Calling service using voice enabled web based application server

A method is provided in an application server for executing a calling application. The method includes receiving an HTTP request for execution of a calling application operation for a caller. A selected extensible markup language (XML) document is accessed in response to reception of the HTML request. Based on the XML document, a first HTML page including prompts is generated for the caller. A directory is accessed based on an input from the caller to obtain called party information. A second HTML page is generated having instructions for contacting the called party. Hence, calling services may be deployed on a platform that is customizable, scalable, and built upon open standards such as Internet protocol. By directly contacting an application server upon picking-up a telephone device, an intelligent system is provided for making telephone calls over an IP network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to generating and executing voice enabled web applications within a hypertext markup language (HTML) and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) framework.

2. Description of Related Art

The evolution of the public switched telephone network has resulted in a variety of voice applications and services that can be provided to individual subscribers and business subscribers. Such services include voice messaging systems that enable landline or wireless subscribers to record, playback, and forward voice mail messages. However, the ability to provide enhanced services to subscribers of the public switched telephone network is directly affected by the limitations of the public switched telephone network. In particular, the public switched telephone network operates according to a protocol that is specifically designed for the transport of voice signals; hence any modifications necessary to provide enhanced services can only be done by switch vendors that have sufficient know-how of the existing public switched telephone network infrastructure.

An open standards-based Internet protocol (IP) network, such as the World Wide Web, the Internet, or a corporate intranet, provides client-server type application services for clients by enabling the clients to request application services from remote servers using standardized protocols, for example hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). The web server application environment can include web server software, such as Apache, implemented on a computer system attached to the IP network. Web-based applications are composed of HTML pages, logic, and database functions. In addition, the web server may provide logging and monitoring capabilities.

In contrast to the public switched telephone network, the open standards-based IP network has enabled the proliferation of web based applications written by web application developers using ever increasing web development tools. Hence, the ever increasing popularity of web applications and web development tools provides substantial resources for application developers to develop robust web applications in a relatively short time and an economical manner. However, one important distinction between telephony-based applications and web-based applications is that telephony-based applications are state aware, whereas web-based applications are stateless.

In particular, telephony applications are state aware to ensure that prescribed operations between the telephony application servers and the user telephony devices occur in a prescribed sequence. For example, operations such as call processing operations, voicemail operations, call forwarding, etc., require that specific actions occur in a specific sequence to enable the multiple components of the public switched telephone network to complete the prescribed operations.

The web-based applications running in the IP network, however, are state-less and transient in nature, and do not maintain application state because application state requires an interactive communication between the browser and back-end database servers accessed by the browsers via a HTTP-based web server. However, an HTTP server provides asynchronous execution of HTML applications, where the web applications in response to reception of a specific request in the form of a URL from a client, instantiate a program configured for execution of the specific request, send an HTML web page back to the client, and terminate the program instance that executed the specific request. Storage of application state information in the form of a “cookie” is not practical because some users prefer not to enable cookies on their browser, and because the passing of a large amount of state information as would normally be required for voice-type applications between the browser and the web application would substantially reduce the bandwidth available for the client.

Commonly-assigned, copending application Ser. No. 09/480,485, filed Jan. 11, 2000, entitled Application Server Configured for Dynamically Generating Web Pages for Voice Enabled Web Applications, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, discloses an application server that executes a voice-enabled web application by runtime execution of extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice-enabled web application to be executed. The application server includes a runtime environment that establishes an efficient, high-speed connection to a web server. The application server, in response to receiving a user request from a user, accesses a selected XML page that defines at least a part of the voice application to be executed for the user. The XML page may describe any one of a user interface such as dynamic generation of a menu of options or a prompt for a password, an application logic operation, or a function capability such as generating a function call to an external resource. The application server then parses the XML page, and executes the operation described by the XML page, for example dynamically generating an HTML page having voice application control content, or fetching another XML page to continue application processing. In addition, the application server may access an XML page that stores application state information, enabling the application server to be state-aware relative to the user interaction. Hence, the XML page, which can be written using a conventional editor or word processor, defines the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.

Hence, web programmers can write voice-enabled web applications, using the teachings of the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/480,485, by writing XML pages that specify respective voice application operations to be performed. The XML documents have a distinct feature of having tags that allow a web browser (or other software) to identify information as being a specific kind or type of information. Hence, the XML documents define the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.

