`United States Patent
`Pinard et al.
`
`[19}
`
`|||||| llllllll lll Illll ||||| lllll l|||| lllll lllll lllll |||l| llllll |l| lllll ||||
`U5005533110A
`
`5,533,110
`in; Patent Number:
`
`{45] Date of Patent:
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`[54] HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE FOR
`TELEPHONE FEATURE INVOCATION
`
`Assistant Examiner—Scott Wolinsky
`Attorney. Agent. or Emu—Charles E. Wands
`
`[75]
`
`Inventors: Deborah L. Pinard; Eliana M. O.
`Peres; Ronald A. Evans, all of Kanata,
`Canada
`
`[73] Assigncc: Mitel Corporation. Canada
`
`[2]] MW- No: 346,600
`
`NEW- 29, 1994
`Filed:
`i22]
`Int. le' ...................................................... HMM 3:42
`[51!
`[521 ms. Cl.
`moot 379x202 379l96‘
`‘
`’ 379“ 12] 3791395
`‘
`_
`[53] Fteld Of SearL'h ... 379901, 202,
`379.204, 203' 205’ “2’ 96' 393; 370r'62,
`1 10‘1
`
`[561
`
`1195.086
`5,406,307
`
`.
`References C'md
`LJ.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`31993 Baumgtu'lner cl at.
`#1995 I'Iirayama clal.
`
`BTUa’fiZ
`
`3451'120
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`A method of providing a visual indication to a first com-
`munication connection (CC) subscriber of the status of a
`telephone CC comprising the steps of providing ah icon on
`a display that represents the first CC subscriber, providing a
`call setup icon on a display representing a command to set
`up a CC, dragging the icon representing the first CC sub—
`scriber to the call setup icon‘ automatically displaying a
`dim?” Orsubsc‘ibcis' dragging 3“ idem" “3.5““ cc
`imicnbc' “or“ “1" mm” 5° ”.m ca“ ““1“ ‘con’ “S‘ab‘
`list-ting a CC between eommuntcation apparatus used by the
`first subscriber and communication apparatus used by the
`second CC subscriber via subscriber‘s lines, changing Ii'lC
`identity of the calls setup icon to a call icon. diSplaying an
`icon representing the second CC subscriber in the call icon,
`and displaying a new call setup icon, whereby icorts repre—
`senting CC subscribers of a call in progress are both repre-
`settled and are visually discernible by the first CC subscriber
`in the call icon.
`
`Primary Examiner—Jeffery Hofsass
`
`1'} Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets
`
`
`
`Page 1 of 14
`
`LG Electronics Exhibit 1020
`
`Page 1 of 14
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`LG Electronics Exhibit 1020
`
`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 1 of8
`
`5,533,110
`
`PERSONAL
`
`COMPUTER
`
`PHONE
`APPLIC.
`
`9%
`
`TELEPHONY
`
`SERVER
`
`TELEPHONY INTERFACE
`CI RCU ITS
`
`
`CONFERENCE DSP
`CIRCUIT
`
`
`
`CALL
`SETU P
`
`FIG. 2
`
`Page 2 of 14
`
`I3
`
`DEBBIE
`
`DISPLAY
`
`l L
`
`1
`
`/DRAG
`
`/5
`
`Page 2 of 14
`
`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 2 of8
`
`5,533,110
`
`£5
`
`if
`
`DIRECTORY
`
`VIDEO 0
`
`VOICE <9
`DEBBIE
`
` CALL SETUP
`
`FIG. 3
`
`
`
`CALL SETUP
`
`24
`
`DRAG/\\
`
`FIG. 4
`
`Page 3 of 14
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`Page 3 of 14
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`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 3 of 3
`
`5,533,110
`
`2.3
`
`I/
`
`..
`
`.r‘,
`,IDEBBIE
`
`‘
`
`JOHN CALL SETUP
`
`FIG. 6
`
`Page 4 of 14
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`Page 4 of 14
`
`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 4 of 3
`
`5,533,110
`
`CALL SEI'UP
`
`FIG. 7
`
` Q
`
`E
`TOM
`
`
`
`’ DEBBIE/x, ELIANA
`
`P“ DRAG
`
`SiDEBAR
`AREA
`
`FIG. 7A
`
`Page 5 of 14
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`Page 5 of 14
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`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 5 of 3
`
`5,533,110
`
`
`
`FIG. 9
`
`CONFERENCE
`
`Hi
`
`FIG. IO
`
`Page 6 of 14
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`Page 6 of 14
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`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 6 of 3
`
`5,533,110
`
`CONFERENCE
`
`FIG.
