Method to enable instant collaboration via use of pervasive messaging

• US 20050020288A1
• Filed: 07/24/2003
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Davis, Brent L., Jaiswal, Peeyush, Mansey, Pradeep P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,308,082 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53308 Message originator indirectly connected to the message centre, e.g. after detection of busy or absent state of a called party

Abstract

A system (10) and method (50) to enable instant collaboration via the use of pervasive messaging can include the steps of receiving (52) a call from a caller to a callee, transferring (54) the call to a voicemail system when the callee is unavailable, determining(56) if the callee is available via instant messaging, and querying (58) the caller if they want to leave one among a voice message and an instant message. In another aspect, a system and method (70) enables instant collaboration by receiving (72) a text message having a designation for text-to-speech conversion via an instant messaging network (14) where the text message is intended for a phone (16 or 18) coupled to a voicemail system (20), recognizing (74) the designation, converting (76) the text message to a voice message, calling (78) the phone, and delivering (86) the voice message to the voicemail system.

Claims

1. A method to enable instant collaboration via the use of pervasive messaging, comprising the steps of:

receiving a call from a caller to a callee

transferring the call to a voicemail system when the callee is unavailable;

determining if the callee is available via instant messaging; and

querying the caller if they want to leave one among a voice message and an instant message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of recording a voice message from the caller to the callee and transcribing the voice message to a text message when the caller selected the instant message as an option.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the step of sending the text message to the caller via the instant messaging system.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the step of translating the text message to provide a translated text message and sending the translated text message to the callee via the instant messaging system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of querying the caller as to when an instant message should be delivered when the caller selected the instant message as an option.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of delivering the instant message to the callee at a predetermined scheduled time as directed by the caller.

7. A method to enable instant collaboration, comprising the steps of:

receiving a text message having a designation for text-to-speech conversion via an instant messaging server, wherein the text message is intended for a phone coupled to a voicemail system;

recognizing the designation;

converting the text message to a voice message;

calling the phone; and

delivering the voice message to the voicemail system.

8. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the step of enabling a scheduled delivery of the voice message to a user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the step of delivering the voice message to a user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the step of delivering the voice message to the voicemail system.

11. A system enabling instant collaboration, comprising:

a voicemail system;

an instant messaging system coupled to the voicemail system;

a processor in the system programmed to;

receive a call when a callee is unavailable

determine if the callee is available via the instant messaging system; and

provide a caller the option among a voice message and an instant message.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further programmed to deliver the instant message to the callee at a predetermined scheduled time as directed by a caller.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor resides within the voicemail system.

14. A system enabling instant collaboration, comprising:

a voicemail system;

an instant messaging system coupled to the voicemail system;

a processor in the system programmed to;

receive a text message having a designation for text-to-speech conversion via the instant messaging system, wherein the text message is intended for a phone coupled to the voicemail system;

recognize the designation;

convert the text message to a voice message;

call the phone;

deliver the voice message to the voicemail system.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor resides within the voicemail system.

16. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a call from a caller to a callee

transferring the call to a voicemail system when the callee is unavailable;

determining if the callee is available via instant messaging; and

querying the caller if they want to leave one among a voice message and an instant message.

17. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a text message having a designation for text-to-speech conversion via an instant messaging server, wherein the text message is intended for a phone coupled to a voicemail system;

recognizing the designation;

converting the text message to a voice message;

calling the phone;

delivering the voice message to the voicemail system.