Telephone calls can now be made over an IP network. For example, a user may via telephone can connect over a conventional public switched telephone network or a wireless network to an IP gateway which converts the conventional call to voice over IP. In this case, however, a call is made to connect to a voice application which requires the conventional “dumb” dial tone, accessing a gateway, and waiting for a connection to be made.

Use of calling services, however, still requires a user to dial into the calling services, and begin a validation session before the user can access calling services. Hence, existing voice over IP architectures rely on gatekeepers, call managers, virtual switch controllers, etc., to complete a call that requires user input during call initiation, followed by user selection inputs that specify the operation to be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is a need for an arrangement that enables users to deploy a scalable, open standards based calling service on an open standards based network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network without requiring infrastructure elements such as call manager and/or gate agent services of conventional telephony applications.

There also is a need to facilitate user interaction with a telephony-based voice application that provides the user immediate access to multiple calling services, for example, unified message retrieval, instant messaging, personalized dialing, etc.

These and other needs are attained by the present invention, where an application server, configured for executing a calling application includes an application runtime environment configured for dynamically generating, in response to a HTTP request, a first hypertext markup language (HTML) document including prompts for input by a caller, and in response to an input from the caller, for generating a second HTML page having instructions for contacting a called party based on accessing a directory containing information regarding the called party.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method in an application server for executing a calling application. The method includes receiving an HTTP request for execution of a calling application operation for a caller. A selected extensible markup language (XML) document is accessed in response to reception of the HTML request. Based on the XML document, a first HTML page including prompts is generated for the caller. A directory is accessed based on an input from the caller to obtain called party information. A second HTML page is generated having instructions for contacting the called party.

Hence an intelligent calling service is provided whereby, when a user picks up his or her telephone, a voice application is immediately initiated (without the convention dial tone and wait for connection) providing the user with communication choices such as accessing a call list, accessing white or yellow pages, etc., for making a call.

Additional advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the present invention may be realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1is a block diagram illustrating an architecture that provides calling services via an IP network using browser audio control according to an embodiment of the present invention, reproduced fromFIG. 3of the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/480,485. The clients42aand42b, referred to herein as “fat clients” and “thin clients”, respectively, have the distinct advantage that they can initiate requests using IP protocol to any connected web server64to execute part or most of the applications44on behalf of the clients. An example of a fat client42ais an e-mail application on a PC that knows how to run the application44and knows how to run the IP protocols to communicate directly with the messaging server via the packet switched network50. An example of a thin client42bis a PC that has a web browser; in this case, the web browser56can use IP protocols such as HTTP to receive and display web pages generated according to hypertext markup language (HTML) from server locations based on uniform resource locators (URLs) input by the user of the PC.

As shown inFIG. 1, each of the clients (tiny clients, skinny clients, thin clients and fat clients) are able to communicate via a single, unified architecture60that enables voice communications services between different clients, regardless of whether the client actually has browser capabilities. Hence, the fat client42aand the thin client42bare able to execute voice enabled web applications without any hardware modification or any modification to the actual browser; rather, the browsers56in the clients42aand42bmerely are provided with an executable voice resource configured for providing browser audio control, described below.

The user devices18a,18b, and18c, illustrated as a cordless telephone18a, a fax machine18bhaving an attached telephone, and an analog telephone18c, are referred to herein as “skinny clients”, defined as devices that are able to interface with a user to provide voice and/or data services (e.g., via a modem) but cannot perform any control of the associated access subnetwork.

The wireless user devices18d,18e, and18f, illustrated as a cellular telephone (e.g., AMPS, TDMA, or CDMA)18d, a handheld computing device (e.g., a 3-Com Palm Computing or Windows CE-based handheld device)18e, and a pager18f, are referred to as tiny clients. “Tiny clients” are distinguishable from skinny clients in that the tiny clients tend to have even less functionality in providing input and output interaction with a user, rely exclusively on the executable application in an access subnetwork to initiate communications; in addition, tiny clients may not be able to send or receive audio signals such as voice signals at all.

Hence, the skinny clients18a,18b, and18cand the tiny clients18d,18e, and18faccess the voice messaging services in the unified network60via a proxy browser62, configured for providing an IP and HTTP interface for the skinny clients and the tiny clients. In particular, browsers operate by interpreting tags within a web page supplied via an HTTP connection, and presenting to a user media content information (e.g., text, graphics, streaming video, sound, etc.) based on the browser capabilities; if a browser is unable to interpret a tag, for example because the browser does not have the appropriate executable plug-in resource, then the browser typically will ignore the unknown tag. Hence, the proxy browser62can provide to each of the skinny clients and tiny clients the appropriate media content based on the capabilities of the corresponding client, such that the cordless telephone18aand telephone18cwould receive analog audio signals played by the proxy browser62and no text information (unless a display is available); the fax machine18band pager18fwould only receive data/text information, and the cellular telephone18dand the handheld computing device18ewould receive both voice and data information. Hence, the proxy browser62interfaces between the IP network and the respective local access devices for the skinny clients and the tiny clients to provide access to the messaging network60.