`
`I
`
`I
`
`
`
`CALL SETUP
`
`FIG. l2
`
`Page 7 of 14
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`Page 7 of 14
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`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 7 of 8
`
`5,533,110
`
`DEBBIE MARY
`
`FIG.
`
`l3
`
`DEBBIE
`
`CMING DEBBIE
`
`FIG. I4
`
`Page 8 of 14
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`Page 8 of 14
`
`
`
`US. Patent
`
`Jul. 2, 1996
`
`Sheet 3 of 3
`
`5,533,110
`
` p
`
`DEBBIE
`
`CALLING JOHN
`
`FIG. I6
`
`Page 9 of 14
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`4.9
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`o
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`0
`
`JOE DEBBIE
`
`FIG. l5
`
`Page 9 of 14
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`
`
`1
`HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE FOR
`TELEPHONE FEATURE INVOCATION
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`5,533,110
`
`2
`
`user during the progress of a call is connected. US. patent
`applications describing such systems, entitled LOCAL
`AREA COMMUNICATIONS SERVER SYSTEM, filed on
`October. 1994, invented by Deborah Pinard, Harold Sit and
`Tony Niro, and entitled ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATION
`SYSTEM. filed on Jun. 10th, 1994, invented by Deborah
`Pinard. rThomas Gray and Eliana Peres and assigned to Mitel
`Corporation are incorporated herein by reference.
`The personal computer in conjunction with the server
`provides to the user a human machine interface {HMD
`displayed on the display of the computer. Any commercial
`telephony software application program (application) to
`provide the telephony service by the server may be used. The
`server can be provided with a line circuit with a DTMF
`generator that can dial numbers and respond to incoming
`telephone calls under control of the application. whereupon
`a telephone connection is made between the local and a
`distant telephone via the server. a PABX auditor a central
`switching otIice. Computers which contain such application.
`a DTMF generator etc. and a telephone set were sold during
`the early i980‘s under the trade mark Kontac by Mite]
`Corporation.
`in addition modems that could dial and answer calls under
`control of a com-oiling programs and thus provide the
`aforenoted facility were sold by Hayes Corporation. Many
`compatible modems exist, such as those sold by Dell Corn—
`puter Corporation and others.
`Application programs that could drive the modems to dial
`and answer calls and which can be used with telephone
`equipment such as handsets have been known for a long
`time, such as Microsoft Works (under DOS and Windows),
`Delrina Winfax Pro, and others.
`Due to the large proliferation of hardware and software to
`dial up and answer calls to other parties, it is considered to
`bc needlessly burdcning and redundant to provide adctailed
`description thereofr and they are believed to be known to
`persons skilled in the art.
`In addition the ability to dial out and make and receive
`calls via a LAN is described in the aforcnoted two patent
`applications, and reference is directed to the detail in those
`patent applications. Once the present invention is under—
`stood, it will be also understood that it is not restricted for
`use with those systems, but can be used with any system in
`which a telephony application on a personal computer or
`personal computer in conjunction with a server operates.
`In accordance with an embodiment of the present inven—
`tion, icons representing a subscriber’s line associated with a
`local subscriber. the status of the line and associated with
`particular other subscribers to which calls are made or
`received are displayed in a manner that provides full infor-
`mation as to their status and the status of any call in progress,
`whether on line or being held, and whether it is a conference
`call or not. The state of the call can be changed merely by
`dragging icons to particular locations on the display. This
`provides for the first time an indication to the user which is
`unambiguous, and allows changing of the status of lines
`associated with parties to the call with certainty.
`In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a
`method of providing a visual indication to a first commu-
`nication connection (CC) subscriber of the status of a CC is
`comprised of providing an icon on a display that represents
`the first CC subscriber, providing a call seurp icon on a
`display representing a command to set up a CC. dragging the
`icon representing the first CC subscriber to the call setup
`icon, displaying a directory of subscribers. dragging an
`identity of a second CC subscriber from the directory to the
`
`This invention relates to the field of telephony, and in
`particular to a method of indicating the status of various
`calls, to a user.
