HK1171137B - Multimodal telephone calls - Google Patents

Description

Multimodal telephone calls

Technical Field

The invention relates to multi-modal phone calls.

Background

Smart phones offer more computing and connectivity options than standard phones. In addition to making telephone calls, smart phones are commonly used to access the internet or a corporate intranet. Applications such as email and web browsing are common to smart phones.

Telephone calls between standard telephones are limited to voice communications. While some smartphones may include a computer operating system, likewise, telephone calls between smartphones are typically limited to voice communications. When data exchange between connected parties is desired, it is often necessary to use a separate data channel for the separate device.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, implemented on a computing device, for establishing a multimodal telephone call. At a first computing device, a telephone call is received from a second computing device. A telephony session is established between a first computing device and a second computing device. At a first computing device, a request message is sent to register the first computing device for a data session at an online registration service. At the first computing device, a response message is received indicating that the first computing device is registered at the online registration service. The response message includes a key that uniquely identifies the data session. On the first computing device, a data session is established with the second computing device using the key.

The details of one or more techniques are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the techniques will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an example system that supports establishing a multimodal telephone call.

Fig. 2 illustrates example communications between a caller computing device and a recipient computing device of the system of fig. 1 during establishment of a multimodal telephone call.

Fig. 3 illustrates example communications between a caller computing device and a multimodal registry server computer of the system of fig. 1 during establishment of a multimodal telephone call.

Fig. 4 illustrates example communications between a recipient computing device, a messaging email server computer, and a multimodal registration server computer of the system of fig. 1 during establishment of a multimodal telephone call.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example system showing establishment of a multi-modal telephone call of the system of fig. 1.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example flow diagram for establishing a multimodal telephone call from the perspective of the call computing device of fig. 1.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example flow diagram for establishing a multimodal telephone call from the perspective of the recipient computing device of fig. 1.

Fig. 8 and 9 illustrate example flow diagrams for establishing a multimodal telephone call from the perspective of the multimodal registry server computer of fig. 1.

FIG. 10 illustrates example components of the computing device of FIG. 1.

Detailed Description

The present application relates to systems and methods for utilizing the multimodal capabilities of a smartphone to exchange voice and data in the context of a telephone call. A phone call is initiated as a voice communication, but migrates to include a data connection when both parties in the phone call determine that multimodal capabilities are available.

As used herein, the term "multimodal" refers to the ability of a device to support both voice and data communications.

When a caller initiates a telephone conversation from a computing device (smartphone with multimodal capabilities) to a recipient, the caller's computing device also sends a data session registration request to the online registration service. The online registration service is typically a server computer that provides hosting capabilities and also provides data session registration services. When the recipient receives the telephone call, the recipient's computing device also sends a data session registration request to the online registration service if the recipient's telephone is also a multimodal-capable computing device and if the computing device is properly configured. In an example, the computing device may be a smart phone, a laptop/desktop computer, a unified messaging server, and the like.

The data session registration request from the computing devices of both the caller and the recipient includes the phone numbers of both the caller and the recipient. When the online registration service receives the data session registration request, the online registration service attempts to match the caller and recipient telephone numbers in both registration requests. When the online registration service determines that the caller and receiver telephone numbers in the registration request match, the online registration service establishes a data session between the caller and receiver. When a data session is established, there is a simultaneous voice and data connection between the caller and the recipient. Once the voice and data connections are established, rich content may be exchanged between the computing devices of the caller and the recipient via an online registration service.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example system 100 that supports establishing a multimodal telephone call. The example system 100 includes an example caller computing device 102, an example recipient computing device 106, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)104, an example multimodal registration server computer 108, and networks 110 and 112.

The caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 are smartphones with multimodal capabilities. Multimodal registry server computer 108 is a server computer that provides an online registry service (for hosting services). For example, WindowsAzure from Microsoft corporation of Redmond, Washington, USA may be used^TMThe cloud service operating system constructs a multi-modal registration server. One example of a recipient computing device 106 is a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Server computer with unified messaging. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Server computers provide automated attendant hosting capabilities.

In the example system 100, communication between the multimodal registration server computers 108 of the caller computing device 120 occurs across the network 110, while communication between the multimodal registration server computers 108 of the recipient computing device 106 occurs across the network 112. In an example, networks 110 and 112 are corporate intranets or the Internet. In some examples, network 110 and network 112 are the same network.

