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US Patent 6449344 - Communication system
US Patent Issued on September 10, 2002
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
January 27, 2017Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
January 27, 2017Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.AbstractThe present invention discloses a communication system including a communications network, a multiplicity of communications terminals which are connectable to the communications network and which can be employed by users to communicate via the communications network, the user not necessarily being identified with a given communications terminal, apparatus for monitoring whether or not a user is connected to the communications network irrespective of which of the multiplicity of communications terminals that user is employing, and apparatus for annunciating to a seeking user, currently connected to the communications network via any of the multiplicity of communications terminals, network connection status information relating to other users who are in a set of sought users, which set is definable by the seeking user, and for providing the seeking user connection address information relating to those sought users who are currently connected to the communications network.Other References
| InventorsAssigneeApplicationNo. 791437 filed on 01/27/1997US Classes:379/88.17, Interaction with an external nontelephone network (e.g., Internet)379/88.19, Call source identification379/201.01, SPECIAL SERVICES379/201.07, Called party379/201.1, Detecting presence or absence of party or object379/202.01, Conferencing379/207.12, Party location379/901, VIRTUAL NETWORKS OR VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS379/913PERSON LOCATOR OR PERSON-SPECIFICField of Search370/352, Combined circuit switching and packet switching370/353, Switching network having common elements to handle both circuit switched traffic and packet switched traffic370/380, Space switch, per se (e.g., S or S-S)370/389, Switching a message which includes an address header370/392, Processing of address header for routing, per se370/396, Distributed switching370/401, Bridge or gateway between networks370/404, Ring or loop forms backbone for interconnecting other networks370/427, Space switching370/435, TASI (Time Assignment Speech Interpolation)370/450, Passing a signal identifying the idle or busy state of a channel (e.g., token passing)370/465, Adaptive370/485, Subscriber carrier379/90.01, TELEPHONE LINE OR SYSTEM COMBINED WITH DIVERSE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OR SIGNALLING (E.G., COMPOSITE)379/93.01, Having transmission of a digital message signal over a telephone line379/93.05, Terminal interface circuitry379/93.09, Switching between different terminal types (e.g., voice/data switch)379/100.15, Having switching to other communication modes379/100.16, Voice mode379/88.17, Interaction with an external nontelephone network (e.g., Internet)379/88.12, Indication or notification of message379/88.13, Multimedia system (e.g., voice output combined with fax, video, text, etc.)379/88.19, Call source identification379/93.03Personal identificationExaminersPrimary: Hoosain, AllanAttorney, Agent or FirmUS Patent References5136501, Anonymous matching systemIssued on: 08/04/1992 Inventor: Silverman, et al.5245656, Security method for private information delivery and filtering in public networks Issued on: 09/14/1993 Inventor: Loeb, et al.5276736, Optionally moderated transaction systems Issued on: 01/04/1994 Inventor: Chaum5327486, Method and system for managing telecommunications such as telephone calls Issued on: 07/05/1994 Inventor: Wolff, et al.5483586, Electronic on-line subscriber telephone directory Issued on: 01/09/1996 Inventor: Sussman5533110, Human machine interface for telephone feature invocation Issued on: 07/02/1996 Inventor: Pinard, et al.5557659, Electronic mail system having integrated voice messages Issued on: 09/17/1996 Inventor: Hyde-Thomson5568540, Method and apparatus for selecting and playing a voice mail message Issued on: 10/22/1996 Inventor: Greco, et al.5583920, Intelligent peripheral in video dial tone network Issued on: 12/10/1996 Inventor: Wheeler, Jr.5608786, Unified messaging system and method Issued on: 03/04/1997 Inventor: Gordon5610910, Access to telecommunications networks in multi-service environment Issued on: 03/11/1997 Inventor: Focsaneanu, et al.5652789, Network based knowledgeable assistant Issued on: 07/29/1997 Inventor: Miner, et al.5726984, Hierarchical data collection network supporting packetized voice communications among wireless terminals and telephones Issued on: 03/10/1998 Inventor: Kubler, et al.5742905, Personal communications internetworking Issued on: 04/21/1998 Inventor: Pepe, et al.5774668, System for on-line service in which gateway computer uses service map which includes loading condition of servers broadcasted by application servers for load balancing Issued on: 06/30/1998 Inventor: Choquier, et al.5790548, Universal access multimedia data network Issued on: 08/04/1998 Inventor: Sistanizadeh, et al.5956485, Network architecture to support real-time video games Issued on: 09/21/1999 Inventor: Perlman6108704Point-to-point internet protocol Issued on: 08/22/2000 Inventor: Hutton, et al. Foreign Patent References
International ClassesH04M 001/64H04M 003/42 Foreign Application Priority Data1996-10-06 IL |
