Method and apparatus for providing contextual information with telephone calls

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method for propagating contextual data in an audio communication by storing the contextual data obtained from a calling party in an extensible mark-up language formatted text document. A telephone call between a first party and a second party is converted to a session initiation protocol based voice over internet protocol communication, and the stored text document is attached to session initiation protocol messages that control the voice over internet protocol communication. The document is attached to the signaling messages by embedding the text document in a session description payload associated with the session initiation protocol message. The attached document is propagated with the audio communication, including when the signaling messages are used to transfer the audio communication from the second party to a third party or to add one or more addition parties to the audio communication.

1 . A method for propagating contextual data in an audio communication, the method comprising: 
 initiating an audio communication between a first party and a second party;    obtaining contextual data from the first party;    storing the contextual data in a text document;    linking the text document to the audio communication; and    propagating the text document with the audio communication.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of initiating an audio communication comprises initiating a voice over internet protocol telephone call from the first party or initiating a telephone call across a public switched telephone network from the first party.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising converting the audio communication to a session initiation protocol based voice over internet protocol communication.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining contextual data comprises obtaining account information, pass codes, personal identification numbers, contact information, personal identification information, queries, query responses, purchase requests or combinations thereof.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of storing the contextual data comprises storing the contextual data in an extensible mark-up language formatted document.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of linking the text document comprises attaching the text document to one or more signaling messages that control the audio communication.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of propagating the text document with the audio communication comprises transferring the audio communication from the second party to a third party or adding one or more additional parties to the audio communication.  
   
   
       8 . A method for propagating contextual data in an audio communication, the method comprising: 
 converting an audio communication between a first party and a second party to a session initiation protocol based voice over internet protocol communication;    obtaining contextual data from the first party;    storing the contextual data in an extensible mark-up language formatted text document;    attaching the text document to one or more of the session initiation protocol messages that control the voice over internet protocol communication; and    propagating the text document with the audio communication.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the step of attaching the text document comprises embedding the text document in a session description payload associated with the session initiation protocol messages.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the step of propagating the text document with the audio communication comprises transferring the audio communication from the second party to a third party or adding one or more additional parties to the audio communication.  
   
   
       11 . A computer readable medium containing a computer executable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for propagating contextual data in an audio communication, the method comprising: 
 initiating an audio communication between a first party and a second party;    obtaining contextual data from the first party;    storing the contextual data in a text document;    linking the text document to the audio communication; and    propagating the text document with the audio communication.    
   
   
       12 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the step of initiating an audio communication comprises initiating a voice over internet protocol telephone call from the first party or initiating a telephone call across a public switched telephone network from the first party.  
   
   
       13 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising converting the audio communication to a session initiation protocol based voice over internet protocol communication.  
   
   
       14 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the step of obtaining contextual data comprises obtaining account information, pass codes, personal identification numbers, contact information, personal identification information, queries, responses to questions, purchase requests or combinations thereof.  
   
   
       15 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the step of saving the contextual data comprises saving the contextual data in an extensible mark-up language formatted document.  
   
   
       16 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the step of linking the text document comprises attaching the text document to signaling messages that control the audio communication.  
   
   
       17 . The computer readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the signaling messages comprise session initiation protocol messages and the step of linking the text document comprises embedding the text document in a session description payload associated with each session initiation protocol message.  
   
   
       18 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the step of propagating the text document with the audio communication comprises transferring the audio communication from the second party to a third party or adding one or more additional parties to the audio communication.