When the caller of the caller computing device 102 initiates a telephone call to the recipient computing device 106, the caller computing device 102 also sends a first registration request to establish a data session to the multimodal registration server computer 108. When the caller computing device 102 sends the first registration request, the caller computing device 102 has no knowledge of the multimodal capabilities of the recipient computing device 106. However, the request is sent according to a protocol to provide caller registration information for the possibility that the recipient computing device 106 does have multimodal capabilities. The call is made through the PSTN 104. When the recipient computing device 106 receives the telephone call, a voice communication telephony session is established between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

When the recipient computing device 106 has multimodal capabilities, the recipient computing device 106 can be configured to initiate a registration request for a data session with the caller computing device 102. For example, the recipient computing device 106 may include an automated attendant that automatically initiates a second registration request for the data session upon receiving the incoming call. As with the caller computing device 102, the recipient computing device 106 does not have knowledge of the multimodal capabilities of the caller computing device 102. However, a second registration request is initiated by the recipient computing device 106 according to the protocol to provide registration information for the possibility that the caller computing device 102 does have multimodal capabilities.

The first registration request from the caller computing device 102 and the second registration request from the recipient computing device 106 each include a telephone number of the caller computing device 102 and a telephone number of the recipient computing device 106. When the multimodal registration server computer 108 receives the second registration request, the multimodal registration server computer 108 attempts to match the telephone number of the caller computing device 102 and the telephone number of the recipient computing device 106 with the caller and recipient telephone numbers from other registration requests received at the multimodal registration server computer 108.

When the multimodal registration server computer 108 determines that the telephone number of the caller computing device 102 and the telephone number of the recipient computing device 106 from the first registration request match the telephone number of the caller computing device 102 and the telephone number of the recipient computing device 106 from the second registration request, the multimodal registration server computer 108 establishes a data connection between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. When a data connection is established, standard network protocols may be used to transfer data between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

The ability to establish multimodal conversions between two parties exchanging both voice and data provides several possible application scenarios. Generally, as described herein, establishing multimodal transformations allows rich communications to be exchanged between two parties.

In one example, a caller using a smart phone calls a pizza parlor to purchase a pizza in the following order. The pizza shop may have an automated attendant hosted on the recipient computing device 106. Since the pizza parlor has configured one of the automated operators to display the day's promotional activities when a call is received from a multimodal device (such as a smart phone) when a telephone session is established between the caller and the pizza parlor and when a data session is established between the caller and the pizza parlor, the day's promotional activities are displayed on the caller's smart phone when the caller calls the pizza parlor while the caller is speaking to and placing an order for an employee of the pizza parlor.

In a second example, a caller calls a restaurant to obtain driving directions for the restaurant. As the caller uses the smartphone, the smartphone (e.g., caller computing device 102) also sends a request for data session registration to an online registration service (e.g., multimodal registration server computer 108). An automated attendant at the registered restaurant answers the telephone call and provides a voice menu of options for the calling party. For example, the automated attendant may be hosted in the recipient computing device 106. One of the voice options in the menu is "direction". When the caller says "directions," an automated attendant at the restaurant sends a map to the caller via the online registration service that is visible to the caller via the data connection between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

In a third example (i.e. an extension of the second example above), the caller places an order by telephone. When placing an order, the restaurant operator uses the data connection to display the order on the calling party's smart phone and requests the calling party to confirm the order.

In a fourth example, a caller calls an employee at a business establishment. The employee is on vacation. Since the caller is calling from a smartphone, the caller also initiates a data session with the establishment, as discussed. When a call is received at a business establishment, a message on the employee's phone informs the calling party that the employee is not at the business establishment. Since the business uses a unified messaging server computer, the unified messaging server computer sends the employee's calendar to the caller over the data connection and also sends the caller the contact list that the employee created before he left for vacation.

In a fifth example, one male is buying sofas on the market, but has not yet decided whether to buy two sofas. The man calls his wife, but the wife does not answer the phone, and the call is redirected to her voicemail system. Since the man is calling with a smart phone and since the wife's voicemail system is hosted by the unified messaging server computer device, a data session is established between the man's smart phone and the unified messaging server computer device. The man takes a voice message and sends pictures of both sofas before ending the phone call. When the wife checks her smart phone, the wife hears the message left by her husband. At the same time, the wife's smart phone displays two pictures of the sofa that her husband sent.

