Abstract: A method and apparatus to arrange for and to set up a conference call are disclosed. The party who arranges for a conference call provides all of the details of the conference call to a conferencing server through an encoded public address. The arranging party's telecommunications endpoint then transmits the encoded, initial public address to the server. The encoded public address is encoded with (i) the public address for each participant, which can be a group address or an individual address, and (ii) one or more commands that can be used to control the conference call, and is encoded in such a way so that it is still routable to the conferencing server. Because the encoded public address comprises all of the participants, either the conferencing server or an external proxy server can recursively retrieve all of the constituent public and contact addresses to set up the call.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed that enables one or more telecommunications endpoints to subscribe to a conferencing system and to be notified of one or more conferencing events. As part of the conferencing system of the illustrative embodiment, a conference invitation server maintains information on all of the conferences that are scheduled to occur on the conferencing system, including (i) the addresses of the identified participants for each call and (ii) the conference identifier that the server generates for each call. When a conference call is going to begin, the server sends out notifications to all endpoints that are subscribed to the conference. If there are participants who are not subscribed to the conference, then alternative mechanisms for notifying participants can be used. Each subscribed endpoint then transmits a request to join the conference—either via user interaction or automatically—providing the conference identifier as part of the join request.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for efficient presentation of content over a network to a visually impaired user. Requests for content from a visually impaired user are processed by observing behavior of the user in connection with the requests; determining if the observed behavior constitutes a behavior pattern; and generating one or more rules based on the observed behavior that dynamically restructure content presented on at least one web page such that previously selected portions of the content is presented to the visually impaired user prior to other portions of the content. If one or more rules associated with a visually impaired user are applicable to requested content, wherein the rules are based on previously observed behavior of the user; and the requested content is restructured based on the one or more applicable rules such that previously selected portions of the content is presented to the visually impaired user prior to other portions of the content.

Abstract: A method is disclosed that provides a way to manage the registrations of telecommunications endpoints, and to prioritize those registered endpoints, or “contacts,” that belong to a user, without some of the disadvantages in the prior art. The technique of the illustrative embodiment, which is referred to as “contact priority reordering,” prioritizes the contacts that are associated with a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) public address of a user, without having to modify any endpoints. Moreover, the technique is interoperable with any SIP endpoint. The technique can be regarded as a reordering process because it overrides any endpoint ordering that occurs at a registrar server as a consequence of the registrations and re-registrations of the individual endpoints. Advantageously, the technique prioritizes the contacts that are associated with a particular public address without requiring that any changes be made to the registrar server—or to any other SIP servers.