Method and apparatus for iconifying and automatically dialing telephone numbers which appear on a Web page
First Claim
1. A method performed on a Web page containing text-based information other than previously iconified information, said method performed by a communication system including a Web page server containing said Web page, an access server, and an access device capable of communicating with said Web page server through said access server, said method performed during a communication session and comprising:
- at said access server;
retrieving said Web page contained on said Web page server;
parsing said text-based information within said Web page;
recognizing a text-based telephone number contained within said text-based information of said parsed Web page, said text-based telephone number including a plurality of number symbols and at least one text symbol interspersed with said plurality of number symbols;
converting an HTML code representation of said Web page; and
adding a representation that iconifies said recognized text-based telephone number.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for recognizing and accessing telephone numbers from a Web page. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an HTML code of an accessed Web page is parsed and converted. A parsing algorithm applied to the text in the HTML document pattern-recognizes telephone numbers. Coding is added to iconify the recognized telephone numbers. The user'"'"'s Internet-capable telephone displays the iconified telephone numbers. All previously-active links and graphical displays supported by the Internet-capable telephone are maintained in this display. To call a phone number, the user selects the icon, and the Internet-capable phone determines how to initiate the call. For a two-line phone, the Internet-capable telephone initiates a telephone call to the selected number. For a one-line phone, the Internet-capable telephone determines whether the line is available for a call. If the line is not currently being used, the Internet-capable telephone initiates a voice call to the selected number. However, if the user is connected to the Web, the Internet-capable telephone optionally transparently disconnects from the Internet and initiates a voice call to the selected telephone number. At the conclusion of the telephone call, the Internet-capable telephone optionally transparently re-connects to the Web.
236 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method performed on a Web page containing text-based information other than previously iconified information, said method performed by a communication system including a Web page server containing said Web page, an access server, and an access device capable of communicating with said Web page server through said access server, said method performed during a communication session and comprising:
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at said access server;
retrieving said Web page contained on said Web page server;
parsing said text-based information within said Web page;
recognizing a text-based telephone number contained within said text-based information of said parsed Web page, said text-based telephone number including a plurality of number symbols and at least one text symbol interspersed with said plurality of number symbols;
converting an HTML code representation of said Web page; and
adding a representation that iconifies said recognized text-based telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for utilizing an access server to recognize and iconify telephone numbers from a Web page, said method comprising:
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retrieving said Web page during an Internet session linking a Web page server to an access device, wherein said Web page is retrieved by said access server from said Web page server at the request of said access device;
parsing the HTML code of said Web page;
applying a parsing algorithm to text-based information other than previously iconified information within said Web page to pattern-recognize a text-based telephone number contained therein;
converting said HTML code to a representation of said Web page;
adding coding to said representation of said Web page to produce a selectable telephone number icon associated with said recognized text-based telephone number; and
transmitting said representation of said Web page with said selectable telephone number icon to said access device for display. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A program storage device readable by a machine, embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for utilizing an access server to recognize and iconify telephone numbers from a Web page, said method comprising:
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retrieving said Web page during an Internet session linking a Web page server to an access device, wherein said Web page is retrieved by said access server from said Web page server at the request of said access device;
parsing the HTML code of said Web page;
applying a parsing algorithm to text-based information other than previously iconified information within said Web page to pattern-recognize a text-based telephone number contained therein;
converting said HTML code to a representation of said Web page;
adding coding to said representation of said Web page to produce a selectable telephone number icon associated with said recognized text-based telephone number; and
transmitting said representation of said Web page with said selectable telephone number icon to said access device for display. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for processing a Web page containing text-based information other than previously iconified information, said system including a Web page server containing said Web page, an access server, and an access device capable of communicating with said Web page server through said access server, said processing performed during a communication session, said system comprising:
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said access server comprising;
means for retrieving said Web page contained on said Web page server;
means for parsing said text-based information within said Web page;
means for recognizing a text-based telephone number contained within said text-based information of said parsed Web page, said text-based telephone number including a plurality of number symbols and at least one text symbol interspersed with said plurality of number symbols;
means for converting an HTML code representation of said Web page; and
means for adding a representation that iconifies said recognized text-based telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An access server apparatus for recognizing and iconifying telephone numbers from a Web page, said apparatus comprising:
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means for retrieving said Web page during an Internet session linking a Web page server to an access device, wherein said Web page is retrieved by said access server from said Web page server at the request of said access device;
means for parsing the HTML code of said Web page;
means for applying a parsing algorithm to text-based information other than previously iconified information within said Web page to pattern-recognize a text-based telephone number contained therein;
means for converting said HTML code to a representation of said Web page;
means for adding coding to said representation of said Web page to produce a selectable telephone number icon associated with said recognized text-based telephone number; and
means for transmitting said representation of said Web page with said selectable telephone number icon to said access device for display. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification