Common visual and functional architecture for presenting and controlling arbitrary telephone line features
First Claim
1. In a telephony device having a screen display, a user interface display method comprising:
- displaying a call slip on a portion of the screen, wherein the call slip comprises visual information;
in response to detecting a change in telephone line state of the telephony device, displaying within the call slip call specific information derived from a telephone line;
obtaining calling party identification information from the telephone line;
displaying the calling party identification information in the call slip;
using calling party identification information to search for a corresponding entry in a contact database; and
alternatively displaying an option to add or an option to edit an entry in the contact database based on whether a corresponding entry is found in the contact database wherein the option to add is displayed responsive to determining a corresponding entry is not found; and
the option to edit is displayed responsive to determining the corresponding entry is found.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user interface for screen phones monitors telephone line state information and displays user interface controls and telephone line status information dependent on the telephone line state. The user interface includes a display element referred to as a call slip that expands and collapses in response to changes in telephone line state and user input. The call slip updates the information that it displays based on telephone line state changes and information communicated from one or more telephony monitoring applications. The call slip displays user interface controls representing tasks that are dependent on information derived from a telephone call, such as caller ID information. The software used to control the display of call slips and to monitor telephone line state is part of a software platform that may be customized for a particular device or application. For example, an implementer may select default display elements and monitoring application programs from the platform and add custom display elements that communicate with the default programs via their programming interfaces.
210 Citations
7 Claims
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1. In a telephony device having a screen display, a user interface display method comprising:
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displaying a call slip on a portion of the screen, wherein the call slip comprises visual information;
in response to detecting a change in telephone line state of the telephony device, displaying within the call slip call specific information derived from a telephone line;
obtaining calling party identification information from the telephone line;
displaying the calling party identification information in the call slip;
using calling party identification information to search for a corresponding entry in a contact database; and
alternatively displaying an option to add or an option to edit an entry in the contact database based on whether a corresponding entry is found in the contact database wherein the option to add is displayed responsive to determining a corresponding entry is not found; and
the option to edit is displayed responsive to determining the corresponding entry is found. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of customizing an extensible software system for a screen phone, wherein the extensible software system comprises a software platform including a call slip object for controlling the display of a call slip user interface, and one or more default call slip pane objects for controlling the display of default panes in the call slip window, wherein the call slip object and the default call slip pane objects expose programming interfaces operable to receive telephone line state information sent by a program module provided in the software platform for monitoring telephone line state, and the programming interface for the call slip object comprises one or more methods that mirror the methods for the call slip pane objects;
- wherein the call slip object forwards received information to the call slip pane objects, the method comprising;
adding to the software system a custom call slip pane object that controls the display of a corresponding custom pane in the call slip user interface, the custom call slip object being operable to receive telephone line state information from another program module monitoring telephone line state;
wherein the custom call slip pane object exposes a programming interface comprising one or more methods that mirror the methods of the programming interfaces for the call slip object and the call slip pane objects, and the custom call slip pane object is operable to receive telephone line state information sent by a program module provided in the software platform for monitoring telephone line state and forwards the information to any call slip control objects designated as in the custom call slip pane via at least one of the mirrored methods. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
selecting a default user interface control from the software platform to include in the default pane.
- wherein the call slip object forwards received information to the call slip pane objects, the method comprising;
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5. The method of claim 3 including:
creating a custom user interface control to include in the default pane, the custom user interface control having a programming interface for receiving telephone state information from a program module provided in the software platform for monitoring telephone line state.
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6. The method of claim 3 including:
creating a custom user interface control to include in the custom pane, the custom user interface control having a programming interface for receiving telephone state information from a program module provided in the software platform for monitoring telephone line state.
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7. The method of claim 3 including:
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creating a custom telephony monitoring application program to monitor telephone line state information;
creating a custom user interface control to include in the custom pane, the custom user interface control having a programming interface for receiving telephone state information from the custom telephony monitoring application program.
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Specification