Establishment of a deferred network communication session
First Claim
1. A method of establishing network communication later in time between a first user endpoint entity accessing a resource over a data network and a second user endpoint entity associated with that resource, using a service system that can set up a communication session with an associated transport mechanism allowing the exchange of data across the network between user endpoint entities joined to the session, the method comprising operations that proceed as follows:
- (a) upon the first user endpoint entity indicating that it wishes to communicate with a second user endpoint entity in the future, the service system generates a session identifier for a future communication session, passes a copy of the identifier over the network to the first endpoint entity and stores the identifier along with context data concerning the future communication session;
(b) when the first user endpoint entity subsequently wishes to establish said future communication session, it passes back the session identifier to the service system; and
(c) the service system thereupon matches the received identifier with the stored session identifier to retrieve said context data, and joins the first user endpoint entity into a communication session with an appropriate second user endpoint entity as identified using said context data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is provided of establishing network communication later in time between a first endpoint entity accessing an information resource over a network and a second endpoint entity, such as a customer service representative system, associated with that resource. The method uses a service system that can set up a communication session and join endpoint systems to the session to enable them to communicate with each other the network. According to the method, upon the first endpoint entity indicating that it wishes to communicate with a second endpoint entity in the future, the service system generates and stores a session identifier for a communication session to be used in the future and passes a copy of the identifier over the network to the first endpoint entity. Subsequently, the first endpoint entity passes back the session identifier to the service system which, on matching the received identifier with the stored session identifier, joins the first endpoint entity into a communication session with the second endpoint entity. In a preferred embodiment, the session identifier is automatically stored at the first endpoint entity in association with a book-marked rendezvous web page served by the service system, subsequent recall of this page returning the session identifier to the service system.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of establishing network communication later in time between a first user endpoint entity accessing a resource over a data network and a second user endpoint entity associated with that resource, using a service system that can set up a communication session with an associated transport mechanism allowing the exchange of data across the network between user endpoint entities joined to the session, the method comprising operations that proceed as follows:
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(a) upon the first user endpoint entity indicating that it wishes to communicate with a second user endpoint entity in the future, the service system generates a session identifier for a future communication session, passes a copy of the identifier over the network to the first endpoint entity and stores the identifier along with context data concerning the future communication session; (b) when the first user endpoint entity subsequently wishes to establish said future communication session, it passes back the session identifier to the service system; and (c) the service system thereupon matches the received identifier with the stored session identifier to retrieve said context data, and joins the first user endpoint entity into a communication session with an appropriate second user endpoint entity as identified using said context data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. Apparatus comprising:
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a network resource which is accessible to a first user endpoint entity over a data network; session means for setting up a communication session with an associated transport mechanism allowing the exchange of data across the network between user endpoint entities joined to the session; future-communication identifier means arranged to be responsive to the first user endpoint entity indicating that it wishes to communicate in the future with a second user endpoint entity associated with said network resource, to generate a session identifier for a future communication session and store the identifier along with context data concerning the future communication session; pass-back means for passing a copy of the identifier over the network back to the first endpoint entity; and session-activation means for subsequently receiving back the session identifier from the first endpoint system, for thereupon matching it with the stored session identifier to retrieve said context data, and for triggering the session means to join the first endpoint entity into a communication session with an appropriate second endpoint entity. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification