Apparatus and system for operating a community

• US 20070242812A1
• Filed: 05/07/2007
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kidkool (2005) Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Kidkool (2005) Ltd.
• Inventors: Harush, Arie
• Application Number:
  US11/800,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20070242812A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.90
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A system for performing selective voice-over-IP (VOIP) communication by members of a community over a wide area network (WAN), that comprises a VOIP server, which routes voice-over-IP packets from one user to one or more other users; means provided within the VOIP server, or coupled to it, to maintain a list of members of the community; means provided within the VOIP server, or coupled to it, to determine which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and to notify other members of the community that the members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line; two or more users connected to a WAN via a PC, who are provided with VOIP communication devices; resident software provided in the PC of each of the members, to receive information from the VOIP server regarding the identity of members being or coming on-line, or going off-line; resident software provided in the PC of each of the members, to activate or deactivate a presence indicator, available to the user of the PC, which is indicative of the presence of one or more community members on-line; and VOIP communication apparatus, provided with each community member, suitable to permit voice-over-IP communication of a WAN.

Claims

1. A system for performing selective voice-over-IP (VOIP) communication by members of a community over a wide area network (WAN), comprising:

at least one VOIP server, which routes voice-over-IP packets from one user to one or more other users;

means provided within said VOIP server, or coupled to it, to maintain a list of members of the community;

means provided within said VOIP server, or coupled to it, to determine which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and to notify other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line;

two or more users connected to a WAN via a PC, said users being provided with VOIP communication devices;

resident software provided in the PC of each of said members, to receive information from the VOIP server regarding the identity of members being or coming on-line, or going off-line;

resident software provided in the PC of each of said members, to activate or deactivate a presence indicator, available to the user of said PC, which is indicative of the presence of one or more community members on-line; and

VOIP communication apparatus, provided with each community member, suitable to permit voice-over-IP communication of a WAN.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the WAN is the Internet.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the means for maintaining a list of members of the community comprise a look-up table.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the means for determining which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and for notifying other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line comprise a signal generated by a resident software.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the means for determining which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and for notifying other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line comprise a response to an interrogation signal generated by the VOIP server.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the VOIP communication apparatus is connected to the PC via a port.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the port is a USB port.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the VOIP communication apparatus is connected to the PC via wireless communication means.

18. A system according to claim 8, wherein the wireless communication means are selected from the following group:

BlueTooth;

WiFi; and

WiMAX;

19. A method according to any one of claim 18, wherein the wireless communication means are selected from the following group:

BlueTooth;

WiFi; and

WiMAX;

9. A VOIP communication apparatus comprising a plurality of indicators, coupled to a plurality of buttons or switches, wherein each indicator is representative of the absence or presence of a member of a community on-line and wherein each button is suitable to permit voice-over-IP communication between said communication apparatus and the communication apparatus of the community member whose presence on-line is indicated by said indicator.

10. A method for performing selective voice-over-IP (VOIP) communication by members of a community over a wide area network (WAN), comprising:

providing at least one VOIP server, suitable to route voice-over-IP packets from one user to one or more other users;

providing means within said VOIP server, or coupled to it, suitable to maintain a list of members of the community;

providing means within said VOIP server, or coupled to it, suitable to determine which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and to notify other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line;

providing two or more users connected to a WAN via a PC, said users being provided with VOIP communication devices;

providing resident software in the PC of each of said members, suitable to receive information from the VOIP server regarding the identity of members being or coming on-line, or going off-line;

providing resident software in the PC of each of said members, suitable to activate or deactivate a presence indicator, available to the user of said PC, which is indicative of the presence of one or more community members on-line;

providing VOIP communication apparatus available to each community member, suitable to permit voice-over-IP communication of a WAN.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the WAN is the Internet.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein the means for maintaining a list of members of the community comprise a look-up table.

13. A method according to claim 10, wherein the means for determining which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and for notifying other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line comprise a signal generated by a resident software.

14. A method according to claim 10, wherein the means for determining which members of the community are available on-line at any given time and for notifying other members of the community that said members are, or have become, available on-line, or have gone off-line comprise a response to an interrogation signal generated by the VOIP server.

15. A method according to claim 10, wherein the VOIP communication apparatus is connected to the PC via a port.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the port is a USB port.

17. A method according to claim 10, wherein the VOIP communication apparatus is connected to the PC via wireless communication means.