Missed call integration with voicemail and granular access to voicemail

• US 20070280457A1
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grigsby, Travis M., Paolini, Michael A., Potluri, Lakshmi, Aberethy, Michael N.
• Granted Patent: US 8,594,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for enhancing a phone device such as a cell phone by automatically linking/associating caller identifying information with voicemail notification so that the phone'"'"'s user (callee) receives notification of which missed call(s) generated a voicemail/SMS notification. The voicemail notification displays a notification identification (NID) associated with the particular caller number that generated the voicemail, and each voicemail displayed via the associated NID on the phone'"'"'s display when the user selects the voicemail. Also, voicemail notification (icon or check mark) is added to the missed call log and displayed next to the missed call number that generated a voicemail. Additionally, granular user-directed access to voicemail is provided whereby the user of the phone device accesses the voicemail from the missed call (or received call) log and is able to listen to a specific voicemail left by a selected one of the listed missed calls/callee.

Claims

1. In a telephone device, a method comprising:

receiving a call from a call originator (callee) with a specific caller unique notification identification (NID);

when the call is not answered by the user of the telephone device, forwarding the callee to a message storage facility, whereat the callee may leave a message from among one or more of a voicemail and a text message;

when the callee leaves the message, concurrently storing the NID of the callee along with the message;

tagging the message with the NID; and

subsequently displaying the message along with an indication of the NID on the display device, such that unequivocal identification of the source of the recorded message is provided to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the NID is received as an SMS message during the call.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the user selects to display one of a missed call log and a received call log, displaying each missed call that resulted in a recorded message with a message notification signal next to one of the call number and the NID.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

when the user selects the particular missed call with a recorded message notification, prompting the user to access the recorded message prior to initiating a return call to the number associated with the NID.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling granular access to each recorded voicemail, wherein access to a particular recorded message associated with a user-selected missed call number and NID is provided without replaying previous and/or subsequent recorded messages in the voicemail queue.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein access to recorded messages is enabled out-of-order relative to the order in which the recorded messages were recorded.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the user of the phone device selects the voicemail retrieval option when an un-opened voicemail exists within the voice mailbox, said method further comprises:

generating a list of missed calls with an associated, unopened voicemail;

displaying the list on the phone display while authenticating access to the voice mailbox;

enabling user selection of a specific one of the voicemails by selecting the associated one of the missed calls on the generated list; and

providing direct access to that specific one of the voicemails within the voice mailbox, wherein access to a particular recorded message associated with a user-selected missed call number (or NID) is provided without replaying previous and/or subsequent recorded messages in queue to be retrieved by the user.

8. A computer program product having stored on a computer readable medium program code that when executed by a processor of a phone device completes the steps of claim 1.

9. A method for providing enhanced cellular phone service, said method comprising loading on a cellular phone device a program code for completing the steps described in claim 1 when said program code is executed by a processor of the phone device.

10. A cellular phone device that comprises code that when executed performs the functions of claim 1.

11. A communication device comprising:

a processor; and

program code that when executed on the processor performs the functions of;

receiving a call from a call originator (callee) with a specific caller unique notification identification (NID);

when the call is not answered by the user of the telephone device, forwarding the callee to a message storage facility, whereat the callee may leave a message from among one or more of a voicemail and a text message;

when the callee leaves the message, concurrently storing the NID of the callee along with the message;

tagging the message with the NID; and

subsequently displaying the message along with an indication of the NID on the display device, such that unequivocal identification of the source of the recorded message is provided to the user.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising code for receiving the NID as an SMS message during the call.

13. The device of claim 11, said program code further comprising code for:

when the user selects to display one of a missed call log and a received call log, displaying each missed call that resulted in a recorded message with a message notification signal next to one of the call number and the NID.

14. The device of claim 13, further comprising code for:

when the user selects the particular missed call with a recorded message notification, prompting the user to access the recorded message prior to initiating a return call to the number associated with the NID.

15. The device of claim 13, further comprising code for:

enabling granular access to each recorded voicemail, wherein access to a particular recorded message associated with a user-selected missed call number and NID is provided without replaying previous and/or subsequent recorded messages in the voicemail queue.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein said code for enabling granular access provides access to recorded messages out-of-order relative to the order in which the recorded messages were recorded.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein, when the user of the phone device selects the voicemail retrieval option when an un-opened voicemail exists within the voice mailbox, said code further comprises code for:

generating a list of missed calls with an associated, unopened voicemail;

displaying the list on the phone display while authenticating access to the voice mailbox;

enabling user selection of a specific one of the voicemails by selecting the associated one of the missed calls on the generated list; and

providing direct access to that specific one of the voicemails within the voice mailbox, wherein access to a particular recorded message associated with a user-selected missed call number (or NID) is provided without replaying previous and/or subsequent recorded messages in queue to be retrieved by the user.