Method and system for enabling the dispensing and redeeming of vouchers by voicemail

• US 20030083934A1
• Filed: 10/30/2001
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mavenir Ltd. (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Comverse Limited (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Bloch, Benjie, Beery, Gideon, Fostick, Gideon
• Granted Patent: US 7,493,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A system for providing voucher dispensing and redeeming using current mobile communications hardware and infrastructure. The system enables the creation, reception and usage of voice vouchers, wherein digital vouchers are embodied as attachments within voicemail messages. In this way, the system enables the transfer and interaction with online vouchers using existing voicemail systems, such that the content and authentication data of a voucher may be received and redeemed using a standard mobile communications device. Furthermore the voucher may be verified and controlled by a voucher vendor, by using a specialized voucher server.

Claims

1. A system for enabling the usage of voicemail to distribute and redeem vouchers, comprising:

i. a Server for enabling distribution and redemption of voicemail vouchers;

ii. a Handset for interacting with the vouchers from said Voucher Server;

iii. a Point Of Sale system (POS) for accepting redemption of said voucher.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said Server further includes an Application Program Interface for enabling usage of at least one voucher from at least one external application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said server comprises:

a. a Voucher Server for creating and managing said voucher; and

b. a Messaging Server for delivering said voucher to said handset and for delivering messages to said POS.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said Voucher Server further comprises an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine for extracting the voucher from an audio message.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said Voucher Server further comprises a DTMF decoding engine for extracting the voucher from an audio message.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said Voucher Server further includes a voucher creation application for creating at least one voucher that is compatible to the system.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein said Voucher Server is operative to manage the vouchers by determining voucher characteristics selected from the group consisting of voucher content, beneficiary identity, voucher type, voucher vendor details, voucher deadline, voucher conditions, voucher eligibility requirements and verification codes of a voucher.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said Handset is selected from the group consisting of cellular phones, PDA'"'"'s, smart phones, mobile computers, notebook computers and personal computers.

9. A method for enabling creation of a voicemail, comprising:

i. providing a voucher creation application for creating voicemail vouchers; and

ii. forming a voicemail message with an attachment, by said voucher creation application.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

iii. adding a unique ID to each said message;

iv. adding voucher parameters to said message;

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said voucher parameters are selected from the group consisting of a description of item being referred to in said voucher, the type of voucher;

ID of the beneficiary, ID of the voucher provider, voucher time limit, voucher conditions, voucher value, voucher usage and voucher policies.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein operation i. further comprises creating said voicemail message as a multimedia message.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said voucher creation application is an Application Program Interface that allows voucher creators to create vouchers using external applications.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said attachment of operation ii. is selected from the group of message formats consisting of text, audio and multimedia.

15. A method for enabling voucher dispensing using voicemail, comprising:

i. issuing a voicemail voucher to at least one user, from a Voucher Server (VS), such that said voucher defines an item to be provided;

ii. assigning to each said voucher a unique ID, by said VS, for identifying said voucher upon redemption; and

iii. sending a voicemail message to a subscriber, such that said voicemail message embodies said voucher and said unique ID.

16. A method for enabling voucher redemption using voicemail, comprising:

i. forwarding a voicemail voucher message to a user, by a Voucher Server;

ii. said voucher to said Voucher Server, with an address associated with a Point Of Sale system (POS);

by said user; and

iii. extracting the voucher from said voicemail message, by said Voucher Server.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising

iv. confirming validity of said voucher, by said VS;

and

v. if said voucher is valid, sending confirmation to said POS.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said address of operation ii. is selected from the group consisting of telephone number, facsimile number, e-mail address, instant messaging address, SMS address, chat address and pager address.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein operation ii. further comprises forwarding said message by one of wireless and wireline transmission.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein operation iii. further comprises extracting the voucher from a message using an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).

21. The method of claim 16, wherein operation iii. further comprises extracting the voucher from a message using DTMF decoding software.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein operation iii. further comprises extracting the voucher from a text attachment by opening and reading said attachment.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein operation iv. further comprises confirming validity of the voucher by checking if a user is entitled to redeem the voucher.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

vi. after sending confirmation of the voucher, invalidating said voucher to prevent repeat use.

25. A method for displaying a digital voucher on a conventional mobile communications device, comprising:

i. creating a voicemail voucher such that a voucher is embodied in a voicemail message;

ii. adding an introduction to said voucher, such that said voucher is represented on a user mobile communications device as a voice message, said voice message containing said introduction;

iii. providing a link to voucher content of said voicemail voucher, such that said user can access said content by linking to a Voucher Server from within said voucher.