Collaborative working method and system for a telephone to interface with a collaborative working application

• US 5,652,866 A
• Filed: 08/26/1994
• Issued: 07/29/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mitchell, Harry David, Bonsall, Gordon W., Lambert, Howard Shelton, Aldred, Barry Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US08/296,847
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 395/500, 395/650, 395/200, 395/725, 364/238.1, 364/241.8, 379/105, 379/106, 379/67, 379/90, 379/93, 379/95, 379/97, 379/96, 375/222
• US Class Current: 703/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems

Abstract

A programmable workstation for collaborative working in a network comprises a conventional operating system and network control layer for controlling physical routing of data between nodes. A collaborative application subsystem which interfaces with conventional telephones is responsive to a predetermined call from a collaboration call manager to establish the call manager at the node to handle incoming events which are not specific to any application program instances at the node.

Claims

1. A method of processing an outgoing call from a computer to a conventional telephone over a telephone network, the computer including collaborative support software and means for interfacing to the telephone network, the method comprising the steps, executed by the collaborative support software, of:

receiving from an application executing on the computer a request to establish a telephone call to the conventional telephone,

establishing, in response to the request, a telephone call from the interface means to the conventional telephone over the telephone network,

detecting that an identification message has not been received from the conventional telephone within a predetermined period of time, said identification message containing a field identifying a called device, and

responsive to such a detection, sending a message simulating a connection message from the conventional telephone to said application, said connection message comprising an identifier representing said conventional telephone.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further including the step of sending to the conventional telephone an indication of the identity of the computer after the step of establishing a telephone call therewith.

3. A method as claimed in either of claims 1 or 2 wherein, the connection message simulates a share request, said share request comprising data naming an application sharing set, a target application and a destination node.

4. A method of processing an incoming call from a conventional telephone to a computer (C) over a telephone network (TN), the computer including collaborative support software and means for interfacing to the telephone network, the method comprising the steps executed by the collaborative support software of:

receiving from the telephone network a request to establish a telephone call to the computer,

establishing, in response to the request, a telephone call from the interface means to the conventional telephone over the telephone network,

detecting that an identification message has not been received from the conventional telephone within a predetermined period of time, said identification message containing a field identifying a called device, and

responsive to such a detection, sending a message simulating a connection from the conventional telephone to the application, said connection message comprising an identifier representing the conventional telephone.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further including the step of sending to the conventional telephone an indication of the identity of the computer after the step of establishing a telephone call therewith.

6. A method as claimed in either of claims 4 or 5, wherein the connection message simulates a share request, said share request comprising data naming an application sharing set, a target application and a destination node.

7. A system for processing an outgoing call from a computer (C) to a conventional telephone (CT) over a telephone network (TN), the computer including collaborative support software and means for interfacing to the telephone network, the collaborative support software comprising:

means for receiving from an application executing on the computer a request to establish a telephone call to the conventional telephone,

means for establishing, in response to the request, a telephone call from the interface means to the conventional telephone over the telephone network,

means for detecting that an identification message has not been received from the conventional telephone within a predetermined period of time, said identification message containing a field identifying a called device, and

means, responsive to said means for detecting, for sending a message simulating a connection message from the conventional telephone to said application, said connection message comprising an identifier representing said conventional telephone.

8. A system for processing an incoming call from a conventional telephone to a computer (C) over a telephone network (TN), the computer including collaborative support software and means for interfacing to the telephone network, comprising:

means for receiving from the telephone network a request to establish a telephone call to the computer,

means for establishing, in response to the request, a telephone call from the interface means to the conventional telephone over the telephone network,

means for detecting that an identification message has not been received from the conventional telephone within a predetermined period of time, said identification message containing a field identifying a called device, and

means, responsive to said means for detecting, for sending a message simulating a connection message from the conventional telephone to said application, said connection message comprising an identifier representing said conventional telephone.