Telephone message system with flexible presentation capability

• US 20020080928A1
• Filed: 12/22/2000
• Published: 06/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bates, Cary Lee, Santosuosso, John Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 6,741,680 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.21
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6505 storing speech in digital form

Abstract

A telephone message system identifies a caller with an incoming message, and sorts messages according to caller identifying information for presentation to the user. Preferably, messages are grouped according to the caller'"'"'s telephone number, but may alternatively be grouped using voice recognition technology. When a user plays back a large number of messages, all messages from the same number or person will be grouped together, making it easier to follow a chain of messages. The user may optionally prioritize message groups, either explicitly of by letting the system assign a priority.

Claims

1. A method of operating a telephone answering message system, comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of telephone messages directed to a user;

associating caller identifying information with each of said plurality of telephone messages;

sorting said plurality of telephone messages using said caller identifying information to create a sorted order of said plurality of telephone messages; and

presenting at least some of said messages to a user in said sorted order.

2. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, wherein said caller identifying information comprises a caller ID signal received over a telephone line, said caller ID signal identifying a telephone number from which a call originates.

3. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, wherein said caller identifying information comprises identifying data based on voice recognition of the caller'"'"'s speech.

4. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

maintaining a plurality of priorities values assigned to respective caller identities;

wherein said step of sorting a plurality of telephone messages uses said plurality of priority values.

5. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 4, wherein said step of maintaining a plurality of priority values assigned to respective caller identities is performed automatically by said telephone answering message system.

6. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user command to skip messages associated with a particular caller identity; and

automatically skipping messages associated with said particular caller identity responsive to receiving said user command.

7. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user command to delete messages associated with a particular caller identity; and

automatically deleting messages associated with said particular caller identity responsive to receiving said user command.

8. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a user command to play a subset of said plurality of messages, said subset being only those messages associated with a user selected caller identity; and

playing said subset of said plurality of messages responsive to said user command.

9. A program product for operating a telephone answering message system, said program product comprising a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on signal-bearing media, wherein said instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the telephone answering message system to perform the steps of:

receiving a plurality of telephone messages directed to a user;

associating caller identifying information with each of said plurality of telephone messages;

sorting said plurality of telephone messages using said caller identifying information to create a sorted order of said plurality of telephone messages; and

presenting at least some of said messages to a user in said sorted order.

10. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said caller identifying information comprises a caller ID signal received over a telephone line, said caller ID signal identifying a telephone number from which a call originates.

11. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said caller identifying information comprises identifying data based on voice recognition of the caller'"'"'s speech.

12. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said instructions further cause the telephone answering message system to perform the step of:

maintaining a plurality of priorities values assigned to respective caller identities;

wherein said step of sorting a plurality of telephone messages uses said plurality of priority values.

13. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 12, wherein said step of maintaining a plurality of priority values assigned to respective caller identities is performed automatically by said telephone answering message system.

14. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said instructions further cause said telephone answering message system to perform the steps of:

receiving a user command to skip messages associated with a particular caller identity; and

automatically skipping messages associated with said particular caller identity responsive to receiving said user command.

15. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said instructions further cause said telephone answering message system to perform the steps of:

receiving a user command to delete messages associated with a particular caller identity; and

automatically deleting messages associated with said particular caller identity responsive to receiving said user command.

16. The program product for operating a telephone answering message system of claim 9, wherein said instructions further cause said telephone answering message system to perform the steps of:

receiving a user command to play a subset of said plurality of messages, said subset being only those messages associated with a user selected caller identity; and

playing said subset of said plurality of messages responsive to said user command.

18. The telephone answering message system of claim 17, wherein said caller identifying information comprises a caller ID signal received over a telephone line, said caller ID signal identifying a telephone number from which a call originates.

19. The telephone answering message system of claim 17, wherein said caller identifying information comprises identifying data based on voice recognition of the caller'"'"'s speech.

21. The telephone answering message system of claim 17, wherein said controller further associates a plurality of priorities values with respective caller identities, and wherein said controller uses said priority values to arrange a presentation of at least some of said messages to a user.

17. A telephone answering message system, comprising:

a telephone interface;

a memory for storing a plurality of telephone messages received through said telephone interface;

a controller controlling the operation of said telephone answering message system, said controller associating caller identifying information with each of said plurality of telephone messages, and using said caller identifying information to arrange a presentation of at least some of said messages to the user.

20. A telephone answering message system, wherein said controller comprises a programmable processor for executing a control program, and a control program recorded in a read-only non-volatile memory.

22. A method of operating a telephone answering message system, comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of telephone messages directed to a user;

associating caller identifying information with each of said plurality of telephone messages;

receiving a user selection of a caller identity; and

presenting a subset of said plurality of messages to said user responsive to receiving a user selection of a caller identity, said subset being only those messages of said plurality of messages associated with the user selected caller identity.

23. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 22, wherein said caller identifying information comprises a caller ID signal received over a telephone line, said caller ID signal identifying a telephone number from which a call originates.

24. The method of operating a telephone answering message system of claim 22, wherein said caller identifying information comprises identifying data based on voice recognition of the caller'"'"'s speech.