Remote control of device by telephone or other communication devices

1. A method of remotely controlling a remotely controlled device via a communication device, the communication device being communicably coupled to a network, the remotely controlled device being external to the network, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a subscription message by a controller communicably coupled to the network, the subscription message conforming to a session based protocol and specifying a pattern of user input upon whose occurrence the controller is to be notified;

sending the subscription message from the controller to the communication device over the network using the session based protocol;

monitoring, at the communication device, a user input for the occurrence of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message;

responsive to a user interaction with the communication device that includes the specified pattern of user input, notifying the controller of the occurrence of the specified pattern of user input, including:

placing, by the communication device, a call to the controller over the network;

establishing the call, including establishing a telephony signaling path between the communication device and the controller, the communication device and the controller being operative to communicate with one another over the telephony signaling path using the session based protocol;

generating a plurality of telephony signaling packets containing a notification of the user interaction with the communication device, the notification conforming to the session based protocol, the telephony signaling path being operative to carry the plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction with the communication device; and

sending the plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction with the communication device from the communication device to the controller over the telephony signaling path using the session based protocol;

responsive to the notification contained in the plurality of telephony signaling packets, controlling the remotely controlled device by the controller; and

otherwise, responsive to a user interaction with the communication device that includes a pattern of user input that is different from the specified pattern of user input, refraining from notifying the controller of the user interaction with the communication device,

wherein the subscription message optionally includes a persistence indicator indicating that the communication device is to notify the controller of each of multiple occurrences of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

wherein the method further comprises, at the communication device:

determining whether the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message;

if the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message, repeating the monitoring of the user input and the notifying of the controller for at least one subsequent occurrence of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

if the persistence indicator is not included in the subscription message, ceasing the monitoring of the user input upon a first notification of the controller that the specified pattern of user input has occurred in the subscription message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the call comprises avoiding establishing an audio path for the call.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

establishing an audio path to the communication device; and

sending at least one audio prompt via the audio path to the communication device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein establishing the audio path comprises establishing at least a portion of the audio path over the network.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the network includes a public wide area network, and wherein establishing the audio path comprises establishing at least a portion of the audio path over the public wide area network.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein establishing the audio path comprises establishing at least a portion of the audio path over the Internet.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the network includes a private local area network, and wherein establishing the audio path comprises establishing at least a portion of the audio path over the private local area network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network includes a telephone network, and wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path over the telephone network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network includes a public wide area network, and wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path over the public wide area network.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path over the Internet.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network includes a private local area network, and wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path over the private local area network.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path between the communication device and the controller, the controller being external to the remotely controlled device.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network includes a telephone network, and wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path between an element within the telephone network and the controller, the controller being external to the remotely controlled device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network includes a telephone network, and wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path between a telephone network gateway and the controller, the controller being external to the remotely controlled device.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the telephony signaling path comprises establishing at least a portion of the telephony signaling path between an integrated access device and the controller, the controller being external to the remotely controlled device.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication device is an analog telephone.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication device is a VoIP telephone.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication device is a personal computer.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the communication device comprises a touch-sensitive screen; and

the user interaction comprises at least one touch or stroke on the touch-sensitive screen.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction comprises at least one key press.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction comprises speech.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction is provided by a human user.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction is provided by a computer.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the session based protocol is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating of the subscription message by the controller includes generating the subscription message by the controller comprising an application server.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the generating of the subscription message includes generating, by the application server, the subscription message using a predetermined key press markup language.

27. A system for remotely controlling a remotely controlled device, comprising:

a network;

a controller communicably connected to the network, the controller being operative to control the remotely controlled device,

wherein the remotely controlled device is external to the network; and

a communication device communicably connected to the network,

wherein the controller is operative:

to generate a subscription message conforming to a session based protocol and specifying a pattern of user input upon whose occurrence the controller is to be notified; and

to send the subscription message to the communication device over the network using the session based protocol,

wherein the communication device is operative:

to monitor a user input for the occurrence of the specified pattern of user input specified in the subscription message;

responsive to a user interaction with the communication device that includes the specified pattern of user input, to notify the controller of the occurrence of the specified pattern of user input, including:

to place a call to the controller over the network, thereby establishing a telephony signaling path between the communication device and the controller, the communication device and the controller being operative to communicate with one another over the telephony signaling path using the session based protocol;

to generate a plurality of telephony signaling packets containing a notification of the user interaction with the communication device, the notification conforming to the session based protocol, the telephony signaling path being operative to carry the plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction with the communication device; and

to send the plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction with the communication device to the controller over the telephony signaling path using the session based protocol,

wherein, responsive to the notification contained in the plurality of telephony signaling packets, the controller is further operative to control the remotely controlled device, and

wherein the communication device is further operative, otherwise, in response to a user interaction with the communication device that includes a pattern of user input that is different from the specified pattern of user input, to refrain from notifying the controller of the user interaction with the communication device,

wherein the subscription message optionally includes a persistence indicator indicating that the communication device is to notify the controller of each of multiple occurrences of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

wherein the communication device is further operative:

to determine whether the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message;

if the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message, to repeat the monitoring of the user input and the notifying of the controller for at least one subsequent occurrence of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

if the persistence indicator is not included in the subscription message, to cease the monitoring of the user input upon a first notification of the controller that the specified pattern of user input has occurred in the subscription message.

