BRPI1010332A2 - package headers as a trigger for automatic activation of special purpose softphone applications - Google Patents

Abstract

PACKAGE HEADS AS A TRIGGER FOR AUTOMATIC ACTIVATION OF SPECIAL PURPOSE SOFTPHONE APPLICATIONS. Methods, devices and systems for the automatic control of the activation and / or deactivation of communication applications are provided. More specifically, methods, devices and systems are provided, so that inspection of communication packet headers can be leveraged as a trigger for automatic activation and / or deactivation of communication applications and the completion of a corresponding user interface to the application.

Description

PACKAGE HEADS AS A TRIGGER FOR AUTOMATIC ACTIVATION OF SPECIAL PURPOSE SOFTPHONE APPLICATIONS

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention generally relates to communications and more specifically to communication applications.

BACKGROUND

In computing, a softphone is a software program for making Internet telephone calls using a general purpose computer rather than using dedicated hardware. Often, a softphone is designed to behave like a traditional telephone, sometimes appearing as an image of a telephone, with a display panel and buttons with which the user can interact. A softphone is usually used with a device connected to a PC, laptop or similar sound card, or with a USB phone.

Traditionally, softphone applications had built-in support for voice and video communication only. When a specialized means of communication is required,

20 such as a teletype equipment and a teletype (TTY), the

The softphone should be operated in a mode that puts it together with a separate special purpose endpoint device. It may be possible to provide built-in TTY support in a softphone. However, if TTY communications are required, then a text chat window will need to be populated on the softphone.

SUMMARY

Using a text chat window is not necessarily that difficult to implement. However, from

In order to prevent the softphone's graphical user interface (GUI) from becoming unnecessarily confusing, it is desirable that the text chat window be displayed only when required, and that it remain hidden or inactive when not required.

It is also desirable to only allow communications through a certain medium to avoid unnecessary use of communication hardware and network bandwidth. For example, if two communication devices are both capable of voice, video and text communication, it may not be desirable to allocate hardware resources for voice, video and text at the beginning of the communication session, unless participants are to use all three means. Not only would hardware resources (eg ports, drivers, processors, memory, etc.) be unnecessarily consumed, but network bandwidth would also be unnecessarily consumed. It would be much more desirable to assign these resources on a basis as needed and in response to the wishes and needs of the communication session participants.

Some existing communication solutions allow users to activate application windows manually. However, it is important to note that in a completely manual process, participants (especially contact center agents) may not be aware that a call is from a TTY user and therefore may fail to allow a text window. in a timely manner. Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to allow an application window, such as a text window, to be activated automatically by the softphone for calls that are pre-identified as being from TTY users.

Contact center techniques exist for the pre-identification of TTY calling parties which include requiring calling parties to call the central through a TTY-only incoming telephone number and / or presenting parties calling an automated associated application. that asks them to identify themselves. In either case, calls are made to a TTY hunt group before being presented to an agent. A call can be marked as from the TTY hunt group to automatically trigger the contact center agent communication device

to activate your text window.

The automatic activation techniques described above still fail to resolve the following issues:

(1) Softphone-equipped employees in an enterprise can receive direct dial calls from PSTN-based TTY users, just as incoming direct dial voice calls can be received. Calls can also be transferred between employees of a contact center without traversing the TTY hunt group. In these scenarios, currently available techniques do not provide a way to activate the text window of the called party automatically because there is no pre-identification of TTY users.

(2) In communication environments that support multi-mode "unified communication", persons, including those with no need related to a disability to use a TTY, may wish to supplement audio signals with a different medium at some point during the communication session. For example, "Part A" may wish to send "Part B" a URL that cannot be sent conveniently by voice, or it may simply wish to convey something by text, because the voice may be heard by someone nearby. In these scenarios, prior art techniques do not provide a way to automatically activate the Part B text window (or other appropriate data application).

In response to these problems, embodiments of the present invention provide another mechanism that will cause an application and / or application window to open.

automatically.

