System and method for sharing information

• US 9,525,561 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2012
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Basso, Andrea, Greenspan, Steven Lloyd, Weimer, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOSSAIN, FARZANA E
• Application Number:
  US13/553,478
• Publication Number:
  US 20130019274A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 725/25, 725/78, 725/109, 725/131, 725/151, 725/106
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/08 specially adapted for optional reception of entertainment or informative matter
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/14 cable networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1215 where a cable TV network is used as an access to the PSTN/ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A novel mechanism is disclosed by which a sender can direct information such as an audiovisual signal to a particular recipient'"'"'s audiovisual display device, such as a cable television set and, thereby, share information between the sender and the recipient. In one embodiment, a calling party originates a telephone call and associates that telephone call with audio-visual information that exists on the caller'"'"'s personal computer or on an Internet server. The called party answers the call, and can tune an associated cable television to the appropriate channel in order to view the audio-visual information. In another embodiment, the caller is a hotel guest and the called party is a hotel concierge and vice versa. The concierge provides information to the hotel guest such that the hotel guest can tune in to a channel on their hotel television set and access the information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

processing, by a server, a call via a voice channel from a calling party associated with a calling address to a called device associated with a called address;

receiving, by the server, electronic content associated with the calling address and with a uniform resource locator;

associating, by the server, the call to the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator;

broadcasting, by the server during the call, the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator to a network address for display;

determining, by the server, a duration associated with the call via the voice channel;

granting, by the server, permission to receive the electronic content based on the duration associated with the call;

sending, by the server, a default image to the network address for the display;

forwarding, from the server, control information via the telephone network during the call to the called device associated with the called address, the control information instructing the called device to restrict the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator to retransmission from the called device after a termination of the call; and

automatically clearing, by the server, the default image from the display after a predetermined time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator on a cable channel during the call.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a dual-tone modal frequency input during the call, the dual-tone modal frequency inputted to alter a display of the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting up the call.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting the electronic content associated with the uniform resource locator as a hyper text markup language document.

7. A method for sharing information between a concierge and a hotel guest, the method comprising:

processing, by a server, a call from a calling number associated with a hotel room associated with the hotel guest to a called number associated with the concierge;

associating, by the server, the information to be shared to the call processed from the calling number associated with the hotel room to the called number associated with the concierge;

broadcasting, from the server, the information during the call to a network address associated with a display device operating in the hotel room, the information comprising electronic content associated with a uniform resource locator;

determining, by the server, a duration associated with the call;

granting, by the server, permission to receive the electronic content based on the duration associated with the call;

sending, by the server, a default image to the network address associated with the display device associated with the hotel room;

forwarding, from the server, control information during the call to the calling number associated with the hotel room, the control information instructing a calling device to restrict the electronic content to retransmission from the calling device after a termination of the call; and

automatically clearing, by the server, the default image from display by the display device after a predetermined time.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving dual tone multi-frequencies during the call as inputs that alter the electronic content.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising executing a web browser to send the electronic content.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising executing a web browser to view the electronic content.

11. A method, comprising:

processing, by a server, a call from a calling device associated with a calling number to a called number, the calling number associated with a hotel room registered to a hotel guest, and the called number associated with a concierge;

sending, by the server, electronic content during the call to a network address associated with a display device, the display device associated with the hotel room, the electronic content associated with a uniform resource locator;

determining, by the server, a duration associated with the call;

granting, by the server, permission to receive the electronic content based on the duration associated with the call;

sending, by the server, a default image to the network address associated with the display device associated with the hotel room;

forwarding, from the server, control information during the call to the calling number associated with the hotel room, the control information instructing the calling device to restrict a usage of the electronic content to retransmission from the calling device after a termination of the call; and

automatically clearing, by the server, the default image from display by the display device after a predetermined time.