Claims
- 1. A method for providing multimedia information wherein a first aspect is stored separately from a second aspect, which method comprises the steps of:
receiving a request for access to a first aspect of the multimedia information over a first communication medium; and providing only the first aspect of the multimedia information over a second communication medium.
- 2. A method for providing multimedia information which comprises the steps of:
receiving a request for access to a first aspect of the multimedia information over a first communication medium; providing the first aspect of the multimedia information over a second communication medium; receiving a request for access to a second aspect of the multimedia information over the first communication medium; and providing the second aspect of the multimedia information to the user over the first communication medium.
- 3. The method of claim 2 which further comprises the step of:
displaying the second aspect.
- 4. The method of claim 3 which further comprises the step of:
synchronizing the step of displaying the second aspect with the step of providing the first aspect.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the second aspect is visual information and the first aspect is audio information.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of synchronizing comprises displaying the second aspect a predetermined time after the step of providing the first aspect.
- 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of synchronizing includes receiving notification of the approximate start of the step of providing the first aspect.
- 8. An apparatus that enables access of multimedia information from a web site that includes a web server, which apparatus comprises:
a web server add-in component; wherein the web server add-in component: (a) analyzes first requests related to access of a first aspect of the multimedia information, which first requests are received by the web server from a user over a first communication medium, and (b) directs information related to the first requests to a multimedia server; wherein, the multimedia server, in response to the information related to the first requests, provides the first aspect of the multimedia information to the user over a second communication medium.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a web page:
wherein the web server provides the web page to the user over the first communication medium; wherein the web page comprises software or a pointer to software that causes second requests related to access of a second aspect of the multimedia information to be directed to the web server over the first communication medium; and wherein the web server, in response to the second requests, provides the second aspect of the multimedia information to the user over the first communication medium.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the software further comprises notification information used to synchronize the first and second aspects of the multimedia information.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the notification information comprises a time index for the second aspect relative to a time at which the multimedia server begins to provide the first aspect.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the web server returns a message to the user that causes a user appliance or web browser that accesses the web page to continue without moving to another web page.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the first aspect is audio information and the second aspect is visual information.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the first communication medium is a data connection and the second communication medium is a telephone connection.
- 15. A computer readable medium encoded with a web page which enables access to multimedia information which web page comprises:
first software code, or a pointer to the first software code, that causes a web browser to request a first aspect of multimedia information over a first connection to a web server, the first aspect to be delivered over the first connection; and second software code, or a pointer to the second software code, that causes the web browser to request a second aspect of the multimedia information over the first connection, the second aspect to be delivered over a second connection.
- 16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the web page further comprises:
synchronization information, or a pointer to the synchronization information; and third software code, or a pointer to the third software code, that uses the synchronization to enable synchronization between display of the first and second aspects of the information.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This is a continuation of a patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Access to, and Delivery of, Multimedia Information” having Ser. No. 09/560,048 which was filed on Apr. 27, 2000, which patent application is a continuation-in-part of a patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Multimedia Information Access” which was filed on May 20, 1999, Ser. No. 09/315,924.
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09560048 |
Apr 2000 |
US |
Child |
10259535 |
Sep 2002 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09315924 |
May 1999 |
US |
Child |
09560048 |
Apr 2000 |
US |