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A telephone central office switching network and a basic switching element utilized therein is disclosed herein. The basic switch element has the capability of reflecting traffic entering any of the inlets thereto back to any other traffic inlet and the capability of connecting any of the inlets thereto to any of the outlets therefrom. The basic switch is implemented in the network incorporating the reflection technique, sometimes called a one-sided network in which the outlet from a switching stage is in a preferred embodiment connected to a higher order switching stage such that the outlets of the switching stages are progressively connected in a multistage configuration from the terminal stage into the folding point in increasing order, thereby enabling the outlets of the higher order stages to be used as reflection ports while simultaneously remaining available for connection to higher order switching stages without the necessity of recabling. A continuously expandable switching network is thus provided wherein incoming traffic penetrates the network only to the degree necessary to complete the required signal connection and is implementable either in space division configuration, time division configuration or any combination thereof, and utilizing either analog or digital encoding techniques.
1. A plurality of switches arranged in a plurality of stages of said switches to comprise an expandable switching network with each of said switches comprising:
means for providing a plurality of inlets for receiving digital signals and a plurality of outlets;
means for adapting each of said outlets to selectively reflect said digital signals back to any of said inlets;
means for selectively coupling any of said inlets to any of said outlets to provide an output for said digital signals out of said switch from said outlets;
means for coupling said signals from the outlets of the switches of any of said stages of switches to the inlets of switches of higher order switching stages; and
means for reserving said outlets of any of said switches for coupling said digital signals from said outlets to the inlets of switches of said higher order switching stages.
2. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 wherein said switches are space division switches.
3. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 wherein said switches are time division switches.
4. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 wherein said switches are combined space division and time division switches.
5. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:
traffic path selection control means for controlling the path of said digital signals through the network; and
data storage means for deriving a control signal for accessing said traffic path selection control means such that said control signal is coupled over the same path as said digital signals.
6. A switching network in accordance with claim 5 wherein said digital signals are comprised of a series of samples representing a speech waveform, each of said samples being digitally encoded.
7. A switching network in accordance with claim 6 wherein said encoded digital signals are linear pulse code modulated signals.
8. A switching network in accordance with claim 6 wherein said digital signals are comprised of digitally encoded analog signals.
9. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 wherein each of said inlets and said outlets of said switches includes an input and an output and wherein each of said inputs and outputs of each of said inlets and said outlets receives time division multiplexed signals in a plurality of channels.
10. A combination in accordance with claim 1 including control means for reflecting said digital signals after completion of a partial coupling thru said network, such that said digital signals penetrate said network to the stage required to complete a desired connection.
11. In a telephone switching system for intercoupling a plurality of lines and trunks, an expandable switching network comprised of a plurality of switches, arranged in a plurality of stages, each of said switches comprising:
means for providing a plurality of inlets for receiving digital signals and a plurality of outlets;
means for adapting each of said outlets to selectively reflect said digital signals back to any of said inlets;
means for selectively coupling any of said inlets to any of said outlets to provide an output for said digital signals out of said switch from said outlets;
means for coupling said digital signals from the outlets of the switches of any of said stages of switches to the inlets of switches of higher order switching stages; and
means for reserving said outlets of any of said switches for coupling said digital signals from said outlets to the outlets of switches of said higher order switching stages.
12. In a telephone switching exchange in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:
traffic path selection control means for controlling the path of said digital signals through the network; and
data storage means for deriving a control signal for accessing said traffic path selection control means such that said control signal is coupled over the same path as said digital signals.
13. A method for providing an expandable switching network from a plurality of switches comprising for each of said switches the steps of:
receiving a plurality of digital signals at a plurality of inlets of said switch;
providing a plurality of outlets from said switch to which said signals are selectively coupled from said inlets;
adapting each of said outlets to selectively reflect said digital signals coupled thereto back to any of said inlets;
selectively coupling signals from any of said inlets to any of said outlets to provide an output for said digital signals out of said switch from said outlets;
arranging a plurality of said switches into a network of a plurality of stages of said switches;
coupling signals from the outlets of the switches of any of said stages of switches to the inlets of switches of higher order switching stages; and
reserving the outlets of any of said switches for coupling said digital signals from said outlets to the inlets of said higher order switching stages.
14. A method for expanding the size of a switching network comprising the steps of:
establishing a plurality of stages of switches, each of said switches having two or more inlets and two or more outlets and being adapted to selectively reflect digital signals entering any inlet thereto back to any other inlet thereof and to couple said signals from any inlet to any outlet;
selectively coupling signals from the outlets of the switches of any of said stages to the inlets of switches of higher order switching stages of said switching network;
adding an additional stage of switches, each of said switches of said additional stage having two or more inlets and two or more outlets and being adapted to selectively reflect digital signals entering any inlet thereto back to any inlet thereof and to couple said signals from any inlet to any outlet; and
selectively coupling signals from the outlets of the plurality of stages of switches to the inlets of the switches of said additional stage whereby the outlets of said additional stage of switches are adapted for reflection of said signals and are also reserved for coupling said signals from said outlets to higher order switching stages.
15. A method in accordance with claim 14 wherein said selectively coupling step further provides that no previously coupled outlets of switches in any of said plurality of stages of switches are physically uncoupled from inlets of other switches.
16. A switching network in accordance with claim 1 wherein said network is a one-sided network.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 766,396, filed Feb. 7, 1977, now abandoned.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the switching of space and time division multiplexed transmissions and more particularly, to a novel switching element and novel network configuration for implementing a substantially continuously expandable switching network in a telephone exchange, telephone central office, PABX, remote concentrator, data circuit switch or other device wherein a plurality of terminal interconnections are required.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently available time division switching networks utilize time-slot-interchange modules or space switching modules utilizing time shared space interconnections, usually two of the former modules and one of the latter or two of the latter modules and one of the former. U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,895 is illustrative of a time slot interchange of the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,872 is illustrative of a folded multiple stage switching network of the prior art. These known prior art switching networks are incapable of unlimited growth without extensive recabling to accommodate major system size expansion.
Switching networks of the prior art are designed to cover particular size ranges, i.e., the number of lines that can be switched, whereas the present invention is adaptable to switch over a wide and expandable size range.
In accordance with the present invention, a small switching network, i.e., for a few hundred lines, may be economically constructed using only the minimum number of stages required for implementing such a small network. There is no upper limit from a network configuration standpoint to the expandability of such a small network, i.e., the network is readily expandable from a few hundred lines requiring a small number of stages to a large number of lines, i.e., 50,000 lines, requiring a plurality of stages. Also, a working small network can be readily expanded to a large working network without recabling as would be required in systems of the prior art.
A continuously expandable switching network configuration is described wherein the outlets of the stages comprising the network are connected only to the switches in higher level stages, thereby eliminating the need for recabling in the event of system expansion. The connections between terminals are accomplished by use of the reflection and the connection characteristics of the individual switching elements. By reflection characteristics, the capability of interconnecting two inlets within the switch is defined. This network is implementable with either analog or digital transmission schemes over either two or four wire traffic paths and with space and time switching and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, a combined multistage space switch and time slot interchange switching network is described utilizing as individual switching elements thereof an integrated signal switch and control circuit by which traffic can be interconnected to another inlet or connected to an outlet. The described network configuration is applicable to either analog or digital traffic switching and is advantageous when employed in a four wire network as either a group switch, a concentrator, a deconcentrator or any other type of PCM switching unit requiring the capability of space and time switching to connect any time slot on any incoming multiplexed line to any other time slot on any other outgoing multiplexed line. The described switch may be incorporated in the network for switching both the forward and return paths of four wire interconnections by means of a controllable reflection point technique and a path selection control by means of control signals transmitted over the speech path to be controlled thereby eliminating extra control lines. Of course, if desired, such control signals could be transmitted over separate control wires. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a substantially continuously expandable switching network.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an expandable switching network in which modification of internal or external connecting links is not required for such expansion.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a multistage switching network in which the switching element outlets of any stage are connected to switching element inlets of higher order stages.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a multistage switching network in which incoming traffic penetrates the network to the extent necessary to complete required connections.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a switching element having a plurality of inlets connectable to a plurality of outlets, having a reflection capability of reflecting traffic entering on any inlet back to any other inlet, and a connection capability of connecting any inlet to any outlet.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a PCM (pulse code modulated) switch module which allows continuously expandable networks without recabling over a size range, i.e., the total number of terminals to be interconnected, of 100:1 or more and which is implementable as a group switch, a concentrator or a deconcentrator. Pulse code modulation is a type of pulse modulation wherein the modulating signal waveform is sampled at regular intervals, quantized into discrete steps and digitally coded into a series of pulses.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a PCM switch for connecting any time slot on any multiplexed line to any other time slot on any other multiplexed line.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a combined space and time switching module for switching both the forward and return paths of a four wire connection.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a combined time and space switch module having a path selection control accessible for control commands by means of the voice path with the consequent elimination of extraneous control paths.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1A is a simplified junctor switch of the prior art utilizing the reflection point technique.
