Call processing system and method for providing a variety of messaging services

• US 5,724,406 A
• Filed: 03/22/1994
• Issued: 03/03/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ericsson Messaging Systems Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson Messaging Systems Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Juster, Bernard G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US08/216,105
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/73, 379/71, 379/201, 379/207, 379/84, 379/93, 379/211, 379/94, 395/2.87, 395/2.84, 395/2.79
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A flexible, object-oriented call processor is employed in a wide range of messaging environments (e.g. voice messaging, facsimile mail, notification and electronic mail) to provide any number and type of messaging service. Call processing procedures can be changed or adapted to provide a new or different messaging service without rewriting large amounts of software or redesigning the messaging system. Various call processing primitives are established to perform various call processing services in a messaging application, with each to primitive performing a single operation. Sets of parameters are also defined for different types of call processing services and different subscribers. A service state table corresponding to a sequence of logical states is set up to provide the requested call processing service. Once a requested call processing service is identified in response to a subscriber call, the call processor executes the service logic in the corresponding service state table. Each primitive is associated with a state in the service state table and is a source of events from that state. Execution of each logical state invokes one primitive for transitioning to the next state in the state table. Using such primitives and parameters, call processing services may be configured and readily adapted without knowledge of specific operating system or application software. A unique layered software architecture called the call processing stack executes call processing services based on corresponding records of configured primitives and parameters. Each layer of the architecture performs dedicated tasks without specific knowledge of the functions of the other layers.

Claims

1. A call processing method for processing subscriber communications in a message handling system to provide a variety of different communications services including messaging application services, comprising the steps of:

identifying a requested call processing messaging application service in response to a subscriber call;

establishing a set of call processing primitives to perform the requested call processing messaging application service, each primitive performing a single call processing operation;

setting up a service state table that establishes a sequence of logical states for providing the requested call processing messaging application service, each primitive being associated with a state in the service state table in which the primitive is included, and each primitive being associated with one of a variety of different objects or events;

executing the state table to provide the requested call processing messaging application service, wherein execution of each logical state invokes one call processing primitive; and

modifying one or more of the different objects or events to modify the requested call processing messaging application service without modifying the call processing primitives in the one service state table.

2. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein each call processing primitive includes a call processing name, a list of values the call processing primitive accepts as an argument, and a list of results produced when the call processing primitive is executed.

3. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein each primitive is identified by selecting a display icon on a display and executed by a data processor automatically retrieving and executing computer programming language instructions that correspond to the call processing primitive.

4. The call processing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

dividing various ones of the call processing primitives into functional classes related to a call processing function.

5. The call processing method according to claim 4, wherein the call processing primitive functional classes include a telephony class and a messaging handling class.

6. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein each primitive is a source of events.

7. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein one or more pretransition call processing primitives are executed before transition to a next state.

8. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein one or more other state tables is executed from a single state in the service state table.

9. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein the modifying step includes modifying one or more of the objects or events associated with the call processing primitives in the one service state table.

10. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein each of the call processing primitives operates on only a single argument.

11. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

12. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

13. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein the modifying step includes modifying one or more of the objects or events associated with the call processing primitives in the one service state table.

14. The call processing method according to claim 1, wherein each of the call processing primitives operates on only a single argument.

15. A call processing method for processing subscriber communications in a message handling system to provide a variety of different communications services including messaging application services, comprising:

identifying requested call processing messaging application services in response to subscriber calls;

dividing each requested call processing messaging application service into a sequence of call processing primitives to perform the call processing messaging application service, each primitive performing a single call processing operation;

defining features of the call processing messaging application services using a group of parameters associated with the call processing messaging application services including (1) one or more global service parameters which correspond to one or more communications services but are independent of a specific subscriber and (2) subscriber specific parameters; and

executing sequences of call processing primitives using the group of parameters including the one global service parameter and subscriber specific parameters to provide requested call processing messaging application services.

