Telephone calling interface

• US 20040234049A1
• Filed: 04/09/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QTECH SYSTEMS, LLC
• Original Assignee: QTECH SYSTEMS, LLC
• Inventors: Melideo, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services

Abstract

A telephone calling interface is disclosed. The telephone calling interface may be implemented as a toolbar within an Internet web browser. The toolbar may identify telephone numbers included in a web page requested by a user of the Internet web browser and conspicuously display the identified telephone numbers when the web page is displayed. The toolbar may recognize activation by the user of one of the conspicuously displayed identified telephone numbers included in the web page as an activated telephone number and initiate a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the activated telephone number. The method may be executed on a computing device such as, for example, a personal computer.

Claims

1. A method of telephone call initiation via a toolbar included in an Internet web browser:

identifying telephone numbers included in a web page requested by a user of the Internet web browser

conspicuously displaying the identified telephone numbers when the web page is displayed

recognizing activation by the user of one of the conspicuously displayed identified telephone numbers included in the web page as an activated telephone number

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the activated telephone number in response to the recognizing.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined telephone number is a web browser user telephone number.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the web browser user telephone number is for an adjacent telephone near to where the user is accessing the web browser.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the adjacent telephone is a cellular telephone.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the adjacent telephone is physically connected to a public switched telephone network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined telephone number is requested during user registration of the toolbar.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined telephone number is requested when a user logs in to the toolbar.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the initiating comprises requesting a callback telephone number from the user and assigning the callback number as the predefined telephone number.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving call status information

providing the call status information to the user.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the providing comprises:

displaying the call status information.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the toolbar includes a button to allow a user to turn the conspicuously displaying on and off.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the identified telephone numbers.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the initiating comprises:

causing a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate the telephone call.

15. The method of 14 wherein the causing includes:

transmitting the predefined telephone number and the displayed telephone number to the switch.

16. The method of 14 wherein the causing includes:

sending a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the call initiation message is sent directly to the switch.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the call initiation message is sent to a server, the sending comprising

opening a TCP connection to authenticate the user and start a call session with the server.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the call initiation message wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages.

21. A method of telephone call initiation via a toolbar included in an Internet web browser, the method comprising

intercepting web page data directed to the web browser

scanning the web page data for associated data items included in an address book included with or accessible to the toolbar

identifying the associated data items found in the web page data as found data items

pairing a telephone number from the address book with each of the found data items

preparing a list of found data items and corresponding telephone numbers for the web page

altering the normal display of the found data items to make the found data items conspicuous on a web page in which the data is included

recognizing the activation of one of the found data items

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the telephone number corresponding to an activated found data item.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the predefined telephone number is a web browser user telephone number.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the web browser user telephone number is for an adjacent telephone near to where the user is accessing the web browser.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the adjacent telephone is a cellular telephone.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the adjacent telephone is physically connected to a public switched telephone network.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein the predefined telephone number is requested during user registration of the toolbar.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein the predefined telephone number is requested when a user logs in to the toolbar.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the initiating comprises

requesting a callback telephone number from the user and assigning the callback number as the predefined telephone number.

29. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

receiving call status information

displaying the call status information.

30. The method of claim 21 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to set the altering of the found data items in the web page to be on and off.

31. The method of claim 21 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

32. The method of claim 21 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the found data items.

33. A method of telephone call initiation via a toolbar included in an Internet web browser, the method comprising

intercepting web page data for a web page directed to the Internet web browser

scanning the web page data for telephone numbers and associated data

identifying telephone numbers in the web page data as identified telephone numbers

identifying associated data in the web page data as identified associated data

altering the normal display of the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data included in the found items list to make the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data conspicuous on the web page

recognizing the activation of one of the identified telephone numbers or one of the identified associated data as an activated item

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and a telephone number corresponding to an activated item.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to set the altering of the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data in the web page to be on and off.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data.

