Customer care control over voice application state

• US 6,754,711 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2000
• Issued: 06/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Willaford, William Bateford IV, Danner, Ryan Alan, Dodrill, Lewis Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Assistant Examiner(s): EDELMAN, BRADLEY E
• Application Number:
  US09/605,854
• Time in Patent Office: 1,454 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/227-229, 379/265.09
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2876 Pairs of inter-processing entities at each side of the network, e.g. split proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends

Abstract

An application server includes an application runtime environment configured for receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party. The application runtime environment is configured to modify the session identifier to change the application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party. The application runtime environment is also configured to update a brownie of the first party to include the modified session identifier.

Claims

1. A method in an application server for controlling a voice application of another party, the method comprising:

receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party;

modifying the session identifier to change the application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party; and

updating a brownie of the first party to include the modified session identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the brownie is stored in a registry and the step of updating the brownie includes accessing the registry.

3. The method of claim 1, further including generating an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein after the updating step, the method further includes generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of modifying the session identifier includes generating a HTML page having XML tags having instructions for controlling the application state of the first party.

6. A method in an application server for controlling a voice application of another party, the method comprising:

receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party;

creating a new session identifier to create a new application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party; and

updating a brownie of the first party to include the new session identifier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the brownie is stored in a registry and the step of updating the brownie includes accessing the registry.

8. The method of claim 6, further including generating an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein after the updating step, the method further includes generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of modifying the session identifier includes generating a HTML page having XML tags having instructions for controlling the application state of the first party.

11. A method in an application server for permitting control by a second party over a voice application of a first party, the method comprising:

receiving an HTTP request for execution of a voice application session for the first party;

preventing a state of the voice application session of the first party from being changed by the first party; and

based on the HTTP request, generating, for a browser of a second party, an HTML page having a session identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the preventing step includes ignoring, in the application session of the first party, DTMF signals inputted by the first party.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of generating the HTML page includes generating a URL containing the session identifier.

14. An application server configured for executing a calling application, the application server including:

an application runtime environment configured for dynamically generating, in response to a HTTP request, a hypertext markup language (HTML) document having instructions for preventing a state of the voice application session of the first party from being changed by the first party, the application runtime environment being configured for generating, based on the HTTP request, an HTML page having a session identifier for a browser of a second party.

15. The application server of claim 14, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to ignore DTMF signals inputted by the first party.

16. The application server of claim 14, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to generate a URL containing the session identifier.

17. An application server configured for executing a calling application, the application server including:

an application runtime environment configured for receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party, the application runtime environment being configured to modify the session identifier to change the application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party and the application runtime environment being configured to update a brownie of the first party to include the modified session identifier.

18. The application server of claim 17, wherein the brownie is stored in a registry and the application runtime environment is configured to access the registry.

19. The application server of claim 17, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to generate an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

20. The application server of claim 19, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.

21. An application server configured for executing a calling application, the application server including:

an application runtime environment configured for receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party, the application runtime environment being configured to create a new session identifier to create a new application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party and the application runtime environment being configured to update a brownie of the first party to include the new session identifier.

22. The application server of claim 21, wherein the brownie is stored in a registry and the application runtime environment is configured to access the registry.

23. The application server of claim 21, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to generate an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

24. The application server of claim 23, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.

25. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for executing a voice application, the sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party;

creating a new session identifier to create a new application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party; and

updating a brownie of the first party to include the new session identifier.

26. The medium of claim 25, further including generating an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

27. The medium of claim 25, wherein after the updating step, the method further includes generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.

28. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for changing a state of a voice application of another, the sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving an HTTP request for execution of a voice application session for a first party;

preventing a state of the voice application session of the first party from being changed by the first party; and

based on the HTTP request, generating, for a browser of a second party, an HTML page having a session identifier.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein the preventing step includes ignoring, in the application session of the first party, DTMF signals inputted by the first party.

30. The medium of claim 28, wherein the step of generating the HTML page includes generating a URL containing the session identifier.

31. An application server configured for executing a calling application, the application server including:

means for dynamically generating, in response to a HTTP request, a hypertext markup language (HTML) document having instructions for preventing a state of a voice application session of a first party from being changed by the first party, the generating means being configured for generating, based on the HTTP request, an HTML page having a session identifier for a browser of a second party.

32. The application server of claim 31, wherein the generating means is configured to ignore DTMF signals inputted by the first party.

33. The application server of claim 31, wherein the generating means is configured to generate a URL containing the session identifier.

34. An application server configured for executing a calling application, the application server including:

means for receiving a first HTTP request having a session identifier that specifies a server-side data record configured for storing an application state for a voice application session of a first party, the receiving means being configured to modify the session identifier to change the application state of the voice application session of the first party based on a second HTTP request having an input posted by a second party, and the receiving means being configured to update a brownie of the first party to include the modified session identifier.

35. The application server of claim 34, wherein the brownie is stored in a registry and the receiving means is configured to access the registry.

36. The application server of claim 34, wherein the receiving means is configured to generate an HTML page having transfer tags for instructing a proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer a call at the proxy browser device of the first party to a proxy browser device serving the second party.

37. The application server of claim 36, wherein the receiving means is configured to generating an HTML page having instructions for the proxy browser device serving the first party to transfer the call back to the proxy browser device of the first party.