United States Patent [19]
`Haserodt
`
`US006031836A
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`6,031,836
`Feb. 29, 2000
`
`[54] WEB-PAGE INTERFACE TO TELEPHONY
`FEATURES
`
`Communications, IEEE Spectrum, vol. 33, No. 1, Jan. 1,
`1996, pp. 30—41.
`
`[75] Inventor: Kurt H. Haserodt, Westminster, C010.
`
`[73] Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill,
`NJ.
`
`[21] Appl. No.2 08/710,220
`[22] Filed:
`Sep.13,1996
`
`[51] Int. c1.7 ......................... .. H04M 11/00; H04M 3/42;
`H04L 12/28; G06F 15/163
`[52] US. Cl. ........................ .. 370/389; 370/401; 370/404;
`370/427; 379/9001; 379/9301; 379/210;
`709/217; 709/223
`[58] Field Of Search ................................... .. 370/352, 353,
`370/380, 389, 392, 396, 401, 404, 427,
`435, 450, 465, 485; 379/9001, 93.01, 93.05,
`93.09, 100.15, 100.16, 201, 210; 709/217,
`223, 230
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`7/1994 Wolff et a1. ............................. .. 379/96
`5,327,486
`6/1996 Meske, Jr. et al.
`395/600
`5,530,852
`8/1996 Chau et a1. ........................... .. 379/207
`5,550,906
`5,568,540 10/1996 Greco et a1. ............................ .. 379/89
`5,572,643 11/1996 Judson ........ ..
`395/793
`5,608,446
`3/1997 Carr et al. ..
`..... .. 348/6
`5,608,786
`3/1997 Gordon
`379/100
`
`5,712,901
`5,742,670
`5,764,736
`5,790,548
`5,805,587
`
`. . . . .. 379/88
`1/1998 Meermans . . . . .
`379/142
`4/1998 Bennett ....... ..
`379/93.09
`6/1998 Shachar et a1. ..... ..
`370/401
`8/1998 Sistanizadeh et a1.
`9/1998 Norris et a1. .......................... .. 370/352
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Low, C., The Internet Telephony Red Herring, HP Labora
`tories Technical Report, May 15, 1996, pp. 1—15.
`Muller, N., Dial 1—800—Internet, Byte, vol. 21, No. 2, Feb.
`1, 1996, XP 000566097, pp. 83—84, 86, 88.
`
`“Netspeak’s Hot Internet Sun Product”, Computer Tele
`phony, vol. 5, Issue 8 (Aug. 1996), pp. 120—124.
`
`“Internet Hop Off”, Computer Telephony, vol. 4, Issue 3
`(Mar. 1996), pp. 10—12.
`
`Primary Examiner—Fan S. Tsang
`Assistant Examiner—Allan Hoosain
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—David Volejnicek
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`A method is provided for clients to access server-based
`telephony features in the Internet or other non-telephony
`client-server network, in a platform-independent and
`network-independent fashion and without modi?cation of
`the clients. A user of a client (101) uses the client’s World
`Wide Web
`browser (113) to download from a
`WWW server (104) a page (115) that de?nes a blank feature
`form that has virtual actuators and associated parameters
`?elds for the telephony features. The user marks up the
`downloaded page via the WWW browser to indicate feature
`selection and any feature parameters, and uploads the
`marked up page to the WWW server. A form-interpreting
`script (116) executed by the WWW server interprets the
`marked up page, and the WWW server sends a feature
`request that corresponds to the user’s feature selection and
`user-speci?ed parameters to a telephony feature server
`(105). The telephony feature server responds to the request
`by providing the requested feature to the user’s client. If
`needed, the WWW server also requests the client to establish
`a TCP/IP connection with the telephony feature server.
`
`10 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`WVIVI BROWSER 115
`
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`
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`row PAGE
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`
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`
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`
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`UP FEATURE TDRM
`ACE VIA TORN
`INTERFRETIRG SCRIPT
`
`REDIRECT CLIENT.
