E-mail with voice / phone conference feature

1. An e-mail communication method comprising the steps of:

inserting a voice conference identifier in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party, the voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

transmitting said e-mail message to the recipient party at a recipient node;

causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons.

2. The e-mail communication method of claim 1 , wherein said conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

3. The e-mail communication method of claim 1 , wherein said conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

4. The e-mail communication method of claim 1 , wherein said voice conference call list specifies telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

5. The e-mail communication method of claim 1 , wherein said voice conference call list specifies IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

6. An e-mail communication method comprising the steps of:

in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party at a recipient node, detecting at the recipient node a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

responsive to detecting said voice conference identifier at the recipient node, causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

responsive to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons, establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component.

7. The e-mail communication method of claim 6 , wherein said voice conference call list includes telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

8. The e-mail communication method of claim 6 , wherein said voice conference call list includes IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

9. The e-mail communication method of claim 6 , wherein said voice conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

10. The e-mail communication method of claim 6 , wherein said voice conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

11. An electronic mail (e-mail) message comprising:

header information, said header information identifying a sending node and at least one recipient node;

a message portion, said message portion displaying content from said sending node to said recipient node; and

a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes to be connected via a voice conference call, and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

the e-mail message being an e-mail message sent from an initiating party to a recipient party at a recipient node; and

the voice conference call identifier being configured to cause the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source such that a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons establishes a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response.

12. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

inserting a voice conference identifier in an e-mail message from an initiating party to a recipient party, the voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

transmitting said e-mail message to the recipient party at a recipient node;

causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons in response to detection of the voice conference identifier at the recipient node, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component in response to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable voice communications icons.

13. The machine readable storage of claim 12 , wherein said conference call is established using a Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

14. The machine readable storage of claim 12 , wherein said conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

15. The machine readable storage of claim 12 , wherein said voice conference call list specifies telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

16. The machine readable storage of claim 12 , wherein said voice conference call list specifies IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

17. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

in an e-mail message from an initiating to a recipient party at a recipient node, detecting at the recipient node a voice conference identifier comprising a voice conference call list specifying a data source of potential conference call nodes and further comprising an executable voice communications link program component, the executable voice communications link program component comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes;

responsive to detecting said voice conference identifier at the recipient node, causing the recipient node to display a plurality of selectable voice communications icons, each selectable voice communications icon uniquely corresponding to a particular conference call node specified by the data source; and

responsive to a selection of at least one of the plurality selectable voice communications icons, establishing a voice communications link between the recipient node and at least one conference call node using the executable voice communications link program component.

18. The machine readable storage of claim 17 , wherein said voice conference call list includes telephone numbers for said identified conference call nodes.

19. The machine readable storage of claim 17 , wherein said voice conference call list includes IP addresses for said identified conference call nodes.

20. The machine readable storage of claim 17 , wherein said voice conference call is established using Voice over IP (VoIP) based voice communications links.

21. The machine readable storage of claim 17 , wherein said voice conference call is established using telephony-based voice communications links over a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

22. The machine readable storage of claim 17 , said establishing step further comprising:

responsive to said recipient party selecting at least one of said plurality of selectable voice communications icons, determining a telephone number or an IP address for said selected ones of said identified conference call nodes based on said voice conference call list.

23. An electronic mail client comprising:

a conventional electronic mail processor, said conventional electronic mail processor extracting and displaying message text encapsulated in an electronic mail message sent from an initiating party to a recipient party and received in a recipient node; and,

a voice conference processor, said voice conference processor identifying a voice conference identifier encapsulated in said received electronic mail, displaying a plurality of selectable icons in response to detecting said voice conference identifier, and responsive to a selection of at least one said plurality of selectable icons, establishing a voice conference call between selected conference call nodes based on an executable voice communications link program component contained in the voice conference identifier and comprising a binary representation of a compiled object for establishing a voice communications link between the conference call nodes.