`
`BACKGROUND '10 THE INVENTION
`
`Feature telephone sets (sets which can provide a display
`of status of calls and special functions associated with a call,
`such as a hold status} can provide only limited indication to
`a user as to the status of calls. For example, a set used in a
`key telephone system may have several lines that it may use.
`When one of the lines is busy, a light located adjacent a push
`button associated with the line lights up. However there is no
`indication that a call is actually in progress or who are the
`parties to the call, but merely that a line is in use.
`If a caller has placed a call on one line on hold, and has
`made one or more other calls on other lines which have also
`been placed on hold. lights associated with each of the lines
`may flash as a reminder that a line is on hold. However there
`is no indication which subscriber is on hold on any particular
`line. It is often difficult to remember which call on hold
`belongs to which party. In such cases the user may retrieve
`a call from hold and address the party by the wrong name,
`thinking that it is a party relating to another call on hold.
`When a conference call is to be made and several con—
`fcrccs are placed on hold, and the local user wishes to have
`a private conversation with one or more of the conferees but
`to exclude others, mistakes can be made when taking
`subscribers off hold and into the private conversation with
`sometimes crnbarrasing or costly results if the local user is
`unaware that an undesired other party can hear the private
`conversation.
`
`The above problem results because it is often difficult to
`remember which conferee is associated with a particular
`line. When a conferee is to be dropped from conference call.
`it is easy to make a mistake and to drop the wrong conferee
`line from the conference.
`
`feature telephones and certain PBXs and key
`Special
`telephone systems can provide means that attempt to help
`the user that has callers are on hold somewhat by reminding
`the user that calls are on hold. by ringing the user‘s tele—
`phone after acertain time period following an incoming call
`being placed on hold. However this does not solve the
`problem of the user not knowing which party is on which
`held line, and therefore which line should be dropped from
`a conference or rctreived from hold.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention is a method of providing informa—
`tion to a user unambiguously as to which persons are parties
`to a call. It also provides a method for calls to be made
`between parties, to be placed on hold, to be dropped from
`hold. to be conferenced or to be dropped from a conference
`with clear indication to the user which of the parties to any
`call are being dealt with. In addition. no special feature
`telephone is required;
`the invention can be implemented
`with any ordinary telephone set.
`The invention is preferably implemented by, but is not
`restricted to, a telephony server to which the user’s tele-
`phone is connected. The server is connected to a local area
`network (LAN). to which a personal computer used by the
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`3
`call setup icon, establishing a CC between communication
`apparatus used by the first subscriber and communication
`apparatus used by the second CC subscriber via subscriber‘s
`lines, changing the identity of the calls setup icon to a call
`icon, displaying an icon representing the second CC sub-
`scriber in the call icon. and displaying a new call setup icon,
`whereby icons representing CC subscribers of a call
`in
`progress are both represented and are visually discernible by
`the first CC subscriber in the call icon.
`In accordance with another embodiment, a method of
`providing a visual indication of the status of a cormrtunica—
`Lion connection is comprised of diSplaying parties to a call
`in progress as icons contained within the periphery of
`another icon representing a call in progress.
`The ability to display icons on a computer display and to
`invoke commands by dragging an icon to another has long
`been known. For example, the icon of a file could be dragged
`to an icon of a wastebasket to delete the file on the Xerox
`Star computer, in the early 19805. The same idea is used on
`the Apple Macintosh computer. Both computers provided
`the ability to store files in subdirectorics, shown as file
`folders. by dragging the icon of a file to an icon of a file
`folder. Software for creatingicons and the resulting com-
`mands to provide a human-machine interface (HMI) is sold
`commercially by Microsoft Corp. under the name Visual
`Basic. and by Park Place Software Corp. under the name
`Smalltalk. It is therefore assumed that a designer skilled in
`the art can create icons and cause commands to be sent to an
`underlying application program by dragging an icon having
`one meaning to an icon having another, and that a teaching
`of how to do this and send commands to the application
`software driving a modem or to an agent controlling the
`set—up, take down or modification of a call e.g. establish or
`take down a conference call, place a call on hold, etc., would
`be within the expected skill of a person skilled in the art.
`However even with those tools available,
`it has not
`previsouly been possible to display to telephony users in an
`unambiguous and easy to visualize way, the parties to and
`status of a call, calls on hold, conference calls, etc.
