A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or tactical communications; (ii) review the messages of conversations in either a live mode or a time-shifted mode and to seamlessly transition back and forth between the two modes; (iii) participate in multiple conversations either concurrently or simultaneously; (iv) archive the messages of conversations for later review or processing; and (v) persistently store media either created or received on the communication devices of users. The latter feature enables users to generate or review media when either disconnected from the network or network conditions are poor and to optimize the delivery of media over the network based on network conditions and the intention of the users participating in conversations.

Disclosed are various embodiments for establishing a connection between a client device and a third-party entity device and providing services associated with a third-party entity to the client device according to user-defined access permissions. A context environment can be determined according to user data and third-party entity data. Services available to the user device can be selected according to the context environment, the user-defined access permissions and third-party defined instructions. Upon selecting the services, the services are provided to the client device and a connection between the client device and a third-party entity device can be established.

The present disclosure provides a method in a network node for controlling report of a Presence Reporting Area (PRA) status. The method includes: receiving from another network node a message indicating a default PRA status; and refraining from reporting an initial PRA status of a terminal device to the other network node when the initial PRA status is consistent with the default PRA status.

Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members are provided. According to one embodiment, contact content including an associated GPS identifier and status for web-based social network members located at or near the same location automatically appears on a GPS-enabled device. A further exemplary system includes a GPS-enabled device configured to receive a GPS identifier and a status representing a location and a current state for a web-based social network member, a processing module that associates the received GPS-identifier and the received status, and a communications module that sends the associated GPS-identifier and status to a server comprising a web-based social network database. Contact content in a web-based social network database record in the web-based social network database is updated to include the associated GPS identifier and status for the web-based social network member.

The present disclosure relates to providing user information. In a method for requesting user information of an information requesting device in a mobile communication system, the method includes selecting a callee from a user, acquiring a user identifier (ID) of the selected callee, transmitting a user information request for the selected callee and the user ID to a relay server, evaluating whether an admission message is received from the relay server, and if the admission message is received, receiving user information from the relay server.

A voice-chat-mode self-adapting method includes: receiving a voice chat request sent by a source client on a chat interface for a voice chat with a corresponding destination client, the voice chat request including information about the corresponding destination client on the chat interface; determining whether the destination client of the voice chat request is online; when the destination client is not online, entering a voice message mode such that the source client records a voice message and sends the voice message to the destination client; when the destination client is online, entering a real-time chat mode such that the source client and the destination client perform real-time voice chat; checking in real-time an online/offline state of each client in the voice chat; and performing automatic switching between the voice message mode and the real-time chat mode according to the online/offline state of each client in the voice chat.

Network entities may indicate and negotiate one or more new protocols for communications using a current protocol.

Indications may include one or more protocols which are supported, one or more protocols which are preferred, and the level of desire of preferences. Indications may further include schedules of times during which certain protocols are supported and/or schedules of functions for which certain protocols are preferred. Indications may be evaluated and acted upon immediately or stored for future reference. Evaluation may include comparison of relative desire levels and needs of various entities. Protocols may be messaging protocols, transport protocols, or combinations thereof.

A computer-implemented method, computerized apparatus and computer program product for monitoring traffic in a computer network. The computer network comprises a plurality of devices configured to apply a transformation function on a target port identifier of a requested transmission by an application program executing thereon and direct the transmission to a different target port per the scrambled identifier thereby obtained. The transformation function depends on at least one parameter shared among the plurality of devices and applying thereof is conditioned on the application program requesting transmission being listed in a list of authorized application programs. Attempts to access invalid ports as defined by the transformation function are identified and an action for mitigating a security threat ascribed thereto is provided.

The present invention relates to an application that is configured to be operated in a multi-participant environment on a computer network. The application manages participants in an online session of a multi-user application so that if one of the participants exits the session, the session can continue without interruption. The application initiates an online session of the multi-user application, wherein the online session includes two or more participants comprised of network computers that are communicatively linked to a computer network. If the application detects that a first participant has disconnected from the online session, wherein the first participant is responsible for managing certain managerial functionality associated with the running of the multi-user application, then the application broadcasts a notification to existing participants of the online session over the communication network, thereby notifying the existing participants that the first participant has disconnected from the online session. The initiating application then re-assigns the functionality associated with the first participant to an existing participant of the online session. The participants can be communicating in a peer-to-peer arrangement or can be performing server duties in a client-server arrangement.

A system and method are described for establishing two-way push communication between an intermediate or companion device and a mobile device. Mobile devices register to listen for push notifications delivered through a push notification service from a specified set of providers. The presence of the mobile devices is delivered to the push notification service that maps the mobile devices to connections made between their respective companion devices and the push notification service. If the push notification service determines that a mobile device is “online,” in response to receiving a push notification for the mobile device, a current network connection over which a companion device is listening for push notifications is identified and the push notification is forwarded to the companion device. The companion device then can deliver the push notification to the mobile device.