TELECOMMUNICATION AND MULTIMEDIA MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20090003560A1
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voxer IP LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rebelvox LLC (Voxer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Katis, Thomas E., Panttaja, Mary G., Ranney, Matthew J., Panttaja, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.10
• CPC Class Codes: E04H 3/126 Foldable, retractable or tiltable tribunes E04H3/123 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• 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: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 : Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method for rendering one or more conversations on a first communication device. The method includes receiving over a network and storing at the first communication device media associated with the one or more conversations. The method further includes selecting on the first communication device one of the one or more conversations as current and rendering the media associated with the selected current conversation. The rendering of the media of the currently selected conversation may be performed in either a near real-time mode where the media is progressively rendered as it is received or in a time shifted mode where the media is rendered at a time after it was received. The method also includes creating media on the first communication device associated with the selected current conversation and transmitting the created media over the network to one or more remote communication devices associated with the selected current conversation. The selected current conversation may be optionally shifted among the one or more conversations.

Claims

1. A method for rendering one or more conversations on a first communication device, comprising:

receiving at the first communication device media associated with the one or more conversations over a network;

storing on the first communication device the received media associated with the one or more conversations as the media is received over the network;

selecting on the first communication device one of the one or more conversations as current; and

(i) rendering the media associated with the selected current conversation on the first communication device in either;

(a) a near real-time mode where the media associated with the selected current conversation is progressively rendered as it is received;

or

(b) a time shifted mode where the media associated with the selected current conversion is rendered at a time after it was received;

(ii) creating media on the first communication device associated with the selected current conversation; and

(iii) transmitting the created media over the network to one or more remote communication devices associated with the selected current conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

optionally shifting the selected current conversation among the one or more conversations; and

performing steps (i) through (iii) for each optionally selected current conversation respectively.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively transitioning the rendering of the media associated with the selected current conversation back and forth between the near real-time and the time-shifted modes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected current conversation further comprises an exchange of the received and created media among the participants.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the media further comprises receiving the media segmented into messages.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising segmenting the created media into messages.

7. The communication method of claim 1, wherein rendering on the first communication device the received media of the selected current conversation in the near real-time mode further comprises progressively rendering the received media as the received media is received over the network.

8. The communication method of claim 1, wherein rendering on the first communication device the received media of the selected current conversation in the time-shifted mode further comprises retrieving and rendering the received media from storage or memory.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the ability to transition the rendering of the received media of the selected current conversation back and forth between the near real-time and the time-shifted modes on the first communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in the time-shifted mode, providing the ability to select on the first communication device a starting position relative to the most current media of the currently selected conversation, wherein the starting point is defined by a user of the first communication device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a plurality of rendering options for rendering the media of the selected current conversation, the rendering options including one or more of the following:

pause, replay, play faster, play slower, jump backward, jump forward, catch up to the most recently received media, or jump to the most recently received media.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the ability to review in the time-shifted mode the received and created media of the selected current conversation on the first communication device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein providing the ability to review in the time-shifted mode the received and the created media of the selected current conversation further comprises:

selecting one participant of the selected current conversation;

retrieving the media associated with the selected participant from storage or memory; and

separately rendering the media associated with the selected participant.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the ability to review in the time-shifted mode the received and the created media of the selected current conversation further comprises:

selecting two or more participants of the selected current conversation;

retrieving the media associated with the selected two or more participants from storage or memory; and

mixing the rendering of the media associated with the selected two or more participants.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising progressively storing the created media as the media is being created before transmitting the created media.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising progressively transmitting the created media as the media is being created before storing the created media.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising concurrently and progressively rendering and storing the created media as the media is being created.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising progressively storing the received media associated with the selected current conversation, the received media being stored before rendering the received media in the near real-time mode.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising progressively rendering the received media associated with the selected current conversation in the near real-time mode, the received media being rendered before storing the received media.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising concurrently and progressively rendering and storing the received media associated with the selected current conversation as the media is being received.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the media created on the first communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the first communication device is connected to the network when the media is created; and

progressively transmitting the media if the first communication device is connected to the network,

wherein connected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer data between the first communication device and the network.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising;

ascertaining the bandwidth rate of the connection between the network and the first communication device when the media is being created; and

progressively transmitting the created media within the ascertained bandwidth rate.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the media created on the first communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if the first communication device is disconnected from the network when the media is created;

detecting when the first communication device reconnects to the network; and

transmitting the created media from storage or memory after the first communication device reconnects to the network,

wherein connected and disconnected to the network is defined as the ability to transfer or not transfer data between the first communication device and the network respectively.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting over the network the media created on the first communication device further comprises:

ascertaining if network conditions are sufficiently poor to prevent the transmission when the media is created;

detecting when network conditions sufficiently improve to enable the transmission; and

transmitting the created media from storage or memory after detecting when the network conditions sufficiently improve.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the media further comprises one or more of the following types of media:

voice, video, text, sensor data, position or GPS information, radio signals, or a combination thereof.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication device comprises one of the following:

a, land-line phone, a wireless or cellular phone, a computer or a radio, a satellite phone or radio, or a tactical radio or phone.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the network comprises a packet-based network, a circuit-based network, a cellular network, a wireless network, a radio based network, a telephone network, a satellite network, a wired network, a fiber optic network, or a combination thereof.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the media received at and transmitted by the first communication device further comprise time indexed media payloads, each of the time indexed media payloads having time index and sequencing data associated therewith.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the time indexed media payloads are streamed.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the media of the selected current conversation in the time-shifted mode further comprises:

selecting a rendering point to begin the rendering of the media of the selected current conversation, wherein the rendering point corresponds to a previous point in time of the selected current conversation; and

rendering the media of the selected current conversation starting with the selected rendering point.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering on the first communication device the received media of the selected current conversation further comprises:

receiving multiple media streams at the first communication device from multiple participants associated with the selected current conversation, each of the multiple media streams each including a plurality of time indexed media payloads, each time indexed media payload having time index and sequencing data associated therewith; and

rendering the multiple media streams by overlapping the indexed media payloads per participant by time.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising transitioning the rendering of the received media of the selected current conversation from the time-shifted mode to the near real-time mode by:

retrieving the stored media from storage or memory;

rendering the retrieved media from storage or memory at an increased rendering rate;

ascertaining a catch-up point when the rendering of the retrieved media at the increased rate has caught up to and is substantially concurrent with the media of the selected current conversation as it is being received over the network; and

rendering the media of the selected current conversation in the near real-time mode as it is being received over the network after the catch-up point.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein optionally shifting the selected current conversation further comprises:

selecting a second selected current conversation among the one or more conversations;

selecting a rendering point to begin the rendering of the media associated the second selected current conversation, wherein the rendering point corresponds to a point in time of the selected second current conversation; and

rendering the media of the selected second current conversation starting at the selected rendering point.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein optionally shifting the selected current conversation further comprises:

selecting a second selected current conversation among the one or more conversations;

creating media on the first communication device associated with the second selected current conversation; and

transmitting the created media associated with the second selected current conversation to the one or more remote communication devices associated with the second selected current conversation.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving urgent media at the first communication device; and

rendering the urgent media before rendering the media associated with the selected current conversation.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more remote participants are associated with the selected current conversation, each of the one or more remote participants participating in the selected current conversation using remote communication devices and communicating with the first communication device over the network.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a set of conversations among the one or more conversations to be simultaneously rendered, each conversation defined by; and

simultaneously rendering the received media associated with the defined set of conversations regardless if the received media overlaps or not as the media is received over the network.