TELECOMMUNICATION AND MULTIMEDIA MANAGEMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20090103693A1
• Filed: 09/08/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2007
• 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 8,855,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/301 Management of recordings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42314 in private branch exchanges

Abstract

An apparatus for enabling legacy communication devices to engage in conversations in either a near real-time or a time-shifted mode. The apparatus includes a gateway node having a first interface to enable the gateway node to receive conversation control information from a remote conversation management device and a second interface to couple the gateway node to a communication network. The communication network is configured to support a conversation between a first communication device and one or more other communication devices over the communication network. The gateway node further includes a message buffer configured to receive over the second interface media of the conversation and to store the media of the conversation as the media is received from the communication network. The gateway node also includes a conversation management element configured to receive the conversation control information from the remote conversation management device, and in response, manage the rendering of the conversation for the first communication device by controlling the timing of when the media is (i) retrieved from the message buffer and (ii) transmitted over the communication network to the first communication device.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a gateway node, the gateway node comprising;

a first interface to enable the gateway node to receive conversation control information from a remote conversation management device;

a second interface to couple the gateway node to a communication network, the communication network configured to support a conversation between a first communication device and one or more other communication devices over the communication network;

a message buffer configured to receive over the second interface media of the conversation, the message buffer storing the media of the conversation as the media is received from the communication network; and

a conversation management element configured to receive the conversation control information from the remote conversation management device, the conversation management element managing the rendering of the media of the conversation for the first communication device in response to the received control information by controlling the timing of when the media of the conversation is (i) retrieved from the message buffer and (ii) transmitted over the communication network to the first communication device,

whereby the remote conversation device may be used to manage the conversation on the first communication device through the gateway node.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element is further configured to retrieve and transmit the media of the conversation stored in the message buffer at a selected previous point in time of the conversation as specified in the received conversation control information when the received conversation control information is indicative of a time-shifted conversation rendering mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element is further configured to control the retrieval and transmission of the media of the conversation within a minimum time delay sufficient to support a near real-time rendering of the media at the first communication device when the received conversation control information is indicative of the near real-time conversation rendering mode.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element is further configured to transmit the media of the conversation to the one or more other communication devices within a minimal time delay sufficient to support the rendering of the media of the conversation in near real-time at the one or more other communication devices respectively.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element is further configured to selectively transmit the media of the conversation to the one or more other communication devices after one or more user defined delays in response to rendering instructions received from the one or more other communication devices respectively.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element further comprises a user interface, the user interface comprising one of the following:

(i) a server maintained at the gateway node, the server configured to serve conversation related information to the conversation management device and to receive the conversation control information from the conversation management device over the connection;

(ii) a first application on the gateway node, the first application configured to provide the conversation related information to the conversation management device and to receive the conversation control information from the conversation management device;

(iii) a second application on the conversation management device, the second application configured to receive the conversation related information from the gateway node and to provide the conversation control information from the conversation management device to the gateway node;

or

(iv) any combination of (i) through (iii).

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation control information comprises:

(i) DTMF signals;

(ii) control information generated by an application executed on the conversation management device;

(iii) control information generated by a browser application on the conversation management device,

(iv) voice commands received through a voice user interface;

(v) radio signals;

or

(iv) any combination of (i) through (v).

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the conversation related information includes one or more of the following:

(i) participants in the conversation;

(ii) the status of each of the participants in the conversation

(iii) the time the media of the conversation was created;

(iv) the date the media of the conversation was created;

(v) the communication device which created the media;

or

(iv) interrupts or other alerts.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element further comprises a conversation database configured to store conversational information pertaining to the conversation.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the conversational information pertains to one or more of the following:

participants of the conversation;

contact information for the participants;

presence information of the participants;

status information of the participants; and

position of the participants with respect to the head of the conversation.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a message buffer controller configured to control the message buffer, the message buffer controller configured to store the media of the conversation, the media of the conversation including both:

(i) the media generated using the first communication device pertaining to the conversation; and

(ii) the media received over the communication network from the one or more other communication devices participating in the conversation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message buffer controller is further configured to store the media of the conversation in the message buffer in a time-based format.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message buffer is configured to persistently store the media of the conversation.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an archive storage system, coupled to the gateway node, and configured to archive the media stored in the message buffer.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message buffer controller is further configured to retrieve the media stored in the message buffer in response to instructions received from the conversation management element.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message buffer controller is further configured to provide conversation status information to the conversation management element regarding the status of the conversation.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element and the conversation management device cooperate to provide a plurality of rendering options for rendering the media of the conversation on the first communication device, the plurality of rendering options including one or more of the following:

(i) play normal;

(ii) skip silences;

(iii) pause;

(iv) replay;

(v) play faster;

(vi) play slower;

(vii) jump backward;

(viii) jump forward;

(iix) catch up to the most recently received media;

or

(ix) jump to the most recently received media.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element and the conversation management device cooperate to provide a plurality of management options to manage conversations conducted on the first communication device, the plurality of management options including one or more of the following:

(i). create a conversation including a conversation name and a list of contacts participating in the conversation;

(ii) update the details of the created conversation by adding or deleting one or more contacts participating in the created conversation;

(iii) view the details of the created conversation including the start time and the status of the participants of the created conversation;

(iv) delete the created conversation;

or

(v) close the created conversation.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element and the conversation management device cooperate to provide a plurality of conversation participation options to manage the participation in the conversation at the first communication device, the plurality of options including one or more of the following:

(i) starting the conversation;

(ii) providing a notification that attention to the conversation is requested;

(iii) providing the status of the conversation;

or

(iv) pausing the conversation.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element and the conversation management device cooperate to provide a plurality of options for managing contacts, the plurality of options for managing contacts including one or more of the following:

(i) add a contact;

(ii) edit the contact;

(iii) delete the contact;

(iv) search for the contact;

(v) create a group of contacts;

(vi) edit the group of contacts;

(vii) delete the group of contacts;

or

(viii) search for the contact or group of contacts by name or number.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management element provides the first communication device the ability to participate in multiple conversations.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the conversation management element further provides the ability for the first communication device to participate in the multiple conversations by receiving control instructions from the conversation management device to participate in a selected one conversation among the multiple conversations.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the conversation management element further provides the ability for the first communication device to participate in multiple conversations by consecutively rendering the media of the multiple conversations using a sequencing order defined by a priority hierarchy.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the conversation management element further comprises the ability for the first communication device to participate in the multiple conversations simultaneously by causing the media of the multiple conversations to be simultaneously rendered on the first communication device as the media becomes available.

25. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a control network coupling the first interface of the gateway node and the conversation management device, the control network comprises on or more of the following:

a PSTN network, a mobile phone network, a VoIP network, a radio network, an Internet protocol based network, or any combination thereof.

26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management device comprises one of the following:

a computer, a telephone, a mobile phone, a satellite phone, a radio, or any other type of communication device.

27. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first communication device comprises one of the following:

a computer, a telephone, a mobile phone, a satellite phone, or a radio.

28. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management device and the first communication device are the same device.

29. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management device and the first communication device are different devices.

30. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversation management device is used to manage conversations on multiple first communication devices, the multiple first communication devices including two or more of the following:

a computer, a legacy telephone, a mobile phone, a satellite phone, a radio, or any combination thereof.

31. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises:

(i) a PSTN;

(ii) a mobile phone network;

(iii) VoIP network;

(iv) a radio network;

(v) a satellite network;

or

(v) any combination of (i) through (v).

32. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second interface is configured to couple the gateway node to the communication network through a private branch exchange.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the gateway node is embedded into the private branch exchange.

34. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication network is a radio communication network and the second interface is configured to couple the gateway node to the communication network through a radio repeater.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the radio communication network comprises:

(i) a police radio network;

(ii) a fire-fighter radio network;

(iii) a first responder radio network;

(iv) a military radio network;

(v) a taxi radio network;

(vi) a fleet radio network;

or

(vii) any combination of (i) through (iv).

36. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media comprises one or more of the following types of media:

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

37. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the remote conversation management device is browser enabled conversation management device that communicates with the user interface server located at the gateway node through the browser.

38. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the remote conversation management device executes an application that communicates with the user interface server located at the gateway node.

39. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the conversation management element and the message buffer are further configured to perform within the minimum time delay one of the following:

(a) store the media of the conversation before transmitting the media of the conversation to the first communication device;

(b) transmit the media of the conversation to the first communication device before storing the media of the conversation;

or

(c) store and transmit the media of the conversation at substantially the same time.

40. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first communication device and the one or more other communication devices participating in the conversation transmit and receive the media of the conversation through the gateway node.