Method and apparatus for creating and sending structured voicemail messages

• US 6,393,107 B1
• Filed: 05/25/1999
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ball, Thomas J., Tuckey, Curtis Duane, Rehor, Kenneth G., Puchol, Carlos Miguel, Mataga, Peter Andrew, Benedikt, Michael Abraham
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoosain, Allan
• Application Number:
  US09/318,140
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/71, 379/88.04, 379/88.07, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.16, 379/88.17, 379/88.22, 379/900, 379/902, 379/908, 704/260, 704/270, 455/412, 455/413, 434/118, 434/322, 434/323, 434/350
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/908 Multimedia

Abstract

A sender (101) creates a voicemail message that includes a plurality of messaging elements that include embedded instructions that define a structure of the message. Other messaging elements may include textual fragments, audio fragments that refer to audio data files that are associated with the message, and/or references to textual fragments and/or audio fragments that are stored at specified locations. The instructions may define a hierarchical menu structure which, when the message is presented to the recipient (106) by a messaging system (104), offers the recipient different navigational choices from which the recipient may select and thus effect the information content of what is presented. The structured message is sent by the sender to the recipient at an address on a messaging system that stores the message and is capable of interpreting and assembling the messaging elements in accordance with the embedded instruction and playing-out the message to the recipient when the recipient accesses the system and retrieves the message from storage. The structured message may also include links to a specific destination, to which the messaging system establishes a connection if the link is selected by the recipient during play-out of the message. Further, the messaging system can gather information from the recipient during play-out and forward that information to a specified destination, which may respond with another structured message. In the described embodiment, a phone markup language is used to define the structure and the inherent embedded instructions associated with the structure of the message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

formulating a structured electronic message by combining

a plurality of messaging elements, at least some of the messaging elements being content-related that are each associated with a portion of the content of the message and at least one of the messaging elements comprising instructions that define a structure of the message from which at least some of the content-related messaging elements can be sequentially combined for presentation to a recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format, and

an address of the recipient of the message at a messaging system that stores the message and is capable of interpreting the instructions, assembling and combining at least some of the content-related messaging elements in accordance with the instructions, and sequentially presenting, the assembled and combined content-related messaging elements to the recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format when the recipient retrieves the message from storage, the messaging system being capable of receiving, storing in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, and delivering to a recipient conventional voicemail messages as well as structured electronic messages; and

sending the structured electronic message to a mailbox of the recipient at the recipient'"'"'s address on the messaging system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is a voicemail message.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the content-related messaging elements comprise at least one from a group including:

textual fragments, speech fragments, and references to speech and/or textual fragments stored at specified locations.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the speech fragments comprise references to audio data files associated with the message.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the instructions are embedded in the message using a phone markup language.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is a multimedia message.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions define a hierarchical menu structure which, when the message is retrieved by the recipient and at least some of the content-related messaging elements are assembled and combined by the messaging system and sequentially presented to the recipient, offers a plurality of navigational choices within the message to the recipient, at least one previously non-presented content-related messaging element next presented to the recipient being determined by a selection by the recipient of at least one of the navigational choices.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein a link to a destination is associated with at least one of the content-related messaging elements presented to the recipient.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the link defines an address for establishing a telephony connection.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the address for establishing the telephony connection is a telephone number on the PSTN.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the address for establishing the telephony connection is an IP telephony address.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the link defines an address for delivering a message.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the address for delivering a message is an email address.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the address for delivering a message is a Web address.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the link defines an address for retrieving a second electronic message.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the second electronic message comprises a plurality of its own messaging elements, at least some of the messaging elements in the second message being content-related that are each associated with a portion of the content of the second message, and at least one of the messaging elements in the second message comprising instructions that define a structure of the second message from which at least some of the content-related messaging elements in the second message can be sequentially combined for presentation to the recipient as a unified message.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions define a message structure which, when the message is retrieved and at least some of the content-related messaging elements are assembled and combined and sequentially presented to the recipient and sent to a destination indicated in the message.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the information from the recipient includes recipient'"'"'s keypad entries.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the information from the recipient includes the recipient'"'"'s audio input.

20. A method comprising:

a) receiving at least one dynamic content-related messaging element associated with a recipient;

b) formulating a structured electronic message by combining

the at least one dynamic content-related messaging element associated with the recipient, at least one static content-related messaging element not associated with any particular recipient, and at least one messaging element comprising instructions that define a structure of the message from which the at least one dynamic content-related messaging element and the at least one static content-related messaging element can be sequentially combined for presentation to the recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format, and

an address of the recipient at a messaging system that stores the message and is capable of interpreting the instructions, assembling and combining the at least one dynamic and at least one static content-related messaging elements in accordance with the instructions, and sequentially presenting the assembled message to the recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format when the recipient retrieves the message from storage, the messaging system being capable of receiving, storing in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, and delivering to a recipient conventional voicemail messages as well as structured electronic messages;

c) sending the structured electronic message to the recipient'"'"'s mailbox at the recipient'"'"'s address at the messaging system; and

d) repeating steps a) through c) for a different recipient.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the message is a voicemail message.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the dynamic and static content-related messaging elements each comprise at least one from a group including:

textual fragments, speech fragments, and references to speech and/or textual fragments stored at specified locations.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the instructions are embedded in the electronic message using a phone markup language.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the message is a multimedia message.

