Message durability and retrieval in a geographically distributed voice messaging system

• US 20060002520A1
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Movius Interactive Corporation
• Original Assignee: Movius Interactive Corporation
• Inventors: Lowman, Philip L., Bettis, Sonny R., Plotky, Jon S., Spencer, James H., Moraes, Ian M., Wang, Hannah W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,308,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.170
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2083 Confirmation by serviced party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A message retrieval subsystem comprises a voice extensible mark-up language browser, a message server, and a message library. The VXML browser is configured with an application programming interface that enables a subscriber of a distributed voice messaging service to request a stored message. The message server receives a request to open a connection from a client process operative on the voice extensible mark-up language browser, spawns a thread to enable the connection, uses the thread to queue one or more subscriber requests for respective blocks of audio information, removes and processes the one or more subscriber requests, and uses the thread to forward a retrieved block of audio information to a subscriber. The message library is coupled to the message server and interposed between the message server and a common message store. The upper library isolates the VXML browser from a streaming protocol used to access the stored message.

Claims

1. A message retrieval subsystem that provides streaming audio in a distributed voice messaging system, the subsystem comprising:

a voice extensible mark-up language browser having an application programming interface;

a message server communicatively coupled to the application programming interface, the message server configured to receive a request to open a connection from a client process operative on the voice extensible mark-up language browser, spawn a thread to enable the connection, use the thread to queue one or more subscriber requests for respective blocks of audio information, remove the one or more subscriber requests from the queue, process the one or more subscriber requests, and use the thread to forward a retrieved block of audio information to a subscriber; and

a message library comprising an upper library and a lower library, wherein the upper library is communicatively coupled to the message server, interposed between the message server and the lower library, and isolates the voice extensible mark-up language browser from a streaming protocol used to access a stored message.

2. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message server provides asynchronous message retrieval.

3. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message server is configured to invoke upper library functions.

4. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message server provides a socket connection for the voice extensible mark-up language browser.

5. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, further comprising:

a message manager configured to acknowledge a message delivery status.

6. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, further comprising:

a layered service provider server interposed between the message server and the message library.

7. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 6, wherein the layered service provider server is configured to receive Internet Inter-Operable Protocol communications.

8. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message library hides a streaming protocol from the voice extensible mark-up language browser.

9. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message server is configured to spawn a process to manage retrieval of a message that comprises a greeting.

10. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 1, wherein the message server is configured to spawn a set of worker threads responsible for retrieving voice blocks by invoking the upper library.

11. The message retrieval subsystem of claim 10, wherein a number of members of the set is adjustable for controlling the load to the lower library and the common message store.

12. A method for providing streaming audio information in a distributed voice messaging system, the method comprising:

providing a voice extensible mark-up language browser on a media server;

providing a message server on a document server communicatively coupled to the media server and a common message store configured with message information;

receiving a request to open a connection between the voice extensible mark-up language browser and the message server;

spawning a connection thread for processing a subsequent request for message information stored in the common message store;

receiving the subsequent request for message information;

using the connection thread to queue the subsequent request;

using a worker thread to remove and process the subsequent request; and

using the connection thread to forward a response to the voice extensible mark-up language browser.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein using a worker thread comprises communicating with the common message store.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein communicating with the common message store comprises communicating via a message library.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

caching information in the message library.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the message library comprises an upper library and a lower library.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the subsequent request for information comprises caching user account information in the upper library.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the subsequent request for information comprises caching message information in the upper library.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the upper library isolates the voice extensible mark-up language browser from the streaming protocol.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the subsequent request for information comprises receiving both message information and user account information.