Simultaneous visual and telephonic access to interactive information delivery

• US 20030005076A1
• Filed: 06/28/2001
• Published: 01/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koch, Robert A., Caldwell, Hamish M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,054,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/252 where a voice mode is enhanced with visual information
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13175 Graphical user interface [GUI], WWW interface, visual indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13377 Recorded announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

The functionality of Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) components and Internet-based resources are integrated to provide simultaneous visual and telephonic access to an interactive information delivery system. The present invention enhances conventional Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems by simultaneously providing visual information that corresponds to the voice-based information that is delivered telephonically. A user that contacts a conventional IVR service provider (IVR host) can be provided with the option of a Visual IVR (VIVR) session. The VIVR session can provide visual information to the user in the form of HTML-formatted web pages delivered over an Internet connection and will provide audible message information over a conventional wireless or wireline voice telephone connection. A VIVR session can coordinate the delivery of visual information (e.g., web pages) and the delivery of telephony-based information (e.g., audio file playback) such that the user hears an audible message on the telephone that corresponds to the information displayed on a networking device. The user may provide instructions to a VIVR Server over either the telephone or the networking device. The VIVR Server will respond to instructions received by either the telephone connection or the Internet connection.

Claims

1. A Visual Interactive Voice Response (VIVR) system for delivering information to a user during a VIVR session, comprising:

a VIVR Server operative to send voice-based information to a telephone and to send visual-based information to a networking device, in response to the receipt of a VIVR session request; and

a session identification number database operative to maintain a VIVR session identification number (session ID) that identifies the telephone and the networking device.

2. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the VIVR session is initiated, in response to a determination that the networking device can be connected to the VIVR Server.

3. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the VIVR session is initiated, in response to a determination that the networking device can be connected to the VIVR Server via a VIVR Server host website.

4. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the VIVR session is initiated, in response to a determination that the user h as generated the VIVR session request.

5. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the VIVR Server determines an identity of the networking device by obtaining the session ID from the session identification number database.

6. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the networking device and the telephone are the same device.

7. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the networking device is capable of communicating in accordance with a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol.

8. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the telephone is capable of communicating in cooperation with an Advanced Intelligent Network, in accordance with a Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol.

9. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the VIVR session request is a DTMF key code entry received from the telephone.

10. The VIVR system of claim 1, wherein the voice-based information is delivered to the telephone through a Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML) Gateway.

11. The VIVR system of claim 10, wherein VXML Gateway is operative to convert a text-based message received from the VIVR Server to an audio message and is further operative to deliver the audio message to the telephone by playing the audio message over a connection between the VXML Gateway and the telephone.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of modifying the delivery of the voice-based information in response to receiving a user instruction over the telephonic connection.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of modifying the delivery of the visual-based information in response to receiving a user instruction over the Internet connection.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of modifying the delivery of the visual-based information in response to receiving a user instruction over the telephonic connection.

17. The VIVR system of claim 16, wherein the determination that the connection between the networking device and the VIVR Server will support a VIVR session comprises making a determination that a Session Identification Number (Session ID) exists in a Session ID Database.

18. The VIVR system of claim 17, wherein the Session ID comprises a telephone number associated with the telephone and an Internet Protocol address associated with the networking device.

19. The VIVR system of claim 18, wherein the Session ID further comprises a telephone number associated with the networking device.

20. The VIVR system of claim 16, wherein the delivery of the voice-based information and the delivery of the visual-based information is coordinated, by modifying a future delivery of voice-based information and modifying a future delivery of visual-based information, in accordance with the first user instruction and in accordance with the second user instruction.

12. A method for simultaneously delivering voice-based information and visual-based information to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing an Internet connection between the user and a server;

establishing a telephonic connection between the user and the server;

delivering the voice-based information to the user over the telephonic connection;

delivering the visual-based information to the user over the Internet connection; and

modifying the delivery of the voice-based information in response to receiving a user instruction over the Internet connection.

16. A Visual Interactive Voice Response (VIVR) system for delivering information to a user during a VIVR session, comprising:

a VIVR Server operative to deliver voice-based information to a telephone and to deliver visual-based information to a networking device and further operative to receive a first user instruction from the telephone and to receive a second user instruction from the networking device;

a Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML) Gateway operative to convert the voice-based information to an audio message that can be played back to the telephone and further operative to convert the first user instruction to a format that can be processed by the VIVR Server; and

a Service Control Point (SCP) operative to route a telephone call from the telephone to the VXML Gateway, in response to a determination that a connection between the networking device and the VIVR Server will support a VIVR session.