The proxy browser62and the web browsers56within the fat client42aand the thin client42bexecute voice enabled web applications by sending data and requests to a web server64, and receiving hypertext markup language (HTML) web pages from the web server64, according to hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). The web server64serves as an interface between the browsers and an application server66that provides an executable runtime environment for XML voice applications68. For example, the web server64may access the application server66across a common gateway interface (CGI) as illustrated inFIG. 2, by issuing a function call across an application programming interface (API), or by requesting a published XML document or an audio file requested by one of the browsers56or62. The application server66, in response to receiving a request from the web server64, may either supply the requested information in the form of an HTML page having XML tags for audio control by a voice resource within the browser, or may perform processing and return a calculated value to enable the browser56or62to perform additional processing.

The application server66accesses selected stored XML application pages68(i.e., XML pages that define an application) and in response generates new HTML pages having XML tags during runtime and supplies the generated HTML pages having XML tags to the web server64. Since multiple transactions may need to occur between the browser56or62and the application server66, the application server66is configured for storing for each existing user session a data record, referred to as a “brownie”, that identifies the state of the existing user session; hence, the application server66can instantiate a procedure, return the necessary data, and terminate the procedure without the necessity of maintaining the instance running throughout the entire user session.

Hence, the application server66executes voice application operations from a stored XML document based on a transient application state, where the application server66terminates the application instance after outputting the generated XML media information to the browser18or42.

FIG. 2is a diagram illustrating in further detail the calling service implemented by the voice application server66according to an embodiment of the present invention. As described above with respect toFIG. 1, the application server66receives via the web server64HTTP requests from either a PC-based web browser42capable of supplying full media content (e.g., audio, text, images, and streaming video), or as shown inFIG. 2, a proxy browser62configured for serving as an HTTP interface for a user input device, such as a telephone18, having limited media capabilities (e.g., audio only). In response to receiving the HTTP requests, the voice application server66accesses a selected XML document68based on parameters specified within the HTTP request (e.g., commands specified within the URL), and based on application state determined from accessing a brownie, assuming the HTTP request specifies a valid session identifier. As described below, the application runtime environment within the voice application server66parses the XML tags within the accessed XML document68, and dynamically generates an HTML page having XML tags that specify media content (e.g., .wav files) and control information for playing the media files by a proxy browser.

The voice application server66is configured for accessing database application programming interfaces (API's)82to external resources based on prescribed procedures that may be called during parsing of an XML tags in a selected XML document68. As described below, the application server66issues function calls to APIs82for accessing the external resources for prescribed operations, enabling the deployment of a robust, scalable calling service. In particular, the application server66accesses subscriber profile information from an IP-based database server84according to LDAP protocol and can access an IMAP data store88for storing and retrieving messages.

FIG. 3is a diagram illustrating in detail the application server66according to an embodiment of the present invention. The application server66is implemented as a server executing a PHP hypertext processor with XML parsing and processing capabilities, available open source on the Internet at http://www.php.net. As shown inFIG. 3, the server66includes an XML parser94configured for parsing the application-defining XML documents68stored in the XML document database72, or the XML documents (i.e., “brownies”) stored in the registry92and configured for specifying the state and attributes for respective user sessions. The application server66also includes a high speed interface96that establishes a high-speed connection between the application server66and the web server64. For example, the PHP hypertext processor includes a high-speed interface for Apache Web servers.

The application server66also includes a runtime environment100for execution of the parsed XML documents. As described above, the runtime environment100may selectively execute any one of user interface operation98, a logic operation102, or a procedure call104as specified by the parsed XML document by executing a corresponding set of executable functions based on the rule set for the corresponding operation. In particular, the application runtime environment100includes a tag implementation module110that implements the XML tags parsed by the XML parser94. The tag implementation module110performs relatively low-level operations, for example dynamically generating an XML menu page using executable functions specified by a menu rule set in response to detecting a menu tag, performing a logical operation using executable functions specified by a logic rule set in response to a decision tag, or fetching an audio (.wav) file in response to detecting a sound tag. Hence, the tag implementation module110implements the tag operations that are specified within the XML framework of the stored XML documents.