FIG. 1B is a prior art use of reflection and connection verticles in a switching network of the prior art.
FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are simplified switching network configurations illustrative of the network expandability of the reflection technique of the present invention wherein exemplary single block, two block, three block and eight block switching network configurations are illustrated, respectively.
FIG. 3 is illustrative of a switch element having space switch on the inlet side of a time slot interchange.
FIG. 4 is a graph of blocking versus the number of stages of switching for different levels of traffic intensity.
FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the switching matrix expansion by use of reflection/connection outlets wherein FIG. 5A is a single switching module and FIG. 5B is an expanded switching module.
FIGS. 6A through 6E are illustrative of a multistage switching network expansion configuration in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 7A is a representation of a four wire path complementary delay.
FIG. 7B is illustrative of the control logic for a single entry or exit point.
FIG. 7C is an equivalent logical representation of the control logic described with reference to FIG. 7B.
FIG. 8 is a time switch control circuit for a four wire delay line time switch utilizing the switching logic described with reference to FIG. 7B.
FIG. 9 is a logic and block diagram of a network crosspoint.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the network crosspoint of FIG. 9 incorporated within a network matrix.
The reflection point technique has been employed in the prior art ITT Al crossbar networks, such as in a space division switch by the closing of two horizontals on one vertical. This is illustrated by FIG. 1A, wherein traffic on line units 10 and 12 are coupled to a junctor switch 14 via horizontal matrix lines 16 and 18 to a vertical line 20. Each line unit 10 and 12 may comprise a small network of crossbar switches as are well known in the prior art, having coupled thereto a plurality of input/output lines 15. The reflection concept is implemented by the coupling of traffic on line 16 to the junctor switch 14 wherein it is reflected off vertical line 20 and exits from the junctor switch via horizontal line 18.
An improvement on the prior art over the technique of FIG. 1A is shown in simplified form by FIG. 1B which is illustrative of the reflection point concept utilized by the ESR-1 PABX switching network of Standard Elektrik Lorenz A.G. In this system, the vertical lines are connected between switching modules at the same level in the network hierarchy, thereby limiting the maximum size to which the network can be expanded. Thus, a plurality of line units 22, 24, 26 and 30 are connected on respective horizontal lines 32, 34, 36 and 38 to switching modules 40 and 42. Module 40 serves to interconnect line units 22 and 24 by reflection, module 42 serves to interconnect line units 26 and 30 by reflection and modules 40 and 42 together with link 44 serve to interconnect line units 22 and 24 with line units 26 and 30.
The numerical designations (1) on lines 32 and 34 include other combinations and are equivalent to the intermodule connection of traffic on lines 32 and 34 between line units 22 and 24. For this condition, crosspoints 46 and 48 are closed. The numerical designations (2) on lines 34, 38 and 44 are equivalent to the intermodule connection of traffic on lines 34 and 38. For this condition, crosspoints 48 and 50 are closed while crosspoints 46 and 52 are open.
The prior art system of FIG. 1b, while utilizing the basic reflection technique, provides a system whereby the vertical of one switch is connected to another switch at the same level in the network hierarchy, i.e., to the same level switching stage, thereby limiting the maximum size to which the network can be expanded. In contradistinction to the aforedescribed prior art systems and in accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that by connecting the reflection/connection verticals to horizontals of higher level switches, which higher level switches also have reflection/connection verticals, a continuously expandable switching network is obtainable.
As used herein, the terms input, output, inlet and outlet are defined as follows. An input is a port to a switch or combination of switches, which port carries signals from outside the switch into the switch, while an output is a port on a switch carrying signals from the switch. An inlet is a connection to a switch, having both an input port and an output port, which carry the signals relating to the two directions of transmission forming a full duplex communication path, and which connect to one side of a switch. An outlet is a connection to a switch having both an input port and an output port which carry the signals relating to the two directions of transmission forming a full duplex communication path and which connect to the side of the switch opposite to the inlet.
Referring now to FIGS. 2A through 2D, a folded network is described which is illustrative of the reflection/connection technique of the present invention in which the outlet from any switch of a particular stage is not connected either to the same or to a lower tier stage, and wherein the sequence of numbering of the stage is from the terminal stage into the folding point in increasing order. It is to be understood that this network configuration is greatly simplified to illustrate the network expandability. By way of definition, every switching matrix consists of a number of depths, ranks, or stages of switches through which the path connecting two terminals must pass. In a non-folded network, the connecting path from an originating terminal or inlet to a terminating terminal or outlet crosses each stage once only and the path from the originating terminal to the terminating terminal always crosses any one stage in one direction only. In a folded network, the connecting path from an originating terminal to a terminating terminal may cross any stage in either direction and will cross at least one stage at least twice, once in each direction.
In accordance with the present invention, the outlets of the highest numbered switching stage are used as reflection points; however, these outlets are always available for connection to yet a higher numbered stage without circuit modification. Thus, the outlets may be utilized to connect to another switch or may be considered as folding points. A folding point may be defined as that point in a folded network at which a signal switched through the network reverses direction through the network, i.e., stops its progression toward a higher level stage. Additionally, the reflection and connection capability of the switch may be utilized on alternate connections.
FIG. 2A is illustrative of a 2�2 line switch having two inlets, 100 and 102, and two reflection points, 104 and 106. Reflection ports 104 and 106 are also connection verticals as will be described. In the event that each of the inlets 100 and 102 were a twenty-four channel time division multiplex (TDM) line, then switch 108 could provide a switching capability of 150 lines with suitable concentration, as is well known, on one inlet and up to twenty-four trunk lines on the other inlet with full interconnectability therebetween as will hereinafter be described. Another example of the reflection/connection technique is the case in which inlet 100 has coupled thereto a circuit having six lines concentrated thereon, while inlet 102 comprises a two-way trunk line to another switching location in an analog or non-multiplexed configuration. By using only one of the reflection ports 104 or 106, both line-to-line (revertive) or line-to-trunk, calls may be implemented one at a time. This network is continuously expandable, for example, to twelve lines and two trunks as illustrated by FIG. 2B, wherein additional switches 110, 112 and 113 of identical configuration are added on to switch 108 and which results in expansion to two stages. For purposes of description, the switches added to expand to a second stage of switches are identified by the numeral 2. When interconnection among channels within switch 108 are required, the outlets 104 and 106 of switch 108 are used as reflection points, i.e., for telephone calls among the original lines and trunks. The reflection properties of switch 108 may still be utilized calls are also switched among the new added switches in similar manner. However, for calls between a terminal served by switch 108 and a terminal served by switch 110 having coupled thereto the same number of lines and trunks as are connected to switch 108, then the outlets of switches 108 and 110, i.e., both first stages, are switched through to a common second stage switch, either switch 112 or 113. The reflection points of the second stage at 114, 116, 118 and 120 are used to complete the connection. Thus, it can be seen that for connections between channels on primary switches 108 and 110, an outlet on each of said switches is used as connection ports to a common higher tier stage switch where one of the outlets of such higher tier stage is utilized as a reflective port.
FIGS. 2C and 2D are illustrative of the continuous expansion of the switching network to three and eight primary switches, respectively. This expansion technique without rearrangement either of internal or external connecting links, can be achieved with respect to space and time division switching and to any desired size basic switching element. With reference to FIG. 2C, the three primary switching block configuration illustrated provides a capability of six additional lines and another additional two-way trunk by virtue of the third switching block 126. Two-thirds of the incoming traffic from switch 126 would statistically be destined for the first two switches, 128 and 130, since two-thirds of the incoming lines and trunks to the switching network are coupled to switches 128 and 130. However, since each inlet provides one unit of traffic, then two-thirds of the two inlets is four-thirds of a traffic unit which exceeds the traffic capability of one switch outlet; hence, two secondary stage switches 132 and 134 are provided for the third primary switching unit 126. As will become apparent with respect to FIG. 2D, the addition of a fourth switching unit will not result in the rearrangement of any existing links. The switching blocks 132 and 134 of the second stage and switching blocks 140 and 142 of the third stage are of the same configuration as are the primary stage switching blocks. The network expandability without rearrangement of existing connecting links is illustrated as extended to eight primary switching blocks, each of which may, for example, have coupled thereto six lines and a two-way trunk line as illustrated in FIG. 2D. The eight primary switching blocks 150 through 164 of the first stage of the switching network may be identical in configuration to the switching units of FIGS. 2A through 2C. In contradistinction to a single stage folded network, the switching network configuration of the present invention is more economically expandable since the cost of a single stage folded network in terms of crosspoints per line increases linearly with the number of terminals, i.e., inlet ports or lines, while the present network, in terms of crosspoints per line, grows approximately as the logarithm to the base 2 of the number of terminals. This relationship is illustrated by the following table for the eight block network of FIG. 2D.
