I propose a new USB HID standard for Telephony Headsets and Hook-Switch Control
Adding Hook-Switch Control to Yahoo! Messenger on Windows
Amongst a larger project integrating a telephony devices to stardard VoIP applications brought me to the integration into the Yahoo! Messenger. Voice over IP means integrating with anything that make communication over the Internet like that of the Plain Old Telephone Sytems (POTS). Hook-Switch control is the basic handling of receiving an event that there is an incoming call, the call is answered, and finally the call is hung up.
Although the term Hook-Switch control is not well known, it has been patented. The term is not even in Wikipedia. The basics are simple, an incoming call makes the device ring, the talk button answers the call, and the end button terminates the call.
Although this appears simple enough, not every VoIP system offers a simple interface for handling it. So much for Keeping It Simple Stupid.
The Yahoo! Mesenger is a very popular Instant Messaging system that supports Audio calls, or VoIP. Besides Skype, Yahoo! Messenger is the number two PC to PC VoIP based software. After a bit of digging, I discovered how Yahoo! Messenger uses Windows COM objects allowing third-party software to listen for Yahoo! Messenger events, including Hook-Switch control. Read more