`
`BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWINGS
`
`A better understanding of the invention will be obtained
`by reading the description of the invention below, with
`reference to the following drawings, in which:
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system on which the
`invention may be operated, and
`FIGS. 2—16 are diagrams of a display on a personal
`computer illustrating steps in the method of the invention.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`INVENTION
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram a system on which the
`present invention can be operated. A personal computer 1 is
`connected to a local area nctwork (LAN) 3, to which a
`telephony server 5 is also connected. Atelephonc set 7, to be
`used by the user of the personal computer 1 is connected to
`the telephony server 5 via a telephony interface circuit 8.
`The server contains telephone interface circuits 8, con-
`ference digital signal processing circuits 9. dialing circuits.
`trunk circuits, etc., as described in the aforenoted patent
`applications assigned to Mite] Corporation. The server also
`contains agents such as device agent 10 and other elements
`as described in the aforenoted patent applications. in order
`to process calls.
`
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`The personal computer contains a telephone application
`software program which controls the telephone set 7 via
`device agents in the server, communicating via the LAN.
`The application software program can be for example the
`communications accessory in the Windows 3.] program sold
`by Microsoft Corporation or the dialing module in the
`Winfart Pro program sold by Delrina Corporation. The icons
`can be created using the aforenoted HM] creation software
`programs.
`'lbming now to FIG. 2, a display 11 of the personal
`computer 1 is illustrated. An icon 13 representing a local
`user of telephone set 7 is created by the application software,
`is displayed with the name of the user, shown as Debbie. The
`icon could be, as shown. a stick figure, a business card, a
`miniature image of the face of the user, or any design which
`will clearly designate the local user.
`The application software also provides a call setup icon
`15. The meaning of the icon 15 is the establishing of a call
`In the first step of the method, as the user drags her icon (e.g.
`by using a cursor moved and invoked by mouse, not shown)
`to the call setup icon 15. This tells the application software
`that an outgoing call is to be made.
`As a result, as shown in FIG. 3 the application software
`displays a subscriber directory 17 on the display 11, which
`had been stored in a memory of the personal computer if it
`is a personal directory that is the default directory, or which
`had been stored in a memory of the server if that is the
`default directory. The directory can be formed of alphanu—
`meric characters, designating the names of persons listed in
`the directory [as shown), or the names and telephone num-
`bers, or images of the faces of the persons listed in the
`directory, or combinations of the above.
`The call setup icon could also have “radio buttons“ or the
`equivalent displayed which allow the user to designate
`whether the call is a voice only call or a videotelephonc call,
`which will indicate to the application software the required
`channel bandwidth for the call, and the peripheral hardware
`required, e.g. a video interface to a local camera.
`The user can then drag the icon or the name of the person
`to be called into the call setup icon, or type the name or
`number of the person to be called into a dialog box 19 in the
`call setup icon 15, and envokcs the command by keying the
`return key on the personal computer keyboard.
`The application software program then creates an icon 21
`representing the party to be called (i.e. John) and places it
`with his name in the call setup icon. 11 looks up the directory
`number of John from directory [if it had not been typed in
`by the local subscriber), and causes the server to dial John’s
`telephone number. As soon as John answers the call, the
`application software program changes the call setup icon to
`a call icon designated as 23, and establishes a new call setup
`icon 24 spaced from the icon 13.
`It is important that the icon 23 should have a defined
`boundary in order to provide the user with an indication that
`a call is in progress between the parties represented by the
`icons 13 and 21. For example, the call icon 23 can be a black
`or colored oval over a transparent background. Rather than
`the stick men shown. drawn pictures of a female and a male
`figure could be displayed. Drawn or Scanned images of the
`faces of the parties to the call could be shown.
`When the call is terminated, the user Debbie merely hangs
`up. The application software program senses this and deletes
`the John icon 21 from the call icon 23, deletes the call icon
`and allows the Debbie icon 13 to remain shown on the
`display. For the purposes of good housekeeping, both the
`Debbie icon 13 and the call setup icon 24 can be moved to
`an unobtrusive place on the display, such as shown in FlG.
`2.
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`5,533,110
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`In case the local user wishes to forcibly terminate the call,
`she can drag the John icon to an icon of a trash basket 26,
`which will be sensed by the application software program as
`a command to terminate the call in progress.