______________________________________ No. Switches N wherePrimary No. Total In Network N =Blocks Switches Switches Per Primary (Stage(2N) Added In Network Book No. -1)______________________________________1 1 1 1 02 3 4 2 13 5 9 3 14 3 12 3 25 7 19 3.8 26 5 24 4 27 5 29 4.1 28 3 32 4 316 0 80 5 432 0 192 6 5______________________________________
The switching blocks added to the network in stages 2, 3 and 4 are identified by numerals corresponding to the addition of the primary switching block, the addition of which requires the addition of the corresponding higher tier stage switching. Thus, for example, the addition of primary switch 158, the fifth primary switch, results in the addition of second stage switches 166 and 168, third stage switches 170 and 172, and fourth stage switches 174 and 176.
Referring now to FIG. 3, the characteristics of the elemental switch, a plurality of which constitutes the overall switching network, is illustrated for a preferred embodiment. Each elemental switch must function as a space switch capable of switching m inlet connections to n outlet connections. Additionally, each elemental switch must comprise at least one time slot interchange (TSI) unit for each inlet or outlet. It is to be understood that the designation of inlets and outlets is exemplary only and that the number of TSI's would correspond to the smaller number of m or n. In the event that a number of TSI's equal to the larger of m or n or in any event, greater than the smaller of m or n were used, the network would still be functional, however at reduced efficiency. Finally, each elemental switch must include enabling gates i.e., crosspoints for signal reflection. The connection/reflection gates are illustrated in FIG. 3 in simplified form; however, it is to be understood that each of said gates corresponds to the logical implementations described with reference in part to FIG. 7A. A concentration capability may be implemented when m is greater than n and an expansion capability implemented when n is greater than m. Additionally, for the concentration case, when a symmetrical (m�m) switch is available, only n of the m outlets need be used, since the non-utilization of the remaining outlets would result in only a number of inexpensive gates being non-utilized. Furthermore, an m�2n switch may be achieved by connecting the inlets of the necessary additional switches to the inlets 234 and 236. Of course, the value of m can vary widely with m being any number of inlet connections to the switches and n being any number of outlet connections from the switch.
Referring now to FIG. 4, a graph of blocking B versus number of switching stages N for four levels of link occupancy is illustrated. The term blocking as used herein may be defined as the inability to interconnect the idle lines or trunks connected to a network because of the impossibility for whatever reason to achieve such interconnection. The term nonblocking network as used herein may be defined as a network in which there is at all times at least one available path or link between any pair of idle lines or trunks connected thereto, regardless of the number of paths already occupied.
Two important aspects of network operation are the ability of the network to respond to varying traffic levels and the effect of an increased number of stages on the network operating characteristics. In accordance with the present invention, as the number of network stages increases, with each stage comprising a plurality of switches in a switching network, each of which has an identical parallel function to another switch in the switching stage of equal rank, the blocking does not continuously increase but approaches an asymptotic value between zero and one depending upon switch element size and traffic intensity. The term traffic intensity as used herein may be defined as the traffic quantity in one or more traffic paths per unit of time and is generally measured in Erlangs where one Erlang is the intensity in the traffic path continuously occupied or in one or more paths carrying an aggregate traffic of one call hour per hour, one call minute per minute, etc. In accordance with the present invention, the network blocking characteristic B for a particular number of switching stages N for low, medium and high traffic levels is such that a relationship exists between the blocking characteristic and N, where N is the number of stages such that once a maximum blocking level is reached, the network blocking will not further increase, i.e., the network blocking versus N curve becomes asymptotic at a maximum blocking level. This is illustrated by FIG. 4 for four levels of traffic intensity with curve 1 representative of low traffic intensity, curve 2 representative of low to medium traffic instensity, curve 3 representative of medium to high traffic intensity and curve 4 representative of high traffic intensity. As the switch size in each stage in increased, the blocking probability becomes lower for a given traffic intensity E.
Referring now to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the network expansion by means of the reflection/connection outlet is illustrated. Speech connections in switching block 300 are provided by the TDM space matrix 302 and the exemplary channel interchange units 304, 306 and 308. Each inlet (of which 310, 312, 314 are three examples) and each outlet (of which 322, 324, 326 are three examples) have input and output connections which carry the input and output paths of the four wire connection. As used herein, the terms channel interchange units and time slot interchange units are interchangeable. Each switching matrix module 300 will provide for thirty-two-channels on each of eight inlets of which three are illustrated at 310, 312, and 314 (inlets 0, 2 and 7, respectively) for simplicity of description.
Data on inlets 310, 312 and 314 at the inputs 311, 313 and 315 thereof, respectively, shown as inlets 0, 2 and 7 of eight inlets may be switched to the inlets 316, 318 and 320 of the channel interchange units 304, 306 and 308 respectively via the time division space switching matrix 302. Thus, data at any of the switching module inputs may be selectively coupled to any of the inputs of the channel interchange units for each of the channel times. Three channel interchange units 304, 306 and 308, one for each of the illustrated switching module outputs illustrated at 322, 324 and 326, introduce a predetermined delay, effectively switching data from a time channel on the input thereto to a different time channel on the output such that no two channels occupy the same position in time on each channel interchange output. For example, data on input 313 of inlet 312 is switched via crosspoint 354 to input 244 of channel interchange 306 inlet 318. Channel 15 data on input 313 is effectively converted by the properties of the channel interchange 306 to channel 21 data on output 328.
The channel interchange units may comprise well known units such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,483, and which patent references a number of well known time slot interchange references. In accordance with the present invention, the output 328 of channel interchange 306 outlet 324, for example, may be controllably forced into a changed impedance state to connect to the input 330 of channel interchange 306 outlet 324 as illustrated. The channel interchange can cause, for example, the data on input 330 for channel 21 to be converted to the data in time channel 9 on the output 334 of inlet 318. Switch 302 by means of crosspoint 340 switches the data from output 334 to output 338 of module inlet 314. This describes the data path corresponding to two wires of the four wire path. The other half of the data path is described as follows. Data on input 315 of inlet 314 at channel time 9 is switched via crosspoint 342 to the input 244 of inlet 318 of channel interchange unit 306. The channel interchange unit 306 transposes in time the data on channel 9 to channel 15 on output 334 of inlet 318 and couples same to crosspoint 350 which couples the data in channel 15 to output 352 of inlet 312.
The control is such that independent access is provided from each of the switch matrix module inlets 310, 312, 314, etc. to the channel interchange inlets, all in a predetermined format.
Referring now to FIG. 5B, the expanded switch of 5a is illustrated with an exemplary new traffic path and connections therefor when a plurality of like switching modules are interconnected in a multistage switching network. Thus, it may be seen that a traffic path is established from input channel 15 of inlet 2 of module 300 to output channel 21 of outlet 6 of module 300. Outlet 6 of module 300 is connected to inlet zero of module 300A. Input channel 21 of inlet zero of module 300A is connected to output channel 30 of outlet 7 of module 300A. Thus, channel 30 of outlet 7 of module 300A becomes the reflection point for the described connection as illustrated. The connection is completed via input channel 30 of outlet 7 of module 300A which is coupled to output channel 17 at inlet 7 of module 300A. Inlet 7 of module 300A is connected to outlet 6 of module 300B, which connects input channel 17 of outlet 6 to output channel 9 of inlet 7 of module 300B. This illustrates the connection of input channel 15 of inlet 2 of module 300 to output channel 9 of inlet 7 of module 300B by reflection at channel 30 of outlet 7 of module 300A. The return half of the four wire connection is the complement of this sequence. The path selected through switch 300 as described in relation to FIG. 5A before expansion of the network is equally possible for switch 300 after the expansion shown in FIG. 5B. The choice of reflection or through transmission at outlet 6 of module 300 will depend upon the path required. Thus, it has been shown that the switching module of FIG. 5A is expanded modularly to a multistage configuration as a consequence of the reflection technique permitting any requisite input interconnection while simultaneously leaving reflection outputs available for further expansion by connection to a higher order stage. Other switching modules 300C, 300D are of like configuration as the aforedescribed modules.
Referring now to FIGS. 6A through 6E, distribution networks wherein each switching block is comprised of a 2�2 switch illustrates quantitative examples of the present invention. Of course, in actual practice, larger switches in the order of 8�8, 16�16, 32�32, etc. could be utilized depending upon packaging, cabling and other economic considerations. For 192 lines on a thirty-two channel carrier at a traffic density of 0.1 Erlang/line, a traffic density of 0.6 Erlang for each of the thirty-two channels results. Assuming that fifty percent of the traffic is intraoffice, then trunk traffic is 19.2 Erlang divided by two, or 9.6 Erlangs per 192 line carrier. If trunk traffic is one-way over one group in each direction, each trunk group would require the capability to carry 4.8 Erlangs per 192 lines. The following table refers to FIGS. 6A through 6E of the combined time and space network of the present invention.
__________________________________________________________________________ Number Trunks Total Number Line Trunk One-Way (1% blocking Number NumberFIG. Lines Brlangs Traffic Traffic probability) Trunks Switches__________________________________________________________________________6A 192 19.2 9.6 4.8 11 22 16B 384 38.4 19.2 9.6 18 36 46C 576 57.6 28.8 14.4 25 50 76D 768 76.8 38.4 19.2 31 62 96E 960 96.0 48.0 24.0 37 74 12__________________________________________________________________________
A switch in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be implemented on a single LSI chip, combining both space and time switching and may be cascaded and interconnected to form a continuously expandable network of, for example, two thousand to one hundred thousand lines. Functionally, the channel interchange portion of this switch can be operative as a delay line which, whether implemented by charge coupled devices (CCD) or as an MOS dynamic shift register performs the complementary delay required to produce a four wire path as shown by FIG. 7A in which two signal inputs are illustrated by S1 and S2 on lines 700 and 702, respectively, whereby S1 and S2 have variable delays illustrated for S2 at 706 and 708 typically from 5 to 125 microseconds, while the delay of signal S1 is illustrated at 709. The total delay 706 plus 708 plus 709 is typically 125 microseconds. The delay selected shifts data between channels.
Logic for implementing this delay is illustrated by FIG. 7B. Each signal entry and exit point has the capability of entry, extraction or coupling a presently existing signal through the switch. A time slot interchange control signal C on line 710 is coupled to AND gates 712 and 714 and to AND gate 716 via an inverter 718. A digitized voice signal S1 is AND'ed with the control signal at AND gate 712, while S2 is AND'ed with the control signal at AND gate 714. The digitized voice signal S2 is coupled from a shift register 720 to AND gates 714 and 716, and is AND'ed at gate 716 with the inverted control signal. The output of AND gate 716 (signal S2) is OR'ed with the output of AND gate 712 signal (S1) at OR gate 722. Thus, either S1 or S2 is coupled through to shift register 724. The simplified logic of FIG. 7C is illustrative of shift registers 720 and 724 and the aforedescribed logic 726, and will be utilized hereinafter. When the described control logic is for an inlet, the control signal in line 710 is a selected stored control signal; however, when the described control logic is for an outlet, the control signal is a reflection control.
FIG. 8 is illustrative of a time switch and its associated control gating logic as described with reference to FIG. 7B for a multiple channel four wire configuration. The input signal S1 is coupled to the switch inlet 800 input line 802 while the S2 output, the return path of the four wire connection, is extracted from the switch inlet output line 804. Outlet 806 includes an outlet input line 816 and an outlet output line 818. The signal delay for signal S1 between inlet 800 input 802 and outlet 806 output 818 is selectably variable by selecting the desired signal input point 802, 808, 810, 812, etc. or other input points (not shown) in the delay line time switch, under the programmed control of control store 814, which contains the addresses of the signal input points in a predetermined and variable order. By accessing the address of the desired signal input point from the control store 814, signal S1 is entered into and S2 is extracted from the selected access point in the delay line. The control store 814 is timed by a timing circuit 820 to be synchronous with the speech delay line such that the address to be selected for each S1 input point is coupled from the control store 814 via line 822 to a serial-to-parallel shift register 824. The output of register 824 is used to select and operate one of the logic gating circuits which are provided for each of the thirty-two channels controlling the selected input gates 802, 808, 810, 812, etc. These control signal logic gating circuits are illustrated for channels one, two, three, thirty and thirty-one at 826, 828, 830, 832 and 834, respectively. The parallel output from register 824 is coupled to gates 826, 828, 830, 832 and 834 via lines 836, 838, 840, 842 and 844. Line 846 serves as the delay line return line from reflection gate 848. A synchronization signal supplied to timing circuit 820 serves to match the speech sample rate and the control code rate of the control store 814 in time. The two rates need not be bit synchronous since the two codes may differ, i.e., the speech sample may comprise eight bits, while the control code may comprise five bits. Each signal insertion, extraction and bypassing switch 850, 852, 854, 856, and 858 between the input and output delays 860, 862, 864, 866, 868 and 870 associated therewith provides the mechanism to allow the selection of the insertion/extraction point of the S1 and S2 signals, respectively, to provide the required amount of delay between inlet and outlet for S1 and the complementary delay of the return path for signal S2. The logic 848 enables signal reflection at the switch output when the path chosen between calling and called subscriber requires the folding of the path at this point in the network.
The reflection of a particular connection, when desired, is accomplished by the activation of control lead 872 of the reflection gate 848 at the appropriate time. By way of example, a sample of the signal S1 is entered on input 802 of inlet 800 and is to be reflected and returned from output 804 of inlet 800 at a predetermined later, time, such as two channel times later as the signal S1* at the same channel time when the complementary signal S2* (which is a sample of the signal in the other direction of conversation) is entered at input 802 on inlet 800 and output at 804 on inlet 800 as signal S2 at 30 channel times later, which is representative of thirty-two minus two channel times, at the same channel time when the next sample of S1 is being entered at 802. To accomplish the foregoing, the selection gate 826 activates the input/output logic 858 to insert S1 into the delay line and reflection control 872 on reflection gate 848 is activated one channel time later to reflect S1 into path 846. Selection gates 834 are then activated to control input/output logic 850 one channel time later to extract signal S1 and place it as S1* on the output 804, while simultaneously inserting the signal S2* on input 802 into the shift register delay line 862. Upon the expiration of thirty additional channel times, selection gates 826 will again activate input/output logic 858 to extract the signal S2* and output S2* on output line 804 as signal S2. Simultaneously with the foregoing, the next sample of S1 from input line 802 is inserted into shift register delay 870. The described switch thus transmits and reflects signals S1 and S2 in accordance with the requirements of the particular switching path as determined by the control storage 824.
Digitally encoded speech and control messages to direct the selection of switching module interconnection paths and channel interchange delays coupled via the switch module interconnections are encoded for each channel into sixteen serially transmitted bits. Typically, 8k frames per second are transmitted, with thirty-two channels per frame and 16-bits/channel. Timing is provided such that channel O, for example, occupies the same time slot (or period) on both the input and output connections. The channel interchange permits the 16-bits contained by each channel to be controllably transferred to a different channel by the introduction of delay into the bit stream. Such delay (for the thirty-two channel case) is a minimum of one channel period and a maximum of thirty-one channel periods. Reflection is accomplished by controllably changing the impedance switch outlets corresponding to either channel interchange to the high impedance state and connecting together the output and input of the selected channel interchange outlet.
Referring now to FIG. 9, a typical time division space crosspoint xy utilized with the time switch hereinbefore described, is illustrated at 900 for the crosspoint of inlet x comprising input line 902 and output line 904 and outlet y comprising input line 906 and output line 908 from and to the associated crosspoint channel interchange (hereinbefore described), respectively. Switch 910 has coupled thereto as one input a switch select signal from the control storage and the output via line 906 from the channel interchange unit associated therewith and has an output coupled to the output line 904 of inlet x. Switch 912 has coupled thereto a switch select signal from the control store and the signal on the input line 902 of inlet x and has an output therefrom on line 908 to its associated channel interchange unit. Output and input switches similar to 910 and 912 from up to seven other inlets may be connected to lines 906 and 908 at commoning points 924 and 926. The input and output lines 902 and 904 of inlet x are also coupled to a port recognition redundancy check fault detection circuit 914 and to a channel idle detection circuit 916 via AND gates 918 and 920, respectively, with the other input to said AND gates 918 and 920 being a monitor for enabling the gates at desired times.
