The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 10, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 24, 1997
Nortel Networks Limited, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for call completion using information extracted from an active application on a computing machine is described. Call initiation may be accomplished using a “warm-line” feature in which a default number is dialled after a predetermined time of an off-hook condition of a voice terminal, if no digits are dialled after the voice terminal is taken off-hook. The number dialled is a number used to connect the telephone set to computer-Controlled Telephony Integration hardware (CTI). On receipt of the call, the CTI hardware extracts Automatic Number Identification (ANI) information to determine the number of the calling party and verifies that the calling party is the subscriber to the service. If the calling party is the subscriber to the service, a query is sent to an IP address associated with the subscriber to retrieve information from an active application for completing a second leg of the call. The information may be a telephone number, or information which would permit the retrieval of a telephone number such as a name and address or an e-mail address. A directory service may be used to convert the information into a telephone number. Once a telephone number is obtained, the CTI hardware is used to complete the second leg of the call and the two calls are joined together. The advantage is a fast, convenient method of completing calls without dialling digits or manually converting one form of information into a diallable number.