IP unified agent using an XML voice enabled web based application server

• US 7,836,188 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2000
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ravishankar, Geetha, Ravishankar, Swaminathan, Geen, David William, Barban, Susan Harrow, Danner, Ryan Alan, Joshi, Satish, Dodrill, Lewis Dean, Martin, Steven J.
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US09/605,848
• Time in Patent Office: 3,792 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/205, 709/206, 709/201, 709/203, 709/200, 709/202, 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method for inter-process communication between non-persistent application instances includes establishing a first non-persistent application instance serving a first party and establishing a second non-persistent application instance serving a second party. In the first application instance, an HTML page is generated having instructions for a persistent browser instance having received the HTML page to initiate a new application session for the second party. Thus, inter-application communication is possible where one non-persistent application instance is able to notify and/or interrupt another non-persistent application instance by way of an associated real time component (web browser or proxy browser).

Claims

1. A method in an application server for initiating inter-process communication between non-persistent application sessions, the method comprising:

initiating a first application instance for establishment of an application session between the application server and a first party;

determining whether a second party is available to receive a message having been established in the application session between the application server and the first party; and

based on the determined availability of the second party, generating a HTML page, originating in the first application instance, having instructions for a browser, in use by the second party, to notify the second party of a new application session for the second party so as to present the message to the second party,

wherein the generating step includes inserting a uniform resource locator (URL) within the HTML page causing the browser to request interruption of a present application session of the second party, established by another application instance distinct from the first application instance, to create the new application session for the second party.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a new session identifier that specifies the new application session for the second party, wherein the URL includes the new session identifier for interrupting the present session of the second party with the new application session.

3. The method of claim 2, further including initiating a second application instance for execution of the new application session for the second party based on a server-side data record configured for storing a state of the new application session and selected based on the new session identifier, in response to receipt of the URL from the browser.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the HTML page includes a prompt enabling the second party to respond to the message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step includes accessing a registry locally accessible by the application server, and the method further including updating the registry to indicate that the first party is available for messaging operations.

6. The method of claim 1, further including storing the message in a data store of the second party.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein storing of the message is performed in accordance with IMAP protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, further including accessing attribute information of the second party to determine whether the second party authorizes receipt of the message from the first party.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the attribute accessing step includes accessing a database server according to LDAP protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is a voice message and the HTML page includes instructions for playing the voice message.

11. A method for inter-process communication between non-persistent application instances, the method comprising:

establishing a first non-persistent application instance serving a first party;

establishing a second non-persistent application instance serving a second party; and

generating an HTML page, originating in the first application instance, having instructions for a persistent browser instance in use by the second party, having received the HTML page, to interrupt a present application session having been generated by the second application instance on behalf of the second party and initiate a new application session for the second party.

12. The method of claim 11, further including accessing, by at least one of the first and second application instances, a common resource over an IP network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the common resource is a registry, the method including accessing the registry to determine whether the second party is currently active in the second application instance.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the common resource is a data store for storing attribute information of each of the first and second parties, the method including accessing the data store in accordance with LDAP protocol.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the common resource is a messages store for storing messages for each of the first and second parties, the method including accessing the message store in accordance with IMAP protocol.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first application instance is established in first application server and the second application instance is established in a second application server.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the common resource is accessible via an application programming interface (API).

18. The method of claim 11, further including initiating an application instance for execution of the new application session for the second party based on a server-side data record configured for storing a state of the new application session and selected based on the new session identifier, in response to receipt of the HTML page from the browser.

19. An application server configured for executing a messaging application, the application server including:

an application runtime environment configured for dynamically originating and generating in a first application instance between the application server and a first party, a hypertext markup language (HTML) document having instructions for a browser to notify a second party of a new application session for the second party, based on a determination that the second party using the browser is available to receive the HTML document, the application runtime environment being configured to access a common resource containing information regarding both the first and second parties,

wherein the HTML document has instructions to interrupt a present application session of the second party, established by another application instance distinct from the first application instance, to create the new application session for the second party.

20. The application server of claim 19, wherein the HTML document includes a prompt enabling the second party to respond to the message.

21. The application server of claim 19, wherein the common resource includes a registry and the application runtime environment is configured to access the registry and to update the registry to indicate that the first party is available for messaging operations.

22. The application server of claim 19, wherein the application runtime environment is configured to access the common resource via an application programming interface (API).

23. The application server of claim 19, wherein the common resource includes user attribute information stored in a database server in accordance with LDAP protocol and the application runtime environment is configured to access the database server.

24. The application server of claim 19, wherein the common resource includes a message store for storing the message in accordance with IMAP protocol and the application runtime environment is configured to access the message store.

25. The application server of claim 19, wherein the common resource includes a registry and the application runtime environment is configured to access the registry and to determine whether the second party is available to receive the message.

26. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for initiating inter-process communication between non-persistent application sessions, the sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:

initiating a first application instance for establishment of an application session between the application server and a first party;

determining whether a second party is available to receive a message having been established in the application session between the application server and the first party; and

based on the determined availability of the second party, generating a HTML page, originating in the first application instance having instructions for a persistent browser, in use by the second party, to notify the second party of a new application session for the second party so as to present the message to the second party,

wherein the generating step includes inserting a uniform resource locator (URL) within the HTML page causing the browser to request interruption of a present application session of the second party, established by another application instance distinct from the first application instance, to create the new application session for the second party.

27. The medium of claim 26, further comprising generating a new session identifier that specifies the new application session for the second party, wherein the URL includes the new session identifier for interrupting a present session of the second party with the new application session.

28. The medium of claim 27, further including initiating a second application instance for execution of the new application session for the second party based on a server-side data record configured for storing a state of the new application session and selected based on the new session identifier, in response to receipt of the URL from the browser.

29. The medium of claim 26, wherein the HTML page includes a prompt enabling the second party to respond to the message.

30. The medium of claim 26, wherein the determining step includes accessing a registry locally accessible by the application server, and the method further including updating the registry to indicate that the first party is available for messaging operations.

31. The medium of claim 26, further including storing the message in a data store of the second party.

32. The medium of claim 31, wherein storing of the message is performed in accordance with IMAP protocol.

33. The medium of claim 26, further including accessing attribute information of the second party to determine whether the second party authorizes receipt of the message from the first party.

34. The medium of claim 33, wherein the attribute accessing step includes accessing a database server according to LDAP protocol.

35. The medium of claim 26, wherein the message is a voice message and the HTML page includes instructions for playing the voice message.

36. An application server configured for executing a messaging application, the application server including:

means for dynamically originating and generating in a first application instance between the application server and a first party, a hypertext markup language (HTML) document having instructions for a browser to notify a second party of a new application session for the second party so as to present a message from the first party to the second party, based on a determination that the second party using the browser is available to receive the message,

wherein the HTML document has instructions to interrupt a present application session of the second party, established by another application instance distinct from the first application instance, to create the new application session for the second party.

37. The application server of claim 36, wherein the HTML document includes a prompt enabling the second party to respond to the message.