It is an aspect of the present invention to take advantage of a "TTY over IP" decoder that was implemented on Avaya gateways approximately six years ago. The gateway solution works as follows:

Rather than carrying TTY signals over IP networks such as in-band audio tones (which are prone to distortion in the presence of packet loss or audio compression), Avaya systems carry TTY signals as verbal descriptions of tones, which they are in essence. The encoding format conforms to the protocol specified by IETF standard RFC-2833. Consistently with RFC-2833, packets have headers that identify the format of the information contained in the packet.

In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention, all packets containing TTY information which are received by a communication device from a gateway or other communication device will have headers which may indicate: contains a TTY information ". Based solely on its inspection of the packet headers, without an inspection of the packet contents, a packet analyzer provided on a communication device, such as a softphone, can be configured per user to open its TTY text window. immediately and automatically upon receipt of a TTY transmission that is formatted as follows.

While certain examples are discussed herein relating to the automatic firing of a text window and a text application, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention include the general idea of using package headers as a trigger for automatic activation or deactivation of a general purpose software application, which may or may not be implemented in conjunction with.

a softphone.

Illustratively, in addition to RFC-2833, industry standard protocols that support conversational text in SIP environments include RFC-4103, RFC-4351, and RFC-5194. Detecting a packet header from RFC-4103, RFC-4351, or RFC-5194 could trigger the automatic opening of a text chat window. Alternatively or additionally, if a communication session begins as a text-based communication, detection of a G.711, G.722, G.726, G.729, or any other voice-based packet header could trigger the automatic opening of a voice application window. Alternatively or additionally, if the communication session begins as a non-video based communication, detecting a video packet header may trigger the automatic opening of a video application window. Example video standards include, but are not limited to RFC-2250, RFC-3189, RFC-4175, RFC-4421, and others.

The standards discussed above for the various media types are just examples of well-known and, in some cases, standardized decoder encoders used today. The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to these exemplary encoders - decoders and standards should not be construed in this manner.

In other words, the fundamental premise of the present invention may be extended beyond the automatic opening of a text chat window. For example, receiving a packet header that indicates video content could trigger the automatic opening of a video display window. In this scenario, an initial communication session negotiation may serve as a confirmation that the endpoints are video capable, but would not necessarily cause the use of a video based communication session. In order to preserve the actual state on screen, a video window would not be opened by the communication endpoint before receiving the endpoint of video packets requesting it. While screen space conservation is a beneficial resource obtained by implementing certain embodiments of the present invention, the use of mechanisms described herein also includes: (1) preserving computer resources such as CPU and memory, but not allocating them to special softphone applications, until these features are known to be required, and (2) conserving network bandwidth by not reserving that bandwidth for the special applications until they are known to be required. According to at least some embodiments of the present invention, the communication endpoint could prompt the user for confirmation before opening a window automatically (for example, "You are receiving a video stream. Want to see it?").

According to at least some embodiments of the present invention, inspection of the packet header alone would trigger the opening of the appropriate application and window and simultaneously trigger activation of the required encoder - decoder. As an example of why this might be desirable, RFC-2833 and RFC-4103 encode text differently. An endpoint would need to activate a different encoder - decoder upon receipt of an RFC-2833 or RFC-4103 packet, but could nonetheless use the same text chat GUI window for both.

In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention, a buffer in the receiving communication device is adapted to save and allow subsequent re-execution of information that was received while the special purpose application was being enabled. Illustratively, this would ensure that the TTY character that triggered the text chat window was seen by the recipient immediately upon opening the text chat GUI window.

In at least some embodiments, a method is provided which generally comprises:

establishing in a first communication device a communication session with a second communication device, wherein the first communication device uses at least one first application for communicating with the second communication device by at least one first means, the first medium was negotiated prior to the establishment of the communication session;

during the communication session, receiving as part of a communication session of a communication packet on the first communication device;

analyzing by the first communication device a header portion of the received communication packet; and

based on header portion analysis, invocation by the first communication device of at least one second application for communication over

at least a second half.

