Granted Patent B2

US 7,016,479 · App. 10/831,643 · Granted Mar 21, 2006

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. A video relay service (VRS) system, comprising:

a VRS server including a call queue, the VRS server configured to receive at least one call request to establish a communication session between a hearing-impaired user and a hearing-capable user and maintain the call queue comprising a plurality of call requests, the at least one call request including call information regarding the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user, the VRS server further including control logic configured to compare the at least one call request with the plurality of call requests to identify if the at least one call request corresponds to a previous call request corresponding to one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue to determine if the at least one call request is an interrupted call request or a new call request; and

a VRS client application interactively coupled to the VRS server and configured to monitor availability of interpretive services and when the at least one call request corresponding to the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user is sorted to a top of the call queue and the interpretive services are available, establishing the communication session via the interpretive services between the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of call requests in the call queue includes a call record configured to maintain the call information and call status from corresponding ones of the plurality of call requests.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the call status of the call record comprises a call state identifying a current status of the at least one call request.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the call state is one of awaiting the interpretive services, call in process and call completed.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the control logic is further configured to reestablish the communication session between the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user when the at least one call request corresponds to the one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue and the call state of the one of the plurality of call requests is the call in process.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the control logic is further configured to identify a specific interpreter used in the communication session prior to an interruption and request the specific interpreter when reestablishing the communication session.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the control logic is further configured to determine a time duration of an interruption of the communication session and reestablish the communication session only when the time duration is less than a stored reestablish timeout.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein the control logic is further configured to re-attach the at least one call request to a corresponding one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue to restore a position in the call queue when the at least one call request corresponds to the one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue and the call state of the one of the plurality of call requests is awaiting the interpretive services.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call queue of the VRS server is further configured to maintain the plurality of call requests according to one or more criteria including call priority, call start time, scheduled call time and call state.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a hold server configured to receive and forward the plurality of call requests and hold a plurality of calls corresponding to the plurality of call requests until the VRS server identifies one of the plurality of calls for the hold server to connect with the VRS client application.

11. A method for electronic communication with a hearing-impaired user, comprising:

receiving at least one call including a call request further including call information regarding the hearing-impaired user and a hearing-capable user;

maintaining a call queue comprising a plurality of call requests corresponding to a plurality of calls, the call requests each including a call record comprising a call status of a corresponding call; and

restoring the at least one call according to the call status in the call queue when the call information of the at least one call matches the call record of one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein maintaining comprises:

comparing the call information of the call request with the call record of each of the plurality of call requests in the call queue; and

entering the call request in the call queue when a match with the call information of the call request is not found in the call queue.

13. The method of claims 11 , wherein restoring includes re-attaching the call request to one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue when a match in the call queue is found and a call state is awaiting interpretive services.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein restoring includes reestablishing a communication session between the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user when the at least one call request corresponds to the one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue and a call state of the one of the plurality of call requests is a call in process.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein reestablishing the communication session further comprises identifying a specific interpreter from the call record corresponding to the one of the plurality of call requests corresponding to the call request and requesting the specific interpreter during the communication session.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein reestablishing the communication session further comprises determining a time duration of an interruption of the communication session and reestablishing the communication session only when the time duration is less than a stored reestablish timeout.

17. A method for restoring an interrupted communication session between a hearing-impaired user and a hearing-capable user, comprising:

receiving a call request including call information relating to the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user;

comparing the call information of the call request with a plurality of call information corresponding to a plurality of call requests in a call queue; and

when one of the plurality of call information of one of the plurality of call requests in the call queue corresponds to the call information of the call request, reestablishing the interrupted communication session according to the one of the plurality of call information between the hearing-impaired user and the hearing-capable user.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the call queue comprises a call record for each of the plurality of call requests, the call record comprising the call information including a call status identifying a call state of the plurality of call requests.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein reestablishing the interrupted communication session further comprises identifying a specific interpreter from the call record corresponding to the one of the plurality of call requests corresponding to the call request and requesting the specific interpreter from the interpretive services during the interrupted communication session.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein reestablishing the communication session further comprises determining a time duration of an interruption of the communication session and reestablishing the communication session only when the time duration is less than a stored reestablish timeout.

Assignments (27)