`Assume now that another party is to be added to the call
`in order to conference that party with Debbie and John. In
`this case the Debbie icon 13 should be dragged to the call
`setup icon 24, as shown in FIG. 4. Now the application
`software program. sensing this occurence while a call is in
`progress, places the line connected to the user John on hold
`(retaining the icon in the call icon), and changes the Debbie
`icon in the call icon 23 into ghast form. 13A, as shown in
`FIG. 5. It provides both dial tone to the user Debbie and
`displays a directory 17 and dialog box 19 in the cal] setup
`box.
`
`In a similar manner as described above, a directory
`number is selected or keyed into the dialog box. and the
`server establishes a call to a third party (cg, Mary). It places
`a Mary icon 28 into the call setup icon and changes the call
`setup icon to a call icon 29 when the connection between
`Debbie and Mary has been established, again establishing a
`new call setup icon 30. as shown in FIG. 6.
`Now what the local user Debbie secs on the screen is a call
`in progress between her and Mary. by noting the Debbie and
`Mary icons 13 and 29 in the call icon 29. She also sees a
`ghost 13A of her icon (indicating inactive) in the same cal]
`icon as John 23, which indicates that John’s line is on hold.
`If desired. the John icon can be made to [lash or change
`colors at some frequency (which con id increase, if desired,
`with increase in time).
`
`Now there are clearly two calls in progress, with the
`parties and the states of the calls clearly indicated with no
`ambiguity to Debbie on the diSplay of her personal com-
`puter. in contrast to prior art feature phones, telephones with
`displays and other HMIs.
`
`Now to conference all parties, the user Debbie merely
`drags the John icon to the call icon 29. As a result the call
`icon 23 is made to disappear by the application software
`program. resulting in the three icons representing the three
`subscribers that are party to the conference in the icon 29.
`The application software program changes the cal] icon 29
`to a conference icon 32. as shown in FIG. 7. The application
`software program conferences John's line in with those of
`Debbie and Mary.
`Alternatively, with reference to FIG. 6, the user Debbie
`could drag her icon back to the cal] icon 23. Her icon in the
`call icon 29 should be changed to a ghost and Mary‘s line
`placed on hold. The ghost Debbie icon 13A in icon 23 should
`be changed to a real
`icon 13, and the communication
`connection with John’s line reestablished,
`In this manner. the user Debbie can drag her icon between
`call icons 23 and 29, speaking to each of John and Mary in
`privacy while the other party is placed on hold. The actual
`talking path connection is represented by the call icon in
`which her icon is real, and the call in which the other party
`is placed on hold represents the user Debbie with a ghost
`icon. Thus Debbie can easily conference the parties or speak
`with either in privacy, with no ambiguity which parties are
`in the conference, which are on hold and which party is
`speaking to which.
`As shown in FIG. 7A, a sidebar area 33 of the conference
`icon can be used as a separate conference region. The user
`Debbie can drag any of the icons representing the conferees
`in to the sidebar area, and the application software program
`is thus instructed to establish a private connection between
`the parties (cg. Debbie and Mary as shown), leaving the
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`remaining party John on hold, Debbie can now drag any of
`the icons between the sidebar area and the main part of the
`conference icon, placing any of the parties into a private
`conversation or into a conference. with the remaining parties
`on hold.
`
`Assume now that during a conference (or call between
`two parties) an incoming call arrives. The application soft—
`ware program causes a call waiting icon 34 with the icon 35
`and name {Jim} of the calling party displayed in icon 35, as
`shown in FIG. 7.
`
`Now the user Debbie can drag her icon 13 into the call
`waiting icon 34, as shown in FIG. 8. The result is shown in
`FIG. 9. The application software program connects Debbie’s
`line with Jim‘s line, allowing her to answer the incoming
`call, and breaking Debbie's line from the ccnfcrencc. Deb-
`bie‘s icon is changed to a ghost icon 13A in conference icon
`32, and the call waiting icon 34 is changed to a call icon 37.
`The facts that John and Mary still are talking via the
`conference connection and that Debbie and Jim are talking
`via a call connection are clearly and unambiguously dis-
`played on the display 11.
`Assuming that the call between Debbie and Jim has been
`completed, the user Debbie then drags her icon from call
`icon 37 to conference icon 32., as shown in FIG. 9. The
`result is shown in FIG. 10, with Debbie‘s icon now appear—
`ing in real form in the conference icon 32. The application
`software program as a result of the drag reconnects her to the
`conference.
