E-mail with voice / phone conference feature

• US 7,050,557 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas E., Moore, Victor S., Walters, Glen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US09/910,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20030016805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.01, 379/201.01, 379/88.17, 379/93.21, 379/158, 379/205.01, 709/204, 345/758, 345/753
• US Class Current: 379/205.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/652 Call initiation triggered by text message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

An e-mail communication method can include a series of steps. The steps can include inserting in an e-mail message a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list identifying conference call nodes. The e-mail message can be transmitted to a recipient at a recipient node. Responsive to the recipient selecting the voice conference identifier, a voice conference call between selected ones of the identified conference call nodes can be established.

Claims

1. An e-mail communication method comprising the steps of:

inserting a voice conference identifier in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party, the voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

transmitting said e-mail message to the recipient party at a recipient node;

causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons.

2. The e-mail communication method of claim 1, wherein said conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

3. The e-mail communication method of claim 1, wherein said conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

4. The e-mail communication method of claim 1, wherein said voice conference call list specifies telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

5. The e-mail communication method of claim 1, wherein said voice conference call list specifies IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

6. An e-mail communication method comprising the steps of:

in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party at a recipient node, detecting at the recipient node a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

responsive to detecting said voice conference identifier at the recipient node, causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

responsive to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons, establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component.

7. The e-mail communication method of claim 6, wherein said voice conference call list includes telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

8. The e-mail communication method of claim 6, wherein said voice conference call list includes IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

9. The e-mail communication method of claim 6, wherein said voice conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

10. The e-mail communication method of claim 6, wherein said voice conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

11. An electronic mail (e-mail) message comprising:

header information, said header information identifying a sending node and at least one recipient node;

a message portion, said message portion displaying content from said sending node to said recipient node; and

a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes to be connected via a voice conference call, and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

the e-mail message being an e-mail message sent from an initiating party to a recipient party at a recipient node; and

the voice conference call identifier being configured to cause the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source such that a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons establishes a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response.

12. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

inserting a voice conference identifier in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party, the voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

transmitting said e-mail message to the recipient party at a recipient node;

causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons.

13. The machine readable storage of claim 12, wherein said conference call is established using a Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

14. The machine readable storage of claim 12, wherein said conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

15. The machine readable storage of claim 12, wherein said voice conference call list specifies telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

16. The machine readable storage of claim 12, wherein said voice conference call list specifies IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

17. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

in an e-mail message from an initiating to a recipient party at a recipient node, detecting at the recipient node a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

responsive to detecting said voice conference identifier at the recipient node, causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

responsive to a selection of at least one of the plurality selectable voice communications icons, establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component.

18. The machine readable storage of claim 17, wherein said voice conference call list includes telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

19. The machine readable storage of claim 17, wherein said voice conference call list includes IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

20. The machine readable storage of claim 17, wherein said voice conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

21. The machine readable storage of claim 17, wherein said voice conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

22. The machine readable storage of claim 17, said establishing step further comprising:

responsive to said recipient party selecting at least one of said plurality of selectable voice communications icons, determining a telephone number or an IP address for said selected ones of said identified conference call nodes based on said voice conference call list.

23. An electronic mail client comprising:

a conventional electronic mail processor, said conventional electronic mail processor extracting and displaying message text encapsulated in an electronic mail message sent from an initiating party to a recipient party and received in a recipient node; and

,

a voice conference processor, said voice conference processor identifying a voice conference identifier encapsulated in said received electronic mail, displaying a plurality of selectable icons in response to detecting said voice conference identifier, and responsive to a selection of at least one said plurality of selectable icons, establishing a voice conference call between selected conference call nodes based on an executable voice communications link program component contained in the voice conference identifier and comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes.