US20060182250A1 - Application Independent Call Initiation - Google Patents

Abstract

There are disclosed methods and apparatus for telephone call initiation. An application program causes a telephone number to be displayed. A user activates the displayed telephone number. A telephone call module recognizes the activation of the displayed telephone number and causes a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between a predefined telephone number and the displayed telephone number.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
• This application claims priority from Application No. 60/471,535 filed May 19, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference. This application is related to application Ser. No. 10/614,394 filed Jul. 3, 2003 entitled “Rendering Telephone Numbers as Objects” which is incorporated herein by reference.
• This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/691,982 filed Oct. 22, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference.
• A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• 1. Field of the Invention
• The present invention relates to initiation of telephone calls from a client computer on a network.
• 2. Description of Related Art
• A graphical user interface or GUI is a graphical representation or presentation of information. Various options that provide the user with the ability to manipulate information and data may be presented in a GUI that may consist of a window or menu. For example, customer information such as a customer name, contact name, address, and zip code may be presented to a user in a visually appealing manner such that the words “Customer Name” appear next to a text field box with a space for a name, the words “Contact Name” appear next to a text field box with a space for a name, the word “Address” appears next to a text field box with a space for an address, and the words “Zip Code” appear next to a text field box with a space for a zip code. The field names (i.e., Customer Name, Contact Name, Address, and Zip Code) may be displayed in a specific font or color with the text field boxes (or the information in the text field boxes) in the same or different font or color. Thus, the GUI provides for the display of the information.
• Commonly, a GUI representation of information is displayed in a window with several standard components that are displayed regardless of the type, style, or content of the information to be displayed by the GUI. A display may be contained within a frame. The top of the window may have a title bar for which a title may be specified. Below title bar may be a menu bar. The menu bar may be associated with various capabilities. The menu bar may have various submenus. Each submenu may be a menu itself or a command that can be selected by the user.
• A “web browser” is an application program used for viewing HTTP (web) files and navigating through linked web files. The web files may include hyperlinks which, when activated by the user cause a corresponding web page to be displayed. Hyperlinks may also cause other events, such as the launching of programs or routines (e.g., causing a blank email message to be opened with a predefined address).
• Efforts have been made in integrating the Web with telephony applications. One such popular application is the placing of telephone calls from PC to a regular telephone. A user can place a call to a regular telephone from the Web using Dialpad (Dialpad Communications, Inc.) or Net2Phone (Net2Phone, Inc.). In these applications, a user must manually enter a telephone number each time he wishes to initiate a call, or pick a telephone number from a structured list stored by and only available from the dialing application. In view of the success of such products and services, one could conclude that the users were satisfied and there has been no motivation to seek other solutions.
• Some companies, in conjunction with their sales and customer-support efforts, have added a “call me” or “call-back” function to their web sites. With these functions, a user who browses to the company's web site may then manually enter his own telephone number and other information into a web page. The company's computers then initiate the call back to the user.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an environment in accordance with the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a client computer in accordance with a first aspect of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of application independent telephone call initiation using an object associated with a telephone number in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a server in accordance with a second aspect of the invention.
• FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of application independent telephone call initiation using an object associated with a telephone number in accordance with the second aspect of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
• Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods of the present invention.
• Description of the System
• Referring now toFIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram of an environment in accordance with the invention. The system includes aclient computer100, adata network120, aserver130, agateway140, aswitch150, a public switched network (PSN)160 andplural telephones170.
• Theclient computer100 may comprise a general purpose computer. Theclient computer100 may be, for example, a PC running a Microsoft Windows operating system. Theclient computer100 may include an output device, such as adisplay101, and an input device, such as akeyboard102 and/or a pointing device103 (e.g., mouse, track ball, light pen, or data glove). Theclient computer100 may be a computing device such as a workstation, server, portable computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), computing tablet, two-way messaging devices (e.g., Blackberry™), smart display terminal, and the like. Theclient computer100 connects with and communicates on thedata network120 and includes an interface therefore. Theclient computer100 may comprise an assembly of devices, such as a television and a set-top box which interfaces to thedata network120.
• Theclient computer100 and theserver130 may include software and/or hardware for providing the functionality and features of the invention. Theclient computer100 and theserver130 may therefore include one or more of: logic arrays, memories, analog circuits, digital circuits, software, firmware, and processors such as microprocessors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) and programmable logic arrays (PLAs). The hardware and firmware components of theclient computer100 and theserver130 may include various specialized units, circuits, software and interfaces for providing the functionality and features of the invention. The invention may be embodied in whole or in part in software which operates on theclient computer100 and theserver130 and may be in the form of an application program, an applet (e.g., a Java applet), a browser plug-in, a COM object, a dynamic linked library (DLL), a script, one or more subroutines, an operating system component or service, or a terminate and stay resident program (TSR). The hardware and software of the invention and its functions may be distributed such that some components are performed by theclient computer100, theserver130 and others by other devices.
• Thedata network120 provides lower layer network support for theclient computer100 to interact with other devices, including theserver130 and thegateway140. Thedata network120 is packet-switched and may comprise a common or private bi-directional data network, and may be, for example the Internet or utilize the IP protocol.
• Theserver130 may be a web server having the ability to serve web pages to theclient computer100, as requested. It should be appreciated that theserver130 is representative of any source of web pages available to theclient computer100. Thus, for example, theserver130 could be accessible from the Internet, or it could be a part of an intranet and represents any number of web servers.
• ThePSN160 is a common carrier network which provides circuit switching and/or IP telephony between public users. ThePSN160 may be the public switched telephone network (PSTN). ThePSN160 may operate according to standards such as SS6 or SS7.
• Thetelephones170 may be ordinary analog telephones connected to the PSN. Thetelephones170 may be digital devices (e.g., SIP devices or telephone sets connected through a PBX) for providing voice communications. Thetelephones170 may also be wireless voice communications devices such as cell phones. There may be one ormore telephones175 located proximate to theclient computer100, or in a location under common control of the user of theclient computer100. Thetelephone175 is of the same type as thetelephones170.
• Theswitch150 may be a voice switch, circuit switch and/or an IP switch and may be compliant with standards such as SS6 or SS7. Theswitch150 is compatible with thePSN160, and has the ability to set up and tear down telephone connections in thePSN160.
• Thegateway140 interfaces between the packet-switcheddata network120 and theswitch150. Thegateway140 may be a signaling gateway platform (SGP), which is an intelligent service exchange node that integrates services between circuit and packet networks. Thegateway140 may be integrated into thePSN160 or theswitch150.
• Referring now toFIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of theclient computer100. Theclient computer100 includes alocal application program210, atelephone call module220, anoperating system230, acommunications interface240 and adisplay driver250. Theclient computer100 may include more than one each of thesecomponents210,220,230,240,250, though only one of each is described herein. For example, where theclient computer100 is a general purpose computer, there may be dozens of application programs.
• Thelocal application program210 is a self-contained integrated body of computer software disposed at the topmost layer of the OSI Reference Model (i.e., the application layer) that runs in “user mode,” calls services of theoperating system230 and performs work directly for the user. Thelocal application program210 may be stand-alone, network-based or part of an integrated package. Thelocal application program210 may comprise one or more files, modules or other parts. Thelocal application program210 may be, for example, a spreadsheet, word processor, graphics editor, database program, email client, web browser, or contact manager.
• In the ordinary course of its operation, thelocal application program210 displays a telephone number. Alternatively, thelocal application program210 may display some other item which is associated with a telephone number. This alternative is useful, for example, for databases which have objects such as peoples' names associated with a telephone number. These objects are not telephone numbers or like telephone numbers, but because of their intended usage they are associated with a telephone number. For convenience, these objects will be referred to as “name objects.”
• The term “name objects” is not limited to names, though. For example, contact management databases typically store records comprising a contact's name and one or more telephone numbers for the contact. In such a case, it may be desirable to provide streamlined activation of the associated telephone number if the user activates a display of the contact's name. In this example, the contact's name is a name object.
• This association of the name object with a telephone number may be through a “phone number object.” The phone number object may include one or more telephone numbers. For example, each telephone number in a data unit may correspond to a single object. Alternatively, each data unit may have a single phone number object for all of its telephone numbers. Alternatively, there may be a single phone number object for all telephone numbers identified by theclient computer100, or for all telephone numbers for a given application program. Other alternatives may be within the scope of the invention.
• By “data unit,” it is meant a defined group of data. The data unit may be of a type which can include a telephone number which is displayable on thedisplay101 and thereby viewable by a human. The data unit may consist only of contiguous text (e.g., an ASCII text file), or may consist of a mixture of displayable and non-displayable data (e.g., a word processing document). The data unit may be a file or may be part of a file. The data unit may comprise a number of objects (e.g., contact information used in a contact management program). The text in the data unit may be encoded, such as in ASCII. The data unit may be, for example, an email message, an instant message (IM), a spreadsheet, a web page, a record in a contact management database, a or word processing document.
• The phone number object may include the telephone number and/or may include a reference to the telephone number within the data unit. The phone number object is defined such that the telephone number is activatable as described herein.
• Although the phone number object may be considered as an “object” in the sense of object-oriented programming, the phone number object may transcend the limitations of object-oriented programming. Thus, the phone number object may represent, for example, a flag in a data structure which is used to indicate performance of a separate subroutine. The phone number object may be viewed as including “hooks” for allowing initiation of telephone calls using the corresponding telephone number. The phone number object therefore is a shorthand for an attachment between a displayed telephone number and telephone call initiation functions.
• Thetelephone call module220 may itself be or include an application program like thelocal application program210. Alternatively, thetelephone call module220 may be, for example, an applet (e.g., a Java applet), a browser plug-in, a COM object, a dynamic linked library (DLL), a script, one or more subroutines, an operating system component or service, or a terminate and stay resident program (TSR). Thetelephone call module220 may be stand-alone, network-based or part of an integrated package. Thetelephone call module220 may comprise one or more files, modules or other parts. Thetelephone call module220 may comprise software distinct from thelocal application program210 and may operate apart from thelocal application program210.
• Theoperating system230 is the software that runs theclient computer100. Theoperating system230 deals with the client computer's hardware, provides an environment and an interface for users, carries out (executes) user commands and program instructions, and provides input and output, memory and storage, file and directory management capabilities. Theoperating system230 provides services to thelocal application program210 and thetelephone call module220, and also provides an interface between higher level entities (e.g., thelocal application program210 and the telephone call module220) to lower level entities (e.g., the display driver and the communications interface230).
• Thecommunications interface240 may be a network interface, such as a NIC. Thecommunications interface240 may include hardware and software and may include a TCP/IP stack. Thecommunications interface240 serves as a common interface for hardware and software of theclient computer100 to allow them to communicate with thedata network120.
• Thedisplay driver250 controls thedisplay101. Thedisplay driver250 provides an interface between software of the client computer100 (e.g., theoperating system230, thelocal application program210 and the telephone call module220) and the display. Thedisplay driver250 may be integrated with theoperating system230.
• Referring now toFIG. 4, there is shown a block diagram of theserver130. Theserver130 includes anetwork application program410, atelephone call module420, anoperating system430 and acommunications interface440. Theserver130 may include more than one each of thesecomponents410,420,430,440, though only one of each is described herein. For example, where theserver130 may support many network application programs.
• Thenetwork application program410 is a self-contained body of computer software disposed at the topmost layer of the OSI Reference Model (i.e., the application layer) that calls services of theoperating system430 and performs work at the request of client computers on the network. Thenetwork application program410 may be stand-alone, distributed or part of an integrated package. Thenetwork application program410 may comprise one or more files, modules or other parts. Thenetwork application program410 may be, for example, a web site, an electronic mail server or an FTP server.
• In the ordinary course of its operation, thenetwork application program410 sends messages to theclient computer100 for causing theclient computer100 to display a telephone number. Alternatively, thenetwork application program410 may send messages to theclient computer100 for causing theclient computer100 to display some other item which is associated with a telephone number. Theclient computer100 may access thenetwork application program410 using a browser, and the browser may receive and interpret the messages from thenetwork application program410.
• Thetelephone call module420 may itself be or include a network application program likenetwork application program410. Alternatively, thetelephone call module420 may be, for example, an applet (e.g., a Java applet), a plug-in, a COM object, a dynamic linked library (DLL), a script, one or more subroutines, an operating system component or service, or a terminate and stay resident program (TSR). Thetelephone call module420 may be stand-alone, distributed, or part of an integrated package. Thetelephone call module420 may comprise one or more files, modules or other parts. Thetelephone call module420 may comprise software distinct from thenetwork application program410 and may operate apart from thenetwork application program410.
• Theoperating system430 is the software that runs theserver130. Theoperating system430 deals with the server's hardware, provides an environment and an interface for application programs, carries out (executes) commands and program instructions, and provides input and output, memory and storage, file and directory management capabilities. Theoperating system430 provides services to thenetwork application program410 and thetelephone call module420, and also provides an interface between higher level entities (e.g., thenetwork application program410 and the telephone call module420) to lower level entities (e.g., the display driver and the communications interface430).
• Thecommunications interface440 may be a network interface, such as a NIC. Thecommunications interface440 may include hardware and software and may include a TCP/IP stack. Thecommunications interface440 serves as a common interface for hardware and software of theserver130 to allow them to communicate with thedata network120.
• Description of the Methods
• Referring now toFIG. 3, there is shown a flow chart of a method of application independent telephone call initiation by theclient computer100.
• In a preliminary step, thetelephone call module220 may collect a user's telephone number and service or billing authentication information (step305). The telephone number and service or billing authentication information may be collected separately. The user may select any telephone number he wishes, such as thetelephone175 adjacent to theclient computer100, a mobile telephone, a remote telephone or otherwise. This selected telephone number may be considered “predefined.”
• In a first step, thelocal application program210 causes a telephone number or a name object to be displayed on the display101 (step310). Thelocal application program210 may do this, for example, by calling a service of theoperating system230 or by working directly with thedisplay driver250.
• Next, a user uses the input device103 to activate the displayed telephone number or name object (step320). The user may activate the displayed telephone number or name object in many different ways. For example, the user may use a mouse to click on the displayed telephone number or name object. Alternatively, the user may use his mouse to right-click on the displayed telephone number or name object to thereby display a context-sensitive menu, from which the user clicks on an activation option. Alternatively, there may be an icon on a tool bar which the user can click on. The tool bar may be in a display of thelocal application program210 or thetelephone call module220. Alternatively, there may be a menu item in thelocal application program210 or thetelephone call module220 for activating the displayed telephone number. Alternatively, there may be a dedicated or shared input device, such as a button on theclient computer100, for activating the displayed telephone number or name object. Alternatively, other input devices may be used.
• Thetelephone call module220 recognizes the activation of the displayed telephone number or name object (step330). The term “activated telephone number” will be used to refer to the activated, displayed telephone number or the telephone number associated with the activated displayed name object. Where activation is performed directly through thetelephone call module220, recognition may be inherent to thetelephone call module220. Alternatively, thetelephone call module220 may monitor thelocal application program210 and/or theoperating system240 for activation of a phone number object.
• Next, thetelephone call module220, in response to recognizing the activation of the displayed telephone number or name object, causes a call initiation signal to be sent to theswitch150 via the gateway140 (step340). The call initiation signal instructs theswitch150 to initiate a multi-leg telephone call with the predefined telephone number as one of the legs. Another leg is the activated telephone number. Prior to step340, the telephone call module may cause the user to be prompted to enter, confirm or modify the predefined telephone number.
• The telephone call may connect the user'stelephone175 and one or moreother telephones170 via thePSN160. Thetelephone call module220 may initiate the call, for example, by calling a service of theoperating system230 or by working directly with thecommunications interface240.
• Thetelephone call module220 sends a call initiation message for call initiation. The call initiation message may be an IP-based message for triggering call initiation. Thetelephone call module220 may send the call initiation message directly to theswitch150, in which case the call initiation signal is the call initiation message. Alternatively, thetelephone call module220 may send the call initiation message to some other device (e.g., the server130), which device then causes the call initiation signal to be sent to theswitch150.
• The call initiation message may include the predefined telephone number and the activated telephone number. Alternatively, the call initiation message may include identifiers by which the predefined telephone number and/or the activated telephone number may be obtained. For example, the call initiation message may include the activated telephone number and an identifier of the user, and the identifier of the user may be used to look up the user's telephone number. Likewise, the call initiation message may include an identifier by which the activated telephone number may be retrieved. Theswitch150 may retrieve telephone numbers, for example, from a database in theserver130. Similarly, theserver130 may use the identifiers to retrieve the telephone numbers from its own database.
• In an embodiment where the call initiation message is sent to theserver130, theserver130 receives the call initiation message and may then transmit the call initiation signal to theswitch150 to trigger the call. Theserver130 therefore may play an intermediary role. In this embodiment, a dedicated TCP connection may be opened to authenticate the user and start a call session with theserver130. Using a messaging protocol, theserver130 communicates the call requests to theswitch150 or thegateway140 to initiate the call. The TCP connection may be kept open during the entire period of the call before it is disconnected. Asynchronous call status messages may be processed as they arrive.