The port recognition and redundancy check fault detection circuit 914 which may be of conventional design is provided to detect messages on input 902 directed to the control circuits associated with outlet y, to check the coding of messages to determine that such messages do not contain errors, to detect idle channels on the inlet input 902, and to output signals on inlet output 904 to indicate the busy/free condition of outlet y. Port recognition and redundancy check fault detection circuit 914 receives commands such as a send busy command from the control circuits associated with outlet y and consequently couples out a signal indicative of a busy/fault message to line 904. When circuit 914 recognizes a selection request message on input line 902 destined for outlet y, circuit 914 couples a priority select signal to a crosspoint priority control circuit which arbitrates among simultaneous requests on more than one inlet for output to outlet y. The output of channel idle detect circuit 916 is coupled to a free channel selection circuit via line 922.
A matrix of crosspoints xy as described with reference to FIG. 9 is illustrated by FIG. 10 wherein one representative outlet 960 and its control out of a possible eight other outlets in a matrix of eight inlets by eight outlets is shown connected to two inlets, 962 and 964 out of the possible eight inlets, zero through seven. Crosspoint xy illustrated at 900 corresponds to the crosspoint described with reference to FIG. 9. Also as hereinabove described with reference to FIG. 9, eight such crosspoints may be connected to the time switch (channel interchange) 928 via lines 906 and 908. Time switch 928 is described with reference to FIG. 8. The port recognition redundancy check fault detection channel idle detection circuits at 930 and 932 operate in like manner as circuit 914 described with reference to FIG. 9, and channel idle detection circuitry 934 and 936 operate in like manner as does the channel idle detect circuit 916, also described with reference to FIG. 9. The outputs 922, 938 and 940 of port recognition circuits 914, 930 and 932, respectively, are indicative of the receipt of messages at those respective circuits requesting connection to channel interchange 928 and are individually and separately connected to the crosspoint seizure priority control circuit 942. Upon receipt of simultaneous requests on two or more lines, circuit 942 is operative to select one of the requesting inlets and commands the sending of busy signals to the other nonselected requesting inlets by means of signals on lines 944, 946, or 948 as the case may be, to the respective circuits 930, 914 and 932 as appropriate, which busy signals are applied to the respective output lines on the crosspoint inlets as described with respect to FIG. 9. Crosspoint selection circuit 950 accepts and stores in a control delay line therein of like design to control store 814 described with reference to FIG. 8, the crosspoint selected by crosspoint selection circuit 942 for each of the thirty-two channel periods, and will open and close the selected crosspoint for each channel period by coupling signals onto the appropriate control lines 952, 954, etc. Signals on input 956 of outlet 960 may include path selection control signals received from a higher stage switch after reflection and which signals are recognized by previously described circuit 932. Outlet 960 thereby forms one of the inlets of such higher stage switch. Channel idle detect circuits 934 and 936 perform the same function as does channel idle detection circuit 916 described with reference to FIG. 9. It is to be understood that the matrix illustrated by FIG. 10 is exemplary only. However, and by way of example, an additional seven matrices identical to that described with reference to FIG. 10 may be connected to the inlets 962 and 964 at the commoning points 966 and 968. Up to six additional inlets having circuitry and connectivity identical to that illustrated by inlets 962 and 964 are implementable.
While the present invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that additional embodiments, modifications and applications which will become obvious to those skilled in the art are included within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth by the claims appended hereto.
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A computer-implemented method is described for instant messaging comprising: categorizing two or more instant messaging contact names into a single meta contact; receiving a request to transmit an instant message directed to the meta contact; selecting one of the two or more instant messaging contact names within the meta contact to which to transmit the instant message based on a specified prioritization scheme.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
categorizing two or more instant messaging contact names for a single individual into a single meta contact wherein said two or more instant messaging contact names are associated with different instant messaging services;
causing the meta contact to be displayed in a contact list, wherein the contact list includes a first section identifying individuals registered as "online" and a second section identifying individuals registered as "offline," and wherein said meta contact is displayed in the first section of a contact list when one of the two or more instant messaging contact names registers as "online" even though a different one of the two or more instant messaging contact names registers as "offline;"
causing other instant messaging contact names to be displayed alongside the meta contact in the contact list, wherein the other instant messaging contact names are not categorized into meta contacts;
receiving a request from a sending user to transmit an instant message directed to said meta contact; and
selecting one of the two or more instant messaging contact names within said meta contact to which to transmit said instant message based on a specified prioritization scheme configurable by the sending user, wherein said prioritization scheme is based on an order in which said instant messaging contact names appear within a meta contact list and wherein said order is graphically displayed beneath said meta contact within an instant messaging contact list.
2. The method as in
opening an instant messaging session with said one selected instant messaging contact name.
3. The method as in
4. The method as in
5. The method as in
selecting a first contact name which appears relatively lower in said order than a second contact name if said first contact name is registered on its respective instant messaging service as "online" whereas said second contact name is registered on its respective instant messaging service as "offline."
6. The method as in
selecting a first contact name which appears relatively lower in said order than a second contact name if said first contact name is registered on its respective instant messaging service as "idle" whereas said second contact name is registered on its respective instant messaging service as "offline."
7. An instant messaging graphical user interface (GUI) comprising:
a contact list including at least one meta contact entry, said meta contact entry representing two or more different instant messaging contact names for the same individual, said meta contact entry selectable via a mouse pointer or other cursor control device, wherein said two or more different instant messaging contact names are associated with different instant messaging services, and wherein the contact list has a first section identifying individuals registered as "online" and a second section identifying individuals registered as "offline," and the meta contact entry is in the first section when one of the two or more different instant messaging contact names registers as "online" even though a different one of the two or more different contact names registers as "offline,"
wherein, upon receiving a selection of said meta contact entry by a user, an instant messaging session is initiated with one of said two or more different contact names based on a specified prioritization scheme configurable by the user, wherein said prioritization scheme comprises an order in which said contact names appear beneath said meta contact entry.
8. The GUI as in
9. The GUI as in
10. The GUI as in
11. The GUI as in
12. The GUI as in
13. A machine readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a machine causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
grouping instant messaging (IM) contact names of a single individual into a meta contact, each IM contact name representing a different IM account of the individual;
providing an order for the IM contact names to be graphically displayed beneath the meta contact;
providing a contact list having a first section identifying individuals registered as "online" and a second section identifying individuals registered as "offline," wherein the meta contact is graphically displayed in the first section when one of said IM contact names registers as "online" even though a different one of said IM contact names registers as "offline;"
receiving a selection of the meta contact, the selection indicating a request to initiate an IM session with the individual;
in response to the selection of the meta contact, automatically selecting one of the IM contact names within the meta contact with which to initiate the IM session, wherein automatically selecting includes selecting a first IM contact name lower in the order than a second IM contact name when the first IM contact name registers as idle and the second IM contact name registers as offline; and
wherein a first IM account of the individual is associated with a first IM service, a second IM account of the individual is associated with a second IM service, and the first IM service uses a different protocol to transmit an instant message than the second IM service.
14. The medium of
15. The medium of
displaying in a GUI the IM contact names in said order beneath the meta contact.
16. The medium of
17. The medium of
after the IM session is initiated with the IM contact name, receiving an instant message to be transmitted to the individual.
18. The medium of
receiving an instant message to be transmitted to the individual and transmitting the instant message using any IM contact name within the meta contact registering as online.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of data communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved system and method for managing a plurality of contacts (i.e., "buddies") in an instant messaging environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instant messaging systems provide for live, text-based chat sessions between two or more users. Unlike e-mail, instant messaging requires that all parties be online at the same time. AOL's Instant Messenger ("AIM�"), Microsoft Network Messenger Service ("MSNMS�"), ICQ� and Yahoo! Messenger� are the major instant messaging services.
Instant messaging clients allows users to maintain a list of contacts, often referred to as a "buddy list" or "contact list." A user can send instant messages to any of the people in the user's list, as long as those people are online. Sending a message opens up a small window where the user and the user's buddies can type in messages that both can see.
Most of the popular instant messaging programs provide a variety of supplemental features including, for example, Web links (the ability to share links to Websites); image sharing (the ability to view images stored on a buddy's computer; sound sharing (the ability transmit sounds to a buddy); file sharing (the ability to transmit files to a buddy); audio communication (the ability to use the Internet instead of a phone to actually talk with buddies); and information streaming (streaming of real-time or near-real-time information such as stock quotes and news headlines).
