METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PHONE APPLICATION STATE MANAGEMENT MECHANISM

• US 20080313336A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Porter, Brandon William, Walther, Eckart, Ellerman, Erik Castedo, Luong, Daphne Huetu
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,383 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0024 Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services arrangements which combine a telephonic equipment and a computer H04M7/0012

Abstract

A phone application state management mechanism is described. The mechanism adopts the state storage format widely known as “Cookies” to store information in a cross-application standard format. Cookies for multiple users are stored on a single machine that retrieves phone applications using a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Suitable state information for a particular user is automatically retrieved in connection with HTTP requests. Further, by phone based applications can set the values of suitable cookies. An enforced access policy can be used to prevent an application provided by a first legal entity from accessing state information stored by an application provided by another legal entity. The approach can also be used to reduce the passing of telephone identifying information between applications for user identification purposes.

Claims

1. A method of using a telephone identifying information to preserve state for applications over a telephone interface using a first computer, the method comprising:

identifying a user profile using the first computer and the telephone identifying information;

selecting a state associated with the user profile using the first computer, the state comprising a plurality of cookies; and

automatically providing a subset of the plurality of cookies to the application using the first computer, the providing responsive to receiving a request over the telephone interface to initiate an application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically providing comprises initiating the application on the first computer by retrieving the application using a HTTP request from a server and including in the HTTP request at least one “

Cookie;

”

header corresponding to at least one cookie in the subset of the plurality of cookies.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the application has a corresponding uniform resource indicator (URI) and wherein the subset of the plurality of cookies is selected according to applicability of each cookie in the plurality of cookies to the URI.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the applicability of a cookie for inclusion in the subset is determined according to IETF RFC 2109.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the applicability of a cookie for inclusion in the subset is determined according to policies in a state management standard.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a new cookie in the plurality of cookies, the new cookie received from the application as part of a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request for a uniform resource indicator (URI).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the storing occurs responsive to verification of the new cookie by the first computer according to IETF RFC 2109.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the storing occurs responsive to verification of the new cookie by the first computer according to policies in a state management standard.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises verifying a password for the user profile received over the telephone interface prior to the selecting.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises creating a user profile on the first computer.

11. An apparatus for preserving state for applications over a telephone interface, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a telephone identifying information over the telephone interface;

means for identifying a user profile according to the telephone identifying information;

means for selecting a state associated with the user profile, the state comprising a plurality of cookies; and

means for automatically providing a subset of the plurality of cookies to an application, the providing responsive to receiving a request over the telephone interface to initiate an application.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus supports a second application, the application provided by a first legal entity and the second application provided by a second legal entity.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the plurality of cookies includes at least a first cookie set by the second application, and wherein the subset of the plurality of cookies does not include the at least a first cookie.

14. A computer system to preserve state for applications over a telephone interface, the computer system comprising:

an Internet interface including at least one program to access a second computer system using one or more of a SSL protocol, a HTTP, and a HTTPS, the second computer system including an application;

a telephone interface to send and receive audio signals to and from the telephone and to receive a telephone identifying information corresponding to the telephone; and

a control subsystem to control the Internet interface and the telephone interface, the control subsystem including at least one program for

identifying a user profile according to the telephone identifying information, the user profile having a corresponding state, the state comprising a plurality of cookies, and

automatically providing a subset of the plurality of cookies over the Internet interface when retrieving the application.

15. A computer program for preserving state for applications over a telephone interface, the computer program comprising:

a first set of instructions for receiving a telephone identifying information from the telephone interface;

a second set of instructions for identifying a user profile according to the telephone identifying information;

a third set of instructions for selecting a state associated with the user profile, the state comprising a plurality of cookies; and

a fourth set of instructions for automatically providing a subset of the plurality of cookies to an application, the providing responsive to receiving a request over the telephone interface to initiate an application.

16. The computer program of claim 15, wherein the providing comprises including the subset of the plurality of cookies as part of an HTTP request to retrieve the application from a computer system.

17. The computer program of claim 16, wherein each cookie in the plurality of cookies associated with a corresponding domain, wherein the HTTP request include an HTTP request host and wherein the subset of the plurality of cookies comprises each cookie in the plurality of cookies with a corresponding domain similar to the HTTP request host.

18. The computer program of claim 15, wherein the second set of instruction further comprises a set of instructions for creating a new user profile responsive to receiving telephone identifying information not associated with an existing user profile.

19. The computer program of claim 15, wherein the second set of instruction further comprises a set of instructions for creating a temporary user profile responsive to receiving telephone identifying information not associated with an existing user profile and wherein the computer program further comprises a fifth set of instructions for deleting the temporary user profile upon receiving a signal from the telephone interface signaling an end of a telephone call.