System for the recognition of automated telephone answering devices and delivery of prerecorded messages to such devices
First Claim
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1. An improved automated telephone dialing and message delivery system, comprising:
- means for automatically dialing a telephone number over a communication channel so as to establish a communications channel with a called telephone;
means for detecting a presence or absence of an audio signal over the communications channel emanating from the called telephone;
means for providing audio instructions to the called telephone after the presence of an audio signal is detected emanating from the called telephone;
means for determining if the audio instructions are acknowledged by a party at the called telephone;
means for providing audio messages to a live party when audio instructions are acknowledged;
means for delivery of messages to a telephone answering device when audio instructions are not acknowledged, including means for detecting the absence of any audio signal emanating from the called telephone and means for providing audio messages to the telephone answering device when no audio signal is emanating from the called telephone.
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Abstract
This invention relates to an automated telephone dialing system, for recognizing electronically, whether a called party is a human subject or an automated telephone answering device, and for delivery of pre-recorded messages in synchronization with the activation of the receive function of an automatic answering machine. The determination of whether a called party is human or an answering device is made based on analysis of the party'"'"'s response to an audio instruction. The system delivers pre-recorded messages to a live party or to an automated answering device in the time sequence required or recording of the message by the answering device.
196 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An improved automated telephone dialing and message delivery system, comprising:
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means for automatically dialing a telephone number over a communication channel so as to establish a communications channel with a called telephone; means for detecting a presence or absence of an audio signal over the communications channel emanating from the called telephone; means for providing audio instructions to the called telephone after the presence of an audio signal is detected emanating from the called telephone; means for determining if the audio instructions are acknowledged by a party at the called telephone; means for providing audio messages to a live party when audio instructions are acknowledged; means for delivery of messages to a telephone answering device when audio instructions are not acknowledged, including means for detecting the absence of any audio signal emanating from the called telephone and means for providing audio messages to the telephone answering device when no audio signal is emanating from the called telephone.
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2. An automated telephone dialing and message delivery system, comprising:
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a telephone dialing interface between a controller and a communications channel so as to establish a communications channel with a called telephone; an audio detector circuit to determine a presence or absence of an audio signal over the communications channel emanating from the called telephone; an audio/telephony interface and controller to provide audio instructions to the called telephone after the presence of an audio signal is detected from the called telephone; an audio detection routine to operate with the audio detector circuit to determine if the audio instructions are acknowledged by a party, a record mode answering machine, or an endless message answering machine; an audio routine to operate the audio telephony interface to provide audio messages to a live party when the audio instructions are acknowledged by a party; an audio routine to operate the audio telephony interface to provide a message to a record mode answering machine; a routine to disconnect the established communications channel if the called telephone was answered by an endless message answering machine. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method to improve automated telephone dialing and message delivery, comprising the steps of;
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automatically dialing through a communications channel to establish a communications channel with a called telephone; detecting a presence or absence of an audio signal over the communications channel emanating from the called telephone; providing audio instructions to the called telephone after the presence of an audio signal is detected from the called telephone; determining if the audio instructions are acknowledged by a party, a record mode answering machine, or an endless message answering machine, at the called telephone. providing audio messages to a live party when the audio instructions are acknowledged; providing audio messages during a record mode of a record mode answering machine; disconnecting the established communications channel if the called telephone is answered by an endless message answering machine. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification