Establishment of a PSTN and internet multimedia collaboration session

• US 6,704,294 B1
• Filed: 10/13/1999
• Issued: 03/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Cruickshank, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Cangialosi, Salvatore
• Application Number:
  US09/417,047
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 370/260, 370/261, 370/265-267, 370/271, 370/352
• US Class Current: 370/265
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication

Abstract

Parallel data network and telephone network communications are established to facilitate a collaboration combining the data transfer and document sharing strengths of a data network with the superior audio communication of a telephone network. The method involves receiving an identifier of a calling station and called station, determining the IP addresses of computers associated with the calling station and called station, and causing the computers of the called and calling stations to establish a data-only collaboration. In an alternative embodiment, the method additionally involves determining the CLIDs associated with the calling and called stations, and connecting the telephones of the called and calling stations.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a collaborative session between a calling station and a called station, comprising:

receiving an identifier of a first station and second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a data network;

causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network where such a connection does not already exist;

commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a data network address of a computer associated with said second station and passing said data network address to said computer of said first station while undertaking said commanding.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said data network is a packetized data network following the Internet Protocol and said determining comprises determining an Internet Protocol data network address.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said collaborative session allows at least one of video communication, application sharing, file transfer, whiteboard, and chat.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said data network is a packetized data network and wherein said command comprises instructing the computer associated with the first station to:

(I) contact a web server associated with the computer associated with the second station via said Packetized Data Network;

(II) send instructions via a web server associated with the computer associated with the second station to instruct the computer associated with the second station to launch a collaboration application with the audio communication function disabled;

(III) send instructions via a web server associated with the computer associated with the second station to instruct the computer associated with the second station to establish a collaboration by contacting a web server associated with the computer associated with the first station.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiving comprises receiving identifiers of the first station and the second station through said first station telephone.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiving comprises receiving identifiers of the first station and the second station through a graphical user interface on said first station computer.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein said causing establishment comprises establishing a telephone connection between the first station telephone and the second station telephone through a Private Branch Exchange.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein said causing establishment comprises establishing a telephone connection between the first station telephone and the second station telephone through a Private Branch Exchange.

10. A method for establishing a collaborative session between a calling station and a called station, comprising:

receiving an identifier of a first station and a second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a data network;

causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network;

commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.

11. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions, comprising:

means for receiving an identifier of a first station and a second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a data network;

means for causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network where such a connection does not already exist;

means for commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.

12. The computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions of claim 11 further comprising:

means for determining a data network address of a computer associated with said second station and passing said data network address to said computer of said first station while undertaking said commanding.

13. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing sequences of instruction which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving an identifier of a first station and a second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a data network;

causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network where such a connection does not already exist;

commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.

14. The computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of claim 13 further comprising:

determining a data network address of a computer associated with said second station and passing said data network address to said computer of said first station while undertaking said commanding.

15. Apparatus for automating the establishment of a collaborative session between a calling station and a called station, comprising:

means for receiving an identifier of a first station and a second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a data network;

means for causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network where such a connection does not already exist;

means for commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for determining a data network address of a computer associated with said second station and passing said data network address to said computer of said first station while undertaking said commanding.

17. A method for establishing a collaborative session between a calling station and a called station, comprising:

receiving an identifier of a first station and second station, each of said first station and second station comprising a telephone connected to a switched telephone network and a computer connected to a local area network, with the local area networks interconnected via a data network, and said data network is a packetized data network following an Internet Protocol;

causing establishment of a telephone connection between said telephone of said first station and said telephone of said second station over said switched telephone network where such a connection does not already exist;

commanding said computer of said first station to launch a collaborative session with said computer of said second station over said data network with audio disabled.