16. The call processing method according to claim 15, wherein various ones of the call processing primitives are allocated in function classes related to a call processing function including a telephony class and a message handling class.

17. The call processing method according to claim 15, wherein the group of parameters includes call processing variables.

18. The call processing method according to claim 17, wherein the group of parameters includes one or more objects for storing or accessing a message in the message handling system.

19. The call processing method according to claim 15, wherein the group of parameters includes one or more sets of voice prompts for the call processing messaging application service, each voice prompt being actuable by executing a corresponding call processing primitive.

20. The call processing method according to claim 19, wherein each voice prompt is defined as a combination of phrases.

21. The call processing method according to claim 20, wherein the phrases include speech phrases, silence phrases, or tone phrases stored in phrase tables.

22. The call processing method according to claim 19, wherein the voice prompts include prompts in different languages.

23. The call processing method according to claim 15, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

24. The call processing method according to claim 15, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

25. A call processing method for processing subscriber communications in a message handling system to provide a variety of different communications services including messaging application services comprising the steps of:

identifying a requested call processing messaging application service in response to a subscriber call;

establishing a set of call processing primitives as call processing service development tools to perform the requested call processing messaging application service, each call processing primitive performing a single call processing operation independent of other call processing primitives in the set of call processing primitives involved in performing the requested call processing messaging application service;

creating a corresponding call processing messaging application service record including data structures defining the requested call processing messaging application service that are used by the set of call processing primitives; and

providing the requested call processing messaging application service using the set of call processing primitives and the data structures from the call processing service record.

26. The call processing method according to claim 25, wherein the data structures include one or more state tables that establish a sequence of logical states for providing the requested call processing messaging application service.

27. The call processing method according to claim 26, wherein the providing step includes executing the one or more state tables, execution of each logical state invoking one of the call processing primitives.

28. The call processing method according to claim 27, the data structures include groups of parameters that define features particular to the call processing messaging application service including global service parameters, subscriber specific parameters, message handling topics, call processing variables, and voice prompts.

29. The call processing method according to claim 28, the providing step further comprising:

initializing the one or more state tables and the groups of parameters;

parsing the one or more state tables into a state table file and the groups of parameters into parameter files; and

linking the parsed state table file and parameter files to the call processing service record.

30. The call processing method according to claim 29, wherein the request is processed by the call processing primitives accessing the call processing service record.

31. The call processing method according to claim 25, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

32. The call processing method according to claim 25, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

33. A system for processing calls from an external telephony environment employing a hierarchy of software managers, comprising:

a telephony front end manager for interfacing call processing messaging application service requests from the external telephony environment and providing call processing messaging application service responses to the external telephony environment and providing call processing messaging application service responses to the external telephony environment;

plural telephony channel managers, each telephony channel manager;

(a) managing an assigned communication channel in the external telephony environment,

(b) transmitting call processing messaging application service requests for the assigned communication channel received from the telephony front end manager, and

(c) returning call processing service responses for the assigned communication channel to the telephony front end manager; and

a call processing manager for receiving call requests from the telephony channel managers, executing a logical sequence of call processing operations to perform a requested call processing messaging application service, and providing responses to call processing messaging application service requests to the telephony channel managers.

34. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein the call processing manager includes:

a service state table that corresponds to a sequence of logical states for providing the requested call processing messaging application service, and

means for executing the corresponding service state table, wherein execution of each logical state invokes at least one call processing operation for transitioning to the next state in the state table.

35. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein each call processing request received on a communications channel is assigned a telephony channel manager responsible for managing that communications channel.

36. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein the telephony front end manager includes plural controllers for interfacing with specific channel processing hardware.

37. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein the telephony front end manager includes servers for interfacing the call processing system with specific channel processing hardware.

38. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein each of the telephony front end, telephony channel, and call processing managers operate independently of operational details of the other managers in the hierarchy.

