APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MESSAGING SERVICES

• US 20110064206A1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• 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: Dudley, David, Robbins, William S., Karnalkar, Anup D., Wallis, R. Tyler
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,044 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/08 home cordless telephone systems using the DECT standard
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2218 Call detail recording
• 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 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a voicemail device having a controller to detect a recording of a voicemail message, generate a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, wherein the SIP message contains visual voicemail data associated with the recorded voicemail message, and transmit the SIP message to a cordless phone system, wherein the SIP message is received by the cordless phone system over a data port of the cordless phone system, wherein the cordless phone system comprises a base station and at least one cordless communications device, wherein the visual voicemail data is retrieved by the base station, and wherein the visual voicemail data is transmitted by the based station to the at least one cordless communications device by utilizing a cordless wireless access protocol. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A voicemail device, comprising a controller to:

detect a recording of a voicemail message;

generate a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, wherein the SIP message contains visual voicemail data associated with the recorded voicemail message; and

transmit the SIP message to a cordless phone system, wherein the SIP message is received by the cordless phone system over a data port of the cordless phone system, wherein the cordless phone system comprises a base station and at least one cordless communications device, wherein the visual voicemail data is retrieved by the base station, and wherein the visual voicemail data is transmitted by the base station to the at least one cordless communications device by utilizing a cordless wireless access protocol.

2. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the controller is operable to transmit the voicemail message to the cordless phone system upon receiving a request from the cordless phone system for the voicemail message, wherein the voicemail message comprises an audible recording of a caller.

3. The voicemail device of claim 2, wherein the controller is operable to transmit the voicemail message as at least one of a stream and a progressive download to the cordless phone system.

4. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the cordless wireless access protocol comprises one of a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) wireless access protocol and a Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) wireless access protocol.

5. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the visual voicemail data comprises at least one of a caller identification number, a recording time of the voicemail message, an identity of a caller of the voicemail message, and a duration time for the voicemail message.

6. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the controller is operable to transcode the voicemail message from a G.711 format to a G.726 format during at least one of a transmission of the voicemail message to the cordless phone system or prior to the transmission of the voicemail message to the cordless phone system.

7. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the data port corresponds to an Internet data port.

8. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the at least one cordless communications device comprises at least one of a cordless phone and a touch-screen computing tablet.

9. The voicemail device of claim 1, wherein the voicemail device and the cordless phone system communicate utilizing at least one web service.

10. A cordless phone system, comprising:

at least one cordless communications device; and

a base station communicatively coupled to the at least one cordless communications device using a cordless wireless access protocol, wherein the base station is operable to;

receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message, wherein the SIP message comprises visual voicemail data associated with a recorded voicemail message;

retrieve the visual voicemail data from the SIP message; and

transmit the visual voicemail data to the at least one cordless communications device using the cordless wireless access protocol.

11. The cordless phone system of claim 10, wherein the cordless wireless access protocol comprises one of a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) wireless access protocol and a Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) wireless access protocol.

12. The cordless phone system of claim 10, wherein the at least one cordless communications device comprises at least one of a cordless phone and a touch-screen computing tablet.

13. The cordless phone system of claim 10, wherein the base station is operable to transmit a request for the voicemail message to a server on a communications network, wherein the server contains the voicemail message.

14. The cordless phone system of claim 13, wherein the base station is operable to receive the voicemail message from the server in response to the request for the voicemail message, wherein the voicemail message comprises an audible recording of a caller.

15. The cordless phone system of claim 14, wherein the voicemail message is transcoded by the server from a G.711 format to a G.726 format during transmission of the voicemail message to the base station.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

receive a request for an identifier associated with a voicemail message from a phone system, wherein the phone system comprises a base station and at least one cordless communications device;

transmit the identifier associated with the voicemail message to the phone system, wherein the identifier is extracted by the base station;

receive a request from the base station for the voicemail message, wherein the message is requested via the identifier;

transmit the voicemail message to the cordless phone system, wherein the voicemail message is transcoded during transmission of the voicemail message.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the identifier is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions to transcode the voicemail message from a G.711 format to a G.726 format.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions to generate a notification message based upon a triggering event, wherein the notification message is transmitted to the phone system.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the triggering event is at least one of receiving of a new voicemail message, logging out of a voicemail box associated with the phone system, and receiving an indicator that a message count associated with the voicemail box is zero.