• The call initiation message may be one or more HTTP requests. The HTTP requests may be used, for example, to authenticate the user and start a call session with theserver130. Theserver130 may communicate these requests to theswitch150 or thegateway140 to initiate the call. Theserver130 may poll thetelephone call module220 at pre-defined intervals for call status requests.
• Alternatively, thetelephone call module220 may imitate the telephone call using SIP to send the call initiation message on thedata network120. With this alternative, a telephone on a VoIP network may be bridged with another telephone on the VoIP network or atelephone170 on thePSN160.
• The method of the invention may be used for initiating two-party calls and conference calls. Thus, where the user desires to have a conference call, the user uses the input device to activate one or more additional telephone numbers. Thetelephone call module220 recognizes the activation of the additional telephone numbers and signals theswitch150 to initiate a conference call. There may be a separate signal for each telephone number, or the signals may be joined in a single message to theswitch150.
• After thetelephone call module220 has signaled for call initiation, thetelephone call module220 may receive call status information from the switch150 (step350). The call status information may be, for example, “connected,” “dropped,” “busy” and “closed.” Theswitch150 may send the call status information directly to thetelephone call module220, or thetelephone call module220 may receive the call status information indirectly. Thetelephone call module220 may cause the call status information to be provided to the user. For example, thetelephone call module220 may cause the call status information to be displayed on thedisplay101.
• Thetelephone call module220 may maintain a log of events. The call status information may be stored in the log.
• Referring now toFIG. 5, there is shown a flow chart of a method of application independent telephone call initiation by theserver130. The method ofFIG. 5 is similar to the method ofFIG. 4, and many aspects of the method ofFIG. 4 apply to the method ofFIG. 5.
• In a preliminary step, thetelephone call module420 may collect a user's telephone number and service or billing authentication information (step505). The telephone number and service or billing authentication information may be collected separately. The user may select any telephone number he wishes, such as thetelephone175 adjacent theclient computer100, a mobile telephone, a remote telephone or otherwise.
• Next, thenetwork application program410 causes a telephone number or a name object to be displayed on the display101 (step510). Thenetwork application program410 may do this, for example, by sending a message to theclient computer100, and theclient computer100 has a browser which displays the telephone number or a name object.
• Next, thenetwork application program410 receives a message from theclient computer100 that the displayed telephone number or name object has been activated (step520).
• Thetelephone call module420 recognizes the activation of the displayed telephone number or name object (step530). Where activation is performed directly through thetelephone call module420, recognition may be inherent to thetelephone call module420. Alternatively, thetelephone call module420 may monitor thenetwork application program410 and/or theoperating system440 for activation of a phone number object.
• Next, thetelephone call module420, in response to recognizing the activation of the displayed telephone number or name object, causes a call initiation signal to be sent to theswitch150 via the gateway140 (step540). The call initiation signal instructs theswitch150 to initiate a multi-leg telephone call with the predefined telephone number as one of the legs. Another leg is the activated telephone number. Prior to step540, the telephone call module may send a message to the client computer to prompt the user to enter, confirm or modify the predefined telephone number.
• The telephone call may connect the user'stelephone175 and one or moreother telephones170 via thePSN160. Thetelephone call module420 may initiate the call, for example, by calling a service of theoperating system430 or by working directly with thecommunications interface440.
• Thetelephone call module420 sends a call initiation message for call initiation. The call initiation message may be an IP-based message for triggering call initiation. Thetelephone call module420 may send the call initiation message directly to theswitch150, in which case the call initiation signal is the call initiation message. Alternatively, thetelephone call module420 may send the call initiation message to some other device (e.g., the server130), which device then causes the call initiation signal to be sent to theswitch150.
• In an embodiment where the call initiation message is sent to a server other than theserver130, the other server receives the call initiation message and may then transmit the call initiation signal to theswitch150 to trigger the call. The other server therefore may play an intermediary role. In this embodiment, a dedicated TCP connection may be opened to authenticate the user and start a call session with the other server. Using a messaging protocol, the other server communicates the call requests to theswitch150 or thegateway140 to initiate the call. The TCP connection may be kept open during the entire period of the call before it is disconnected. Asynchronous call status messages may be processed as they arrive.
• After thetelephone call module420 has signaled for call initiation, thetelephone call module420 may receive call status information from the switch150 (step550). The call status information may be, for example, “connected,” “dropped,” “busy” and “closed.” Theswitch150 may send the call status information directly to thetelephone call module420, or thetelephone call module420 may receive the call status information indirectly. Thetelephone call module420 may cause the call status information to be provided to theclient computer100.
• Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit of the present invention. All such changes, modifications and alterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (48)

