Interactive text communication system

Abstract

A communication system quarantines text and then automatically transmits the text across a network at the end of a quarantine time period. This text quarantine period gives a user the chance to edit or delete text for a brief amount of time after the text has been entered. This allows editing or deletion of spelling errors, and inadvertent or indiscriminate text responses before the text is sent to a remote user. Since the text characters are automatically transmitted after the quarantine period, normal human communications and interactions are maintained allowing a receiver to interject or interrupt with text comments in the middle of a received text message. Thus, the communication system maintains the interactive advantages of TTY/TDD systems while also providing the editing flexibility of instant messaging systems. In another aspect of the text system, characters are buffered until they form a complete expression. Upon detection of the completed expression, the buffered characters are sent to the destination endpoint.