Selectable greeting messages

• US 20070263791A1
• Filed: 04/06/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cerami, Rich, Alperin, Jordan
• Granted Patent: US 8,320,535 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/306 Prerecordings to be used during a voice call
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/651 Text message transmission triggered by call automatic reactions in messaging within packet-switching networks H04L51/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4211 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53391 dependent on calling party

Abstract

Systems, methods, and machine-readable media are disclosed to provide selectable greetings or responses to a request to initiate a communication. In one embodiment, a method of providing selectable greetings in response to a request to initiate a communication can comprise receiving the request to initiate a communication from an initiating device. The request can identify an intended recipient device. A greeting can be selected from a set of pre-determined greetings in user profile information from a user of the recipient device. A response message to the initiating device can be generated where the response message indicates the selected greeting. The response message can be sent to the initiating device.

Claims

1. A method of providing selectable greetings in response to a request to initiate a communication, the method comprising:

receiving the request to initiate a communication from an initiating device, the request identifying an intended recipient device;

selecting a greeting from a set of pre-determined greetings in user profile information from a user of the recipient device;

generating a response message to the initiating device, the response message indicating the selected greeting; and

sending the response message to the initiating device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings is based on an identity of a user of the initiating device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings is further based on membership of the user of the initiating device in a group defined in the user profile information from the user of the recipient device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the greeting from a set of pre-determined greetings comprises selecting a plurality of possible greetings from the set of pre-determined greetings.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, prior to generating the response message to the initiating device, providing notification of the request to the recipient device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notification includes an indication of each of the plurality of the possible greetings.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising, prior to generating the response message to the initiating device, receiving a selection of one of the plurality of the possible greetings from the user of the recipient device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the response message to the initiating device comprises generating a response message that includes an indication of the greeting selected by the user of the recipient device.

9. A system for providing selectable greetings in response to a request to initiate a communication, the system comprising:

a communications bus;

a user profile database communicatively coupled with the communications bus and adapted to maintain user profile information for a plurality of users;

an initiating end device communicatively coupled with the communications bus and adapted to send and receive common language messages via the communications bus, to translate common language messages received from the communications bus to a format specific to the end device based on the type, and to store user profile information in the user profile database, wherein one of the common language messages comprises the request to initiate a communication;

a recipient end device communicatively coupled with the communications bus and adapted to send and receive common language messages via the communications bus, to translate common language messages received from the communications bus to a format specific to the end device based on the type, and to store user profile information in the user profile database; and

a manager communicatively coupled with the communications bus, wherein the manager is adapted to receive the request to initiate a communication from the initiating end device, the request identifying the recipient end device, and to select a greeting from a set of pre-determined greetings in user profile information from a user of the recipient end device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the manager is further adapted to generate a response message to the initiating end device, the response message indicating the selected greeting, and send the response message to the initiating end device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the manager selects the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings based on an identity of a user of the initiating end device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the manager further selects the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings based on membership of the user of the initiating end device in a group defined in the user profile information from the user of the recipient end device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the manager is further adapted to select a plurality of possible greetings from the set of pre-determined greetings.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the manager is further adapted to provide notification of the request to the recipient end device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the notification includes an indication of each of the plurality of the possible greetings.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the manager is further adapted to receive a selection of one of the plurality of the possible greetings from the user of the recipient end device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the manager is further adapted to generate a response message to the initiating end device, wherein the response message includes an indication of the greeting selected by the user of the recipient end device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the manager is further adapted to send the response message to the initiating end device.

19. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a series of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to provide selectable greetings in response to a request to initiate a communication by:

receiving the request to initiate a communication from an initiating device, the request identifying an intended recipient device;

selecting a greeting from a set of pre-determined greetings in user profile information from a user of the recipient device;

generating a response message to the initiating device, the response message indicating the selected greeting; and

sending the response message to the initiating device.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein selecting the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings is based on an identity of a user of the initiating device.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein selecting the greeting from the set of pre-determined greetings is further based on membership of the user of the initiating device in a group defined in the user profile information from the user of the recipient device.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein selecting the greeting from a set of pre-determined greetings comprises selecting a plurality of possible greetings from the set of pre-determined greetings.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising, prior to generating the response message to the initiating device, providing notification of the request to the recipient device.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the notification includes an indication of each of the plurality of the possible greetings.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 24, further comprising, prior to generating the response message to the initiating device, receiving a selection of one of the plurality of the possible greetings from the user of the recipient device.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein generating the response message to the initiating device comprises generating a response message that includes an indication of the greeting selected by the user of the recipient device.