Systems and methods for providing unified collaboration systems with combined communication log

Abstract

A communication system provides integrated email, telephone and instant messenger communication including a common address book, a common log of communication history and shared presence information. A user can respond to a communication according to any format, email, telephone or instant messenger, with a response using the same format or any other format. The response may be initiated by a single command.

1 . A communication system for email and telephone communication comprising:
 an email server that exchanges email communication with a client device;   an instant messenger server that exchanges instant messenger communication with the client device;   a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) server in communication with the client device, the PBX server also in communication with a telephone, the PBX server providing an indication of an incoming telephone call to both the client device and the telephone; and   wherein the communication system provides a combined log of email communication history, instant messenger communication history and telephone communication history, the telephone communication history including telephone communication with the PBX through the client device and telephone communication with the PBX through the telephone.   
   
   
       2 . The communication system of  claim 1  wherein the telephone is a legacy telephone or an Internet Protocol telephone. 
   
   
       3 . The communication system of  claim 1  wherein when a communication is received according to any one of the plurality of communication formats, an application operating on the client device causes an indication of the communication to be presented to a user and also causes a plurality of reply options to be presented to the user, the plurality of reply options including creating a reply according to any one of the plurality of communication formats, each of the plurality of reply options selectable by a single command. 
   
   
       4 . The communication system of  claim 1  further comprising a calendar server and an address book server, the address book server maintaining an address book that has a plurality of entries, an individual entry containing email, telephone and instant messenger address information. 
   
   
       5 . The communication system of  claim 4  wherein the address book server provides user access information to the client device. 
   
   
       6 . A method of combining telephone and computer communication comprising:
 routing a user's telephone communication through a PBX server;   routing the user's email communication through an email server;   routing the user's instant messenger communication through an instant messenger server;   maintaining a combined log of email communication, instant messenger communication and telephone communication; and   providing the combined log as a viewable sequence to the user.   
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the combined log is viewable as a chronological sequence of email and telephone communication. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising routing the user's telephone communication to a client device associated with the user and also routing the user's telephone communication to a separate telephone device associated with the user. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising providing a common address book to the user, an entry in the common address book containing telephone, email and instant messenger contact information. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising accessing the address book to determine access privileges assigned to the user. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising, when a communication is received, presenting an indication of the communication to the user and also presenting a plurality of reply options to the user, the plurality of reply options including initiating a reply by email, by instant messenger and by telephone, each option selectable by a single command. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising determining a presence state of the user and managing email, instant messenger and telephone communication according to a scheme that is selected according to the presence state of the user.