COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH VOICE MAIL ACCESS AND CALL BY SPELLING FUNCTIONALITY

• US 20090318119A1
• Filed: 06/19/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Value8 Co., Ltd. (Wisefin Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. (Trak Global Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Miners, William Ben, Basir, Otman A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• 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 of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device includes receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name and identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters. A communication to the contact is initiated from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information. A method of presenting voicemail to a user establishes communication with a mobile communication device. A first voicemail box is checked for messages, the first voicemail box being associated with the mobile communication device. A second voicemail box is checked for messages, the second voicemail box being associated with a second communication device. At least one voicemail message received from at least one of the first and second voicemail boxes is presented to a user via a single interface.

Claims

1. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (A) includes:

receiving at least one exemplary word for each of the plurality of spoken letters, the at least one exemplary word having the same initial letter as a spoken letter; and

using the exemplary word to confirm a spoken letter associated with the exemplary word.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (B) includes:

comparing the spoken letters to known contacts in the database using an approximate string matching algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(E) receiving a command to accept the suggested contact, to reject the suggested contact, to re-spell contact, or to exit a contact spelling mode.

6. The method of claim 4, including:

(E) transmitting a reminder that the user can repeat step (A) in response to the user rejecting a suggested contact a predetermined quantity of times.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said step (D) includes indicating a quantity of identified contacts in response to identification of a plurality of contacts in said step (B).

8. The method of claim 4, wherein said step (D) includes:

transmitting a name of a suggested contact and a supplemental piece of information associated with the suggested contact in response to multiple identified contacts having the same name.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the supplemental piece of information is at least one of a contact company, a contact city, a middle name, and an email address.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein said step (D) is selectively repeated in response to the user rejecting a suggested contact.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein contacts are suggested in a decreasing order of confidence.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein frequently used contacts are suggested prior to rarely used contacts.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated contact information is a telephone number and wherein said step (C) includes initiating a telephone call.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (C) includes:

receiving a spoken message for the contact; and

transmitting an email containing the spoken message to the contact.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (C) includes:

receiving a spoken message for the contact; and

transmitting at least one of an SMS or MMS message containing the spoken message to the contact.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (B) includes:

ignoring a second portion of the spoken letters in response to a first portion of the spoken letters being sufficient to identify a desired contact.

17. A method of presenting voicemail to a user, comprising:

A) establishing communication with a mobile communication device;

B) checking a first voicemail box for messages, the first voicemail box being associated with the mobile communication device;

C) checking a second voicemail box for messages, the second voicemail box being associated with a second communication device; and

D) presenting at least one voicemail message received from at least one of the first and second voicemail boxes to a user via a unified, single voice user interface of a control unit.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (C) is performed using the data network access of the mobile communication device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (C) is performed using a data network access of the control unit.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

E) providing an indication to the user in response to discovery of a new voicemail.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (D) is performed according to prioritization rules stored in a user profile.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user profile is stored on the mobile communication device.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (D) includes:

referencing voicemail meta-data for the at least one voicemail message; and

presenting spoken or visual information about the at least one voicemail message to the user, wherein the information is retrieved from the voicemail meta-data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the voicemail meta-data includes information about at least one of a caller, a voicemail length, a voicemail priority, and a voicemail age.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (D) includes:

referencing voicemail meta-data for the at least one voicemail message;

cross-referencing the voicemail meta-data against a contact database to identify contact information for the at least one voicemail message; and

presenting spoken or visual contact information associated with the at least one voicemail message to the user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the contact information includes a contact nickname.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (C) includes

initiating a dual-tone multi-frequency command to the second voicemail box in response to a spoken voice command from the user.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein the second communication device is a land-line telephone.

29. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

E) storing voicemail login information in a user profile;

F) transmitting the voicemail login information to perform said step (C).

30. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

E) registering via a voice-driven menu on the control unit each of the first voicemail box and the second voicemail box.

F) transmitting the voicemail registration data from said step (E) to an Internet server.

31. The method of claim 17, wherein said step (D) includes converting the voicemail message to text using a speech-to-text engine, and transmitting the text to the user.

32. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information.

33. A voicemail retrieval system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to check a first voicemail box associated with the mobile communication device for messages, to check a second voicemail box associated with a second communication device for messages, and to present at least one voicemail message received from at least one of the first and second voicemail boxes to a user via a unified, single voice user interface of a control unit.