1. A method of application independent telephone call initiation, the method comprising:

providing a computer having a display, an input device, an application program and a telephone call module,

the application program comprising an integrated body of computer software comprised of one or more files, modules or parts that calls operating system services and performs work for a user, and

the telephone call module comprising software distinct from the application program and operating apart from the application program;

the application program causing a telephone number to be displayed on the display;

the telephone call module recognizing user activation of the displayed telephone number with the input device; and

the telephone call module, in response to recognizing user activation of the displayed telephone number, causing a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between the displayed telephone number and a predefined telephone number associated with a telephone adjacent to the computer.

2. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 1, wherein the causing includes transmitting the predefined telephone number and the displayed telephone number to the switch.

3. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 1 further comprising:

the telephone call module receiving call status information from the switch; and

the telephone call module causing the call status information to be provided to the user.

4. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 3, wherein the step of the telephone call module causing the call status information to be provided to the user comprises displaying the call status information.

5. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 3, wherein the call status information comprises a status selected from the group including connected, dropped, busy and closed.

6. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 1 further comprising the telephone call module sending a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

7. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 6 wherein the telephone call module sends the call initiation message directly to the switch.

8. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 6 wherein the telephone call module sends the call initiation message to a server, the sending step further comprising opening a dedicated TCP connection to authenticate the user and start a call session with the server.

9. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 6 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

10. The method of application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 6 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages sent on a data network.

11. A computer program product stored on a machine readable medium comprising computer software distinct from an application program and operating apart from the application program, the computer software having instructions for causing a processor to:

recognize activation by a user of a telephone number displayed by an application program; and

in response to recognizing the activation of the displayed telephone number, cause a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between the displayed telephone number and a predefined telephone number associated with a telephone adjacent to a computer in which the processor is installed.

12. The computer program product ofclaim 11 further comprising computer software having instructions for causing the processor to:

receive call status information from the switch; and

cause the call status information to be provided to the user.

13. The computer program product ofclaim 12, wherein the computer software having instructions to cause the call status information to be provided to the user comprises instructions to display the call status information.

14. The computer program product ofclaim 12, wherein the call status information comprises a status selected from the group including connected, dropped, busy and closed.

15. The computer program product ofclaim 11 further comprising computer software having instructions for causing the processor to send a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

16. The computer program product ofclaim 15 wherein the instructions for causing the processor to send the call initiation message comprise instructions for sending the call initiation message to the switch.

