Method for allowing appliance-to-appliance communication transactions

An apparatus comprising:

• a first input/output (IO) communication module to receive a connection request and a communication message from a source appliance;
• data memory to store a phonebook including a plurality of phonebook entries, each of the phonebook entries comprising a destination appliance identifier and associated destination appliance communication information;
• a processor to access the phonebook, to present to a user of the source appliance a list comprising a plurality of said phonebook entries, to receive a destination appliance identifier selected from the list and to establish a communication link with the selected destination appliance;
• and
• a second I/O communication module to transfer the communication message received from the source appliance to the destination appliance via the communication link.

A system comprising:

• a source appliance to transmit a connection request and a communication message to an appliance communications manager;
• the appliance communications manager including a phonebook having a plurality of phonebook entries, each of the phonebook entries comprising a destination appliance identifier and associated destination appliance communication information, the appliance communications manager to present to a user of the source appliance a list comprising a plurality of the phonebook entries, to receive a destination appliance identifier selected from the list, to establish a communication link with the destination appliance, and to transfer the communication message received from the source appliance to the destination appliance;
• and
• the destination appliance to receive the communication message from the appliance communications manager.