The term "computer readable medium" as used herein refers to any tangible storage and / or transmission medium that participates in storing and / or providing instructions to a processor for execution. Such a medium can take many forms, including, but not limited to, nonvolatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Nonvolatile media include, for example, NVRAM or magnetic or optical discs. Volatile media includes a dynamic memory, such as a main memory. Common forms of computer readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape or any other magnetic medium, a magneto-optical medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other hole pattern media, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, solid state media such as a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read. A digital file attachment to an email or other standalone information backup storage or backup storage pool is considered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. When the computer readable medium is configured as a database, it is to be understood that the database can be any type of database such as relational, hierarchical, object oriented and / or the like. Accordingly, the invention is contemplated to include a tangible storage medium or a prior art recognized distribution means and equivalents and successor means wherein the software implementations of the present invention are stored.

The terms "determine", "calculate" and "compute" and variations thereof as used herein are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term "module", "agent" or "tool" as used herein refers to any hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, multipurpose logic known or developed later, or a combination of hardware and software that is capable of performing the functionality associated with this element. Also, while the invention is described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that individual aspects of the invention may be separately claimed.

The foregoing is a simplified summary of embodiments of the invention for providing an understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive or exhaustive overview of the invention and its various embodiments. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention, nor to delineate the scope of the invention, but to present selected concepts of the invention in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description given below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the invention are possible by using, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram depicting a communication system according to at least some

embodiments of the present invention;

Fig. 2A is a first snapshot of a user interface according to at least some embodiments of the

present invention;

Fig. 2B is a second snapshot of a user interface.

user according to at least some embodiments of the present invention;

Fig. 2C is a third snapshot of a user interface according to at least some embodiments of FIG.

present invention; and

Fig. 3 is a flowchart describing a method of communication according to at least some embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention will be illustrated below in conjunction with the exemplary communication system. Although well suited for use with, for example, a system using a server (s) and / or database (s), the invention is not limited to the use of any particular type of communication system or configuration of data elements. system. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the techniques shown may be used in any communication application where it is desirable to automatically manage communication application activation and / or deactivation.

The exemplary systems and methods of this invention will also be referred to with respect to analysis software, modules and associated analysis hardware. However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention, the following description omits well-known structures, components and devices which may be shown in block diagram form, are well known or are summarized.

otherwise.

For the sake of explanation, numerous details are

established to provide a complete understanding of the present invention. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein.

Referring now to Fig. 1, an example communication system 100 is described in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention. Communication system 100 may comprise a communication network 104 that facilitates communications (e.g., voice, image, video, data, other types of non-voice media employing protocols that support conversational text, such as those described in RFC- 4103 (RTP payload for text conversation), RFC-2833, RFC-4351, RFC-5194, and combinations thereof) between various communication devices 108.

Communications between communication devices 108 may be direct communications or, in some embodiments, may be facilitated by a communications server and / or switch. In other embodiments, communications between communication devices 108 may traverse one or more gateways 112, such as in a contact center configuration in which a communication device 108 is operated by a contact center agent on an enterprise side of the network. gateway 112 and another communication device 108 are operated by a consumer on the public side of gateway 112.

Communication network 104 may typically be any known media or collection of media, and may use any type of protocol for message transport between endpoints. Communication network 104 may include wired and / or wireless communication technologies. The Internet is an example of communication network 104 which constitutes an IP network consisting of many computers and other communication devices located around the world, which are connected via many telephone systems and other means. Other examples of communication network 104 include, without limitation, an old common telephone system (POTS), a digital integrated services network (ISDN), the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a local area network (LAN). , a wide area network (WAN), a session initiation protocol (SIP) network, a cellular communication network, any type of corporate network, and any other type of network, and any other type of packet network or circuit-switched circuitry known in the art. Generally speaking, however, communication network 104 comprises at least one packet based communication network. In addition, it may be appreciated that communication network 104 need not be limited to any type of network, and instead may be comprised of several different networks and / or types of networks.

network.

