System and method for viewing contents via a computer network during a telephone call

• US 7,433,458 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2001
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Hong Thi, Silver, Edward Michael, Roberts, Linda Ann
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Quynh H
• Application Number:
  US09/893,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20040213207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,657 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.09, 379/221.08, 379/221.09, 379/221.11, 379/221.12
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• 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 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A method for enabling one or both parties of a telephone call to view contents of a source computer via a computer network during the telephone call. The method includes the following steps: (1) associating a telephone number of a telephone line with a network address of the source computer; (2) retrieving the network address when a call is received by or placed on the telephone line; and (3) establishing a data session between the source computer and one or more display devices associated with the telephone line during which contents of the source computer are displayed on the display devices.

Claims

1. A system for viewing contents of a source computer via a computer network, the system comprising:

means for associating a calling party'"'"'s telephone number with a group;

means for associating the group to a network address of the source computer;

means for storing a result of the associating;

means for establishing a voice session between the calling party and a called party;

means for receiving a dual-tone multi-frequency input after the voice session is established;

in response to the dual-tone multi-frequency input,

means for retrieving the network address from the memory that is associated with the calling party'"'"'s telephone number,

means for establishing a first data session between the calling party'"'"'s device and the source computer, and

means for establishing a second data session between a called party'"'"'s device and the source computer;

means for terminating the voice session; and

means for maintaining the first data session and the second data session despite termination of the voice session.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for associating multiple dialed numbers to multiple network addresses, with each dialed number mapping to a network address.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for detecting the dual-tone multi-frequency input after the voice session is established.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for associating the source computer a third party.

5. A method for enabling a party of a telephone call to view contents of a source computer via a computer network, comprising:

associating a calling party'"'"'s telephone number with a group;

associating the group to a network address of the source computer;

storing a result of the association;

establishing a voice session between the calling party and a called party;

collecting the calling party'"'"'s telephone number from caller identification information;

receiving a dual-tone multi-frequency input after the voice session is established;

in response to the dual-tone multi-frequency input,

retrieving the network address from the memory that is associated with the calling party'"'"'s telephone number,

establishing a first data session between the calling party'"'"'s device and the source computer, and

establishing a second data session between a called party'"'"'s device and the source computer;

terminating the voice session; and

maintaining the first data session and the second data session despite termination of the voice session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network address is an Internet Protocol address.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the network address is a uniform resource locator.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the result of the association is stored in a database.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising associating multiple dialed numbers to multiple network addresses, with each dialed number mapping to a network address.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the source computer is associated with an entity other than the calling party and the called party.

11. A system for enabling a user to view contents of a source computer via a computer network, the system comprising:

means for associating a calling party'"'"'s telephone number with a group;

means for associating the group to a network address of the source computer;

means for detecting an attempt to establish a voice session;

means for obtaining a dialed communications address associated with the attempted voice session;

means for establishing the voice session between the calling party and a called party;

means for receiving a dual-tone multi-frequency input after the voice session is established;

in response to the dual-tone multi-frequency input,

means for retrieving the network address associated with the calling party'"'"'s telephone number and with the dialed communications address,

means for establishing a first data session between the calling party'"'"'s device and the source computer,

means for establishing a second data session between the called party'"'"'s device and the source computer, and

means for displaying contents of the source computer;

means for terminating the voice session; and

means for maintaining the first data session and the second data session despite termination of the voice session.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for collecting the dialed communications address during the attempt.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for collecting the calling party'"'"'s communications address.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the network address of the source computer is one of an Internet protocol address and a uniform resource locator.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the source computer is associated with a third party unrelated to the voice session.