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AssigneeITXC, Inc.
InventorsPaul D. Crutcher, Jeffrey B. Sponaugle, Al J. Simon, Jason L. Cassezza, Mojtaba Mirashrafi, Kenneth L. Keeler, Ajit B. Pendse
Estimating the term…
An apparatus comprising a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions and an execution unit is presented. The execution unit, coupled to the storage medium, executes the plurality of programming instructions to implement a hierarchy of collaboration services enabling collaboration between a client computer and a collaboration partner, including a service to determine the system attributes of the client computer and to select an appropriate collaboration service from the hierarchy of collaboration services commensurate with the determined system attributes of the client computer and enabling a collaboration session between the client computer and the collaboration partner.
A bridge server comprising:
In a bridge server, a method of operation comprising:
An article of manufacture comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Support for services or applications: arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences
Retrieval from the web: navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
Mapping addresses: of different types
Term ended 14 Mar 2017 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for facilitating tiered collaboration.
2. Background Information
The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one example of a communication system incorporating the teachings of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating one example embodiment of a method for enabling a collaboration session between a client computer and a collaboration partner, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, certain method steps are delineated as separate steps, however, these separately delineated steps should not be construed as necessarily order dependent in their performance.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram is presented illustrating one example of communication system 100 incorporating the teachings of the present invention for establishing and facilitating a collaboration session between a user of a client computer and a collaboration partner, wherein the collaboration service employed is commensurate with the automatically ascertained system attributes of the client computer. That is to say, the present invention provides a method and apparatus enabling a collaboration session between a client computer and a collaboration partner, wherein the collaboration service is chosen from a hierarchy of collaboration services, commensurate with the identified system attributes of the client computer. Although the present invention will be described in the context of this exemplary computer system, based on the descriptions to follow, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and may also be practiced within an intranet (in lieu of the internet) and/or automated/computerized telephony answering equipment (in lieu of telephone handsets).
In one embodiment of the present invention, client computer 102, while in data communication with a web server, e.g. web server 128, through PSTN 140 and Internet 150, is presented with a Push-To-Collaborate™2 option by web server 128. As will be described in greater detail below, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, when the user of client computer 102 selects the Push-To-Collaborate™ option, a server incorporated with the teachings of the present invention (e.g., bridgeport 162) automatically determines the system attributes of the requesting client computer (e.g., client computer 102), an appropriate collaboration partner (e.g., collaboration partner 142) and selects an appropriate collaboration service from a hierarchy of collaboration services that is commensurate with the system attributes of the client computer and the collaboration partner.