39. The call processing system according to claim 33, further comprising:

hardware-specific controllers for passing incoming call events to the telephony front end controller,

wherein the telephony front end controller analyzes an incoming call event, identifies a channel corresponding to the incoming call event, and sends a call processing messaging application service request independent of the hardware-specific controllers to the telephony channel manager responsible for the identified channel.

40. The call processing system according to claim 39, wherein the telephony channel manager responsible for the identified channel requests the call processing manager to execute the requested call processing messaging application service.

41. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

42. The call processing system according to claim 33, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

43. A method of building a call processing system, comprising:

defining requested call processing messaging application services in response to subscriber calls;

defining sets of parameters for different types of call processing messaging application services and for different subscribers,

establishing a set of call processing primitives for performing the call processing messaging application services, each primitive performing a single operation on one of the parameters, and returning a result when the primitive is executed;

establishing different types of call processing parameters; and

setting up service state tables using the call processing primitives and different types of call processing parameters as building blocks, each call processing primitive having only one of the established call processing parameters as an argument upon which the call processing primitive operates and each service state table corresponding to a sequence of logical states for providing a requested call processing messaging application service,

wherein operation of each logical state in each service table executes one or more primitives for transitioning to a next state and wherein each call processing primitive operates on the one established call processing parameter independent of the other established call processing parameters.

44. The method of building a call processing system according to claim 43, wherein the messaging application services include one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

45. The method of building a call processing system according to claim 43, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

46. The method of building a call processing system according to claim 43, wherein the different types of call processing parameters include global service parameters corresponding to a messaging service and independent of a particular subscriber of the communications services, subscriber specific service parameters, general purpose auxiliary variables, message handling topics used in accessing and retrieving messages in the messaging system, and voice prompts activated by executing a corresponding call processing primitive.

47. A call processing system for processing calls received from an external telecommunications network, comprising:

a message handling system;

an external telecommunications network interface for receiving a call request for a messaging service from a party connected to the external telecommunications network; and

a call processor having plural call processing layers for receiving the call request from the external telecommunications network interface at one call processing layer and executing a logical sequence of call processing operations defined by a state table configured to service the call request for a messaging service in another call processing layer including accessing resources of the message handling system to respond to the call request for a messaging service, wherein the state table is constructed using call processing primitives and different types of call processing parameters, each call processing primitive performing a single call processing operation.

48. The call processing system according to claim 47, wherein the call processor processes the call request for a messaging service based on the party making the call request independent of other calls or parties associated with the call request.

49. The call processing system according to claim 47, wherein the call processing layer includes plural channel managers, each channel manager being assigned to handle a call request from an individual party over a particular communications channel.

50. The call processing system according to claim 49, wherein the another call processing layer includes a call processing manager that performs a call processing messaging application service in response to the call request.

51. The call processing system according to claim 47, wherein when the call processor executes the states table, each call processing primitive selects a party as an object.

52. The call processing system according to claim 47, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

53. The call processing system according to claim 47, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

54. A system for processing calls from an external telecommunications network, comprising:

a telephony interface for interfacing with and receiving calls corresponding to associated messaging application service requests from the external telecommunications network;

a call processing manager for generating service state tables using call processing primitives and different types of call processing parameters as building blocks, receiving messaging application service requests from the telephony interface, executing one of the service state tables to perform a requested messaging application service, and returning the results of the performed messaging application service to the telephony interface, each call processing primitive performing a single call processing operation, the call processing manager including;

a phrase table for storing voice prompts associated with a messaging application request, each voice prompt being defined by phrases stored in the phrase table, wherein the call processing manager retrieves one or more selected phrases from the phrase table and activates a desired voice prompt in response to execution of a call processing primitive.

55. The system according to claim 54, wherein phrases in the phrase table are in different languages.

56. The system according to claim 54, wherein the phrases include speech phrases, silence phrases, or tone phrases.

57. The system according to claim 56, wherein the phrases include one or more compound phrases which combine other types of phrases to generate a more complex voice prompt.

58. The system according to claim 54, wherein the phrases include simple phrases consisting of sentences, phrases or words.

59. The system according to claim 58, wherein the phrases include a silence phrase that specifies a predetermined amount of silence in a voice prompt to permit time for a response to that prompt.

60. The system according to claim 58, wherein the phrases include a tone phrase that specifies a frequency, amplitude and duration.

61. The system according to claim 60, wherein the phrases include simple phrases consisting of sentences, phrases, or words, compound phrases which combine different types of phrases, and tabular phrases which combine simple and compound phrases.

62. The system according to claim 54, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

63. The system according to claim 54, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

64. A call processing method for processing subscriber communications in a messaging system to provide a variety of different communication services including messaging application services, comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a set of call processing primitives for use in performing each messaging application service, each call processing primitive performing a single call processing operation;

(b) establishing a call processing record for each messaging application service;

(c) defining each messaging application service'"'"'s call processing record based on the set of call processing primitives using different service components including (1) one or more of global service parameters which correspond to a messaging service but are not specific to a particular subscriber of the communications services, (2) subscriber specific parameters corresponding to a specific subscriber accessed by one of the call processing primitives, (3) general purpose, auxiliary variables, (4) message handling topics used by one of the call processing primitives in accessing and retrieving messages in the messaging system, and (5) voice prompts activated by executing a corresponding call processing primitive; and

(d) executing the set of call processing primitives which operate on corresponding ones of the different service components.

65. The call processing method according to claim 64, wherein the messaging application services relate to one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

66. The call processing method according to claim 64, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.

67. A call processing method for building a call processor in a message handling system coupled to a telecommunications network, comprising:

defining call processing services including messaging application services;

defining sets of parameters for different types of call processing services and different subscribers;

establishing a set of call processing primitives for performing the call processing services, each primitive performing a single operation on one of the parameters and returning a result when the primitive is executed;

establishing different types of call processing parameters, each parameter not being linked with the other parameters;

setting up service state tables using the call processing primitives as building blocks, each service state table corresponding to a sequence of logical states for providing a requested one of the call processing services, wherein operation of each logical state in each service table executes one or more primitives for transitioning to a next state;

defining plural phrase tables, each phrase table including plural voice prompts associated with a call processing request, wherein each voice prompt is defined by one or more phrases stored in the phrase table and corresponds to one of the call processing primitives; and

retrieving one or more selected phrases from the phrase table and activating a desired voice prompt in response to execution of a corresponding one of the call processing primitives.

68. The call processing method in claim 67, wherein each voice prompt is defined as a combination of one or more building blocks including spoken sentences, phrases or words.

69. The call processing method in accordance with claim 67, wherein the phrases include tabular phrases that return a numeric value used as an index to the table for determining a next phrase to be executed.

70. The call processing method according to claim 67, wherein the phrases include one or more compound phrases.

71. The call processing method according to claim 67, wherein plural phrase tables are defined in accordance with a phrase category.

72. The call processing method in accordance with claim 71, wherein the phrase category corresponds to language such that each phrase table represents a different language.

73. The call processing method in accordance with claim 71, wherein the phrase category is user expertise such that a first set of prompts is used for a lower level of expertise and a second set of prompts is used for a higher level of expertise.

74. The call processing method according to claim 67, wherein the different types of call processing parameters include global service parameters corresponding to a general messaging service and independent of a particular subscriber of the communications services and subscriber specific service parameters.

75. The call processing method according to claim 67, wherein the messaging application services include one or more of the following:

voice mail, voice messaging, facsimile mail, facsimile messaging, radio paging, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, operator services, short message services, intelligent network service integration, electronic mail, electronic document interchange, audiotext, and automated attendant.

76. The call processing method according to claim 67, wherein the messaging application services include a telephony channel service used to determine a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber making a call request for a messaging application service followed by a messaging service specifically subscribed to by the identified subscriber.