Communication devices 108 may be any type of known communication or processing device, such as a digital control protocol (DCP) telephone, VoIP telephones, Push-To-Talk (PTT) telephony devices, a computer (for example, a personal computer, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) with a computer telephony interface (CTI), a mobile phone, a smartphone, or combinations thereof. According to at least some embodiments of the present invention, at least one of the communication devices 108 is a softphone. The term "softphone" as used herein is to be understood to include any type of device comprising a processor and memory having one or more communication applications stored therein. Communication applications stored in communication device 108 allow the communication device to operate and behave like a traditional telephone having dedicated hardware for facilitating communications. A softphone, on the other hand, usually does not have dedicated hardware to facilitate real-time communications with other users of other communication devices. Instead, the softphone uses one or more of its applications to facilitate these communications. In some embodiments, the softphone may be embodied as a single device (e.g., a PC, a laptop, or a similar type of personal workstation) which is connected to the Internet. In other embodiments, the softphone may be embodied as multiple devices wherein one device comprises the communication application (s), but is connected to another simple telephone, which provides the connection between the device having the application (s) and the PSTN, for example. Other softphone configurations are well known to those skilled in the art, and therefore are not

elaborated here.

Communication device 108 may be controlled by or associated with a single user or may be adapted for use by many users (for example, a corporate communication device that allows any corporate user to use the communication device by presenting a valid username and password). In general, communication device 108 may be adapted to support video, audio, text and / or data communications with other communication devices 108. The type of media used by communication device 108 for communication with other communication devices 108 may depend on the communication applications available on the communication device 108.

One or more communication devices 108 may comprise various components that enable them to transmit and receive packets containing voice, video, text and / or data communications over communication network 104. A communication device 108 may therefore include a memory 116 and a processor 128. As noted above, memory 116 may include various executable applications or instructions that are readable and executable by processor 128. For example, memory 116 may include a plurality of communication applications 12Oa-N and a

packet analyzer 124.

12Oa-N communication applications may be specifically used by communication device 108 for communication through a particular medium or possibly through a different standard on the same medium. As an example, the first application 120a may correspond to a voice-based application, the second application 120b may correspond to a text-based application, and the nth 120N application may correspond to a voice-based application.

a video based app.

Packet analyzer 124 is provided for analyzing packets received at the communication device and for determining, based on the analysis results, whether one or more of applications 120a through N should be enabled and / or disabled. Packet analyzer 124 is generally operable for parsing the contents of the header portion of packets received during a communication session. In some embodiments, the communication session has already been established and packets received during the communication session are generally assumed to carry the data according to a pre-negotiated format. However, conditions may change such that during an established communication session, a communication device 108 begins to use another communication medium as a part of the communication session, perhaps unbeknownst to the other communication device 108. This newly used medium may cause packets of a different format to be transmitted to the other communication device 108 in a different format and not previously negotiated. The packet analyzer 124 is capable of identifying such packets by the contents of their header and not necessarily by inspecting the data contents of the packets themselves (i.e. through non-deep packet inspection). Once the packet analyzer 124 identifies such a packet, the packet analyzer 124 is able to invoke the appropriate application 120 to supplement the communication session.

In addition, communication device 108 may comprise a user interface 132 that is adapted to facilitate user control of communication device 108 and a network interface 136 that is adapted for connecting communication device 108 to communication network 104. Network interface 136 may comprise a communication modem, a communication port, or any other type of device or driver adapted for packet conditioning for transmission over the communication network 104 to a destination communication device 108, as well as. condition packets received for processing by processor 128. Examples of network interfaces 136 include, without limitation, a network interface card, a modem, a wired telephony port, a serial or parallel data port, a broadcast transceiver frequency port, a USB port, or other wired or wireless communication network interfaces .

User interfaces 132 may comprise any type of known user input and / or user exit technologies. For example, user interface 132 may comprise a GUI for facilitating visual communication control of a voice communication session, as well as facilitating text and video based communication sessions. Additionally, user interface 132 may comprise an audio interface (e.g., speaker and microphone), which allows the user to listen to voice communications and project voice communications to other communication session participants. In some embodiments, the user input and user exit portions of user interface 132 may be separate and distinct. In other embodiments, the user input and user output portions of user interface 132 may be combined, such as on a touch screen interface.

