Arrangement for controlling and logging voice enabled web applications using extensible markup language documents

• US 6,952,800 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 10/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Danner, Ryan Alan, Martin, Steven J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn, Gregory J.
• Application Number:
  US09/514,642
• Time in Patent Office: 2,044 Days
• Field of Search: 700/270, 715/513, 715/515, 715/516, 715/522
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A unified web-based voice messaging system provides voice application control between a web browser and an application server via an hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) connection on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The web browser receives an HTML page from the application server having an XML element that defines data for an audio operation to be performed by an executable audio resource. The application server executes the voice-enabled web application by runtime execution of extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice-enabled web application to be executed. The application server includes a runtime environment that establishes an efficient, high-speed connection to a web server. The application server, in response to receiving a user request from a user, accesses a selected XML page that defines at least a part of the voice application to be executed for the user. The XML page may describe any one of a user interface such as dynamic generation of a menu of options or a prompt for a password, an application logic operation, or a function capability such as generating a function call to an external resource. The application server then parses the XML page, and executes the operation described by the XML page, for example dynamically generating an HTML page having voice application control content, or fetching another XML page to continue application processing. In addition, the application server may access an XML page that stores application state information, enabling the application server to be state-aware relative to the user interaction. Hence, the XML page, which can be written using a conventional editor or word processor, defines the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.

Claims

1. A method in an executable system for controlling execution of an executable voice application, the method comprising:

storing an extensible markup language (XML) control document specifying at least one shared application control parameter specifying basic control defaults for execution of the executable voice application in an application runtime environment generated by the executable system;

parsing the XML control document for execution of the executable voice application by the application runtime environment according to the at least one shared application control parameter;

controlling execution of a first instance of the executable voice application for a first subscriber, by the application runtime environment, based on parsing a corresponding first user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter; and

controlling execution of a second instance of the executable voice application for a second subscriber, by the application runtime environment and concurrent with execution of the first instance, based on parsing a corresponding second user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step includes first generating a first XML tag that specifies, for the corresponding at least one shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a first prescribed service by the executable voice application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the storing step further includes second generating a second XML tag that specifies, for a second corresponding shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a second prescribed service by the executable voice application.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second prescribed services are IMAP and LDAP services, respectively.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an XML log document having a log entry that specifies an occurrence of an event in response to the execution of the executable voice application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of generating the XML log document includes generating first, second and third XML tags specifying a log element type, a log element attribute, and log element data for the event, respectively.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of generating the XML log document further includes generating a first XML tag to specify at least the log element type from a plurality of available log element types.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of controlling the execution of the first and second instances each include the application runtime environment terminating the corresponding instance in response to the corresponding instance having output a web page having media information for the corresponding subscriber.

9. A system configured for controlling execution of a voice application, the system including:

a computer-based system configured for generating a shared extensible markup language (XML) control document, for controlling execution of the voice application, that specifies a corresponding shared application control parameter specifying basic control defaults for execution of the executable voice application in an application runtime environment, the computer-based system including an application server configured for generating the application runtime environment for execution of the voice application based on parsing the shared XML control document; and

a storage medium configured for storing the XML control document for parsing in the application runtime environment;

wherein the computer-based system is configured for generating a plurality of user-specific XML control documents for respective subscribers, the application server configured for concurrently executing the voice application for first and second of the subscribers based on parsing respective selected first and second of the XML control documents, each of the first and second XML control documents specifying at least one corresponding user-specific application control parameter overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-based system is further configured for generating an XML log document having a log entry that specifies an occurrence of an event in response to the execution of the executable voice application.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer-based system generates the log entry by generating first, second and third XML tags specifying a log element type, a log element attribute, and log element data for the event, respectively.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-based system generates the first XML tag to specify at least the log element type from a plurality of available log element types.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-based system generates for the shared XML control document a first XML tag that specifies, for the corresponding application control parameter, service location information for accessing a first prescribed service by the executable voice application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer-based system further generates for the shared XML control document a second XML tag that specifies, for a second corresponding application control parameter, service location information for accessing a second prescribed service by the executable voice application.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first and second prescribed services are IMAP and LDAP services, respectively.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the application runtime environment is configured for terminating the corresponding voice application for one of the first and second subscribers in response to the corresponding voice application having output a web page having media information for the corresponding subscriber.

17. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for controlling execution of a voice application by an executable system, the sequences of instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:

storing an extensible markup language (XML) control document specifying at least one shared application control parameter specifying basic control defaults for execution of the executable voice application in an application runtime environment generated by the executable system;

parsing the XML control document for execution of the executable voice application by the application runtime environment according to the at least one shared application control parameter;

controlling execution of a first instance of the executable voice application for a first subscriber, by the application runtime environment, based on parsing a corresponding first user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter; and

controlling execution of a second instance of the executable voice application for a second subscriber, by the application runtime environment and concurrent with execution of the first instance, based on parsing a corresponding second user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the storing step includes first generating a first XML tag that specifies, for the corresponding at least one shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a first prescribed service by the executable voice application.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the storing step further includes second generating a second XML tag that specifies, for a second corresponding shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a second prescribed service by the executable voice application.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the first and second prescribed services are IMAP and LDAP services, respectively.

21. The medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions for performing the step of generating an XML log document having a log entry that specifies an occurrence of an event in response to the execution of the executable voice application.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein the step of generating the XML log document includes generating first, second and third XML tags specifying a log element type, a log element attribute, and log element data for the event, respectively.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein the step of generating the XML log document further includes generating a first XML tag to specify at least the log element type from a plurality of available log element types.

24. The medium of claim 17, wherein the steps of controlling the execution of the first and second instances each include the application runtime environment terminating the corresponding instance in response to the corresponding instance having output a web page having media information for the corresponding subscriber.

25. A system for controlling execution of an executable voice application, the system comprising:

means for storing an extensible markup language (XML) control document specifying at least one shared application control parameter specifying basic control defaults for execution of the executable voice application in an application runtime environment generated by the executable system;

means for parsing the XML control document for execution of the executable voice application according to the at least one shared application control parameter;

means for controlling execution of a first instance of the executable voice application for a first subscriber, by the application runtime environment, based on the means for parsing having parsed a corresponding first user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter;

the means for controlling execution further configured for controlling execution of a second instance of the executable voice application for a second subscriber, concurrent with execution of the first instance, based on the means for parsing having parsed a corresponding second user-specific XML control document specifying user-specific application control parameters overlying the basic control defaults specified in the shared application control parameter.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the storing means is configured for generating a first XML tag that specifies, for the corresponding at least one shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a first prescribed service by the executable voice application.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the storing means is configured for generating a second XML tag that specifies, for a second corresponding shared application control parameter, service location information for accessing a second prescribed service by the executable voice application.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the first and second prescribed services are IMAP and LDAP services, respectively.

29. The system of claim 25, further comprising means for generating an XML log document having a log entry that specifies an occurrence of an event in response to the execution of the executable voice application.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the generating means is configured for generating first, second and third XML tags specifying a log element type, a log element attribute, and log element data for the event, respectively.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the generating means is configured for generating a first XML tag to specify at least the log element type from a plurality of available log element types.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for controlling execution is configured for terminating a corresponding instance in response to the corresponding instance having output a web page having media information for the corresponding subscriber.