Some of the basic principles associated with an instant messaging session will now be described with respect to
In order to communicate with the specified instant messaging service 100, proprietary instant messaging client software must initially be installed on the client computers 102 and 104. For example, if the instant messaging service 100 is AIM, then AOL's proprietary instant messaging client software must be installed. The client software allows the client computers 102 and 104 to communicate with the AIM server using AOL's proprietary instant messaging protocol.
Similarly, other instant messaging services, such as IM service 108, will require different client software installed on client computers 106 and 110. For example, Yahoo's proprietary IM software, which includes built-in support for Yahoo's proprietary IM protocol, must be installed on any client computer that uses Yahoo's IM service. Moreover, the client IM software and associated IM protocols required by each service 100, 108 are not compatible. Client software designed for one service may not be used to connect to a different service.
Once the IM client software is installed, to establish an IM session, the client sends the IM service connection information associated with the client computer (e.g., IP address and port number). The IM service creates a temporary file that contains the connection information for the user and the contacts in the user's buddy list. It then checks to see if any of the contacts in the buddy list are currently logged in.
If the service locates any contacts logged in, it sends the connection information for those contacts back to the client. The IM service also sends the user's connection information to the contacts in the buddy list that are signed on. When the client receives the connection information for a contact in the buddy list, it changes the "status" of that person to "Online." The user may then click on a name of any contact in the buddy list who is online, opening an IM window in which the user may enter an instant message.
Once the users have signed on to the IM service, all subsequent communication may occur directly between the two clients, as indicated by the "direct link" between clients 102 and 104, and clients 106 and 110. However, in some circumstances, IM communication must continue to occur through the instant messaging service 100. For example, if client 104 is behind a firewall, client 102 may not be permitted to establish an IM session with client 104 directly.
When the user goes "offline" the client sends a message to the IM server to terminate the session. The server then sends a message to the clients of each contact in the user's buddy list who are currently online to indicate that the user has logged off. Finally, the IM server deletes the temporary file that contained the connection information for the client(s).
A computer-implemented method is described for instant messaging comprising: categorizing two or more instant messaging contact names into a single meta contact; receiving a request to transmit an instant message directed to the meta contact; selecting one of the two or more instant messaging contact names within the meta contact to which to transmit the instant message based on a specified prioritization scheme.
A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained from the following detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
As described above, one of the problems associated with instant messaging is the lack of interoperability between the different instant messaging services. For example, a different, proprietary IM client must be installed for each individual IM service on which the user opens an account. Downloading, installing and coordinating among a plurality of different, incompatible IM clients may consume a significant amount of time and effort on behalf of the user.
To solve this and other problems, the assignee of the present application has developed a unified instant messaging client platform which is interoperable with each of the different IM services. Referring to
One embodiment of the instant messaging GUI 201 is illustrated in
In order to coordinate among the various IM services, a service bar 310 is provided which includes a set of graphical buttons representing each of the different services. The user may connect to a particular service and/or access/modify the features provided by that service by selecting the button corresponding to the service. By way of example, in
The user may connect to multiple services at once, using one or more different screen names. However, in one embodiment, if the user is not logged in to a particular service, the only option which will be provided via the service bar is the "connection manager" option (shown at the top of the menu in
One embodiment of the GUI 201 provides the user with the option to "globally connect" or "globally disconnect" from each service on which the user has an account, thereby streamlining the process of connecting/disconnecting to multiple services. Similarly, one embodiment provides the user with the option to globally set his/her online status to "globally away" or "globally back." Each of the global functions may be provided within the IM application 202. The IM service interfaces 204, 206, and 208 may translate the global functions to service-specific functions, interpretable by each individual service 100, 108, and 210, respectively. Global functions may be provided as menu entries within the GUI menu structure (e.g., File), and/or may be triggered via certain specified hotkeys (e.g., CTRL+D=global disconnect, . . . etc).
In order to simplify the process of managing contacts from multiple IM accounts, one embodiment of the invention allows the user to set up a group of screen names which represent a single user. These groups will be referred to herein as "Meta Contacts." The process of creating and working with Meta Contacts will now be described with reference to
Two of the contact names displayed in
After the user enters the name for the new Meta Contact, the name "Meredith Webster" 701 appears in the user's buddy list as illustrated in
In one embodiment, to send an instant message to the individual represented by the Meta Contact 701, the user clicks on the Meta Contact 701 in the same manner as if the user were sending an instant message using a standard contact name. After clicking on the Meta Contact 701, a window such as that shown in
In the illustrated example, only one of the two IM accounts organized within the Meta Contact 701 is selected for the IM session, as indicated in the title bar 803. In one embodiment of the invention, a user-configurable prioritization scheme is employed to determine which IM account 602, 601 (or group of accounts) within the Meta Contact 701 to select for the IM session. In one embodiment, the initial prioritization is based on the order in which the contact names 602, 601 appear under the Meta Contact heading 701. Using this scheme, the contact name "meredith_webster" 602 would be selected initially over the contact name "mersingerwebster" 601, with all other variables being equal. In one embodiment of the invention, the user may select and drag a contact name to a different position in the list to modify' the initial priority scheme (e.g., contact name 601 may be moved above contact name 602). It should be noted, however, that various alternate techniques for determining priority may be employed (i.e., other than mere positioning within the Meta Contact list) while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention.
In one embodiment, a relatively higher priority IM account will be passed over in favor of a relatively lower priority IM account if the user registered as "offline" on the higher priority account and "online" or "idle" on the lower priority account. Thus, in the example illustrated in
Various additional user-configurable Meta Contact parameters may be employed to select a particular contact name/IM account. For example, in one embodiment, the user may configure the system to transmit instant messages to any of the accounts on which the contact is registered as "online."
As illustrated in
Other noteworthy options within the Meta Contact menu 901 include the ability to edit/add information related to the contact (e.g., in a text format). In one embodiment, this additional information will appear in the pop-up information screen 702 illustrated in
A logical architecture for implementing the Meta Contact features described above is illustrated generally in
In one embodiment, the generalized architecture illustrated in
One embodiment of the invention provides an application programming interface for plugins—i.e., supplemental programs which provide the primary IM client 200 with additional features. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Various additional plugin sections are contemplated within the scope of the present invention, including, for example, a mini Web browser section for browsing the Internet from within the IM client and a mail section for periodically downloading e-mail messages from the user's e-mail account (e.g., using the POP-3 protocol).
Referring now to
In addition, in the embodiment illustrated in
For example, in one embodiment, any characters which directly follow the "/" character are interpreted by the text monitoring module 1402 as an "alias." As used herein, an alias identifies data maintained by one of the plugins 1410-1412, which is then inserted into the instant message by the content conversion module 1403. For example, as indicated in data fields 1501 and 1502 in
In addition to (or in lieu of) using "aliases," the user may configure the IM client to reformat and/or replace various specified character strings. For example, when the user types his/her screen name, he/she may want it to appear in bolded or italicized characters. Similarly, the user may want to trigger some sort of event in response to a particular character string (e.g., playing of a .WAV file, execution of a program, . . . etc).
Selection box 1603 allows the user to specify a background and foreground highlight color for the selected text. Selection box 1604 allows the user to specify a tooltip note to be displayed above the character string. Selection box 1605 allows the user to enter a character string to be used in place of the input character string. For example, the user's real name may be substituted for his/her screen name and certain acronyms may be replaced with the character string represented by the acronym (e.g., BTW="By the way").
Finally, at 1606, the user may specify an event that will be triggered as a result of the text monitoring module identifying the specified character string. Events may be programmed via the events window 1700 shown in
In addition to the event-based features described above with respect to the receipt of character strings, one embodiment of the invention employs a comprehensive event system for generating virtually any type of program action in response to virtually any type of events. One embodiment of the event system is illustrated generally in
Two types of event selection windows are provided in the illustrated embodiment. A general event window is illustrated in
In region 1802, the user may select conditions under which the user's status should be set back to "online" (e.g., either when set away manually or by an event, or only when set away by an event). Region 1803 allows the user to configure various sound generation actions (as indicated) and region 1804 allows the user to customize away messages. In one embodiment, choosing to add a new away message brings up the window illustrated in
In one embodiment of the invention, the following event types (1701) are supported: program generated events, idle time events, hotkey events, and scheduled events. Program generated events (1702) are events triggered by any function performed by the IM client 1400 or another external client/program. For example, a user may program the system to perform an action in response to the receipt of either a new instant message (internal) or a new e-mail message (external). In one embodiment, the user may program the event monitoring module 2002 to set the user's status as "offline" when the user's screen saver triggers.
