METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY SELECTING OUTGOING VOICEMAIL MESSAGES

• US 20080198982A1
• Filed: 02/15/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Paolini, Michael A., Hernandez, Yasmary, Thompson, Lee Parnell, Marz, Nathan Shlomo
• Granted Patent: US 8,050,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.19
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/642 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/10 Logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/36 Memories
• 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 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• 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 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A system for automatically selecting an outgoing message for an incoming call. In response to receiving an incoming call, a calling party is identified. The identified calling party is compared against call log data to determine that the identified calling party has previously heard a first outgoing message. In response to determining that the identified calling party has not previously heard the first outgoing message, the first outgoing message is played as a selected outgoing message for the incoming call. In response to determining that the identified calling party has previously heard the first outgoing message, a second outgoing message is played as the selected outgoing message for the incoming call. Then, the call log data is updated to identify the selected outgoing message played for the incoming call.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for automatically selecting an outgoing message for an incoming call, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving an incoming call, identifying a calling party to form an identified calling party;

comparing the identified calling party against call log data to determine that the identified calling party has previously heard a first outgoing message;

responsive to determining that the identified calling party has not previously heard the first outgoing message, playing the first outgoing message as a selected outgoing message for the incoming call;

responsive to determining that the identified calling party has previously heard the first outgoing message, playing a second outgoing message as the selected outgoing message for the incoming call; and

updating the call log data to identify the selected outgoing message played for the incoming call.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first outgoing message is a long outgoing message, and wherein the second outgoing message is an abbreviated outgoing message.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the second outgoing message is one of a plurality of second outgoing messages.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the call log data resides in one or more call logs within a storage unit, and wherein the one or more call logs use a rule set to determine which of the plurality of second outgoing messages to play.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the call log data includes telephone numbers associated with incoming calls, and wherein the telephone numbers associated with the incoming calls are removed from the call log data based upon at least one of exceeding a predetermined time in the call log data, exceeding a maximum storage space allocation for the call log data, a manual selection by a user, or a global reset of the call log data when a new outgoing message is created.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the outgoing message is one of a voice message, an advertisement, a music segment, or any combination thereof.

7. A computer program product for automatically selecting an outgoing message for an incoming call, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therein, the computer usable medium comprising;

computer usable program code configured to identify a calling party to form an identified calling party in response to receiving an incoming call;

computer usable program code configured to compare the identified calling party against call log data to determine that the identified calling party has previously heard a first outgoing message;

computer usable program code configured to play the first outgoing message as a selected outgoing message for the incoming call in response to determining that the identified calling party has not previously heard the first outgoing message;

computer usable program code configured to play a second outgoing message as the selected outgoing message for the incoming call in response to determining that the identified calling party has previously heard the first outgoing message; and

computer usable program code configured to update the call log data to identify the selected outgoing message played for the incoming call.