Method and apparatus for communicating information

• US 6,751,211 B1
• Filed: 04/03/1998
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aspect Communications Corporation (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Aspect Communications Corporation (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chack, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang Bin
• Application Number:
  US09/055,037
• Time in Patent Office: 2,265 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/400, 370/409, 370/395.2, 370/463, 379/88.01, 379/88.02, 379/88.04, 379/88.17, 379/93.01, 379/93.09, 379/93.25, 704/231, 704/246, 704/270, 704/275, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

A system is provided that responds to a received transaction. The system detects a received transaction generated by a transaction initiator and associates a resource locator, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), with the received transaction. The URL is then provided to the transaction initiator. The URL associated with the received transaction may identify an Internet web page, which can be generated in response to the received transaction. The received transaction includes a request to receive a URL. The received transaction can be a telephone call initiated by a telephone caller. The system is also capable of identifying the transaction initiator and associating a URL with the received transaction based on the transaction initiator'"'"'s identity. The transaction is received on a first communication medium and the URL is associated with a second communication medium.

Claims

1. A method of responding to a received transaction, the method comprising:

detecting a received transaction generated by a transaction initiator, wherein the received transaction comprises a call setup message and a telephone call dedicated to voice communications;

associating a uniform resource locator (URL) with the received transaction, wherein a request for the URL is embedded in the call setup message that is utilized to setup the telephone call that is dedicated to the voice communications; and

providing the URL to the transaction initiator without utilizing the telephone call.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the URL associated with the received transaction identifies an Internet web page.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the associating the URL with the received transaction includes generating a web page in response to the received transaction and associating the generated web page with the URL.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the URL to the transaction initiator includes transmitting the URL without answering the received telephone call.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the associating of the received transaction includes identifying the transaction initiator and associating the URL with the received transaction based on the transaction initiator'"'"'s identity.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the transaction initiator is identified using the transaction initiator'"'"'s telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the URL associated with the received transaction is unique to the received transaction.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction is received on a first communication medium and the URL is associated with a second communication medium.

9. A method of responding to a call setup message and a telephone call initiated by a telephone caller, the method comprising:

associating a resource locator with the telephone call dedicated to voice communications, wherein a request for the resource locator is embedded in the call setup message that is utilized to setup the telephone call that is dedicated to the voice communications; and

providing the resource locator to the telephone caller without utilizing the received telephone call.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the resource locator associated with the received telephone call identifies an Internet web page.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the resource locator is a uniform resource locator (URL).

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the associating the resource locator with the received telephone call includes generating a web page in response to the received telephone call and associating the generated web page with the resource locator.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the associating of the resource locator with the received telephone call includes identifying the telephone caller and associating a resource locator with the received telephone call based on the telephone caller'"'"'s identity.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the telephone caller is identified using the telephone caller'"'"'s telephone number.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the resource locator associating with the received telephone call is unique to the received telephone call.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the telephone call is received on a first communication medium and the resource locator associating with the received telephone call is associated with a second communication medium.

17. A method of communicating with a transaction processing system, the method comprising:

initiating a transaction comprising a telephone call dedicated to voice communications and a call setup message, wherein a request for a uniform resource locator (URL) is embedded in the call setup message that is utilized to setup the telephone call that is dedicated to the voice communications, wherein the transaction is communicated to the transaction processing system, from a transaction initiator; and

receiving a response from the transaction processing system, wherein the response includes a uniform resource locator the URL, and is received without utilizing the telephone call.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the transaction includes a request to receive a URL.

19. The method of claim 17 further including retrieving a web page associated with the URL.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the transaction is communicated to the transaction processing system on a first communication medium and the web page associated with the URL is retrieved on a second communication medium.

21. A computer software product including a medium readable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

detect a received transaction generated by a transaction initiator, wherein the received transaction comprises a telephone call dedicated to voice communications and a call setup message;

associate a uniform resource locator (URL) with the received transaction, wherein a request for the URL is embedded in the call setup message, received from the transaction initiator, the call setup message to setup the telephone call that is dedicated to the voice communications; and

provide the URL to the transaction initiator without utilizing the telephone call.

22. The computer software product of claim 21 wherein the URL associated with the received transaction identifies an Internet web page.

23. The computer software product of claim 21 wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the processor to identify the transaction initiator and associate a URL with the received transaction based on the transaction initiator'"'"'s identity.

24. The computer software product of claim 21 wherein the transaction is received on a first communication medium and the URL is associated with a second communication medium.