37. A method of telephone call initiation via a toolbar included in an Internet web browser:

identifying telephone numbers included in a web page requested by a user of a web browser

conspicuously displaying the identified telephone numbers when displaying the web page

providing a list of all identified telephone numbers via the toolbar

either

receiving a user selection of one of the identified telephone numbers form the list as an activated telephone number, or

recognizing activation by the user of one of the conspicuously displayed identified telephone numbers included in the web page as the activated telephone number

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the activated telephone number in response to the recognizing or the receiving.

38. A method of telephone call initiation via a toolbar included in an Internet web browser, the method comprising

intercepting web page data for a web page directed to the web browser

scanning the web page data for telephone numbers

identifying telephone numbers in the web page data as identified telephone numbers

looking up the identified telephone numbers in an address book to create a found telephone numbers list

altering the normal display of at least one of the found telephone numbers to make the found telephone number conspicuous on the web page in which the found telephone number is included

recognizing activation of one of the found telephone numbers,

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and an activated found telephone number.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the address book is prepared by a personal information manager included in the toolbar.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein the address book is prepared by an application program external to the toolbar and the web browser.

41. A machine readable medium comprising computer software distinct from a web browser and to operate as a toolbar in the web browser, the computer software having instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying telephone numbers included in a web page requested by a user of the Internet web browser

conspicuously displaying the identified telephone numbers when the web page is displayed

recognizing activation by the user of one of the conspicuously displayed identified telephone numbers included in the web page as an activated telephone number

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the activated telephone number in response to the recognizing.

42. The machine readable medium of claim 41 wherein the predefined telephone number is a web browser user telephone number.

43. The machine readable medium of claim 42 wherein the web browser user telephone number is for an adjacent telephone near to where the user is accessing the web browser.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the adjacent telephone is a cellular telephone.

45. The machine readable medium of claim 43 wherein the adjacent telephone is physically connected to a public switched telephone network.

46. The machine readable medium of claim 41 wherein the toolbar includes a button to allow a user to turn the conspicuously displaying on and off.

47. The machine readable medium of claim 41 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

48. The machine readable medium of claim 41 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the identified telephone numbers.

49. A machine readable medium comprising computer software distinct from a web browser and to operate as a toolbar in the web browser, the computer software having instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

intercepting web page data directed to the web browser

scanning the web page data for associated data items included in an address book included with or accessible to the toolbar

identifying the associated data items found in the web page data as found data items

pairing a telephone number from the address book with each of the found data items

preparing a list of found data items and corresponding telephone numbers for the web page

altering the normal display of the found data items to make the found data items conspicuous on a web page in which the found data is included

recognizing the activation of one of the found data items

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the telephone number corresponding to an activated found data item.

50. The machine readable medium of claim 49 wherein the predefined telephone number is a web browser user telephone number for an adjacent telephone near to where the user is accessing the web browser.

51. The machine readable medium of claim 50 wherein the adjacent telephone is a cellular telephone.

52. The machine readable medium of claim 50 wherein the adjacent telephone is physically connected to a public switched telephone network.

53. The machine readable medium of claim 49 wherein the initiating comprises

requesting a callback telephone number from the user and assigning the callback number as the predefined telephone number.

54. The machine readable medium of claim 49 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to set the altering of the found data items in the web page to be on and off.

55. The machine readable medium of claim 49 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

56. The machine readable medium of claim 49 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the found data items.

57. A machine readable medium comprising computer software distinct from a web browser and to operate as a toolbar in the web browser, the computer software having instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

intercepting web page data for a web page directed to the Internet web browser

scanning the web page data for telephone numbers and associated data

identifying telephone numbers in the web page data as identified telephone numbers

identifying associated data in the web page data as identified associated data

altering the normal display of the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data included in the found items list to make the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data conspicuous on the web page

recognizing the activation of one of the identified telephone numbers or one of the identified associated data as an activated item

initiating a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and a telephone number corresponding to an activated item.

58. The machine readable medium of claim 57 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to set the altering of the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data in the web page to be on and off.

59. The machine readable medium of claim 57 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to allow a user to provide the predefined telephone number.

60. The machine readable medium of claim 57 wherein the toolbar includes a user interface item to list the identified telephone numbers and the identified associated data.