17. The computer program product ofclaim 15 wherein the instructions for causing the processor to send the call initiation message comprise instructions for causing the processor to:

open a dedicated TCP connection to authenticate the user;

start a call session with the server; and

send the call initiation message to the server.

18. The computer program product ofclaim 15 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

19. The computer program product ofclaim 15 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages sent on a data network.

20. A general purpose computer comprising the computer program product ofclaim 11, the application program, a display for displaying the telephone number, a user input device for receiving the activation, and a communications interface for sending the signal to the switch.

21. The computer program product ofclaim 11 wherein the computer software comprises a second application program.

22. The computer program product ofclaim 11 wherein the computer software comprises a dynamic linked library.

23. A client computer for application independent telephone call initiation, the client computer comprising:

a user input device;

a display device;

a processor; and

a memory;

wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software for:

recognizing activation by a user of a telephone number displayed by an application program, and

in response to recognizing the activation of the displayed telephone number, causing a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between the displayed telephone number and a predefined telephone number associated with a telephone adjacent to the client computer.

24. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 23 wherein the processor and the memory further comprise circuits and software for:

receiving call status information from the switch; and

causing the call status information to be provided to the user.

25. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 24, wherein the processor and the memory further comprise circuits and software for displaying the call status information.

26. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 24, wherein the call status information comprises a status selected from the group including connected, dropped, busy and closed.

27. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 23 wherein the processor and the memory further comprise circuits and software for sending a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

28. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 27 wherein the processor and the memory further comprise circuits and software for sending the call initiation message to the switch.

29. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 27 wherein the processor and the memory further comprise circuits and software for:

opening a dedicated TCP connection to authenticate the user;

starting a call session with the server; and

sending the call initiation message to the server.

30. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 27 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

31. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 27 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages sent on a data network.

32. The client computer for application independent telephone call initiation ofclaim 23 wherein the software comprises an application program and a telephone call module distinct from the application program.

33. A method of server-based telephone call initiation, the method comprising:

providing a server having a network application program and a telephone call module;

the application program sending a message to a client computer for causing a first telephone number to be displayed by the client computer;

the application program receiving a message from the client computer that the displayed telephone number has been activated; and

the telephone call module, in response to receiving the message, causing a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between the first telephone number and a second, predefined telephone number associated with a telephone adjacent to the client computer.

34. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 33, wherein the causing includes transmitting the first telephone number and the second telephone number to the switch.

35. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 33 further comprising:

the telephone call module receiving call status information from the switch; and

the telephone call module sending the call status information to the client computer.

36. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 33 further comprising the telephone call module sending a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

37. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 36 wherein the telephone call module sends the call initiation message directly to the switch.

38. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 36 wherein the telephone call module sends the call initiation message to another server.

39. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 36 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

40. The method of server-based telephone call initiation ofclaim 36 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages sent on a data network.

41. A computer program product stored on a machine readable medium comprising computer software having instructions for causing a processor to:

send a message to a client computer for causing a first telephone number to be displayed by the client computer;

receive a message from the client computer that the displayed telephone number has been activated; and

in response to receiving the message, cause a signal to be sent to a switch instructing the switch to initiate a telephone call between the first telephone number and a second, predefined telephone number associated with a telephone adjacent to the client computer.

42. The computer program product ofclaim 41, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to transmit the first telephone number and the second telephone number to the switch.

43. The computer program product ofclaim 41 further comprising instructions for causing the processor to:

receive call status information from the switch; and

send the call status information to the client computer.

44. The computer program product ofclaim 41 further comprising instructions for causing the processor to send a call initiation message for causing the signal to be sent to the switch.

45. The computer program product ofclaim 44 wherein the call initiation message is sent directly to the switch.

46. The computer program product ofclaim 44 wherein the call initiation message is sent to a server.

47. The computer program product ofclaim 44 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more HTTP requests.

48. The computer program product ofclaim 44 wherein the call initiation message comprises one or more SIP messages sent on a data network.

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