SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EMAIL NOTIFICATION

• US 20090204680A1
• Filed: 04/15/2009
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkpatrick, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

Email subscribers are notified of the receipt of new email messages when they are not at their computers via voice or page. An email notification server polls the email server corresponding to the subscriber'"'"'s email account for the presence of new email messages. New email messages are obtained. Header information is extracted. If new email notification is by voicemail, the extracted header information is converted from text to voice. A voicemail message containing the extracted header information is saved on the voicemail system corresponding to the subscriber for whom the email message was intended. The email notification server can also send a page to notify the subscriber of the presence of new email.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a subscriber of a presence of new email messages, wherein more than one email account are assigned to the subscriber, comprising:

polling, using an email notification server, each email account of the subscriber to determine whether a new email message is present;

extracting at least a portion of the header of the new email message responsive to a determination that an email message is present;

converting, using a text-to-speech converter, the extracted portion of the header to speech as converted header information; and

leaving a voicemail message on a voicemail server corresponding to the subscriber indicating the presence of the new email message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein different preferences are capable of being designated by the subscriber for the polling each email account in an account record.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each email account has a different predetermined amount of time, capable of being specified in the account record by the subscriber, that the email notification server waits prior to polling the email account.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calling the voicemail server corresponding to the subscriber.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the voicemail message left on the voicemail server contains the converted header information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the email messages of each email account are stored on a different email server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the subscriber of the voicemail message.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the new email message.

9. A method for providing email notification to a plurality of subscribers, wherein each of the plurality of subscribers is assigned a plurality of email accounts, comprising:

obtaining email account contact information for a particular subscriber from a particular account record associated with the particular subscriber stored in a database;

polling each of the email accounts of the particular subscriber according to the email account contact information for the presence of a new email message for the particular subscriber, wherein the email accounts are polled after different predetermined amounts of time; and

leaving a voicemail message on a voicemail server corresponding to the particular subscriber indicating the presence of the new email message for the particular subscriber.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

extracting at least a portion of the header of the new email message responsive to a determination that an email message is present; and

converting, using a text-to-speech converter, the extracted portion of the header to speech as converted header information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the voicemail message includes the converted header information.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

obtaining email account contact information for another subscriber from another account record associated with the another subscriber stored in the database.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

polling each of the email accounts of the another subscriber according to the email account contact information, wherein the email accounts are polled for the presence of a new email message for the another subscriber, wherein the email accounts of the another subscriber are polled after different predetermined amounts of time.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined amounts of time for polling the email accounts of the particular subscriber are different from the predetermined amounts of time for polling the email accounts of the another subscriber.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

leaving a voicemail message on a voicemail server corresponding to the another subscriber indicating a presence of the new email message for the another subscriber.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising notifying the particular subscriber of the presence of at least one new email message in any of the email accounts of the particular subscriber.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined amounts of time are specified in an account record by the particular subscriber.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising contacting, by the email notification server, a voicemail system associated with the particular subscriber.

19. An email notification server comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor that cause the email notification server to;

poll each email account of a subscriber to determine whether a new email message is present;

extract at least a portion of the header of the new email message responsive to a determination that an email message is present;

convert the extracted portion of the header to speech as converted header information; and

leave a voicemail message on a voicemail server corresponding to the subscriber indicating a presence of the new email message and containing the converted header information.

20. The email notification server of claim 19, wherein different polling preferences of the subscriber for each email account are stored in an account record.