`IF NECESSARY
`
`DOWNLOAD FEATURE
`DATA
`
`RECEIVE
`REIJIRECTION
`INSTRUCTIONS
`
`ACCESS UNIT
`SPECIFIED IN
`REDIRECTION
`INSTRUCTIONS
`
`1228
`
`INTERACT WI'IN
`DIRECTDRV SERVER,
`
`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 1 of 8
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Feb. 29, 2000
`
`Sheet 1 of2
`
`6,031,836
`
`_ 2:
`
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`
`
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`52.6
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`52.6
`
`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 2 of 8
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Feb. 29, 2000
`
`Sheet 2 of2
`
`6,031,836
`
`FIG. 2
`
`TELEPHONY
`FEATURE
`sERvER 105 -
`
`www BROWSER 113
`
`WWW sERvER 104
`
`ACCESS www SERVER f 200
`AND SELECT FEATURE
`FORM PAGE
`
`V
`
`RECEIVE REQUEST r202
`
`RECEIVE AND
`015%; LEAAJEJRE
`
`H06
`
`DOWNLOAD BLANK r204
`FEATURE FORM PAGE
`
`MARK UP FEATURE f 208
`FORM PAGE PER
`UsER INPUT
`
`UPLOAD MARKED UP I210
`FEATURE FORM PAGE
`
`RECEIVE
`REDIRECTION
`INSTRUCTIONS
`‘
`ACCESS UNIT
`SPECIFIED IN
`
`I225
`_
`
`I228
`
`INSTRUCTIONS
`
`v
`
`RECEIVE MARKED UP rm
`FEATURE FORM PAGE
`T
`INTERPRET MARKED f2“
`UP FEATURE FORM
`PAGE VIA FORM
`INTERPRETING SCRIPT
`T
`REDIRECT CLIENT, I216
`1F NECESSARY
`A
`DOWNLOAD FEATURE
`DATA
`
`224x
`
`220
`S
`r218
`E RECEIVE FEATURE
`DATA
`F
`REDIRECT CLIENT,
`222“ IF NEC‘ESSARY
`INTERACT WITH
`FERRRRFPFR
`
`'
`
`AND “CU USING
`FEATURE DATA, To
`PROVIDE REoUEsTEU
`FEATURE(s)
`
`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 3 of 8
`
`

`
`1
`WEB-PAGE INTERFACE TO TELEPHONY
`FEATURES
`
`6,031,836
`
`2
`independent and netWork-independent fashion and Without
`need for any modi?cations to the clients. Illustratively,
`World-Wide Web
`broWsers alloW Internet clients to
`access WWW information servers over the Internet in a
`platform-independent and netWork-independent fashion,
`and this capability is exploited by the invention in that
`clients use broWsers to access server-based telephony fea
`tures via the Internet in a manner similar to hoW they
`conventionally access information via the WWW. As a
`consequence, the feature accesses are affected in a platform
`independent and netWork-independent fashion by conven
`tional Internet clients.
`Speci?cally according to an aspect of the invention, a
`method of accessing telephony features in a non-telephony
`client-server netWork (e.g., the Internet) Wherein clients and
`servers communicate With each other via a prede?ned com
`munications protocol (e.g., the WWW) that lacks telephony
`feature-access commands comprises the folloWing steps.
`The client requests an individual telephony feature by com
`municating data (e.g., a marked up feature-form page) that
`correspond to that feature With the server via the prede?ned
`protocol. Hence, no changes are required either to the client
`or to the netWork’s protocol. The server then responds to the
`communicated data by requesting a provider of the tele
`phony features to provide the individual telephony feature to
`the client, and the provider does so. The server thus does for
`the client What the client Was not able to do itself. Hence, the
`capability to access telephony features is easily implement
`able in and retro?ttable into conventional netWorks, such as
`the Internet, Without modi?cation of either the Internet or its
`communication protocol, or the clients.
