Patent ID: 8711199

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, at a set-top box comprising a processor, an incoming multimedia call comprising audio, according to a voice over internet protocol, and video, according to an interactive television network protocol; invoking a ringer on the set-top box as an alert of an incoming call; in response to the incoming call being answered by way of the set-top box: engaging in multimedia conferencing, by the set-top box, using voice-over-internet protocol and video over an interactive television network, wherein the multimedia conferencing is initiated between equipment of two interactive television network users with similar audio and video configurations; presenting, by the set-top box, a video portion of the multimedia conferencing to a display coupled to the set-top box, while also presenting an audio portion of the multimedia conferencing to speakers coupled to the set-top; recording, selectively, by the set-top box, data associated with a calling party and a called party concurrently while in conference using a digital video recording device; in response to the incoming call being answered by way of a cordless handset communicatively coupled to a cordless base station integrated within the set-top box, engaging in a private conversation using the voice-over-internet protocol by way of the cordless handset; in response to the incoming call being unanswered: instructing, by the set-top box, the digital video recording device to serve as an answering machine for playing a multimedia greeting message from the set-top box and for recording multimedia calls made to the set-top box through the interactive television network; and activating, by the set-top box, a message waiting indicator located on a front panel the set-top box in response to recording multimedia calls made to the set-top box through the interactive television network.