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.

Systems and methods may be used for connecting a caller to an online chat function of a meeting via messaging. A method may include identifying a user device connected to an online conferencing meeting via an audio connection, and associating the user device to a chat portion of the online conferencing meeting. The method may include receiving a chat message in the chat portion of the online conferencing meeting and sending a text message, including the chat message, to the user device.

A voice-controlled system for allowing a guest of a hospitality establishment to play desired media content on an in-room device includes one or more servers coupled to a network and a plurality of in-room devices. A user device captures audio from a microphone and converts the audio into a text transcript utilizing a voice-to-text conversion service. The user device passes the text transcript to the servers where a particular room of the hospitality establishment with which the user device is currently associated is determined. The servers check a program guide for the particular room in order to determine a channel on which a program name determined according to the text transcript is currently playing, and determine one or more target in-room devices of the particular room. The servers send commands causing the target in-room devices to play the channel on which the program name is currently playing.

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 system for managing access point functionally and configuration includes a server that is coupled to a computer network and configured to communicate with an access point via the computer network. The access point is configured to couple a mobile device to the computer network by providing a wireless link between the mobile device and the access point. The access point is further configured to produce a status point regarding the access point and the server is configured to receive the status report from the access point following a trigger event at the access point. In other examples, the server is further configured to transmit a response message and/or a configuration file to the access point in response to the status report that is received at the server. Other features and systems are also disclosed.

A method of generating device-specific configuration data during the initial set up of a device comprises, during a configuration process running on the device, sending from the device a first message and including a device identifier to a server using a first mode of communication associable with a service identifier, sending from the device a second message including the device identifier to a server using a second mode of communication not associable with said service identifier, processing the first message to associate the device identifier with the service identifier, and processing the second message to query if the device identifier has been previously associated with the service identifier, and if so, sending device-specific configuration data to the device for use during the configuration process, wherein after the configuration process is completed, the device-specific configuration data enables authentication using said service identifier when the device uses said second mode of communication.

A voice-controlled system for allowing a guest of a hospitality establishment to play desired media content on an in-room device includes one or more servers coupled to a network and a plurality of in-room devices. A user device captures audio from a microphone and converts the audio into a text transcript utilizing a voice-to-text conversion service. The user device passes the text transcript to the servers where a particular room of the hospitality establishment with which the user device is currently associated is determined. The servers check a program guide for the particular room in order to determine a channel on which a program name determined according to the text transcript is currently playing, and determine one or more target in-room devices of the particular room. The servers send commands causing the target in-room devices to play the channel on which the program name is currently playing.

A user has access to first and second telephony services. A call setup request directed to a first telephony party identifier associated with the first service is received from a caller and it is determined that the user is not available via the first service. A call setup request is transmitted to a telephony service destination associated with the second service to establish a telephony session between the caller and the destination. Media data transmitted during the session is caused to be captured using a media capture device intermediate the caller and the destination. The captured media data or media data derived therefrom is stored in a media data store so that the user can access the media data after the end of the session to determine what media data was transmitted during the session. The stored media data or media data derived therefrom is made accessible by the user.

A data gate apparatus for integrating functionalities of an interface format into a plurality of services. The data gate comprises a storage device, a communication interface and a processor coupled to the storage device and the communication interface. The processor detects a device supporting a first interface format that is different than the interface formats stored in the storage device. The processor learns the first interface format by receiving data function in the first interface format and associating a field in the data function with a variable representing information of a particular type. The processor verifies that the first interface format has been successfully learnt by generating a message in the first interface format and sending the message to the device. The processor receives a response to the message and parses the response to thereby confirm that the first interface format is functional and integrable into the plurality of services.

A data gate apparatus for integrating functionalities of an interface format into a plurality of services. The data gate comprises a storage device, a communication interface and a processor coupled to the storage device and the communication interface. The processor detects a device supporting a first interface format that is different than the interface formats stored in the storage device. The processor learns the first interface format by receiving data function in the first interface format and associating a field in the data function with a variable representing information of a particular type. The processor verifies that the first interface format has been successfully learnt by generating a message in the first interface format and sending the message to the device. The processor receives a response to the message and parses the response to thereby confirm that the first interface format is functional and integrable into the plurality of services.