`Speci?cally according to another aspect of the invention,
`a method of accessing telephony features over the Internet
`by using the World Wide Web
`comprises the
`folloWing steps. A WWW broWser of a client requests a
`WWW page that de?nes a telephony feature form from a
`WWW server via the Internet. The WWW server responds
`by providing the requested WWW page to the client via the
`Internet. The WWW broWser indicates selection of an indi
`vidual telephony feature by marking up the telephony fea
`ture form of the received WWW page, and the client sends
`the marked up WWW page via the Internet to an interpreter
`(e.g., to the WWW server). The interpreter interprets the
`marked up telephony feature form to determine the selected
`individual telephony feature. In response to the
`determination, a provider of the telephony features then
`provides the selected individual telephony feature. Thus, the
`conventional W and W broWsers are used Without
`modi?cation to access telephony features via the Internet
`These and other features and advantages of the invention
`Will become more apparent from the folloWing description
`of an illustrative embodiment of the invention taken together
`With the draWing.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
`
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications netWork
`that implements an illustrative embodiment of the invention;
`and
`FIG. 2 is a diagram of operations of units of the commu
`nications netWork of FIG. 1 that implement the illustrative
`embodiment of the invention.
`
`TECHNICAL FIELD
`
`This invention relates to communication systems, includ
`ing telephone systems and the Internet.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`It is knoWn in the communications arts that voice calls can
`be carried by the Internet (or some other data transport
`network) betWeen a pair of Internet phones or voice-enabled
`computers. It is also knoWn that voice calls carried by the
`Internet can be interfaced by a gateWay to the telephone
`netWork so that an Internet phone or a voice-enabled com
`puter connected to the Internet can engage in a voice call
`With a standard telephone connected to the telephone net
`Work. Illustrative examples of such capabilities are disclosed
`in “Netspeak’s Hot Internet Sun Product”, Computer
`Telephony, Vol. 5, Issue 8 (August 1996), pp. 120—124, and
`in “Internet Hop Off”, Computer Telephony, Vol. 4, Issue 3
`(March 1996), pp. 10—11. It is further knoWn that telephony
`features can be provided to computers or terminals on a local
`area netWork (or some other data transport network) via a
`feature server. An illustrative example of such capability is
`disclosed in US. Pat. No. 5,550,906. Telephony features are
`features that are provided to telephones and telephone calls
`by modern telecommunications sWitching systems, such as
`the Lucent Technologies Inc. De?nity® private branch
`exchange. They may include, by Way of example and
`Without limitation, features such as call redirection (e. g., call
`forWarding, call coverage), multiple call appearances (e.g.,
`hold, drop, transfer, conference), call center agent features
`(e.g., agent login, agent logout, after-Work mode, etc.), call
`center management information features (e.g., maximum
`time in queue, queue length, skill-based split staf?ng levels,
`etc.), and calling party information features (e. g., position in
`queue, advertising-on-hold, etc.). Providing a Web-page-like
`interface for system management and administration of
`Internet-accessible systems is also knoWn. An example
`thereof may be found in the router products of the Advanced
`Computer Communications company.
`Standards have not been developed for protocols by
`Which computers, terminals, Internet phones, and other
`devices—jointly referred to as clients—can interact With
`feature servers over the Internet and other non-telephony
`communications netWorks in order to access telephony
`features. Consequently, the clients and the servers must be
`speci?cally designed and con?gured to Work With each
`other, typically via a proprietary protocol that includes
`telephony feature access commands, and they typically are
`unable to Work With servers or clients of a different design
`or con?guration—other manufacturers’ equipment, for
`example. This has the serious and unfortunate consequence
`that the use of feature servers is limited to “closed” netWorks
`that are controlled by a single entity—e.g., a single compa
`ny’s local area netWork—that can dictate What equipment
`and feature-access protocol is used on the netWork, and that
`the use of feature servers is not possible on “open” netWorks
`such as the Internet.
`
`10
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`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention is directed to solving these and other
`problems and disadvantages of the prior art. According to
`the invention, there is provided a Way for clients to access
`server-based telephony features in a non-telephony client
`server netWork, such as the Internet, in a platform
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`65
`
`FIG. 1 shoWs a combined data-and-telephony communi
`cations netWork. The non-telephony portion of the commu
`nications netWork of FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of clients
`
`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 4 of 8
`
`

`
`6,031,836
`
`3
`101—103 and servers 104—106 interconnected by the Internet
`network 109, and a multipoint control unit (MCU) 108 for
`providing multipoint connections (conference calls, for
`example). The telephony portion of the communications
`netWork of FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of telephones
`111—112 interconnected by a telephone netWork 110, and a
`telephony gateWay 107 that interconnects the Internet net
`Work 109 With telephone netWork 110.