Idle time events are events triggered after a predetermined amount of time that the user is inactive (e.g., not manipulating the mouse or keyboard). Hotkey events are triggered in response to the selection of a specified key or set of keys while the IM client is running (e.g., CTRL+M=create new instant messaging session). Finally, in one embodiment of the invention a scheduler is provided which allows the user to schedule actions at specified dates and times. The user may program the actions associated with scheduled events to trigger only once, daily, weekly, business weekly (e.g., Monday through Friday), monthly or yearly, to name just a few options.
As mentioned above, for each specified event, various types of actions may be selected within the action type region 1703 including, but not limited to, generating a specified sound (e.g., from a .WAV file), executing a specified program (e.g., by identifying an executable file), generating an alert window or a Systray alert, and/or modifying the user's status. Once a new event and associated action is added to the system, it appears within the event list in region 1900.
Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions which cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps (e.g., on a client computer). Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.
Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client).
Throughout the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details were set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. For example, while the embodiments of the invention described above focus on a specific graphical user interface implementation for the IM client, various alternate interface types may be employed including text-based interfaces. In addition, although a client-based implementation is described above, a server-based implementation (or other distributed computing implementation) is also contemplated within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope and spirit of the invention should be judged in terms of the claims which follow.
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|67 posts found
Apprentice Member
Joined: 5/11/06
Originally posted by shakermaker0
You mean the quest packs you can earn through in game currency while playing any race and all but one class while talking in all chat, wearing any gear, with full storage and bags, and non capped abilities/spells? Those quest packs?
I guess playing any race and class a game offers without gimped abilities and running to sell every minutes is more important to me than you.
My understanding of the article is on point and has nothing to do with a developer or game. I actually think eq2 is a better game than either ddo or lotr but that isnt the point of the article is it? Sadly it appears you dont understand the point of your own article. Bang for your buck indeed.
Login or Register to never see this panel
You get more bang for your buck with LOTRO. However EQ2X is more F2P in terms of content.
Novice Member
Joined: 11/18/05
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Originally posted by Kost
No....EQ2X is a better deal...with or without spending money. The world is huge and the content beats the crap out of LoTRO.
But hey...everyone has their favorite.
Hard Core Member
Joined: 2/27/07
Originally posted by Snaylor47
That is a bunch of malarky! The differences in content are minimal at best. The sad thing you can't figure out that a lot the content in EQ2 is NOT available to the free player. Better luck next time.
"No....EQ2X is a better deal...with or without spending money. The world is huge and the content beats the crap out of LoTRO.
Huh? If you took the time to read Kost's post, he lays it out in black and white, it is blatantly obvious. Numbers don't lie.
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/21/07
why let them nickel and dime you.
thre's no sense arguing about eq2x vs free LOTRO. both are much better enjoyed with the sub (in fact as pay to play games i think they're both OUTSTANDING). no getting nickeled and dimed, the way turbine will do with the quest packs and $ony will do with the, well whatever they possibly can.
the only online games you're gonna get for free that offer what a sub game offers will be:
1) a game like guild wars where you've got to pay for the game itself and then for expansions
2) a game like Diablo 2 where it's not really a persistant mmo world but rather game servers a la battle.net
3) a game with heavy advertising to raise revenue since the game devs are not getting any from the players per se.
in LOTRO (again, i love LOTRO) sure you can earn turbine points for free by playing, but if you factor in the hours involved, you're working in game 2 or 3 hours for what, 5 bucks worth of points? you could likely put in 1 to 2 hours (if not less) at your job for 15 bucks, then you're working an hour for a month's sub nstead of working 2 hours for 5 bucks worth of turbine points, or eq points or whatever points. I'm no wealthy person (i'm a grad student) but i dont mind putting in 3 hours a month for an eve sub and a $ony station pass (yeah, even $ony's subscribers think they're greedbags heh) it's actually a really efficient use of my time, since between them i probably get 80 to 90 hours of entertainment a month.
sorry to get all high horse but i needed to get it off my chest re: free to play games.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, DFUW
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
Elite Member
Joined: 10/01/07
I really wish everyone would stop saying Lotro lvl locks you and does not let you past lvl 20 or 25 thats a joke. Your only locked on quests after abut lvl 30 or 35 if you do it right even lvl 40 is easy to get F2P. I have characters I have gotten all the way to lvl 40 just questing through lone lands and doing some skirmishes then I am off to the Misty Mountains and doing the books helps get you to about lvl 37, 38. So dont go saying that it lvl locks you it does not do that. As for content yeah EQ2 has alot but like one said its not possible to do all of it with the restrictions in place then its pay to win. In Lotro you pay to unlock content as in quest hubs and questing areas nothing more and thats about $30 to $40 dollars give or take a few TP sale's and those have been going on alot.
Well as I said the game EQ2 is a good one but there F2P isnt near as good as Lotro because they dont lock you out of skills and gear which makes no sense to do anyways. And as for class and race locking on EQ2 they call them premium classes and races why because they think what they offer for free meets the trinity set up on classes and there races they offer equal all they same ones I get with most F2P games anyway so. Now for me I have beta tested both games way back when and even there F2P betas and knew turbines model was way better. During the EQ2x beta they had it locked even more till most of the player base complained till they gave us the option for more for the money.
So keep this in mind also not everyone likes ethier EQ2 or lotro some like games that we all didnt mention and theres well go look the list is alot more then the P2P games. But hey EQ2 might be more for free but locks you out worse then even Runes of Magic does and those players from that game understand what I mean. RoM can cost into the thousands to be end game but EQ2 just does it in a way they make you thing its cheap when you add it up it costs way more. But in lotro you pay to unlock it it unlocks across the board all but virtues which are in no way a skill tree sorry but no. So you do that math say a total of $80 for Lotro and what $150 to $250 dollars for EQ2 and thats the first time not including all the extra stuff when you want to upgrade gear and spells that you have to spend about $15 dollars for a full unlock not sure on spells so still a guess it might be more.
Novice Member
Joined: 11/18/05
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Originally posted by Ozmodan
Did you take the time to read my responses to his post? They're in bright yellow.
My numbers don't lie either.
Novice Member
Joined: 1/15/10
To compare games are often a test of interests. I used to play LotRO with a sub a year ago, but have not tried the FTP model. I have tried DDO FTP and just a few days ago I decided to take a look at EQ2x, mainly because I have heard many good things about their crafting system and housing design.
The key to having fun is deciding what makes a game fun for you. Some people want to try all the races and classes, while others prefer to play just one race/class combo and take it to the end. The various preferences can make different games look more enticing. Some people just love The Professor and his world, and for them LotRO is the obvious choice. EQ2 and DDO are more "generic" worlds created by the devlopers, and EQ2 seems to open up more to exploring. When I play DDO, I dont see the old Pen and Paper worlds I grew up playing in, nor the EQ/DAoC I played avidly years ago.
One might argue that EQ2's race packs feels excessive when the "have to buy" three races to get the one you want, and DDO allows you to buy single races, but to me at least that seems to be the wrong approach. I was a bit dissappointed that EQ2 did not allow me to ressurect my old EQ Half-elf Ranger without paying, but I think I can afford to pay if I decide that I want to do so.
All games, even FTP, have something working for them. The key is to decide if their features are the ones you want, and if not, find something else to play.
Novice Member
Joined: 3/20/06
"Denial does not change reality."
EQ2 is an outstanding game. The only serious problem it has is $OE and has suffered under its management. In fact, $OE as a reason to stay away is more than understandable. While the game may have many features, you will be nickle and dimed at every turn to truly access all them and to be spared crippling limitations. I would suggest that any player that feels 'hooked' at the beginning of F2P just go ahead and buy the game (latest expansion includes game & all expansions) and go to the live servers for the free month.
Apprentice Member
Joined: 6/20/10
Originally posted by japo
Maybe this will change once the new xpac comes out, but at the moment you can only level up to level 80 max without upgrading or paying money.
Advanced Member
Joined: 5/25/09
Originally posted by vesavius
This article was written atleast a dozen weeks ago, and lets face it EverQuest 2 an expansions coming out every year - I'd be the first person to dance around and scream that SOE are shovelling money into my back pocket. Not the case unfortunatley.
Hard Core Member
Joined: 2/27/07
Originally posted by japo
If you can't figure out how restricted EQ2 is compared to Lotro's version of the freemium model I feel very sorry for you.