Each application 120a to N may also have its own dedicated interface window or control screen that allows a user of communication device 108 to control application 120 and further control the communication session, or at least the medium controlled by application 120. Thus, if multiple media are being used during a single communication session, multiple windows can be opened and displayed on user interface 132. According to at least some embodiments of the present invention, when an application is invoked during an established communication session. , the interface window for this application can also be automatically displayed through user interface 132.

Referring now to Figs 2A to 2C, an exemplary set of snapshots of a GUI 200 will be described according to at least some embodiments of the present invention. Referring initially to Fig. 2A, a first snapshot of a GUI 200 is described, where a first application interface window 204 is displayed on GUI 200. The first application interface window 204 may correspond to application 120, which is being used for facilitating communications through a first medium during an established communication session. The first medium may comprise one of voice, video, data and text. Therefore, the first application interface window 204 may correspond to one of a control interface for voice communications, a video screen with a control interface, a text chat window, or a data window.

Referring now to Fig. 2B, if a far end user decides to start using a second medium as a part of the communication session, the far end user may open a second application or otherwise start transmitting packets. newly formatted for the other communication device 108 involved in the communication session. Newly formatted packets may be received on continuous transmission of data from the established communication session (for example, by the same port and possibly interdispersed between the data carrying packets to the first medium), but the newly formatted packets may be carrying data from according to a different standard.

When packet analyzer 124 detects such a newly formatted packet, possibly by parsing the packet header and identifying that a new packet format is being used, packet analyzer 124 can automatically identify the second medium and perform either of two functions. (1) automatically invoke the application which facilitates communications through the second medium or (2) consults the user of the communication device 108 if he wishes to communicate through the second medium.

Fig. 2B depicts the scenario in which a query is visually transmitted to a user of communication device 108 through a pop-up window 208. One skilled in the art will appreciate that an audio query can also be used to ask the user if The second medium should be used as a part of the communication session. Sample audio queries may possibly be transmitted with a whisper page (feature that allows an intervention on an active call, similar to a pause action for internal communication), an interruption, or a similar type of audio communication.

If the user responds affirmatively to the query or in case the packet analyzer 124 automatically invokes the appropriate application, then a new application interface window 212 is presented through the user interface 132 as described in Fig. 2C. In some embodiments, the first application interface window 204 may be automatically resized to accommodate the new application interface window 212. In other embodiments, the new application interface window 212 may be partially or completely placed over the first window. In other embodiments, the new application interface window 212 may be opened behind the first application interface window 204, but some other kind of audio or visual indices may be presented to the user indicating that the new application interface window 204. interface window

Application 212 has been opened.

Referring now to Fig. 3, an exemplary communication method will be described according to at least some embodiments of the present invention from the perspective of a single communication device 108. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present The invention may also be applied to two-party communication sessions and multi-party communication sessions, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The method begins when a communication initialization message is received at communication device 108 (step 304). The communication initiation message may include a call setup signal, an H.323 call setup message, a SIP INVITE message, or any other type of message or message collection used for session initiation. of communication.

Thereafter, or possibly included in the communication initialization message or communication initialization message exchange, communication device 108 negotiates parameters for the communication session (step 308). During this negotiation step, the device may determine the communication capabilities of the far-end device as well as define which medium or media to use initially as part of the communication session. In some embodiments, communication devices are capable of communicating with first, second, third and fourth media (e.g., voice, video, text and data), but may agree to only initially communicate through one of these media. In addition, devices can share a smooth and efficient session transition to other media. For example, in some embodiments, encoders - decoders for all media may be pre-negotiated, although only a single medium is being used initially. Pre-trade does not

It is a requirement, however.

After the initial communication session parameters have been negotiated, the method continues with establishing the communication session through the first means (step 312). In this particular example, the first medium may correspond to a voice medium. For facilitating communications through the first means, the communication device 108 may invoke a corresponding first application which allows the communication device user to control the voice call.