In a sixth example, the calling party calls a department store to check the status of the order. Since the caller is calling from a smart phone and since the department store uses an automated attendant hosted by a unified messaging server computer, a data session is established between the caller and the department store in addition to the telephone session between the caller and the department store. When the calling party asks for the status of her order, the automated attendant displays the order status and other order information on the calling party's smart phone.

In a seventh example, the caller from the sixth example does not agree on some of its monthly statements from department stores. When a calling party telephone calls a billing department of a department store, a data session is established between the calling party and an automated attendant associated with the billing department. The automated attendant displays the caller's statement online while the caller waits for someone to answer the telephone call. When the customer representative answers the telephone call, both the caller and the customer representative can see the statement of the caller. The caller is also able to highlight portions of the statement so that the customer service representative more easily understands which portion the caller is pointing to.

The examples provided above are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. Many applications of the techniques described herein are possible.

The process of establishing a multimodal telephone call is described in more detail with reference to fig. 2-5. Fig. 2 illustrates example communications 200 between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 during establishment of a multimodal telephone call. At step 202, using the smart phone, the caller of the caller computing device 102 initiates a telephone call with the recipient computing device 106. The recipient computing device 106 is a computing device capable of handling multimodal phone calls. For example, the recipient computing device 106 may be a smart phone, or a unified messaging server computer, or the like. The telephone call is sent over a public switched telephone network (e.g., PSTN 104), not shown in fig. 2. After the recipient computing device 106 receives the telephone call, the recipient computing device 106 confirms that the telephone call with the caller computing device 102 was established.

FIG. 3 illustrates example communications 300 between caller computing device 102 and multimodal registration server computer 108 when caller computing device 102 registers with multimodal registration server computer 108 for a data connection. When the caller computing device 102 initiates a telephone call with the recipient computing device 106 (step 202), since the caller computing device 102 is a smartphone, the caller computing device 102 also sends a request to the multimodal registration server computer 108 for data connection registration to the multimodal registration server computer 108 at step 302. The request includes the telephone number of the caller (caller computing device 102) and the telephone number of the recipient (recipient computing device 106). The request also includes the fully qualified domain name of the multimodal registry server computer 108. As discussed, the multimodal registry server computer 108 is a hosting service that provides an online registry service, e.g., hosted in Windows Azure^TMA registration service on a cloud service operating system. In this disclosure, the telephone number of the calling party is represented as<CALLERNUMBER>And the telephone number of the receiving party is expressed as<RECIPIENTNUMBER>。

When the multimodal registration server computer 208 establishes a data connection between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106, the multimodal registration server computer 108 creates a key for the data connection and sends the key to the caller computing device 102 at step 304. The key represents a unique identifier of the data session. The key may include one or more numeric or alphabetic characters.

Fig. 4 illustrates example communications 400 between a recipient computing device 106 and a multimodal registration server computer 108 when the recipient computing device 106 registers with the multimodal registration server computer 108 for a data connection. The recipient computing device 106 may be a unified messaging server hosting an automated attendant or voicemail system.

At step 402, the recipient computing device 106 initiates a registration process with the multimodal registration server computer 108. The registration message from the recipient computing device 106 includes the telephone number of the caller computing device 102 (caller telephone number), the telephone number of the recipient computing device 106 (recipient telephone number), and the fully qualified domain name of the multimodal registration server computer 108.

At step 404, the multimodal registration server computer 108 establishes a data session with the recipient computing device 106 and sends a key for the data session to the recipient computing device 106.

The process by which the multimodal registration server computer 108 establishes a data session with the recipient computing device 106 includes: it is determined whether the telephone number of the caller computing device 102 and the telephone number of the recipient computing device 106 included in the registration request message from the recipient computing device 106 match the caller computing device number and the recipient computing device number that have been registered with the multimodal registration server computer 108.

For example, at step 302, the multimodal registration server computer 108 registers the caller computing device 102 and associates the telephone numbers of the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 with the registration. For example, the telephone number is stored in the multimodal registration server computer 108 as a concatenated string of syntax:

<CALLERNUMBER><CALLEDNUMBER>

in other examples, different formats may be used. The calling party number is the telephone number of the calling party computing device 102 and the called number is the telephone number of the receiving party computing device 106.

At step 404, the multimodal registration server computer 108 registers the recipient computing device 106 and associates the telephone numbers of the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 with the registration. The telephone number is stored in the multimodal registration server computer 108 as a string in the following syntax.

<CALLERNUMBER><CALLEDNUMBER>

The calling party number is the telephone number of the calling party computing device 102 and the called number is the telephone number of the receiving party computing device 106.

The multimodal registration server computer 108 determines whether a match is found between the strings. Some normalization of the strings may be required prior to the matching process. When a match is found between the strings, the multimodal registration server computer 108 creates a temporary unique identifier for the data session with the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. The temporary unique identifier is also referred to as a key.

At step 404, the multimodal registration server computer 108 registers the recipient computing device 106 for the data session and sends a keyed request message to the recipient computing device 106.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example system 500, the example system 500 illustrating a telephony session and a data session established between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. A data session is established between the caller computing device 102 and the multimodal registration server computer 108. In examples where the caller computing device 102 uses < REGISTERFQDN > and < KEY >, where < REGISTERFQDN > is a fully qualified domain name for the multimodal registry server computer 108 to send and receive messages via network protocols (e.g., HTTP, SOAP). In other examples, different formats or protocols may be used.

A data session is established between the recipient computing device 106 and the multimodal registration server computer 108. In examples where the recipient computing device 106 uses < REGISTERFQDN > and < KEY >, where < REGISTERFQDN > is a fully qualified domain name for the multimodal registration server computer 108 to send and receive messages via a network protocol (e.g., HTTP or SOAP). In other examples, different formats may be used for fully qualified domain names or keys.

Once the data session is established between the caller computing device 102 and the multimodal registration server computer 108 and between the recipient computing device 106 and the multimodal registration server computer 108, data can be communicated between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 using the multimodal registration server computer 108 as an intermediary. Fig. 5 also illustrates a telephony session consistent with a data session such that voice and data communications may operate simultaneously between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

When the telephone call between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 is completed, e.g., when both parties to the telephone call hang up, the caller computing device 102 sends a message to the multimodal registration server computer 108, terminating the data connection and identifying the key as no longer valid. When the multimodal registration server computer 108 receives the termination message from the caller computing device 102, the multimodal registration server computer 108 unregisters the caller computing device 102.

The recipient computing device 106 also sends a message to the multimodal registration server computer 108, terminating the data connection and identifying the key as no longer valid. When the multimodal registration server computer 108 receives the termination message from the recipient computing device 106, the multimodal registration server computer 108 unregisters the recipient computing device 106.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example flow diagram of a method 600 at a caller computing device for establishing a multimodal phone call between a caller computing device (e.g., caller computing device 102) and a recipient computing device (e.g., recipient computing device 106). In some examples, the recipient computing device 106 is also a smartphone. In other examples, the recipient computing device 106 is a client computer with multimodal capabilities.

At operation 602, a caller of the caller computing device 102 initiates a telephone call to the recipient computing device 106. At operation 604, the caller computing device 102 also sends a registration request to an online registration service, e.g., the multimodal registration server computer 108. The online registration service is an online hosting server computer that also provides registration capabilities. The registration capability provides for registering a computing device for data connections with one or more other computing devices.

When the caller initiates a telephone call to the recipient computing device 106 at operation 602, the caller computing device 102 does not know whether the recipient computing device 106 can support a data connection. However, each time the caller computing device 102 initiates a telephone call to the recipient computing device 102 at operation 602, the caller computing device 102 also sends a registration request to the online registration service. When the recipient computing device 106 is unable to support the data connection, a response to the registration request of operation 604 is typically not received.

At operation 606, a response is received from the recipient computing device 106 indicating that a telephony session is established between the caller computing device and the recipient computing device.

At operation 608, a response message is received from the online registration service (e.g., from multimodal registration server computer 108). The response message indicates that caller computing device 102 is registered at the multimodal registration server computer 108 and that a data session has been established at the multimodal registration server computer 108. The response message also includes a key for the telephone session. The key is a unique identifier of the data session that is created when a match is detected from the registration information from the caller computing device and the recipient computing device. The registration information includes the telephone numbers of the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

At operation 610, the key is used to establish a data session for the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. In an example, the data session may enable direct communication between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106, or the data session may use an online registration service as an intermediary between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example flow diagram of a method 700 at a recipient computing device (e.g., recipient computing device 106) for establishing a multimodal telephone call with a caller computing device (e.g., caller computing device 102).