Novice Member
Joined: 7/14/10
Originally posted by Ozmodan
Ozmodan, why don't you actually give us a supportive argument instead of just spewing this kind of talk?
I've played both Lotro and EQ2X, and whereas certain things like chat restriction are annoying, the equipment / spell tiers thing is hardly noticeable until the higher levels, and even then it doesnt really matter.
Lotro offers you "more" at startup because it HAS LESS at the beginning. Lotro also "makes" you buy quest packs, and whereas you can grind for the points needed to buy CS items, it takes a lot of time.
In EQ2X, I can go to my house, play with my furniture, then go around my home city, RP a bit, go on a quest, run into a zone that is much higher level, and get my butt kicked, and then come back to my city and start all over again, because I can acces virtually any and all of the content that the game has to offer. What's more, there are "progression" guilds in EQ2 that cap off at a certain level and complete everything in that expansion, so you can stretch your free game even further with that option.
Now, kindly explain this sentence: The sad thing you can't figure out that a lot the content in EQ2 is NOT available to the free player.
Old School
Joined: 1/03/04
Originally posted by japo in yellow
Joined: 1/15/10
In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.
Originally posted by japo
What numbers?
All you did was provide personal opinions on why you think your game is better than the other, then you tried to use some flawed logic to show why.
"My game is actually better because yours offers less classes and races overall, even if you have to pay out the ass to play the extra races and classes in my game", is effectively your entire argument.
Look at your actual response to the issues about gear restrictions:
"It's only a hinderance if you want to raid. For players like me who don't raid...no biggie."
I see, so even though it's a piss poor deal it doesn't matter because it "doesn't effect you". Nice. What about the players who want to raid, or run high end dungeons (which you will be essentially useless in with the gear you will have, regardless of what you claim to the contrary). I guess it's all good that they are left out in the cold because it doesn't effect you.
Regarding this little gem:
"But you can make a one time payment for that race and get your character back, Which, as stated above, gives you three more races than LoTRO since the race packs come with three races"
It's not a one time payment if you were just subscribed to Gold and reverted. That is the entire point of why I made that statement to begin with. It's not a hard concept to grasp, and if you enjoy paying the company twice for access to that content be my guest, but don't you dare try to come here and convince other users that 2X is the better value, when you legitimately pay one time in LOTRO and retain the content you would be forced to pay twice for in 2X.
Overall, in terms of actual evidence you provided none.
If fact, you only actually provided any mathematical data in the second to last comment you highlighted in yellow:
"Again....who wants them all. Find he one you want and py the 5 bucks. Now you have more classes than LoTRO...unless you pay $20 for their extra class."
And you were not even correct about that. It's $7.50 per class, not $5.
Regarding your argument about EQ2X having more races and available classes, I suggest you blame Tolkien for not adding more races to his world lol. Damn you Turbine! You chose to remain true to the IP you were representing, shame on you!
Joined: 1/15/10
In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.
Originally posted by nhavas
Good read, especially since i JUST downloaded EQ2E last night!
"From my initial steps I could see plainly that my bag slots were reduced to two interchangeable packs"
I have only played for about 3 hours so far, but I have got 1 big bag and several smaller bags right from the start.....Wierd.
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Joined: 1/15/10
In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.
Originally posted by stragen001
Just wait till you realize that regardless of how many bags you actually have, you can only equip two of them without paying. Have fun carrying those extra bags around in your already extremely limited inventory, or being forced to throw them away, because you also have basically no bank space either.
And forget about trying to sell them on the Broker, unless you want to pay for tokens just so you can list the items.
Why don't you go start a guild and see if you can give them away to someone who might need them? Oh, sorry I forgot, you have to pay to be able to start a guild too.
No worries right? You can just use chat to advertise them to randoms and sell them that way! Oops, no you can't, because your chat access is so limited that communication is almost non-existent. Have fun using /say to sell your goods.
Im 'between games' at the moment waiting for SWTOR to come out so have been a bit of an MMO slut playing all the Betas and F2P mmo's
I would like to see Adam review LOTRO next and compare (and it would seem many others agree).
That was the last game I played for any length of time and got to about level 35 in Trollshaws before I felt I had to start paying real money to be able to progress. The way LOTRO rewards you with Turbine Points for completing deeds and major quests meant that if I found I *needed* to buy something from the store, I could work on deeds/quests with turnine points as rewards until I had enough.
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Originally posted by Kost
Oh Man, that sucks!
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom


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Online community devoted to Australian cricket fans.
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Reviewed By BRADLEY C (Carmel, IN) Reviewed for a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee —9/11/2013 10:32 AM
The instructional pictures didn't match up exactly to my year of vehicle & the hardware kit was crap. I had to use some of my own hardware to complete the installation and the instructions don't properly identify the fasteners, etc. After a frustrating pre-assembly, the kit installed easily. My on-board computer showed an immediate increase in MPG as high as 25MPG then settled 23.8 during my first road trip. The previous high hwy MPG was 22.5. I detect no change in sound volume from my V6.


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42 U.S. Code § 914 - Office of Women's Health
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(a) Establishment
The Secretary shall establish within the Office of the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, an office to be known as the Office of Women's Health. The Office shall be headed by a director who shall be appointed by the Administrator.
(b) Purpose
The Director of the Office shall—
(1) report to the Administrator on the current Administration level of activity regarding women's health across, where appropriate, age, biological, and sociocultural contexts;
(2) establish short-range and long-range goals and objectives within the Health Resources and Services Administration for women's health and, as relevant and appropriate, coordinate with other appropriate offices on activities within the Administration that relate to health care provider training, health service delivery, research, and demonstration projects, for issues of particular concern to women;
(3) identify projects in women's health that should be conducted or supported by the bureaus of the Administration;
(4) consult with health professionals, nongovernmental organizations, consumer organizations, women's health professionals, and other individuals and groups, as appropriate, on Administration policy with regard to women; and
(c) Continued administration of existing programs
The Director of the Office shall assume the authority for the development, implementation, administration, and evaluation of any projects carried out through the Health Resources and Services Administration relating to women's health on March 23, 2010.
(d) Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1) Administration
The term "Administration" means the Health Resources and Services Administration.
(2) Administrator
The term "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Source(Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title VII, § 713, as added Pub. L. 111–148, title III, § 3509(f),Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 535.)
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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Jury out in chief's excessive-force trial
Didn't stomp, kick or hit handcuffed man, Bull Shoals lawman testifies
Posted: July 19, 2014 at 2:36 a.m.
HARRISON -- A jury deliberated Friday in the federal trial of Bull Shoals Police Chief Daniel Sutterfield but hadn't reached a verdict late Friday on charges that Sutterfield used excessive force during an arrest and tried to cover it up.
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Originally written on Diehardsport | Last updated 7/16/13
Since it is the offseason, there is a lot more free time to dig up old clips and try and read into what any exchanges between players could have meant. After the New England Patriots slaughtered the Denver Broncos 41-23 in the 2011 NFL Playoffs, Tom Brady and Tim Tebow met at midfield to exchange some words. Towards the end of their conversation Brady says, "I'm trying to watch over Aaron [Hernandez] and Brandon [Spikes] but…" Tebow then says "Man, they're good guys" which Brady responds with "We've got a lot to handle." The exchange then finishes with Tebow saying "Absolutely." You can guarantee that when training camp comes around, the Boston Media will be grilling these two about this exchange and what Brady meant. Obviously Tebow will be asked a lot about his time with Hernandez in college. Who would have thought that Tebow wouldn't be the big distraction this year and it would actually be Hernandez, who isn't even on the team anymore? No one. [The Big Lead]
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This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Dice Holdings, the tech, finance and vertical jobs service, has bought out healthcare jobs site AllHealthcareJobs.com, for an initial cash consideration of $2.8 million, and 205,000 shares of the publicly traded company. Additionally, up to $1.0 million could be paid out depending on the performance over the next two years. Dice has been trying to diversify from its usual base of tech and financial jobs, as the economy hit those two sectors particularly hard. This new acquisition it in line with that. Dice reported drastically lower revenues in Q109: $29.6 million, a decline of 25 percent from $39.6 million in the year ago quarter in Q108, mainly due to a significant decline in its flagship sites Dice.com and eFinancialCareers.
AHJ was launched in 2006, and from the looks of it, really needs a redesign, if nothing else. More details in the release.
By Rafat Ali
By CBSNewsPaidContent.orgJune 11, 2009, 4:01 PM
Dice Buys Out Vertical Jobs Site AllHealthcareJobs.com For $2.8 Million