Unified communication
A system for unified communication, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises a CAS communicatively coupled to a client. The CAS comprises a server communicatively coupled to a CAS application and a number of service providers. The server receives from the client a CAS message encoded in a CAS format and including a request for a unified communication service. The server communicates with the CAS application to determine a service type for the request. The server sends the request to one of the number of service providers. The server sends a reply message to the client.
1. A method performed by a Client Application Server (CAS) comprising:
receiving, from a client, a CAS message that includes a unified communication request for registering the client to receive notifications of events associated with a given unified communication service of a plurality of available unified communication services, the plurality of unified communication services being provided by a respective plurality of service providers via a respective plurality of unified communication modules executed by the CAS to a plurality of clients, the plurality of available unified communication services including at least two of a telephony service, a directory service, a voicemail service, a call history service, and an instant messenger service;
identifying a service provider of the plurality of service providers for the given unified communication service by analyzing the CAS message, wherein the CAS communicates asynchronously with the identified service provider;
registering the client, by storing in a database a subscription for the client, to receive notifications of events associated with the given unified communication service from the identified service provider;
sending the unified communication request from the CAS to the identified service provider via a respective unified communication module;
sending a reply message from the CAS to the client in response to the unified communication request, the reply message including a notification in response to an occurrence of an event, the notification including data characterizing the event associated with the given unified communication service,
wherein the CAS is configured to communicate directly with any of an internet protocol (IP) telephone, a personal call manager (PCM), an e-mail client, or a web client as the client sending the CAS message and to which the reply message is sent.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising notifying the client of an asynchronous communication status between the CAS and the identified service provider, in response to the sending the unified communication request to the identified service provider and prior to the sending the reply message to the client.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CAS communicates asynchronously with the identified service provider via an intermediary computing device.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a service type for the unified communication request based on information in the CAS message, and wherein sending the unified communication request to the identified service provider is based on the determined service type of the unified communication request.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determined service type is a plug-in service that is provided by a CAS plug-in.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CAS message is encoded in one of JavaScript Objection Notation (“JSON”) and Extensible Markup Language (“XML”).
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply message includes permission data specifying permissible actions the client can perform with the given unified communication service.
8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer-readable program, wherein the computer-readable program when executed on a computer, which includes a Client Application Server (CAS), causes the computer to:
receive, from a client, a CAS message that includes a unified communication request for registering the client to receive notifications of events associated with a given unified communication service of a plurality of available unified communication services, the plurality of unified communication services being provided by a respective plurality of service providers via a respective plurality of unified communication modules executed by the CAS to a plurality of clients, the plurality of available unified communication services including at least two of a telephony service, a directory service, a voicemail service, a call history service, and an instant messenger service;
identify a service provider of the plurality of service providers for the given unified communication service by analyzing the CAS message, wherein the CAS communicates asynchronously with the identified service provider;
register the client, by storing in a database a subscription for the client, to receive notifications of events associated with the given unified communication service from the identified service provider;
send the unified communication request to the identified service provider via a respective unified communication module;
notify the client of an asynchronous communication status between the CAS and the identified service provider; and
send a reply message to the client in response to the unified communication request, the reply message including a notification message in response to an occurrence of an event, the notification including data characterizing the event associated with the given unified communication service,
wherein the CAS is configured to communicate directly with any of an internet protocol (IP) telephone, a personal call manager (PCM), an e-mail client, or a web client as the client sending the CAS message and to which the reply message is sent.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the reply message includes permission data specifying permissible actions the client can perform with the given unified communication service.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to, in response to the unified communication request, configure one or more permissions to: (1) determine one or more features to be provided to the client, and (2) prevent the client from offering a user an option that exceeds the scope of the determined features based on the one or more permissions.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the CAS message is encoded in one of JavaScript Objection Notation (“JSON”) and Extensible Markup Language (“XML”).
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to determine a service type for the unified communication request based on information in the CAS message, the service type being one or more of: a telephony service; a directory service; a configuration service; a voicemail service; a call history service; a presence service; and an instant messenger service.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to determine a service type for the unified communication request based on information in the CAS message, the service type being a plug-in service that is provided by a CAS plug-in.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the unified communication request is a bulk request comprising two or more requests.
15. A Client Application Server (CAS) communicatively coupled to at least one client, the CAS comprising:
a server communicatively coupled to a number of service providers;
a CAS application;
a processor for accessing a memory and executing machine-readable instructions stored on the memory, the machine-readable instructions causing the CAS application to:
receive from the at least one client a CAS message that includes a unified communication request for registering the client to receive notifications of events associated with a given unified communication service of a plurality of available unified communication services, the plurality of unified communication services being provided by a respective plurality of the service providers via a respective plurality of unified communication modules executed by the CAS to a plurality of clients, the plurality of available unified communication services including at least two of a telephony service, a directory service, a voicemail service, a call history service, and an instant messenger service;
identify a service provider of the plurality of service providers for the given unified communication service by analyzing the CAS message, wherein the CAS communicates asynchronously with the identified service provider;
register the client by storing in a database a subscription for the client to receive notifications of events associated with the given unified communication service from the identified service provider;
send the unified communication request to the identified service provider via a respective unified communication module;
notify the at least one client of an asynchronous communication status between the CAS and the identified service provider; and
send a reply message to the at least one client in response to the unified communication request, the reply message including a notification in response to an occurrence of an event, the notification including data characterizing the event associated with the given unified communication service,
wherein the CAS is configured to communicate directly with any of an internet protocol (IP) telephone, a personal call manager (PCM), an e-mail client, or a web client as the client sending the CAS message and to which the reply message is sent.
16. The CAS of claim 15 , wherein the CAS message is encoded in one of JavaScript Objection Notation (“JSON”) and Extensible Markup Language (“XML”).
17. The CAS of claim 15 , wherein the server receives the CAS message and sends the CAS message to one of the number of service providers.
18. The CAS of claim 17 wherein the server communicates with the CAS application to determine a service type of the unified communication request, and wherein the server sends the CAS message to the one service provider based on the determined service type.
19. The CAS of claim 18 , wherein the service type is one or more of: a telephony service; a directory service; a configuration service; a voicemail service; a call history service; a presence service; and an instant messenger service.
20. The CAS of claim 18 , wherein the CAS further comprises a CAS plug-in communicatively coupled to the server, and wherein the service type is a plug-in service that is provided by the CAS plug-in.