Displaying and activating telephone numbers

• US 20040260413A1
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QTECH SYSTEMS, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jambo Acquisition, LLC
• Inventors: Melideo, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,441,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/87
• 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

There are disclosed methods and apparatus for displaying telephone numbers included in data units. The data units are scanned for telephone numbers. The telephone numbers are automatically identified within the data units. When the telephone numbers are displayed as part of displays of the data units, the telephone numbers are conspicuously rendered.

Claims

1. A method of displaying telephone numbers by a client computer, the method performed within the client computer and comprising:

scanning the data units for telephone numbers

automatically identifying the telephone numbers within the data units

embedding objects in the data units, the objects to allow for initiation of telephone calls using the telephone numbers

displaying the data units, including conspicuously rendering the telephone numbers.

2. The method of displaying telephone numbers of claim 1 wherein the data units comprise web pages.

3. The method of displaying telephone numbers of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an activation of a displayed telephone number by the user

initiating a telephone call between a first telephone associated with a predefined telephone number and a second telephone associated with the displayed telephone number.

4. The method of displaying telephone numbers of claim 1 wherein the scanning;

the automatically identifying, and the embedding are performed before the displaying.

5. The method of displaying telephone numbers of claim 1 wherein the conspicuously rendering is achieved according to a display attribute associated with the telephone number.

6. The method of displaying telephone numbers of claim 5, wherein the display attribute comprises one or more from the group comprising a distinctive color, underlining, and a distinctive font.

7. The method of rendering telephone numbers as objects of claim 5, wherein the display attribute comprises highlighting on mouse roll-over.

8. The method of rendering telephone numbers as objects of claim 5, wherein the display attribute comprises a right-click menu.

9. The method of rendering telephone numbers as objects of claim 5, wherein the display attribute is included in the object associated with the telephone number.

10. A client computer for displaying telephone numbers, the client computer comprising:

a user input device

a display device

a processor

a memory

wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software for

scanning data units for telephone numbers

automatically identifying the telephone numbers within the data units

embedding objects in the data units, the objects to allow for initiation of telephone calls using the telephone numbers

displaying the data units, including conspicuously rendering the telephone numbers.

11. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 10 wherein the data units comprise web pages.

12. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 10 further comprising circuits and software for

detecting an activation of a displayed telephone number by a user

initiating a telephone call between a first telephone associated with a predefined telephone number and a second telephone associated with the displayed telephone number.

13. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 10, wherein the scanning, the automatically identifying, and the embedding are performed before the displaying.

14. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 10, wherein the conspicuously rendering is achieved according to a display attribute associated with the telephone number.

15. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 14, wherein the display attribute comprises one or more from the group comprising a distinctive color, underlining, and a distinctive font.

16. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 14, wherein the display attribute comprises highlighting on mouse roll-over.

17. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 14, wherein the display attribute comprises a right-click menu.

18. The client computer for displaying telephone numbers of claim 14, wherein the display attribute is included in the object associated with the telephone number.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein operable in a processor for conspicuously displaying telephone numbers included in data units, the computer readable program code to cause a client computer to perform operations comprising:

scanning the data units for telephone numbers

automatically identifying the telephone numbers within the data units

embedding objects in the data units, the objects to allow for initiation of telephone calls using the telephone numbers

displaying the data units, including conspicuously rendering the telephone numbers.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 comprising computer readable program code to cause the client computer to perform further operations comprising:

detecting an activation of a displayed telephone number by a user

initiating a telephone call between a first telephone associated with a predefined telephone number and a second telephone associated with the displayed telephone number.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the data units comprise web pages.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the scanning, the automatically identifying, and the embedding are performed before the displaying.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the conspicuously rendering is achieved according to a display attribute associated with the telephone number.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the display attribute comprises one or more from the group comprising a distinctive color, underlining, and a distinctive font.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the display attribute comprises highlighting on mouse roll-over.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the display attribute comprises a right-click menu.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the display attribute is included in the object associated with the telephone number.