During the established communication session, the far-end communication device may begin to use a second communication medium. This is typically initiated by an action of a far-end communication device user (for example, opening a video channel by sending a text message, sending an email or the like). The user of the other communication device may not be aware of far-end user actions and may not have applications open to every possible medium that could be used during the communication session. Instead, as part of the communication session, packets are received on communication device 108 from the far end device (step 316). Each of these packets can be analyzed by packet analyzer 124 to determine if a new medium is being used (step 320). In particular, packet analyzer 124 may analyze the header portion of packets to determine if the packet is identifying itself as carrying data for a medium other than the first medium. An analysis of the packet header portion allows the packet analyzer 124 to quickly determine if a new medium is being used during the communication session. This results in the ability to support real-time or near real-time communications in a way that minimizes the delay between detecting a new medium and invoking a new application * to facilitate user communications across the new medium. This is particularly useful for far-end TTY users to ensure that the far-end user does not have a sense that they are being ignored or that the call has dropped. It is also useful in emergency situations or other types of time sensitive situations.

If the packet analyzer 124 determines that the received packet is only carrying data for the first medium, then the method proceeds to step 324, where it is determined if the communication session has been terminated (for example, by detecting a message end-of-communication, such as a SIP BYE message, an H.323 termination message, or detecting a hook state (step 324). If this query is answered negatively, then the method returns to step 316. If this query is answered yes, then the communication session is terminated (step 328). As an optional step, the application (s) which were previously opened for facilitating the communication session can be automatically or manually

closed (step 3 32).

Referring back to the inquiry from step 320, in the event that the packet analyzer 124 detects a packet formatted to carry data to a medium other than the first medium, then the method continues with the packet analyzer 124 identifying the new medium. and further identifying application 120, which is used for facilitating communications through the new medium (step 336). Once the packet analyzer 124 identifies the new medium and the corresponding application 120, the packet analyzer 124 determines whether a new application interface window should be opened to facilitate communications through the new medium (step 340). If the packet parser 124 has been preprogrammed to automatically open a new application interface window upon detection of a new medium, then the method may continue to invoke the application and open its corresponding interface window (step 344) . Similarly, if packet analyzer 124 queries the communication device user as to whether they want to allow the new application interface window to open and the user to respond affirmatively, then the new application can be invoked and the window corresponding interface can be opened. This query can also be answered in the affirmative if the appropriate application is already open and / or the application interface window.

corresponding window is open.

After this, the communication session is allowed to continue with the new media (step 348). As may be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, new media may replace the first media or supplement the first media. In the situation where new media supplements the first media, multiple application interface windows may be simultaneously opened in user interface 132 or a single application interface window capable of facilitating multimedia communication may be used. After this, or if it was decided in step 34 0 not to use the new medium, the method proceeds to step 324 to determine if the communication session has been terminated.

In additional embodiments of the present invention, a megapixel having an audio package and video package bundled in a single megapixel can be used as a way to ensure that the corresponding video and audio arrive together, are buffered together. , and are presented by the receiving device together. According to at least some embodiments of the present invention, if a packet is received as self-identifying use of RFC-4351, RFC-2198 or some other packet format having multiple media types, then multiple applications may be simultaneously invoked. for many different media types corresponding to the media types contained in the megapack.

Although the flowchart described above has been discussed with respect to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes in this sequence may occur without materially affecting the operation of the invention. Additionally, the exact sequence of events need not occur as set out in the example embodiments. The exemplary techniques illustrated herein are not limited only to specifically illustrated embodiments, but may also be used with other exemplary embodiments, and each feature described is individually and separately claimed.

The systems, methods and protocols of this invention may be implemented in a special purpose computer in addition to or in place of the described communication equipment, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element (s), an ASIC or a other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a wired electronic or logical circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as PLD7 PLA, FPGA, PAL, a communications device such as a server , a personal computer, any comparable means, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing a state machine which, in turn, is capable of implementing the methodology illustrated herein can be used for implementing the various communication methods, protocols, and techniques in accordance with this invention.