25. A method comprising:

formulating a structured electronic message by combining

a plurality of message fragments, each associated with at least a portion of the content of the message,

a plurality of instructions embedded within the message that together define a structure of the message, said instructions including information indicating how at least some of the message fragments are to be sequentially combined for presentation to a recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format, and

an address of the recipient at a messaging system that stores the message and is capable of interpreting the instructions, assembling and combining at least some of the message fragments in accordance with the instructions, and sequentially presenting the assembled and combined message to the recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format when the recipient retrieves the message from storage, the messaging system being capable of receiving storing in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, and delivering to a recipient conventional voicemail messages as well as structured electronic messages; and

sending the structured electronic message to the recipient'"'"'s mailbox at the recipient'"'"'s address at the messaging system.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the message is a voicemail message.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the message fragments comprise at least one from a group including:

textual fragments, speech fragments, and references to speech and/or textual fragments stored at specified locations.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the instructions are embedded in the message using a phone markup language.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the speech fragments comprise references to audio data files.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein the message is a multimedia message.

31. The method of claim 25 wherein the instructions define a hierarchical menu structure which, when the message is retrieved by the recipient and at least some of the message fragments are assembled and combined by the messaging system and sequentially presented to the recipient, offers a plurality of navigational choices within the stored message to the recipient, at one previously non-presented message fragment next presented to the recipient being determined by a selection by the recipient of at least one of the navigational choices.

32. The method of claim 25 further wherein a link to a destination is associated with at least one of the message fragments presented to the recipient.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the link defines an address for a telephony connection.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the address for the telephony connection is a telephone number on the PSTN.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the address for the telephony connection is an IP telephony address.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the second message comprises a plurality of its own message fragments, each associated with at least a portion of the content of the second message;

and a plurality of instructions embedded within the second message that together define a structure of the second message, said instructions for the second message including information indicating how at least some of the message fragments in the second message are to be sequentially combined for presentation to the recipient as a unified message.

37. The method of claim 32 wherein the link defines an address for messaging.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the address for messaging is an email address.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the address for messaging is a Web address.

40. The method of claim 32 wherein the link defines an address for retrieving a second message.

41. The method of claim 25 wherein the instructions define a structure which, when the message is retrieved and at least some of the message fragments are combined and sequentially presented to the recipient, input of information from the recipient is requested and collected by the messaging system and sent to a destination indicated in the message.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the information from the recipient includes recipient'"'"'s keypad entries.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the information from the recipient includes recipient'"'"'s audio input.

44. A method of enabling a message sender to generate a structured message for delivery to a recipient'"'"'s messaging system, the method comprising:

selecting a plurality of message fragments from a group including;

predetermined textual fragments, predetermined audio fragments, textual fragments locally generated by the sender, and audio fragments generated by the sender;

specifying a relationship between the selected message fragments to generate the structured message containing embedded instructions that define the structure of the message and which will enable a messaging system to which the structured message is addressed to interpret the instructions, assemble and sequentially combine at least some of the selected message fragments, and present the assembled and combined message fragments to the recipient as a unified message in at least an audio format when the message is retrieved from a message storage at the messaging system by the recipient, the messaging system being capable of receiving, storing in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, and delivering to a recipient conventional voicemail messages as well as structured electronic messages.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the message is a voicemail message.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the message is a multimedia message.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein the instructions define a hierarchical menu structure between the selected message fragments which, when the message is retrieved by the recipient and at least some of the selected message fragments are assembled and combined by the messaging system and sequentially presented to the recipient, offers a plurality of navigational choices for selection by input from the recipient, which input from the recipient determines the at least one previously non-presented message fragment to be next presented to the recipient.

48. The method of claim 44 wherein a link to a destination is associated with at least one of the message fragments in the message.

49. The method of claim 44 wherein the step of specifying generates the structured message using a phone markup language.

50. The method of claim 44 wherein the instructions define a structure which, when the message is retrieved from the messaging system and at least some of the selected message fragments are combined and sequentially presented to the recipient, input of information from the recipient is requested and collected by the messaging system and sent to a destination indicated in the message.

51. Apparatus for enabling a message sender to generate a structured message for delivery to a recipient'"'"'s messaging system, said apparatus comprising:

means for storing a plurality of message fragments from a group including;

predetermined textual fragments, predetermined audio fragments, textual fragments locally generated by the sender, and audio fragments generated by the message sender;

means for selecting a plurality of the message fragments from the group; and

means for specifying a relationship between the selected message fragments to generate the structured message containing embedded instructions that define the structure of the message and which will enable a messaging system to which the structured message is addressed to interpret the instructions, assemble and sequentially combine at least some of the selected message fragments, and present the assembled and combined message fragments to the recipient as unified message in at least an audio format when the message is retrieved from a message storage at the messaging system by the recipient, the messaging system being capable of receiving, storing in a recipient'"'"'s mailbox, and delivering to a recipient conventional voicemail messages as well as structured electronic messages.

52. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the message is a voicemail message.

53. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the message is a multimedia message.

54. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the instructions define a hierarchical menu structure between the selected message fragments which, when the message is retrieved by the recipient and at least some of the selected message fragments are assembled and combined by the messaging system and sequentially presented to the recipient, offers a plurality of navigational choices for selection by input from the recipient, which input from the recipient determines at least one previously non-presented message fragment to be next presented to the recipient.

55. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein a link to a destination is associated with at least one of the message fragments in the message.

56. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the means for specifying generates the structured message using a phone markup language.

57. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein the instructions define a structure which, when the message is retrieved from the messaging system and at least some of the selected message fragments are combined and sequentially presented to the recipient, input of information from the recipient is requested and collected by the messaging system and sent to a destination indicated in the message.