A phone appliance and method of use are provided where the phone appliance can be used to make VoIP communications calls. In a preferred embodiment, the phone appliance includes an RF connection for connecting to a computer or other computing device for facilitating the placement of the VoIP communications calls. The phone appliance further includes a display or portal for depicting advertisements provided by various advertisers. The advertisements provided can be used to defray all or part of the cost associated with making VoIP communications calls. The portal can also be used to communicate with businesses for ordering products. such as ordering a pizza, and to perform various services, such as purchasing stocks. In an exemplary system, the phone appliance is used to transmit to a control center information related to the user of the phone appliance, such as interests and buying habits, and queries for receiving additional information for various advertised products and services. The control center transmits the queries to the appropriate vendors for providing the user with additional information. Other functions and features are provided to the phone appliance, such as being able to download e-mail messages stored within or received by the computer.

A method for maintaining a captioning service for an assisted user (AU) comprising the steps of, at a relay, connect to a second AU device via the computer network address, receive an HU calling number from the second AU device, upon recognizing the HU calling number as an emergency number, assign a temporary relay calling number to the AU, store the temporary relay calling number with the computer network address associated with the second AU device, use the emergency number to establish a first communication link with an emergency service provider and present the temporary relay calling number to the emergency service provider, upon termination of the first communication link, upon receiving a call using the temporary relay calling number, use the temporary calling number to identify the network address of the second AU device and the calling number of the first AU device and use the calling number of the first AU device and the network address to re-establish communication with the first AU device and the second AU device, respectively.

Embodiments of the invention provide a communication system including a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include a communication module with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) database. Herein, the database may include a list of telephone numbers associated with one or more destinations implementing one or more IVR menus. Further, the memory includes instructions set having one or more instructions executable by the processor for automatically interfacing with a user interface system comprising voice to electronic signal subsystem. More specifically, the voice request of the user may be converted into digital form. Further, the instructions executable by the processor may initiate search within said database following a voice command captured by said voice to electronic signal subsystem. Furthermore, the memory includes instructions executable by the processor to initiate voice call to a telephone number within said database according to the result of said search.

Various implementations include systems and methods for unlocking a door to a building on behalf of a tenant of the building that addresses the shortcomings of legacy telephone entry systems and allows for more efficient and safer management of building entry requests from third parties. In some implementations, the system taps into the legacy telephone entry systems to communicate with third parties seeking entry into the building. In some implementations, the system communicates with third party computing devices (e.g., stationary or mobile devices) to process entry requests. And, in some implementations, the system communicates entry preferences (or parameters) associated with a tenant with a door lock system to allow for entry during certain time windows or under certain conditions.

Methods and apparatus for retrieving and providing voice mail messages from a server are described. In accordance with the invention voice mail messages may be retrieved via requests made via a set top box. Voice mail messages are retrieved in response to the request from a voice mail server which is also accessible via the telephone network. Retrieved voice mail is transcoded and included in a video on demand (VOD) file. Text, call ID information and/or other information as, e.g., an automatically generated transcript of the voice mail message, may be included in the VOD file. The VOD file is supplied to a VOD server which provides the file including the message to the set top box for display. A user can view the messages and switch from viewing one message to the next by using video play back commands.

In some implementations, a mobile computing device may participate in the calibration of an output signal of a media device. This calibration process includes storing device-specific calibration data which is related to properties of a light sensor of the mobile device. The mobile device then detects of properties of light emitted by the display device during a presentation to obtain sensor values related to light emitted by the display device during the presentation. The calibration process may also ensure that the mobile device is proximate to the display device prior to obtaining the sensor values. The collected sensor values are adjusted using device-specific calibration data stored to the mobile device to normalize the sensor values relative to a baseline. These normalized sensor values are sent to the media device for use in adjusting the output signal based on the normalized sensor values.

A method and system receive and forward a text message received at a landline phone number to a user associated with that landline phone number, wherein the receipt and forwarding includes forwarding the text message to a computer and/or mobile device associated with the user, wherein the text message is forwarded automatically in response to receipt of the text message at the landline phone number, receiving a response to the forwarded text message, wherein the response is formulated by the user on the computer or the mobile device and sent from the computer or the mobile device, and forwarding the received response as a text message to a phone number that sent the text message to the landline phone number, wherein the forwarded response text message indicates the landline phone number as a number sending the response text message.

Techniques are disclosed for implementing emergency calling with a telephony application. In some examples, an application that executes on a user device provides voice communication functionality. Where a user attempts to contact an emergency number via this application (e.g., 911), the application can first determine whether the application is executing on a mobile phone or on a tablet. Where the application is executing on a mobile phone, the application can invoke a telephone dialer functionality provided by the mobile device to call the emergency service. Where the application is executing on a tablet, the application can access the emergency service via a uniform resource name for the emergency service.

A system and method for facilitating signaling and media communication at a communication platform that includes receiving a communication request to a resource, wherein the communication request specifies a destination endpoint; establishing signaling and media communication in a session with the destination endpoint of the communication request; registering a callback resource to a signaling event of the session; monitoring signaling messages of the session; detecting the signaling event in the signaling messages of the session; and triggering the callback resource upon detecting the signaling event.

An audio device is provided which distributes via the Internet a telephone talk between a distributer and a viewer, with a simple structure. An audio interface device can be connected to a PC, and distributes via the Internet a sound signal which is input from a microphone along with a BGM by outputting the sound signal to the PC. When a call is made with a caller, the audio interface device branches the sound signal which is input from the microphone into a first sound signal and a second sound signal, and supplies the second sound signal to the caller. Also, the first sound signal, the sound signal from the caller, and the BGM are synthesized and output to the PC, and the telephone talk is distributed via the Internet.