MESSAGING AND APPLICATION SYSTEM INTEGRATION

• US 20090074159A1
• Filed: 09/12/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BT Americas Incorporated (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: BT Americas Incorporated (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Narayan, Ramani, Goldfarb, Gregory Lloyd
• Granted Patent: US 9,088,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.130
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/247 Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use user interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2477 for selecting a function from a menu display H04M1/2474 takes precedence
• 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 1/575 Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/252 where a voice mode is enhanced with visual information
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• 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 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5335 Message type or catagory, e.g. priority, indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53358 Message preview
• 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 system includes receiving a voicemail data object at a business application system. The voicemail data object is associated with a voicemail originated from a caller, and includes a caller identifier identifying the caller that originated the voicemail. The voicemail data object is automatically associated with an entity data object of the business application system, the association being based on the caller identifier. A voicemail indicator is presented to a user of the business application system based on the association, the presentation of the voicemail indicator being in conjunction with presenting of caller identification information for the caller.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a voicemail data object at a business application system, the voicemail data object being associated with a voicemail originated from a caller, and including a caller identifier identifying the caller that originated the voicemail;

automatically associating the voicemail data object with an entity data object of the business application system, the association being based on the caller identifier; and

presenting a voicemail indicator to a user of the business application system based on the association, the presentation of the voicemail indicator being in conjunction with presenting caller identification information for the caller.

2. The method of claim 1, including, prior to the associating of the voicemail data object with the entity data object, determining whether the voicemail data object is related to at least one of a plurality of entity data objects of the business application system, and associating the voicemail data object with the entity data object based on the determination.

3. The method of claim 2, including instantiating the entity data object within the business application system based on a determination that the voicemail data object is not related to at least one of the plurality of entity data objects of the business application system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the voicemail data object includes a reference to a recording of the voicemail, the method including, responsive to a selection event with respect to the voicemail indicator, retrieving the recording of the voicemail.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the retrieving of the recording of the voicemail includes at least one of streaming the recording of the voicemail to a user device, or downloading the recording of the voicemail to the user device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference identifies a storage location from which the recording of the voicemail is retrievable, and the retrieving of the recording of the voicemail includes retrieving the voicemail recording from the storage location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the storage location is within a storage facility that is separate from the business application system and that is associated with a voicemail system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating of the voicemail data object with the entity data object includes performing a match operation between the caller identifier and an entity identifier of entity data object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the caller identifier includes at least one of a caller telephone number, a caller name, a caller address, a caller account number, an account identifier, a project identifier, or a purchase order number.

10. The method of claim 1, including supplementing the voicemail data object with supplemental data retrieved from the business application system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the business application system is a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and wherein the supplemental data comprises at least one of relationship stage data, task data identifying a task associated with a relationship with the caller, other entities related to the relationship with a caller, or opportunity data related to an opportunity associated with the caller.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity data object is representative of at least one of a person, organization, account or a relationship.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity data object is representative of at least one of an event, process, project or campaign.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of the voicemail indicator includes presenting a message entry, in association with the caller identification information, together with other entries in a dedicated message interface of a recipient of the voicemail.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the voicemail indicator is presented in association with the caller identification information in a contact list presented by the business application system.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the voicemail indicator is presented within a contact interface dedicated to at least one of the caller or an entity with which the caller is associated.

17. The method of claim 1, including enabling a user of the business application system to manually associate the voicemail object with a further entity data object of the business application system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the voicemail data object includes metadata pertaining to the voicemail, the metadata including at least one of the caller identifier, a recipient identifier, time and date information, storage size data indicating a storage size for a recording of the voicemail or duration information indicating a duration of the voicemail, note information pertaining to the voicemail, tag information to categorize the voicemail, text transcription of the voicemail, accessed/unaccessed status information, follow-up required information, urgency information, and association information with other objects of the business application system.

19. A system comprising:

an association component to;

receive a voicemail data object at a business application system, the voicemail data object being associated with a voicemail originated from a caller, and including a caller identifier identifying the caller that originated the voicemail, and

automatically associating the voicemail data object with an entity data object of the business application system, the association being based on the caller identifier; and

a presentation interface to present a voicemail indicator to a user of the business application system based on the association, the presentation of the voicemail indicator being in conjunction with presenting caller identification information for the caller.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the association component, prior to the associating of the voicemail data object with the entity data object, is to determine whether the voicemail data object is related to at least one of a plurality of entity data objects of the business application system, and is to associate the voicemail data object with the entity data object based on the determination.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the association component is to instantiate the entity data object within the business application system based on a determination that the voicemail data object is not related to at least one of the plurality of entity data objects of the business application system.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the voicemail data object includes a reference to a recording of the voicemail using, the recording of the voicemail being retrievable using the reference.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the association component is to perform a match operation between the caller identifier and an entity identifier of entity data object.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the caller identifier includes at least one of a caller telephone number, a caller name, a caller address, a caller account number, an account identifier, a project identifier, or a purchase order number.

25. The system of claim 19, including a supplementing component to supplement the voicemail data object with supplemental data retrieved from the business application system.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the business application system is a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and wherein the supplementing component is to supplement the voicemail data object with at least one of relationship stage data, task data identifying a task associated with a relationship with the caller, other entities related to the relationship with a caller, or opportunity data related to an opportunity associated with the caller.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the entity data object is representative of at least one of a person, organization, account or relationship.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the data entity object is representative of at least one of an event, process, project or campaign.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the presentation interface is to present a message entry, in association with the caller identification information, together with other entries in a dedicated message interface of a recipient of the voicemail.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein the presentation interface is to present the voicemail indicator in association with the caller identification information in a contact list presented by the business application system.

31. The system of claim 19, wherein the presentation interface is to present the voicemail indicator within a contact interface dedicated to at least one of the caller or an entity with which the caller is associated.

32. The system of claim 19, including a manual association module to enable a user of the business application system to manually associate the voicemail object with a further entity data object of the business application system.

33. A system comprising:

means for receiving a voicemail data object at a business application system, the voicemail data object being associated with a voicemail originated from a caller, and including a caller identifier identifying the caller that originated the voicemail;

means for automatically associating the voicemail data object with an entity data object of the business application system, the association being based on the caller identifier; and

means for presenting a voicemail indicator to a user of the business application system based on the association, the presentation of the voicemail indicator being in conjunction with presenting of caller identification information for the caller.

34. A computer-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform the following operations:

receiving a voicemail data object at a business application system, the voicemail data object being associated with a voicemail originated from a caller, and including a caller identifier identifying the caller that originated the voicemail;

automatically associating the voicemail data object with an entity data object of the business application system, the association being based on the caller identifier; and

presenting a voicemail indicator to a user of the business application system based on the association, the presentation of the voicemail indicator being in conjunction with presenting caller identification information for the caller.