`
`4
`feature form: the user selects individual features and ?lls in
`parameter values on the feature form of page 115, at step
`208. When the user is ?nished, broWser 113 uploads the
`marked up page 115 back to server 104, at step 210, again
`in a conventional WWW manner.
`Server 104 receives the marked up page 115, at step 212,
`and in response executes form-interpreting script 116 to
`interpret the marked up page 115, i.e., to determine from the
`feature form Which features the user selected, Whether the
`user selected to activate or deactivate selected features, and
`What parameters the user has speci?ed for selected features,
`at step 214. Based on this determination, server 104 may ?nd
`that client 101 may need to be connected to server 105. In
`that case, server 104 communicates in the conventional
`Internet manner (using the TCP/IP protocol) With client 101
`to cause it to redirect its connection to server 105, at step
`216. Client 101 responds to any received redirection instruc
`tions from server 104, at step 226, by terminating its
`connection to server 104 and establishing a neW connection
`to server 105, at step 228, again conventionally (by using the
`TCP/IP protocol). Server 104 then doWnloads the data that
`it derived from marked up page 115 to telephone feature
`server 105 as a feature access request, at step 218. If
`necessary, server 105 responds to receipt of this request, at
`step 220, by again redirecting the data (but not the control)
`portion of the connection of client 101 to another entity, such
`as gateWay 107 or MCU 108, at step 222. Server 105 also
`interacts With server 106, gateWay 107, and MCU 108 and
`uses the received data in the interactions in a conventional
`manner to effect the feature and parameter selections made
`by the user, at step 224. Client 101 responds to any received
`redirection instructions from server 105, at step 226, by
`terminating its data (media) connection to server 105 and
`establishing a neW data connection to the entity indicated by
`the redirection instructions, at step 228. HoWever, client 101
`maintains its control connection to server 105, Whereby
`server 105 can send conventional Internet netWork 109
`commands to client 101.
`Some speci?c examples of features are given beloW to
`illustrate the general procedure described above.
`To place a telephone call to a telephone 111, user of client
`101 uses broWser 113 to click on a “telephone call” feature
`virtual button of doWnloaded feature form page 115, and ?lls
`in the telephone number of telephone 111 in a corresponding
`?eld. Upon receipt of the marked up page 115, server 104
`responds to the user’s selection of a telephone call by
`sending directions to client 101 to connect to telephony
`feature server 105, and sends a telephone call request along
`With an identi?er of client 101 and the called telephone
`number to server 105. When client 101 accesses server 105
`through Internet netWork 109, server 105 correlates client
`101 With the telephone call request and sends directions to
`client 101 to access telephony gateWay 107. Server 105 also
`sends an identi?er of client 101 and the called telephone
`number to gateWay 107. In response, gateWay 107 estab
`lishes a call to telephone 111 through telephone netWork 110,
`and When client 101 accesses gateWay 107 through Internet
`netWork 109, gateWay 107 correlates client 101 With the
`telephone call and interfaces the Internet connection With the
`telephone call.
`To place a conference call to a plurality of other clients
`102—103 and/or telephones 111—112, user of client 101 uses
`broWser 113 to click on a “conference call” feature virtual
`button of doWnloaded page 115 and ?lls in the universal
`resource locator (URL, an Internet address) or “handle” (an
`Internet identi?er) of each called client 102—103 and/or the
`telephone number of each called telephone 111—112 in
`
`
`Servers 104—106 include a World-Wide Web server 104. The World-Wide Web is a de-facto standard
`protocol for ?nding and transferring information on the
`Internet betWeen information-requesting clients and
`information-sourcing servers. Information is typically trans
`ferred in data entities knoWn as pages. The World Wide Web
`is based on (includes) the Transmission Control Protocol/
`internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for effecting communications
`connections over the Internet. The World Wide Web also
`provides a means for client interactions With pages of
`information, knoWn as the hypertext mark-up language
`(HTML).
`Servers 104—106 further include a directory server 106
`Which provides conventional directory services to clients
`101—103, and a telephony feature server 105 Which provides
`telephony features to clients 101—103. Telephony feature
`server 105 also functions as a “gateWay keeper”, in the
`parlance of the ITU H.323 protocol standard, for telephony
`gateWay 107 Which is a “gateWay” in the parlance of the
`H.323 protocol standard. Units 104—108 may either be
`individual entities, or they may comprise a single entity that
`performs all of their functions. An illustrative such single
`entity is the Lucent Technologies Inc. Multi Media Com
`munications eXchange (MMCX).
