an application program operable on a second electronic device that manages data.

28. The method as recited in claim 16, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call, and

wherein the initiating and the making is performed by a first electronic device, and wherein the making further comprises;

sending application data that is within the context of the voice call to an application program operable on a second electronic device that manages data, and

wherein the initiating further comprises;

initiating the voice call to the second device.

29. A method performed by a first computing system, comprising:

engaging in a voice call;

receiving first application data from a second computing system; and

identifying the first application data as within the context of the voice call.

30. The method as recited in claim 29, further comprising:

identifying second application data that is within the context of the voice call; and

associating the first application data with the second application data.

31. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from an identity of a party engaged in the voice call.

32. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from the time and date of the voice call.

33. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from the identity of a party engaged in the voice call, data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call, and the time and date of the voice call.

34. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

35. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from locally-addressed data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

a determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the locally-addressed data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

36. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the identifying further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from remotely-addressed data that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the remotely-addressed data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

37. The method as recited in claim 29, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call.

38. The method as recited in claim 29, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call; and

terminating the voice call before the making.

39. The method as recited in claim 29, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call; and

terminating the voice call after the making.

40. The method as recited in claim 29, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates within the context of the voice call, and

wherein the making further comprises;

sending application data that is within the context of the voice call to an application program operable on the first electronic device that manages data.

41. The method as recited in claim 29, the method further comprising:

making the identified application data available to at least one application program that operates on the first electronic device within the context of the voice call, and

wherein the making further comprises;

sending application data that is within the context of the voice call to an application program operable on the first electronic device that manages data.

42. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to perform a method comprising:

initiating a voice call with a receiver, the receiver having an identity;

determining a context of the voice call, based at least in part on the identity of the receiver;

identifying application data that is within the context of the voice call;

identifying an application program that is associated with the application data; and

sending the application data to the application program that is associated with the application data.

43. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the application data from the receiver.

44. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein the method further comprises:

associating the context with a globally unique identifier, and wherein the sending further comprises;

sending application data that is associated with the globally unique identifier to an application program that is associated with the globally unique identifier.

45. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context is not based on a temporal relationship to the voice call.

46. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context is based at least in part on the identity of the receiver, and at least in part on data and an application program that are accessed during and before the voice call.

47. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

48. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from calendar schedule data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the calendar schedule data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

49. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from word processing data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the word processing data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

50. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from email data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the email data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

51. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from short-messaging-system calendar data formatted according to an open standard of calendar information that is accessed within a predetermined time period of the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the short-messaging-system calendar data formatted according to an open standard of calendar information that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

52. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from billing data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the billing data having a temporal relationship to the voice call.

53. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 42, wherein determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from travel reservation data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the travel reservation data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

54. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a first computing system to perform a method comprising:

engaging in a voice call with a second computing system;

sending an identity of the first computing system to the second computing system;

receiving from the second computing device, first application data that is within the context of the voice call, the context of the voice call, based at least in part on the identity of the first computing system;

identifying second application data on the first computing system that is within the context of the voice call; and

integrating the first application data in the second application data.

55. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 54, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying an application program that is associated with the application data, and

wherein the integrating is performed by the application program.

56. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 54, wherein the method further comprises determining the context of the voice call and the determining the context of the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.

57. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 56, wherein determining the context of the voice call at least in part from data having a temporal relationship to the voice call further comprises:

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from calendar schedule data having a temporal relationship to the voice call; and

determining the context of the voice call at least in part from at least one operation on the calendar schedule data that is accessed within the predetermined time period of the voice call.