Communication system
January 27, 2017. Estimated 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.Patent ReferencesAnonymous matching system Security method for private information delivery and filtering in public networks Optionally moderated transaction systems Method and system for managing telecommunications such as telephone calls Electronic on-line subscriber telephone directory Human machine interface for telephone feature invocation Electronic mail system having integrated voice messages Method and apparatus for selecting and playing a voice mail message Intelligent peripheral in video dial tone network Unified messaging system and method 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-SPECIFICExaminersPrimary: Hoosain, AllanAttorney, Agent or FirmForeign Patent References
International ClassesH04M 001/64H04M 003/42 Foreign Application Priority Data1996-10-06 ILAbstractThe 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
Field of SearchCombined circuit switching and packet switchingSwitching network having common elements to handle both circuit switched traffic and packet switched traffic Space switch, per se (e.g., S or S-S) Switching a message which includes an address header Processing of address header for routing, per se Distributed switching Bridge or gateway between networks Ring or loop forms backbone for interconnecting other networks Space switching TASI (Time Assignment Speech Interpolation) Passing a signal identifying the idle or busy state of a channel (e.g., token passing) Adaptive Subscriber carrier TELEPHONE LINE OR SYSTEM COMBINED WITH DIVERSE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OR SIGNALLING (E.G., COMPOSITE) Having transmission of a digital message signal over a telephone line Terminal interface circuitry Switching between different terminal types (e.g., voice/data switch) Having switching to other communication modes Voice mode Interaction with an external nontelephone network (e.g., Internet) Indication or notification of message Multimedia system (e.g., voice output combined with fax, video, text, etc.) Call source identification Personal identification | |