`For interacting with W server 104 and other WWW
`servers (not shoWn) on the Internet netWork 109, each client
`101—103 is equipped With a WWW broWser 113, such as a
`Netscape Navigator or a Microsoft Internet Explorer. For
`carrying on voice communications With other clients and
`With telephones 111—112, each client 101—102 is equipped
`With an Internet phone 114, such as the Intel Iphone, or the
`Netscape CoolTalk or LiveMedia products.
`In addition to any other pages of information that it may
`provide, WWW server 104 includes a feature-form page 115
`and an associated form-interpreting script 116. Page 115
`alloWs users of clients 101—102 to select and activate or
`deactivate telephony features and to specify and enter
`parameters for those features via broWsers 113, and script
`116 interprets the users’ selections and entries.
`Illustratively, page 115 presents users of clients 101—102
`With a plurality of virtual (graphical-display) actuators each
`corresponding to, and labeled With, a corresponding feature,
`and for each feature that has user-speci?able parameters,
`provides one or more ?ll-in-the blank ?elds in Which the
`users can enter desired parameter values (e.g., telephone
`numbers).
`The use that is made of page 115 by clients 101—103 to
`access telephony features is ?oWcharted in FIG. 2. To access
`page 115, a user of a client 101 uses broWser 113 to access
`server 104 and select page 115 in a conventional WWW
`manner, at step 200. Server 104 receives the request, at step
`202, and in response conventionally doWnloads page 115 to
`client 101, at step 204. The doWnloaded page 115 carries a
`blank feature form—one on Which features are not selected
`and parameters are not ?lled out. BroWser 113 receives page
`115, and presents (displays) page 115 to the user via a
`display of client 101, at step 206, again in a conventional
`manner. The user then uses broWser 113 to mark up the
`
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`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 5 of 8
`
`

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`10
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`5
`corresponding ?elds. Upon receipt of marked up page 115,
`server 104 responds to the user’s selection of a conference
`call by sending directions to client 101 to connect to
`telephony feature server 105, and sends a conference call
`request along With an identi?er of client 101 and the called
`telephone numbers, URLs, and/or handles to server 105.
`When client 101 accesses server 105 through Internet net
`Work 109, server 105 correlates client 101 With the confer
`ence call request, sends any received URLs and/or handles
`to directory server 106 for translation into presently
`corresponding URLs, and sends a conference identi?er and
`any called telephone numbers to gateWay 107. In response,
`server 106 returns the presently-corresponding URLs, and
`gateWay 107 establishes calls to called telephones 111—112
`through telephone netWork 110. Server 105 also sends
`directions to client 101 to connect to MCU 108, sends the
`identi?er of client 101 and the presently-corresponding
`URLs of called clients 102—103 along With the conference
`identi?er to MCU 108, and sends directions to MCU 108 to
`access gateWay 107 With the conference identi?er. When
`client 101 accesses MCU 108 through Internet netWork 109,
`MCU 108 accesses gateWay 107 through Internet netWork
`109 and provides the conference identi?er to gateWay 107.
`In response, gateWay 107 interfaces the telephone calls to
`telephones 111—112 With the Internet connection to MCU
`25
`108. MCU 108 also establishes connections to called clients
`102—103 through the Internet netWork 109, and conferences
`together the Internet connections to called clients 102—103,
`client 101, and telephone gateWay 107.
`To activate redirection of incoming calls to another des
`tination (e.g., another client 102), user of client 101 uses
`broWser 113 to click on a “redirection on” feature virtual
`button of doWnloaded page 115 and ?lls in one or more
`URLs or handles of one or more clients 102 in a corre
`sponding ?eld. Upon receipt of the marked up page 115,
`server 104 responds to the user’s selection by sending a
`redirection activation request along With the received URLs
`or handles to server 105. Server 105 responds by sending the
`received URLs or handles to directory server 106 for trans
`lation into presently-corresponding URLs. When server 106
`returns the presently-corresponding URLs, server 105 sends
`then back to directory server 106 With instructions to store
`them as a sequence of presently-corresponding URLs for the
`URL of client 101. Thereafter, any Internet or telephone
`calls placed by any client 102—103 or telephone 111—112 to
`client 101 Will be redirected by directory server 106 to the
`presently-corresponding URLs in sequence until one of
`them accepts the call or the sequence is exhausted, in a
`conventional manner.
