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:
Aug. 03, 2004
Filed:
Jul. 14, 2000
Jocelyn Cloutier, Menlo Park, CA (US);
America Online, Incorporated, Dulles, VA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for receiving an electronic communication containing an identifier or indicia of an entity and, in response to a user's selection of the identifier, initiating communication between the user and the entity. Upon receipt of the electronic communication (e.g., document, electronic mail message, sound file), the system scans or parses it to locate one or more entity identifiers. An entity identifier may be a telephone number, electronic mail address, network address, name or virtually any other indicia that may serve to identify the entity. When a user selects an entity identifier, the system offers one or more methods of communicating with the associated entity, which methods may depend on the form of the entity identifier (e.g., a telephone number) and/or a preference specified by the user. The system initiates the selected form of communication in response to the user's selection.