`
`The Jim icon remains in the call icon 3'7. and the Debbie
`icon is shown in ghost 13A in call icon 37. To terminate the
`call to Jim, Debbie drags his icon from call icon 37 to the
`waste basket icon 26, as shown in FIG. 11. Indeed, any of the
`icons in the conference icon 32 can be dragged to the waste
`basket 26 to terminate the party associated with the dragged
`icon from the conference.
`
`The application software program can produce a hard
`hold icon 39, as shown in FIG. 12. The parties Debbie (icon
`13} and Mary (icon 28) are shown in call icon 29. indicating
`a call in progress between these parties.
`To place Mary on hard hold, Debbie drags Mary’s icon 28
`to the hard hold icon 39. It may be seen that several other
`icons are contained in the hard hold icon 39, indicating that
`several callers have been placed on hold. Each icon, being
`accompanied by the name of a person andJor an easily
`recognized representation thereof, is clearly recognizeablc
`by the user Debbie. The icons 41 are thus identified by
`person designation to the user Debbie, and she is not given
`an indication of what lines they are on (the coupling of the
`two being handled by the application software program. This
`is in contrast to the prior art feature phone indications which
`provides a flashing light, or the equivalent, to indicate that
`a particular line is on hold.
`Debbie can easily drag any of the icons into the call icon
`29101akc the associated line off hold and speak to the person
`represented by the icon. Due to the clear status and party
`representations,
`this can be done without ambiguity,
`in
`contrast to the prior an.
`After a programmable time period, any of the icons in the
`hard hold can be caused to flash auditor change color at an
`even rate or at a rate dependent on time the associated line
`has been held, by the application software program.
`If a call is in progress and the user Debbie wishes to send
`a file, which may be a fax file, a data file which may he a
`graphic, to Mary, the icon 43 for the file is displayed on the
`display 11. Il'it is to be sent only to one party to the call. e,g.
`Mary, it is dragged over the Mary icon 28, as shown in FIG.
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`13. If it is to be sent to all ofthe parties to a conference call,
`the file icon 43 is simply brought into the call icon 29. The
`application software program then causes the file to be
`transmitted to all parties. The file itself can be displayed on
`a window of the display 11, if desired by Debbie (or any
`receiving party), in a manner sinrilar to the retrieval of data
`files from any file supplier, such as Compuserve, Dialog
`Information Services, Internet nodes, etc.
`With reference now to FIG. 14, this illustrates the casein
`which Debbie’s telephone is idle, and an incoming call is
`being received. The application software program places a
`Calling Debbie icon 45 on the display 11, with the name of
`the calling party (Joe) and his icon 47. In case the call was
`a call
`transfer from another dialed number, the icon 45
`would state the name of the party being called, as supplied
`from a central oifice, PABX, rather than Debbie {c.g. calling
`Bob). A signal indicating the name of the calling party (Joe)
`is provided to the application software program, which looks
`up his name from the alorenoted directory. or otherwise
`obtains it from the central oflice or PABX. Preferably the
`application software program causes ringing or some other
`alerting sound to be emitted from a loudspeaker of the
`personal computer 1.
`To answer the call, Debbie drags her icon 13 to the calling
`Debbie icon 45 or picks up the handset, as shown in FIG. 14.
`The application software program establishes a call connec-
`tion between the two lines, changes the calling Debbie icon
`45 to a call icon 49, and establishes a call setup icon 50, as
`shown in FIG. 15.
`
`FIG. 16 illustrates a calling icon appearing on Debbie’s
`line, in this case a calling John icon 5!. In this case Debbie‘s
`line has an appearance of John‘s number. The calling icon
`can have a delayed interval before it is presented on the
`display, to allow John to answer his telephone at some other
`appearance before it appears for Debbie (or John if he is
`visiting Debbie) to answer the call by dragging Debbie‘s
`icon 13 to the calling John icon 51.
`It should be noted that the calling Debbie icon need not be
`the rectangular icon illustrated in FIG. 14, but can be any
`fanciful representation, such as the depiction of a person
`knocking at a door, pointing to a ringing telephone, etc.
`Indeed any of the icons indicated in this specification can be
`represented in other ways than the particular ones shown.