At operation 702, the recipient computing device 106 receives a telephone call from the caller computing device 102. At operation 704, the recipient computing device 106 sends a response to the caller computing device 102 indicating that a telephone session has been established between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

At operation 706, the recipient computing device 106 sends a registration request to the online registration service. An online registration service (e.g., multimodal registration server computer 108) is an online hosting service that also provides registration capabilities. The registration capability provides for registering a computing device for data connections with one or more other computing devices.

When the recipient computing device 106 receives the telephone call, the recipient computing device 106 does not know whether the caller computing device 102 can support the data connection. However, each time the recipient computing device 106 receives a telephone call, the recipient computing device 106 sends a registration request to the online registration service. When the caller computing device 102 is unable to support a data connection, a response to the registration request of operation 706 is typically not received.

At operation 708, a response message is received at the recipient computing device 106 indicating that the recipient computing device 106 is registered for the data session at the online registration service. The response also includes a key for the telephone session. The key is a unique identifier of the data session that is created when a match is detected from the registration information from the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. The registration information includes the telephone numbers of the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

At operation 710, the key is used to establish a data session between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106. The recipient computing device 106 sends and receives messages using < REGISTERFQDN > and KEY, where REGISTERFQDN is the fully qualified domain name of the multimodal registration server computer 108 and KEY is the unique identifier of the data session. Data is exchanged via a network protocol, such as HTTP or SOAP.

Fig. 8 and 9 illustrate an example flow diagram of a method 800 for registering a caller computing device and a recipient computing device at an online registration service for a data session. In this example, the caller computing device is the caller computing device 102, the recipient computing device is the recipient computing device 106, and the online registration service is the multimodal registration server computer 108.

At operation 802, at the multimodal registration server computer 108, a first request message from the caller computing device 102 to register a data session for the caller computing device 102 is received. At operation 804, a second request message is received at the multimodal registration server computer 108 from the recipient computing device 106. In operation 806, the multimodal registration server computer 108 determines whether the telephone number information in the first request message matches the telephone number information in the second request.

At operation 808, a determination is made as to whether a match is detected. When it is determined that a match is detected, meaning that the telephony information provided by both the caller and recipient computer devices match, at operation 810 an identifier of the data session between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 is created. The identifier (also referred to as a key) provides a unique identifier for the data session.

At operation 812, the multimodal registration server computer 108 sends a response message to the caller computing device 102. The response message also includes a key for the data session.

At operation 814, the multimodal registration server computer 108 sends the response message to the recipient computing device 106. The response message to the recipient computing device 106 also includes a key for the data session. Setting up the data session at the multimodal registration server computer 108 permits data communication between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

At operation 818, the multimodal registration server computer 108 receives a message from one or both of the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 indicating that the telephone call between the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106 has ended. At operation 820, the multimodal registration server computer 108 unregisters the caller computing device 102 and the recipient computing device 106.

Referring to FIG. 10, example components of computing devices 102, 106 and server computers 108, 114 are shown. In an example embodiment, the computing devices 102, 106 are client computers. In an example embodiment, the server computers 108, 114 are computing devices. The recipient computing device 106 can include input/output devices, a central processing unit ("CPU"), a data storage device, and a network device. The other computing device 102 and server computers 108, 114 may be configured in a similar manner.

In a basic configuration, the recipient computing device 106 typically includes at least one processing unit 1002 and a system memory 1004. Depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device, the system memory 1004 may be volatile (such as RAM), non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or some combination of the two. The system memory 1004 typically includes an operating system 1006 suitable for controlling the operation of a networked personal computer (such as Windows from Microsoft corporation of Redmond, Washington, USA)An operating system), or a Server (such as microsoft exchange Server 2010, also from microsoft corporation of redmond, washington). The system memory 1004 may also include one or more software applications 1008 and may include program data.

The recipient computing device 106 may have additional features or functionality. For example, the recipient computing device 106 may also include computer-readable media. Computer-readable media may include both computer-readable storage media and communication media.

