System and method for concurrent multimodal communication session persistence

1. A method for multimodal communication comprising:

maintaining, during non-session conditions and on a per user basis, concurrent multimodal session status information of user agent programs configured for different concurrent modality communication during a session, wherein the maintaining step includes storing, during a session, at least one of:

location data indicating where last fetched information was obtained for each of a plurality of user agent programs used during a concurrent multimodal communication session;

information on which field has been filled by user input during the concurrent multimodal communication session and the field content; and

current dialogue states for the concurrent multimodal communication session; and

reestablishing a concurrent multimodal session in response to accessing the concurrent multimodal session status information.

2. The method of claim 1 including a steps of:

detecting a joining of a session by a user;

accessing concurrent multimodal session status information;

if the accessed concurrent multimodal session status information indicates a prior concurrent multimodal session for the user, then re-establishing the concurrent multimodal session identified by the concurrent multimodal session status information.

3. The method of claim 1 including the step of maintaining which devices are employed during a concurrent multimodal session to facilitate switching of devices during a concurrent multimodal communication.

4. A method for multimodal communication comprising:

maintaining, during non-session conditions and an a per user basis, concurrent multimodal session status information of user agent programs configured for different concurrent modality communication during a session;

temporarily storing, during a session, modality specific instructions for at least one of a plurality of user agent programs that operate in different modalities with respect to each other to compensate for communication delay associated with modality specific instructions for a second of the plurality of user agent programs; and

re-establishing a concurrent multimodal session in respone to accessing the concurrent multimodal session status information.

5. The method of claim 1 including the step of receiving multimode mute data and storing a record of which modalities for a multimodal communication are to be muted for a given session.

6. A multimodal apparatus comprising:

a concurrent multimodal session persistence controller to maintein, during non-session conditions and on a per user basis, concurrent multimodal session status information of user agent programs configured for different concurrent modality communication during a session and to re-establish a concurrent multimodal session in response to accessing the concurrent multimodal session status information; and

memory, operatively coupled to the concurrent multimodal session persistence controller, containing the concurrent multimodal session status information, wherein the memory contains at least one of:

proxy identification data indicating a previous proxy used in a prior concurrent multimodal communication session;

information on which field has been filled by user input during the concurrent multimodal communication session and the field content; and

current dialogue states for the concurrent multimodal communication session.

7. The multimodal apparatus of claim 6 wherein the concurrent multimodal session persistence controller accesses the concurrent multimodal session status information contained in the memory and if the accessed concurrent multimodal session status information indicates a prior concurrent multimodal session for the user, facilitates re-establishment of the concurrent multimodal session identified by the concurrent multimodal session status information.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the user agent programs are configured for different concurrently input modality conimunication during the session.