`To deactivate redirection of incoming calls, user of client
`101 uses broWser 113 to click on a “redirection off” feature
`virtual button of doWnloaded page 115. Upon receipt of the
`marked up page 115, server 104 responds by sending a
`redirection deactivation request along With the URL of client
`101 to server 105. Server 105 responds by sending the URL
`55
`of client 101 to directory server 106 With instructions to
`store it as the presently-corresponding URL for client 101.
`Thereafter, any Internet or telephone calls placed by any
`client 102—103 or telephone 111—112 to client 101 Will be
`directed by directory server 106 to client 101, in a conven
`tional manner.
`To transfer an Internet call betWeen client 101 and client
`102 from client 101 to client 103, user of client 101 uses
`broWser 113 to doWnload page 115, and to click on a
`“transfer” feature virtual button of doWnloaded page 115 and
`?ll in the URL or handle of clients 102 and 103 in corre
`sponding ?elds. Upon receipt of the marked up page 115,
`
`35
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`65
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`6,031,836
`
`6
`server 104 responds to the user’s selection by sending a
`transfer request along With the received URLs or handles of
`clients 102 and 103 to server 105. Server 105 responds by
`sending the received URL or handle of client 103 to direc
`tory server 106 for translation into a presently
`corresponding URL. When directory-server 106 returns the
`presently-corresponding URL, server 105 sends this URL of
`client 103 to client 102 along With instructions to connect to
`this URL. Client 102 responds by breaking the Internet
`netWork 109 connection to client 101 and establishing a neW
`Internet netWork 109 connection to client 103, in a conven
`tional manner.
`Of course, various changes and modi?cations to the
`illustrative embodiment described above may be envisioned.
`For eXample, given the examples of telephony features
`described above, it Would be evident to one skilled in the art
`hoW to implement other telephony features in the commu
`nications system of FIG. 1. Or, the marked-up feature form
`page can be returned by a client to an entity other than
`WWW server 104—to telephony feature server 105, for
`eXample—in Which case the form-interpreting script Would
`be eXecuted by that entity. Also, instead of receiving a
`feature form page from a WWW server, each client’s
`broWser may be permanently equipped With an “applet”
`(e.g., a Java application running on the client’s broWser) that
`presents the client’s user With a user interface for selecting
`features and parameters (e.g., a feature form) and then
`communicates the user’s selections, in Java or otherWise
`(instead of a marked up HTML document page), to a server.
`Such changes and modi?cations can be made Without
`departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention and
`Without diminishing its attendant advantages. It is therefore
`intended that such changes and modi?cations be covered by
`the following claims.
`The invention claimed is:
`1. A method of accessing telephony features in a non
`telephony client-server netWork Wherein clients and servers
`communicate With each other via a prede?ned communica
`tions protocol that lacks telephony feature-access
`commands, comprising the steps of:
`the client requesting an individual telephony feature by
`communicating corresponding data With the server via
`the prede?ned protocol;
`the server responding to the communicated data by
`requesting a provider of the telephony features to
`provide the individual telephony feature to the client;
`the server further responding to the communicated data by
`requesting the client to connect to the provider;
`in response to the request to connect to the provider, the
`client effecting a data and control communications
`connection With the provider;
`in response to the request from the server to provide the
`individual telephony feature, the provider providing the
`individual telephony feature to the client, including
`the provider instructing the client to redirect a data portion
`of the data and control communications connection
`from the provider to a communications entity and to
`maintain a control portion of the data and control
`communications connection connected to the provider
`so that the provider can eXert control over the client
`While the client communicates With the entity, and
`in response to the instruction, the client establishing a
`communications connection to the communications
`entity.
