Patent ID: 6477242
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
A client service provider unit for connecting a caller E-phone to a receiver E-phone uniquely identified by at least one of an alphanumeric string and a numeric string, comprising:a backend telephone system processing unit outputting a connect signal including protocol and communication signals, responsive to receiving a signal containing a numeric string, to connect the caller E-phone to the receiver E-phone identified by the numeric string; an E-phone dialer processing unit outputting a connect signal including protocol and communication signals, responsive to receiving a signal containing an alphanumeric string, to connect the caller E-phone to the receiver E-phone identified by the alphanumeric string; a front-end processing unit receiving a front-end connection signal containing one of an alphanumeric string and a numeric string uniquely identifying the receiver E-phone from the caller E-phone, the front-end processing unit determining which of the alphanumeric string and the numeric string is contained in the front-end connection signal, and outputting a first signal including the alphanumeric string where the front-end connection signal includes the alphanumeric string, and a second signal including the numeric string to the backend telephone system processing unit where the front end connection signal includes the numeric string whereby the backend telephone system processing unit connects the caller E-phone to the receiver E-phone identified by the numeric string; a string conversion processing unit receiving the first signal including the alphanumeric string from the front end processing unit, the string conversion processing unit comprising a client service provider E-mail database including a plurality of alphanumeric strings identifying a plurality of receiver E-phones and a plurality of numeric strings identifying a plurality of receiver E-phones where each of the numeric strings in the client service provider E-mail database is correlated with at least one of the alphanumeric strings in the client service provider E-mail database, the string conversion processing unit determining whether at least one of the plurality of numeric strings in the client service provider E-mail database is correlated with the alphanumeric string included in the first signal, and outputting a signal, including the numeric string correlated with the alphanumeric string in the first signal, to the backend telephone system processing unit where one of the plurality of numeric strings in the client service provider E-mail database is correlated with the alphanumeric string included in the first signal whereby the backend telephone system processing unit connects the caller E-phone to the receiver E-phone identified by the numeric string, and outputting a signal, including the alphanumeric string in the first signal, to the E-phone dialer processing unit where one of the plurality of numeric strings in the client service provider E-mail database is not correlated with the alphanumeric string included in the first signal whereby the E-phone dialer processing unit connects the caller E-phone to the receiver E-phone identified by the alphanumeric string.