Integrated message service system
First Claim
1. In a business communication system comprising a telephone communication system having a sytem processor and a plurality of message service systems, wherein said message service systems are each connected to said telephone communication system by communication lines to enable each user on said telephone communication system to access any one of said message service systems designated by said user, a message notification system comprising:
- means connected to an interconnecting said plurality of message service systems and said telephone communication system and responsive to a user accessing one of said message service systems for exchanging call related data between said one message service system and said telephone communication system;
means connected to said exchanging means and said system processor and responsive to the appearance of said call related data on said exchanging means for storing an indication of the current message status in all of said message service systems of said user on said system processor of said telephone communication system;
wherein said system processor is responsive to a user on said telephone communication system accessing one of said plurality of message service systems via said communication lines for transmitting said indication of the current message status in all of said message service systems for said accessing user to said accessed message service system via said exchanging means; and
means in at least one of said message service systems responsive to said transmitted message status indication for providing an indication of said message status to said accessing user.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This integrated message service system provides a user with an indication of which of a plurality of message service systems contain unretrieved messages. This is accomplished by the serving telephone switching system maintaining a translation memory that indicates both the type of message services assigned to each user and the location of unretrieved messages in the assigned message services. The translation memory is updated every time a user creates a new message or accesses a previously stored message.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. In a business communication system comprising a telephone communication system having a sytem processor and a plurality of message service systems, wherein said message service systems are each connected to said telephone communication system by communication lines to enable each user on said telephone communication system to access any one of said message service systems designated by said user, a message notification system comprising:
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means connected to an interconnecting said plurality of message service systems and said telephone communication system and responsive to a user accessing one of said message service systems for exchanging call related data between said one message service system and said telephone communication system; means connected to said exchanging means and said system processor and responsive to the appearance of said call related data on said exchanging means for storing an indication of the current message status in all of said message service systems of said user on said system processor of said telephone communication system; wherein said system processor is responsive to a user on said telephone communication system accessing one of said plurality of message service systems via said communication lines for transmitting said indication of the current message status in all of said message service systems for said accessing user to said accessed message service system via said exchanging means; and means in at least one of said message service systems responsive to said transmitted message status indication for providing an indication of said message status to said accessing user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a business communication system which comprises a telephone communication system and a plurality of message service systems, where said message service systems are each connected to said telephone communication system by communication lines which provide each user on said telephone communication system with dial access to any one of said message service systems designated by said user, an integrated message status indication system comprising:
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means connected to an interconnecting said plurality of message service systems and said telephone communication system for exchanging call related data between said message service systems and said telephone communication system; means responsive to a user on said telephone communication system requesting dial access to one of said message service systems for establishing a communication connection from said user to said one message service system via one of said communication lines; means in said telephone communication system responsive to said dial access request for transmitting call related data to said one of said message service systems via said exchanging means; and means connected to said exchanging means and responsive to said call related data for forwarding to said user via said exchanging means and said message service system an indication of the message status of said user. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. In a business communication system which comprises a telephone communication system and a plurality of message service systems, wherein said message service systems are each connected to said telephone communication system by communication lines which provide each user on said telephone communication system with dial access to said message service systems, a method of providing an integrated message notification service comprising the steps of:
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storing in a central memory data relating to message status whenever a user accesses any of said plurality of message service systems to either create a message in said message service system or access a message stored in said message service system; and transmitting to a user in response to said user accessing one of said message service systems said message status data associated with said accessing user to indicate the location of all messages for said accessing user in all of said plurality of message service systems. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. In a business communication system that comprises a telephone communication system and a plurality of message service systems wherein said message service systems are each connected to said telephone communication system by communication lines that provide each user on said telephone communication system with dial access to said message service systems, a method of providing an integrated message indication service comprising the steps of:
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storing in a central memory data relating to message status whenever a user accesses one of said plurality of message service systems to either create a message in said message service system or access a message stored in said message service system; and transmitting to a user, in response to said user generating a message status request signal, said message status data associated with said accessing user to indicate the location of all messages for said accessing user in all of said plurality of message service systems. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification