METHOD FOR INITIATING INTERNET TELEPHONE SERVICE FROM A WEB PAGE
First Claim
1. A system for providing telephone service over a network, comprising:
- a browser that enables a display of at least one page on the network;
a gateway coupled to the network and another network, wherein the network enables communication of voice data and the other network enables communication of at least one voice signal, and wherein the gateway provides a conversion between voice data and at least one voice signal to enable telephone service between at least one caller communicating on the network and at least one node on the other network; and
an application that is configured and arranged to perform actions, including;
determining if a string based representation of a telephone number is included in the at least one page based on a comparison to at least one format;
enabling a modified display of a determined telephone number by the browser; and
in response to a selection of the modified display of the telephone number, enabling telephone service to be provided over the gateway between a caller and a node associated with determined the telephone number.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A direct telephone dialing scheme for initiating internet telephone service from a web page is provided. The scheme allows a caller, using an internet telephone service, to place telephone call to a telephone number appearing on any web page directly from that web page. In one embodiment, a caller navigates to a desired web page on the internet and the caller dials a telephone number on that web page directly to initiate a two-way audio communication with the destination telephone number using an internet telephone service. The direct telephone dialing scheme of the present invention improves the accessibility and ease of use of internet telephone services. Furthermore, the direct telephone dialing scheme can be used with video, data, and fax communications which are supported by the VoIP data communication standard.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for providing telephone service over a network, comprising:
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a browser that enables a display of at least one page on the network; a gateway coupled to the network and another network, wherein the network enables communication of voice data and the other network enables communication of at least one voice signal, and wherein the gateway provides a conversion between voice data and at least one voice signal to enable telephone service between at least one caller communicating on the network and at least one node on the other network; and an application that is configured and arranged to perform actions, including; determining if a string based representation of a telephone number is included in the at least one page based on a comparison to at least one format; enabling a modified display of a determined telephone number by the browser; and in response to a selection of the modified display of the telephone number, enabling telephone service to be provided over the gateway between a caller and a node associated with determined the telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for providing telephone service over a network, comprising:
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a browser that enables a display of at least one page on the network; a memory that comprises stored data; a processor that is configured and arranged to enable actions based at least in part on executing at least a portion of the stored data, including; determining if a string based representation of a telephone number is included in the at least one page based on a comparison to at least one format; enabling a modified display of a determined telephone number in the at least one page; and in response to a selection of the modified display of the telephone number, enabling telephone service to be provided over a gateway between a caller communicating on the network and a node on another network that is associated with the telephone number, wherein the network enables communication of voice data and the other network enables communication of at least one voice signal, and wherein the gateway provides a conversion between voice data and at least one voice signal to enable telephone service between the caller and the node. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for providing telephone service over a network, comprising:
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receiving a page on the network; determining if a telephone number is included in the received page based at least in part on a comparison between content in the page to at least one string based format; enabling a modified display of a determined telephone number in the received page; and in response to a selection of the modified display of the telephone number, enabling telephone service to be provided over a gateway between a caller communicating over the network and a node on another network that is associated with the telephone number, wherein the network enables communication of voice data and the other network enables communication of at least one voice signal, and wherein the gateway provides a conversion between voice data and at least one voice signal to enable telephone service between the caller and the node. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification