Voice-controlled voice mail having random-order message retrieval based on played spoken identifier list
First Claim
1. A system for storing messages from callers and for selectively retrieving the messages by a subscriber, comprising:
- means for prompting each of said callers to utter a message identifier;
means for associating said message identifiers with a specific message;
means for storing the message identifiers and the associated messages;
means for playing a list of said message identifiers for said subscriber;
means for determining whether an input received from the subscriber matches a stored message identifier; and
means for playing the message associated with a matched one of the stored message identifiers.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for voice controlled message retrieval. Each message stored in a voice mail system has an associated header and return address. The system generates and stores a speech recognition template from each unique header. When a subscriber wishes to retrieve a message, the subscriber speaks the header. The subscriber'"'"'s speech is then compared with the speech recognition templates stored in the system. If a matching template is found, the system plays the message associated with the header from which the template was generated. Additionally, the subscriber can tag certain callers and cause the system to apply special treatment to messages from tagged callers. Moreover, the subscriber can reply to a caller calling from outside the system.
145 Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A system for storing messages from callers and for selectively retrieving the messages by a subscriber, comprising:
-
means for prompting each of said callers to utter a message identifier; means for associating said message identifiers with a specific message; means for storing the message identifiers and the associated messages; means for playing a list of said message identifiers for said subscriber; means for determining whether an input received from the subscriber matches a stored message identifier; and means for playing the message associated with a matched one of the stored message identifiers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A method of delivering a message from a caller to a subscriber of a voice mail system, comprising the steps of:
-
prompting the caller to input a header utterance identifying the caller and to input a message associated therewith; storing the header utterance; playing the header utterance to the subscriber upon command of the subscriber; receiving an input from the subscriber; comparing the input with the stored header utterance; and if the input matches the stored header utterance, playing the message identified by the header utterance to the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A method of replaying one or more messages from one or more callers, comprising the steps of:
-
playing a list of headers to a subscriber, each header identifying a message left by a caller on a voice mail system; receiving a voice input from the subscriber; comparing the voice input against the played list of headers to find a matching header; and playing the message identified by the matching header. - View Dependent Claims (27, 29)
-
-
28. The method of 27, wherein the providing special treatment step comprises the step of:
notifying the subscriber when the caller makes a subsequent call to the system.
-
30. A method for processing messages in a voice mail system, said method comprising the steps of:
-
obtaining a spoken identifier from a message-leaving party; playing, upon request of said subscriber, a list of all spoken identifiers left by said message-leaving parties. - View Dependent Claims (31)
-
Specification