`The above has described certain of the basic calling
`features of a modern telephone system, wherein all ambi-
`guity of the status of and who are the parties to various calls
`that can can be controlled andlor answered by the user
`Debbie is substantially eliminated. Using similar principles,
`a person skilled in the art will now be able to provide
`unambiguous other features. such as call pickup, redial,
`speed call, callback, etc.
`A person understanding this invention may now conceive
`of alternative structures and embodiments or variations of
`the above. All of those which fall within the scope of the
`claims appended hereto are considered to be part of the
`present invention.
`We claim:
`1. A method of providing a visual indication to a first
`communication connection (CC) subscriber of the status of
`a telephone CC, comprising the steps of:
`(a) providing an icon on a display that represents the first
`CC subscriber.
`
`(b) providing a call setup icon on a display representing
`a command to set up a CC,
`[c] dragging the icon representing the first CC subscriber
`to the call setup icon,
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`(d) automatically displaying a directory of subscribers,
`(c) dragging an identity of a second CC subsen'ber from
`the directory to the call setup icon,
`(f) establishing a CC between communication apparatus
`used by the first subscriber and communication appa-
`ratus used by the second CC subscriber via subscriber‘s
`lines,
`(g) changing the identity of the calls setup icon to a call
`icon,
`
`(it) displaying an icon representing the second CC sub-
`scribcr in the call icon, and
`(i) displaying a new call setup icon,
`whereby icons representing CC subscribers of a call in
`progress are both represented and are visually discern—
`ible by the first CC subscriber in the call icon.
`2. A method as defined in claim 1 including displaying a
`terminate icon on the display, dragging at least one of the
`icons of the CC subscribers of a call in progress to the
`terminate icon, dropping the call in progress and providing
`said icon on the display that represents the first CC sub—
`scriber in preparation for the establishing of another call.
`3. A method as defined in claim 1 in which the CC is a
`telephone link.
`4. A method as defined in claim 1 in which the CC is a
`video and telephone link.
`5. A method as defined in claim 1, including displaying an
`icon representing a file on a display, dragging the file to the
`icon representing the second CC subscriber and transmitting
`the file to the second CC subscriber.
`6. A method as defined in claim 5 including displaying the
`content of the file on the display of the first CC subscriber.
`7. A method as defined in claim 5 in which the file
`represents a facsimile file.
`8. A method as defined in claim I in which the call icon
`includes a peripheral displayed line surrounding the icons
`representing the CC subscribers of the call in progress.
`9. A method as defined in claim 8 including:
`(i) displaying an LC. icon representing the identity of a
`calling party of an iconing call on the diSplay,
`(ii) dragging the icon representing the first CC subscriber
`to the LC. icon,
`(iii) establishing a second call icon surrounding the icons;
`of the first and calling parties,
`(iv) placing the CC line used by the second CC subscriber
`on hold,
`(v) changing the icon representing the first subscriber to
`a ghost icon in the first call icon,
`(vi) establishing a CC between the communication appa-
`ratus used by the first subscriber and conununication
`apparatus used by the calling party,
`whereby icons representing CC subscribers of a second
`call in progress are both represented in the second call
`icon, and the icon representing the second CC sub—
`scriber with a ghost icon of the first CC subscriber
`denoting the second CC subscriber being on bold are
`both visually represented in the first call icon.
`10. A method as defined in claim 9 including flashing or
`changing color the icon representing the calling party prior
`to step (ii), and terminating the flashing or changing color
`once the CC between the communication apparatus used by
`the first subscriber and communication apparatus used by
`the calling party.
`11. Amethod as defined in claim 8 including dragging the
`icon representing first CC subscriber to the new call setup
`icon, placing the second CC subscriber’s line on hold,
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`displaying an image of the icon representing the first CC
`subscriber in the call icon. displaying a directory of sub—
`scribers, dragging an identity of a third CC subscriber from
`the directory of subscribers. establishing a CC between
`communication apparatus used by the first subscriber and
`communication apparatus used by the third CC subscriber,
`changing the identity of the new call setup icon to a second
`call
`icon. displaying an icon representing the third CC
`subscriber in the second call icon and displaying another
`new call setup icon.
`whereby icons representing CC subscribers of a second
`call in progress are both represented in the second call
`icon, and the icon representing the second CC sub—
`scriber with a ghost icon of the first CC subscriber
`denoting the second CC subscrib