The application server66also includes a set of libraries82that may be implemented as dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) or application programming interface (API) libraries. The libraries82enable the runtime environment100to implement the procedures104as specified by the appropriate XML document. The application server66may issue a function call to one of a plurality of IP protocol compliant remote resource84and88. For example, the PHP hypertext processor includes executable routines capable of accessing the LDAP data store84. The data store84can include call information such as a calling list linking telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, IP addresses and the names of persons called frequently. The data store can also include white page or yellow page directories. Note that the mechanisms for accessing the services84,88should be established within the application server before use of XML documents that reference those services. Once the services84,88are established, the application runtime environment100can perform a function operation by using executable functions specified by a function call rule set.

The arrangement for executing calling services operations will now be described.

FIG. 4illustrates executing calling services according to an embodiment of the present invention. The steps described inFIG. 4can be implemented as executable code stored on a computer readable medium (e.g., a hard disk drive, a floppy drive, a random access memory, a read only memory, an EPROM, a compact disc, etc.).

As shown inFIG. 4, the application server66receives in step200an HTTP request from the proxy browser62for initiation of a session for a caller. The application server66responds to the HTTP request in step202by accessing a selected XML document68from the document database72that specifies the application operation for calling another party based on the command specified in the HTTP request. The application server66then generates a new brownie in step204if the caller initiates a new session, else accesses an existing brownie from the registry92based on a valid session identifier specified within the HTTP URL request. The application server66generates in step206an HTML page with XML tags including an audio file (.wav file) specifying playing of the audio file, with prompts. The HTML page is forwarded for execution by the proxy browser62in step208causes to be played a message such as “Hello, this is your intelligent dial tone, what would you like to do? Press 1 for accessing your call list, press 2 if you know the name, telephone number or e-mail address of the person you want to call, press 3 for white pages”, etc.

The application server66then waits for an input from the caller in step210. Based on the input, in step212, the LDAP data store84is accessed to obtain the called party information as defined by the caller. For example, if the caller knows the e-mail address or name but not the telephone number or IP address of a called party, the telephone number or IP address associated with the name or e-mail address is retrieved from the LDAP84by the application server66, eliminating the necessity for existing telephony gate agents such as gatekeepers, call mangers, or virtual switch controllers. If necessary, for a specific calling service such as instant messaging, the application server66may also access a registry to determine if the called party is “active” (e.g., currently in a valid session with its corresponding application server).

The application server, in step214, generates a second HTML page with XML tags having instructions for contacting the called party and outputs the second HTML page to the proxy browser62. In step216, the proxy browser establishes a Real Time Protocol (RTP) session with the destination IP address or causes a telephony device (e.g., a PBX) to call the called party and the call is bridged to connect the caller on telephone18with the called party on telephone18′ (FIG. 2).

The application sever66determines in step218if the called party has hung up (ended session) for example, by receiving an HTTP request for the proxy browser62indicating the called party has ended the call. If the called party has not ended the session, the session continues in step220. If the called party has ended the session, in step222, the application server66outputs an HTML page to proxy browser62which plays a message such as “What would you like to do next?”, with prompts. Thus, in the disclosed embodiment, the caller can connect to multiple destinations from a single call. Similar variations may be utilized upon detecting an interval of inactivity indicating the calling party has been put on “hold”.

It can be appreciated that the application server66can perform intelligent functions upon receiving calls by using the number dialed, the originating number, and the state of the device associated with the number dialed (such as a busy signal or not answering) and react accordingly. For example if the dialed number is busy, the application server66can send a HTML page to the proxy browser62to play a messages such as “The called party is not answering. Would you like to do something else?”

Functions of a registry server (not shown) may also be called via an API. For example, if a caller knows the e-mail address of a called party but not the telephone number, upon checking the LDAP84, there may be three telephone numbers associated with the e-mail address. In this case, the registry server can be accessed by the application server to determine if the called party is active (using telephone18′) and if so, the application server may generate an HTML page for instructing the caller that the called party is on the phone and asks if the caller if he or she wants to contact the called party.

Hence, according to the disclosed embodiment, calling services may be deployed on a platform that is customizable, scalable, and built upon open standards such as Internet protocol. By directly contacting an application server upon picking-up a telephone device, an intelligent system is provided for making telephone calls over an IP network, without “dumb” dial tones and waiting for an initial connection as with existing call routing software.