BROWSER ENABLED COMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR CONDUCTING CONVERSATIONS IN EITHER A REAL-TIME MODE, A TIME-SHIFTED MODE, AND WITH THE ABILITY TO SEAMLESSLY SHIFT THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE TWO MODES

• US 20110035687A1
• Filed: 09/16/2009
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2009
• 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 8,533,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• 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 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A browser enabled communication device capable of conducting conversations, including multiple media types, in either a real-time or a time-shifted mode, with the ability to seamlessly transition between the two modes.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a processor;

a display;

a network connection configured to connect the communication device with a remote communication device over a communication network;

a browser; and

a communication application configured to enable communication with the remote communication device over the communication network,

the communication application and the browser both running on the processor and cooperating to create a user interface which enables a user of the communication device to participate in a conversation with the remote communication device over the communication network, the user interface enabling the user to participate in the conversation in either;

(i) a real-time mode;

or

(ii) a time-shifted mode; and

(iii) to seamlessly transition the conversation between the two modes (i) and (ii) so that the media of the conversation may be rendered synchronously when in the real-time mode or asynchronously when in the time-shifted mode.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application is capable of supporting one or more media types so that conversation may be conducting with one or more media types respectively.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to enable the communication device to present through the user interface messages of the conversation in a time-indexed order.

4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to present through the user interface a list of active conversations.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to enable the user of the communication device to select one of the conversations among the list of active conversations for participation through the user interface.

6. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to present through the user interface a message history of the selected conversation.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to present through the user interface the message history of the selected conversation by presenting one or more media bubbles, each of the one or more media bubbles representative of the one or more messages respectively.

8. The communication device of claim 7, wherein the communication application and the browser further cooperate to present the message history of the selected conversation by presenting the one or more media bubbles in the time-indexed order in which the one or more messages were created respectively.

9. The communication device of claim 7, wherein the one or more media bubbles each includes one of the following:

(i) a media type indicator which indicates the media type associated with the media bubble;

(ii) a date and time indicator indicative of the date and the time when the media associated with the media bubble was created;

(iii) a name indicator indicative of the name of the participant of the conversation that created the media associated with the media bubble;

or

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

10. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising one or more of the following rendering options for rendering the media of the conversation:

(i) play;

(ii) pause;

(iii) jump forward;

(iv) jump backward; and

(v) Catch-up-To-Live (CTL).

11. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising an end function for the user of the communication device to end participation in the conversation.

12. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a mute function.

13. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a text function which enables the user of the communication device to contribute a text message to the conversation.

14. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a talk function which enables the user of the communication device to contribute a voice message to the conversation.

15. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a play function which enables the user of the communication device to render a selected message of the conversation.

16. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a multimedia platform configured to cooperate with the browser to generate HTML content for the user interface appearing in the display of the communication device.

17. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising a browser interface and a browser plug in configured to facilitate communication between the browser and the communication application.

18. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises one of the following:

(i) the Internet;

(ii) the PSTN;

(iii) a circuit-based network;

(iv) a mobile communication network'"'"'

(v) a cellular network;

(vi) a wired network;

(vii) a wireless network;

(viii) a satellite network;

(iix) a tactical network;

or

(ix) any combination of (i) through (iix).

19. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the conversation is defined by an attribute, the attribute being selected from one of the following:

(i) a name of a participant of the conversation;

(ii) a topic of the conversation;

(iii) a subject defining the conversation;

or

(iv) a group identifier identifying group of participants in the conversation.

20. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is one of the following:

(i) a land-line phone;

(ii) a wireless phone;

(iii) a cellular phone;

(iv) a mobile phone;

(v) a satellite phone;

(vi) a computer;

(vii) a radio;

(viii) a server;

(ix) a tactical radio;

(x) a satellite radio;

or

(xi) a tactical radio.

21. The communication device of claim 2, wherein the one or more media types consists of:

(i) voice;

(ii) video;

(iii) text;

(iv) GPS data;

(v) pictures;

(vi) sensor data;

or

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

22. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application further enables the user of the communication device to optionally generate a text message in response to receiving a voice message during the conversation.

23. The communication device of claim 2, wherein the communication application further enables the generation of voice message in response to receiving a text message during the conversation.

24. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising one or more input devices, the one or more input devices capable of generating and contributing one or more media types to the conversation.

25. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising one or more output devices, the one or more output devices capable of rendering one or more media types generated during the conversation.

26. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising one or more input/output devices, the one or more input/output devices consists of:

(i) a speaker;

(ii) a mouse;

(iii) a microphone;

(iv) keyboard;

(v) a display;

(vi) a touch sensitive display;

(vii) camera;

or

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

27. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application further defines a storage element for storing media created during the conversation in a time-indexed order.

28. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application further comprises a network transmission protocol capable of progressively and simultaneously transmitting media created as the media is being created from the communication device to the remote communication device over the network connection.

29. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application comprises a network receiving protocol capable of progressively and simultaneously rendering media received over the communication network from the remote communication device as the media is being received at the communication device when in the real-time rendering mode.

30. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application comprises a network protocol, the network protocol consisting of one of the following:

(i) SMTP;

(ii) a proprietary email protocol

(iii) Sessions Internet Protocol (SIP);

(iv) Voice over IP;

(v) a communication protocol capable of progressively transmitting media in real-time as the media is being created, but does not require the recipient to immediately render the transmitted media upon receipt.

31. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application further enables communication with the remote communication device to take place either in (i) the real-time mode or (ii) the time-shifted mode and has the ability to (iii) seamlessly transition the conversation between the two modes (i) and (ii).

32. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application and the browser cooperate to embed the user interface in a Web page appearing on the display of the communication device.

33. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a client communication device configured to connect to the remote communication device through one or more communication servers located on the communication network.

34. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the user of the remote communication device is addressed using an email address associated with the user of the remote communication device and media associated with the conversation is routed from the communication device to the remote communication device over the communication network using a route discovered by a DNS lookup result of the email address.

35. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication application is further configured to provide the presence status of the user of the communication device to the remote communication device over the network.