System and method for providing telephony services using proxies

• US 20040081136A1
• Filed: 10/23/2002
• Published: 04/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Winters, Scott Lee, Moore, Victor S., Paolini, Michael A., Brown, Michael Wayne, McIntyre, Joseph Herbert
• Granted Patent: US 7,391,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1235 where one of the core networks is a wireless network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/126 Interworking of session control protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

A system and method for a proxy service to provide telephone conferencing services and personal telephony services. Users can participate in the conference by connecting through different types of networks using a device having one or more types of communication lines connected to the proxy service. A primary user can request the proxy to call each one of the users and establish the conference. The primary user may accomplish this through a data line using data requests or though a voice line using voice requests. Typically, the primary user provides a telephone number for each user. The primary user can also provide with specific times of when calls should be placed, identification information for each user, the type of conference, and other conference parameters.

Claims

1. A method of forwarding a text version of telephone call data, said method comprising:

initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants;

receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice inputs include voice data;

storing the voice data in a memory area;

receiving, during the telephone call, a forward request from one of the participants;

converting a portion of the voice data stored prior to receiving the forward request to a textual form; and

transmitting the textual form of the voice data to a third party through a computer network.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the forwarding request is a vocal request included with the voice inputs, the method further comprising:

distinguishing between the vocal request and the voice data; and

identifying the vocal request as the forwarding request.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the forwarding request is a keypad signal, the method further comprising:

receiving the signal entered on a telephone keypad used by one of the participants;

identifying the keypad signal as the forwarding request; and

receiving a forwarding identifier entered on the keypad, the forwarding identifier corresponding to one or more forwarding addresses.

4. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an email address corresponding to the forwarding address;

creating an email message addressed to the email address; and

inserting the converted portion of the voice data into the email address.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the transmitting is directed to an information handling device and the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.

6. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving one or more forwarding address identifiers from the user;

retrieving an electronic address for each of the forwarding address identifiers, wherein the electronic addresses have a type and wherein the type is selected from the group consisting of an email address, a telephone number, and a web site address; and

wherein the computer network includes one or more different types of networks, and wherein the transmitting is performed based on the type of network corresponding to the electronic address type.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the computer network is selected from the group consisting of a public switched telephone network, a mobile telephone network, a packet based global computer network, a local area network, and a wide area network.

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory area accessible by the processors for storing telephone call data;

a transmitter for transmitting voice input received over a computer network;

a receiver for receiving voice data from the computer network; and

a forwarding tool for forwarding a text version of telephone call data, the forwarding tool including;

means for initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants;

means for receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice inputs include voice data;

means for storing the voice data in the memory area;

means for receiving, during the telephone call, a forward request from one of the participants;

means for converting a portion of the voice data stored prior to receiving the forward request to a textual form; and

means for transmitting the textual form of the voice data to a third party through the computer network.

9. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the forwarding request is a vocal request included with the voice inputs, the information handling system further comprising:

means for distinguishing between the vocal request and the voice data; and

means for identifying the vocal request as the forwarding request.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the forwarding request is a keypad signal, the information handling system further comprising:

means for receiving the signal entered on a telephone keypad used by one of the participants;

means for identifying the keypad signal as the forwarding request; and

means for receiving a forwarding identifier entered on the keypad, the forwarding identifier corresponding to one or more forwarding addresses.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 8 further comprising:

means for receiving an email address corresponding to the forwarding address;

means for creating an email message addressed to the email address; and

means for inserting the converted portion of the voice data into the email address.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the means for transmitting is directed to an information handling device and the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.

13. The information handling system as described in claim 8 further comprising:

means for receiving one or more forwarding address identifiers from the user;

means for retrieving an electronic address for each of the forwarding address identifiers, wherein the electronic addresses have a type and wherein the type is selected from the group consisting of an email address, a telephone number, and a web site address; and

wherein the computer network includes one or more different types of networks, and wherein the means for transmitting is performed based on the type of network corresponding to the electronic address type.

14. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the computer network is selected from the group consisting of a public switched telephone network, a mobile telephone network, a packet based global computer network, a local area network, and a wide area network.

15. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for forwarding a text version of telephone call data, said computer program product comprising:

means for initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants;

means for receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice inputs include voice data;

means for storing the voice data in a memory area;

means for receiving, during the telephone call, a forward request from one of the participants;

means for converting a portion of the voice data stored prior to receiving the forward request to a textual form; and

means for transmitting the textual form of the voice data to a third party through a computer network.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the forwarding request is a vocal request included with the voice inputs, the computer program product further comprising:

means for distinguishing between the vocal request and the voice data; and

means for identifying the vocal request as the forwarding request.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the forwarding request is a keypad signal, the computer program product further comprising:

means for receiving the signal entered on a telephone keypad used by one of the participants;

means for identifying the keypad signal as the forwarding request; and

means for receiving a forwarding identifier entered on the keypad, the forwarding identifier corresponding to one or more forwarding addresses.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 15 further comprising:

means for receiving an email address corresponding to the forwarding address;

means for creating an email message addressed to the email address; and

means for inserting the converted portion of the voice data into the email address.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the means for transmitting is directed to an information handling device and the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 15 further comprising:

means for receiving one or more forwarding address identifiers from the user;

means for retrieving an electronic address for each of the forwarding address identifiers, wherein the electronic addresses have a type and wherein the type is selected from the group consisting of an email address, a telephone number, and a web site address; and

wherein the computer network includes one or more different types of networks, and wherein the means for transmitting is performed based on the type of network corresponding to the electronic address type.

21. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the computer network is selected from the group consisting of a public switched telephone network, a mobile telephone network, a packet based global computer network, a local area network, and a wide area network.