`2. The method of claim 1 in a non-telephony client-server
`netWork comprising the Internet, and having the World Wide
`Web as the prede?ned communications protocol, Wherein:
`
`Ex. 1015
`YMax Corporation
`Page 6 of 8
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`6,031,836
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`7
`the step of the client requesting by communicating com
`prises the steps of
`the client requesting a feature-form page from the server,
`in response to receipt of the feature-form page from the
`server, the client marking-up the feature form page to
`indicate selection of the individual feature and any
`parameters for the selected feature, and
`the client sending the marked-up feature form page to the
`server; and
`the step of the server responding by requesting a provider
`comprises the steps of
`in response to the client request for a feature-form page,
`sending the feature form page to the client,
`in response to receiving the marked-up feature form page
`from the client, interpreting the marked up feature form
`page to determine the individual feature and said any
`parameters, and
`in response to the determination, requesting the provider
`to provide the individual feature using said any param
`eters.
`3. The method of claim 2 Wherein:
`the step of the server further responding by requesting the
`client comprises the step of
`in response to the determination, the server requesting the
`client, via a TCP/IP protocol over the Internet, to
`connect to the provider; and
`the step of the client effecting a data and control com
`munications connection comprises the step of
`in response to the request to connect to the provider, the
`client effecting the data and control communications
`connection With the provider via the TCP/IP protocol
`over the Internet.
`4. The method of claim 1 in a non-telephony client-server
`netWork comprising the Internet, Wherein:
`the step of the client requesting by communicating com
`prises the steps of
`obtaining from a user of the client a selection of the
`individual telephony feature and any parameters for the
`selected feature, by eXecuting an application program
`on the client; and
`in response to the obtaining, the executing application
`program causing the client to communicate data indica
`tive of the selected telephony feature and any param
`eters for the selected feature to the server via the
`prede?ned protocol over the Internet.
`5. The method of claim 4 Wherein:
`the step of the server further responding by requesting the
`client comprises the step of
`in response to the communicated data, the server request
`ing the client, via a TCP/IP protocol over the Internet,
`to connect to the provider; and
`the step of the client effecting a data and control com
`munications connection comprises the step of
`in response to the request to connect to the provider, the
`client effecting the data and control communications
`connection With the provider via the TCP/IP protocol
`over the Internet.
`6. A method of accessing telephony features over the
`Internet by using the World Wide Web (WW, comprising the
`steps of:
`a WWW broWser of a client requesting a WWW page that
`de?nes a telephony feature form from a WWW server
`via the Internet;
`in response to the request, the WWW server providing the
`requested WWW page to the client via the Internet;
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`in response to receipt of the requested WWW page, the
`WWW broWser indicating selection of an individual
`telephony feature by marking up the telephony feature
`form of the received WWW page;
`the client sending the marked up WWW page to an
`interpreter via the Internet;
`in response to receipt by the interpreter of the marked up
`WWW page, the interpreter interpreting the marked up
`telephony feature form to determine the selected indi
`vidual telephony feature;
`in response to the determination, requesting a provider of
`the telephony features to provide the selected indi
`vidual telephony feature;
`further in response to the determination, requesting the
`client, via a TCP/IP protocol over the Internet, to
`connect to the provider;
`in response to the request to connect to the provider, the
`client effecting a data and control communications
`connection With the provider via the TCP/IP protocol
`over the Internet;
`in response to the request to provide the selected indi
`vidual telephony feature, the provider providing the
`selected individual telephony feature, including
`the provider instructing the client to redirect a data portion
`of the data and control communications connection
`from the provider to a communications entity and to
`maintain a control portion of the data and control
`communications connection connected to the provider,
`so that the provider can eXert control over the client
`While the client communicates With the entity, and
`in response to the instruction, the client establishing a data
`communications connection to the communications
`entity.
`7. An apparatus that enables telephony features to be
`accessed in a non-telephony client-server netWork Wherein
`clients and servers communicate With each other via a
`prede?ned communications protocol that lacks telephony
`feature-access commands, and Wherein a provider of the
`telephony features responds to requests for features by
`providing the requested features, the apparatus comprising:
`a server connectable to the netWork for communicating
`With a client via the prede?ned protocol to obtain data
`corresponding to an individual telephony feature
`requested by the client, the server being responsive to
`the obtained data, for requesting the client to effect a
`data and control communications connection With the
`provider and