Further, the methods shown may be readily implemented in software using object-oriented or object-oriented software development environments that provide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms. Alternatively, the system shown may be implemented partially or completely in hardware using standard logic circuits or a VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used for the implementation of the systems according to this invention is dependent upon the speed and / or efficiency requirements of the system, the particular function and particular software or hardware systems or microprocessor systems. or microcontroller being used. The analysis systems, methods and protocols illustrated herein may be readily implemented in hardware and / or software, using any systems or structures, devices and / or software known or developed later by those of ordinary skill in the art from the art. functional description provided herein and with a general basic knowledge of communication and computer techniques.

Further, the methods shown may be readily implemented in software that may be stored on a storage medium, run on a general purpose computer programmed with the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor , or similar. In such cases, the systems and methods of this invention may be implemented as a program embedded in a personal computer, such as an applet, a JAVA® or CGI script, as a server resident resource, or a computer workstation, such as a routine embedded in a dedicated communication system or system component, or the like. The system may also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and / or method into a software and / or hardware system, such as the hardware and software systems of a communications device or system.

Therefore, it is evident that according to the present invention systems, apparatus and methods for managing communication applications have been provided. While this invention has been described in conjunction with various embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations would or would be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the applicable art. Accordingly, it is intended to encompass all such alternatives, modifications and equivalents and variations that are in the spirit and scope of this invention.

Claims (10)

Method, characterized in that it comprises: establishing in a first communication device a communication session with a second communication device, wherein the first communication device uses at least one first application for communication with the second communication device. through at least one first medium, the first medium having been negotiated prior to the establishment of the communication session; during the communication session, receiving as part of a communication session of a communication packet on the first communication device; analyzing by the first communication device a header portion of the received communication packet; and based on header portion analysis, invoking by the first communication device of at least a second application for communication by at least a second means. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the second medium is not negotiated during the establishment of the communication session, wherein the first medium comprises one of voice, video, text and data, where the second medium comprises one of voice, video, text and data, and where the first and second media are different. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that only the header portion of the received communication packet is analyzed, and where the first communication device automatically invokes at least one second application, where the received communication packet includes data formatted according to a communication standard for the second medium, and where the header describes at least one of a portion of the data and the communication standard, and where the header describes the communication standard. The method of claim 1 further comprising: querying a user of the first communication device as to whether or not the first user wishes to invoke the second application; and invoking the second application only in the event that an affirmative query response is received from the user. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the second application is automatically invoked by the first communication device without consulting a user of the first communication device, and where the content of the received communication packet is automatically presented to the user. the user of the first communication device through the second application, and where the first communication device comprises a softphone. Computer readable medium, characterized in that it is encoded with operable processor executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1 when executed. Communication device, comprising: a first application which facilitates communications with at least a first medium; a second application which facilitates communications through at least one second medium; and a packet analyzer adapted to analyze header portions of communication packets received during an established communication session and determine, based on header portion analysis, whether to invoke one or both of the first and second applications for the communication session. communication after the communication session has been established. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the use of the first means for the communication session was negotiated during the establishment of the communication session, where the first application was invoked during the establishment of the communication session, where The second medium was not negotiated during the establishment of the communication session, and where the packet parser determines that it is to invoke the second application after the communication session has been established. Device according to Claim 8, characterized in that the first medium comprises one of voice, video, text and data, wherein the second medium comprises one of voice, video, text and data, where the first and second medium. middle are different, and where the first and second apps are presented through different windows in a device user interface. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that only the "header" portion of the received communication packet is analyzed, and where the first communication device automatically invokes the second application, where the received communication packet includes data formatted according to a second media communication standard, and where the header describes at least one of a portion of the data and the communication standard, and where the header describes the communication standard, and where the second application is automatically invoked by the first communication device without consulting a user of the first communication device, and where the contents of the received communication packet are automatically presented to the user of the first communication device through the second application.