28. The system of claim 27 , wherein, to place the call, the communication device is operative to establish a telephony signaling path over the network for the call and to avoid establishing an audio path over the network for the call.

29. The system of claim 27 , wherein the controller is operative to:

establish an audio path over the network to the communication device; and

play at least one audio prompt over the audio path.

30. The system of claim 27 , wherein the network includes at least a portion of the Internet.

31. The system of claim 27 , wherein the network includes at least a portion of a telephone network.

32. The system of claim 27 , wherein the network includes at least a portion of the Internet and a telephone network.

33. The system of claim 27 , wherein the communication device comprises a VoIP telephone.

34. The system of claim 27 , wherein the communication device comprises a personal computer.

35. The system of claim 27 , wherein the communication device comprises a touch-sensitive screen and the user interaction comprises at least one touch or stroke on the touch-sensitive screen.

36. The system of claim 27 , wherein the user interaction comprises at least one key press.

37. The system of claim 27 , wherein the user interaction comprises speech.

38. The system of claim 27 , wherein the network includes a local network, and wherein the controller is operative to control the remotely controlled device via the local network.

39. The system of claim 27 wherein the session based protocol is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

40. The system of claim 27 wherein the controller comprises an application server.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the application server is operative to generate the subscription message using a predetermined key press markup language.

42. A system for remotely controlling a remotely controlled device, comprising:

a network;

a controller communicably connected to the network, the controller being operative to control the remotely controlled device, the remotely controlled device being external to the network;

a communication device communicably connected to the network; and

a gateway having an associated subscription device, the gateway and the subscription device being communicably connected between the communication device and the controller, the gateway, the subscription device, and the controller being operative to communicate with one another using a session based protocol,

wherein the controller is operative:

to generate a subscription message conforming to the session based protocol and specifying a pattern of user input upon whose occurrence the controller is to be notified; and

to send the subscription message to the subscription device over the network using the session based protocol, wherein the subscription device is operative:

to monitor a user input at the communication device for the occurrence of the pattern of user input specified in the subscription message; and

responsive to a user interaction with the communication device that includes the specified pattern of user input, to generate a notification of the user interaction with the communication device, the notification conforming to the session based protocol,

wherein, responsive to the user interaction with the communication device that includes the pattern of user input, the communication device is operative to notify the controller of the occurrence of the specified pattern of user input, including:

to place a call to the controller over the network;

to generate at least one signal relating to the user interaction with the communication device; and

to send the at least one signal in-band to the gateway over the network;

wherein the gateway is further operative:

to receive the at least one signal from the communication device;

to receive the notification of the user interaction from the subscription device;

responsive to receiving the at least one signal from the communication device and the notification of the user interaction from the subscription device,

to generate a plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction; and

to send the plurality of telephony signaling packets containing the notification of the user interaction out-of-band to the controller using the session based protocol,

wherein, responsive to the notification of the user interaction contained in the plurality of telephony signaling packets, the controller is further operative to control the remotely controlled device, and

wherein the subscription device is further operative, otherwise, in response to a user interaction with the communication device that includes a pattern of user input that is different from the specified pattern of user input, to refrain from notifying the controller of the user interaction with the communication device,

wherein the subscription message optionally includes a persistence indicator indicating that the subscription device is to notify the controller of each of multiple occurrences of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

wherein the subscription device is further operative:

to determine whether the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message;

if the persistence indicator is included in the subscription message, to repeat the monitoring of the user input and the notifying of the controller for at least one subsequent occurrence of the specified pattern of user input in the subscription message, and

if the persistence indicator is not included in the subscription message, to cease the monitoring of the user input upon a first notification of the controller that the specified pattern of user input has occurred in the subscription message.

43. The system of claim 42 , wherein, to generate the plurality of telephony signaling packets, the gateway is operative to establish a telephony signaling path and to avoid establishing an audio path.

44. The system of claim 42 , wherein the controller is operative to:

establish an audio path to the gateway; and

play at least one audio prompt over the audio path.

45. The system of claim 42 , wherein the network includes a local network, and wherein the controller is operative to control the remotely controlled device via the local network.

46. The system of claim 42 , wherein the gateway includes the associated subscription device.

47. The system of claim 42 , wherein the gateway is distinct from the associated subscription device.

48. The system of claim 42 wherein the session based protocol is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

49. The system of claim 42 wherein the controller comprises an application server.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the application server is operative to generate the subscription message using a predetermined key press markup language.