Claims
- 1. An apparatus comprising:a computer controlled by an operating system program and having a telephone function library of programs that control the computer to implement conventional telephone functions, said operating system controlling said computer to implement a telephone application programmatic interface (TAPI), comprising a plurality of function calls that may be invoked to implement various telephone functions, said operating system being configured to run a telephone application program; a TAPI compliant telephony device (TAPI device), coupled to said computer by a data path and structured for connection to a telephone line from a telephone service provider, said TAPI device being interfaced with a TAPI compliant driver program, said driver program being capable of receiving general telephone function commands from said programs in said telephone function library and converting them to commands and/or signals specific to said TAPI device and of sending said commands and/or signals to said TAPI device to cause it to carry out telephone functions; a keyboard coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; a pointing device coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; and a video display coupled to said computer, wherein said telephone application program controls operations of said computer and a modem via function calls to said TAPI and other application programmatic interfaces to display a virtual telephone on said video display with various displayed virtual keys which may be virtually pushed by a user using said keyboard or pointing device to cause various programs in said telephone function library to execute and cause said TAPI device to carry out the user selected telephone function and to cause said display of said telephone on said video display to have a fixed width but a user selectable length, wherein the user selectable length is selected by placing a pointer, moved by said pointing device, on a bottom or top edge of a window in which said virtual telephone is displayed and dragging said edge to resize the window to a desired length, and wherein the number of virtual keys which are displayed and which are available to be pressed changes with a changing size of the window.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a first predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed in a smallest segment of the displayed virtual telephone and one or more virtual keys of a second predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed as the size of the displayed virtual telephone increases based at least in part on an approximate order of frequency of use of said virtual keys for an average user.
- 3. An apparatus comprising:a computer controlled by an operating system program and having a telephone function library of programs that control the computer to implement conventional telephone functions, said operating system controlling said computer to implement a telephone application programmatic interface (TAPI), comprising a plurality of function calls that may be invoked to implement various telephone functions, said operating system being configured to run a telephone application program; a TAPI compliant telephony device (TAPI device), coupled to said computer by a data path and structured for connection to a telephone line from a telephone service provider, said TAPI device being interfaced with a TAPI compliant driver program, said driver program being capable of receiving general telephone function commands from said programs in said telephone function library and converting them to commands and/or signals specific to said TAPI device and of sending said commands and/or signals to said TAPI device to cause it to carry out telephone functions; a keyboard coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; a pointing device coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; and a video display coupled to said computer, wherein said telephone application program controls operations of said computer and a modem via function calls to said TAPI and other application programmatic interfaces to display a virtual telephone on said video display with various displayed virtual keys which may be virtually pushed by a user using said keyboard or pointing device to cause various programs in said telephone function library to execute and cause said TAPI device to carry out the user selected telephone function and to cause said display of said virtual telephone on said video display to have a fixed length but a continuously variable, user-selectable width, wherein the user selectable width is selected by placing a pointer, moved by said pointing device, on a left or right border of a window in which said virtual telephone is displayed and dragging said border either left or right to resize the window to a desired width, and wherein the number of virtual keys which are displayed and which are available to be pressed changes with a changing size of the window.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein a first predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed in a smallest segment of the displayed virtual telephone and one or more virtual keys of a second predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed as the size of the displayed virtual telephone increases based at least in part on an approximate order of frequency of use of said virtual keys for an average user.
- 5. An apparatus comprising:a computer controlled by an operating system program and having a telephone function library of programs that control the computer to implement conventional telephone functions, said operating system controlling said computer to implement a telephone application programmatic interface (TAPI), comprising a plurality of function calls that may be invoked to implement various telephone functions, said operating system being configured to run a telephone application program; a TAPI compliant telephony device (TAPI device), coupled to said computer by a data path and structured for connection to a telephone line from a telephone service provider, said TAPI device being interfaced with a TAPI compliant driver program, said driver program being capable of receiving general telephone function commands from said programs in said telephone function library and converting them to commands and/or signals specific to said TAPI device and of sending said commands and/or signals to said TAPI device to cause it to carry out telephone functions; a keyboard coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; a pointing device coupled to said computer for providing user inputs; and a video display coupled to said computer, wherein said telephone application program controls operations of said computer and a modem via function calls to said TAPI and other application programmatic interfaces to display a virtual telephone on said video display with various displayed virtual keys which may be virtually pushed by a user using said keyboard or pointing device to cause various programs in said telephone function library to execute and cause said TAPI device to carry out the user selected telephone function and to cause said display of said virtual telephone on said video display to have a fixed length but a continuously variable, user-selectable width, wherein the user selectable width is selected by placing a pointer, moved by said pointing device, on a border of a window in which said virtual telephone is displayed and dragging said border either left or right to resize the window to a desired width, and wherein the number of virtual keys which are displayed and which are available to be pressed changes with a changing size of the window.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a first predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed in a smallest segment of the displayed virtual telephone and one or more virtual keys of a second predetermined group of virtual keys are displayed as the size of the displayed virtual telephone increases based at least in part on an approximate order of frequency of use of said virtual keys for an average user.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of a prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/182,828, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A COMPUTER TO IMPLEMENT TELEPHONE FUNCTIONS WITH A DISPLAYED TELEPHONE OF VARIABLE SIZE, filed Oct. 29, 1998.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
6222520 |
Gerszberg et al. |
Apr 2001 |
B1 |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/182828 |
Oct 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/497970 |
|
US |