Character analysis engine in mobile computing device for facilitating interactive voice response operations

1. A method for interacting with a telephone system, comprising:

accessing a data item associated with an application executed on a mobile computing device;

extracting a telephone number and a string of characters associable with the telephone number by analyzing the data item with a character analyzer that applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number;

connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by placing a call to the telephone number responsive to detecting an event requiring connection of the mobile computing device to the telephone system;

displaying the string of characters associable with the telephone number on the mobile computing device automatically responsive to connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system;

receiving user input for transmitting the string of characters to the telephone system; and

transmitting signals corresponding to the string of characters responsive to receiving the user input.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application comprises at least one of an email application, a calendar application and a contact management application.

3. A method for interacting with a telephone system, comprising:

extracting a string of characters comprising at least one character associable with a telephone number from a data item accessed by a mobile computing device, said extracting being performed using a smart character analyzer that applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number; wherein applying rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be string of characters associable with the telephone number comprises scanning the data item for an identifier corresponding to a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number; and determining an end of the string of characters following the identifier;

connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by calling the telephone number; and

after calling the telephone number, transmitting a signal corresponding to the extracted string of characters associable with the telephone number to the telephone system.

4. A method for interacting with a telephone system, comprising:

extracting a string of characters comprising at least one character associable with a telephone number from a data item accessed by a mobile computing device, said extracting being performed using a smart character analyzer that applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number;

connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by calling the telephone number; and

after calling the telephone number, transmitting a signal corresponding to the extracted string of characters associable with the telephone number to the telephone system,

wherein if two or more strings of characters are identified as associable with the telephone number in the data item, prioritizing the two or more strings of characters as to which is most likely to be dialed in association with the telephone number when making a call to the telephone number.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said prioritizing is performed based on a history record of strings of characters dialed in association with telephone numbers by the mobile computing device.

6. A method for interacting with a telephone system, comprising:

extracting a string of characters comprising at least one character associable with a telephone number from a data item accessed by a mobile computing device, said extracting being performed using a smart character analyzer that applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number;

connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by calling the telephone number; and

after calling the telephone number, transmitting a signal corresponding to the extracted string of characters associable with the telephone number to the telephone system, wherein after connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by placing a call to the telephone number, speech recognition is used to detect a request for dialing said string of characters associable with the telephone number.

7. A mobile computing device with telephonic functionality, comprising:

a character analyzer configured to extract a string of characters comprising at least one character associable with a telephone number from a data item accessed by the mobile computing device, wherein the character analyzer applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number; and

a communication module configured to connect the mobile computing device to the telephone system by calling the telephone number, the communicator module further configured to, after calling the telephone number, transmit a signal corresponding to the extracted string of characters associable with the telephone number to the telephone system, wherein if two or more strings of characters are identified as associable with the telephone number in the data item, the communication module prioritizes the two or more strings of characters as to which is most likely to be dialed in association with the telephone number when making a call to the telephone number.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 7 , further comprising a memory storing a history record of strings of characters dialed in association with telephone numbers by the mobile computing device, wherein said prioritizing is performed based on said history record.

9. A mobile computing device with telephonic functionality, comprising:

a character analyzer configured to extract a string of characters comprising at least one character associable with a telephone number from a data item accessed by the mobile computing device, wherein the character analyzer applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a telephone number and applies rules for determining if a string of characters is likely to be a string of characters associable with the telephone number that would be dialed in association with the telephone number;

a communication module configured to connect the mobile computing device to the telephone system by calling the telephone number, the communicator module further configured to, after calling the telephone number, transmit a signal corresponding to the extracted string of characters associable with the telephone number to the telephone system; and

a speech recognition program to detect a request for dialing said string of characters associable with the telephone number after connecting the mobile computing device to the telephone system by placing a call to the telephone number.