The computer-readable storage medium is a physical medium such as a data storage device (removable and/or non-removable) including magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in figure 10 by removable storage 1010 and non-removable storage 1012. Computer-readable storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer-readable storage media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the recipient computing device 106. Any such computer-readable storage media may be part of the recipient computing device 106. The caller computing device 102 may also have input device(s) 1014 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Output device(s) 1016 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also be included.

The recipient computing device 106 can also contain communication connections 1018 that allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 1020, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, for example, an intranet or the internet. Communication connection 1018 is one example of communication media. Communication media may typically be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to be limiting. Various modifications and changes may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the true spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Claims (11)

1. A method, implemented on a first computing device (106), for establishing a multimodal phone call, the method comprising:

receiving, on the first computing device (106), a telephone call from a second computing device (102);

sending, on the first computing device (106), a response to the second computing device (102) to establish a telephony session between the first computing device (106) and the second computing device (102);

sending, on the first computing device (106), a request message to register the first computing device (106) for a data session at an online registration service (108), the request message including a phone number associated with the first computing device and a phone number associated with the second computing device, the phone numbers associated with the first and second computing devices being used by the online registration service to attempt to match phone numbers included in other request messages received at the online registration service;

receiving, on the first computing device (106), a response message indicating that the first computing device (106) is registered at the online registration service (108), the response message including a key that uniquely identifies the data session; and

on the first computing device (106), a data session is established with the second computing device (102) using the key.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the request message to register the first computing device (106) for the data session at an online registration service (108) further comprises: including a first phone number and a second phone number in the request message, the first phone number being a phone number of the second computing device (102) and the second phone number being a phone number of the first computing device (106).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein using the key to establish the data session with the second computing device (102) further comprises: including a key in one or more data messages sent from the first computing device (106) to the second computing device (102).

4. A method, implemented on a first computing device (108), for establishing a multimodal telephone call, the method comprising:

receiving, on the first computing device (108), a first request message from a second computing device (102) to register a data session of the second computing device (102), the first request message including a first phone number and a second phone number;

receiving, on the first computing device (108), a second request message to register a data session of a third computing device (106), the second request message including a third phone number and a fourth phone number;

determining, on the first computing device (108), whether the first and second phone numbers in the first request message match phone numbers in other received request messages;

on the first computing device (108), when it is determined that the first and second phone numbers in the first request message match the phone numbers in other received request messages, a key for a data session between the second computing device (102) and a third computing device (106) is created, the key providing a unique identifier for the data session.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: on the first computing device (108), sending a first response message to the second computing device (102), the first response message including the key.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising: sending, on the first computing device, a second response message to the third computing device, the second response message including the key.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the first phone number is a phone number associated with the second computing device (102) and the second phone number is a phone number associated with the third computing device (106).

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the third phone number is a phone number associated with the third computing device (106) and the fourth phone number is a phone number associated with the second computing device (102).

9. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the first and second telephone numbers in the first request message match the telephone numbers in other received request messages further comprises: determining whether the first phone number matches the fourth phone number, and determining whether the second phone number matches the third phone number.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at the client computer (106), a telephone call from the second computing device (102);

sending, at the client computer (106), a response to the second computing device (102) to establish a telephony session between the client computer (106) and the second computing device (102);

sending a first request message to register the client computer (106) for a data session at an online registration service, the first request message including a first telephone number associated with the client computer (106) and a second telephone number associated with the second computing device (102), the first and second telephone numbers being used by the online registration service to attempt to match telephone numbers included in other request messages received at the online registration service;

receiving a response message indicating that the client computer (106) is registered at the online registration service, the response message including a key that uniquely identifies the data session; and

initiate a second request message to send data to the second computing device (102), the second request message including the key.

11. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

means for receiving, at a client computer (106), a telephone call from a second computing device (102);

means for sending, at the client computer (106), a response to the second computing device (102) to establish a telephony session between the client computer (106) and the second computing device (102);

means for sending a first request message to register the client computer (106) for a data session at an online registration service, the first request message including a first telephone number associated with the client computer (106) and a second telephone number associated with the second computing device (102), the first and second telephone numbers being used by the online registration service to attempt to match telephone numbers included in other request messages received at the online registration service;

means for receiving a response message indicating that the client computer (106) is registered at the online registration service, the response message including a key that uniquely identifies the data session; and

means for initiating a second request message to send data to the second computing device (102), the second request message including the key.