Multi-mode message routing and management
First Claim
1. A message notification system comprising:
- a sender interface comprising an audio message compose mechanism to receive from the sender a composed audio message; and
a telephony message delivery management mechanism to manage delivery of the audio message via telephone calls to persons answering telephones and to answering machines, the delivery management mechanism comprising a transaction server, a database, a scheduler, and a message queue.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Transmission of messages composed on one or more input devices to a single or multiple recipients by means of one or plural communication modes is facilitated. Such communication modes may include conventional or wireless telephone, facsimile transmission, pager, e-mail, postal mail or courier. Thus, a message may be directed to a single recipient via multiple modes, such as e-mail and fax, in order to ensure the earliest possible receipt of the message; or may be directed to multiple recipients by a single mode or by different modes. In the case of multiple-mode delivery, “escalation” rules may specify conditions under which different delivery modes may be sequentially employed. Automatic follow-up to determine whether a message has been received, as well as automatic sender notification upon confirmation of receipt, may be employed. The system is capable of sending messages having embedded questions, and facilitating multi-question surveys.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A message notification system comprising:
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a sender interface comprising an audio message compose mechanism to receive from the sender a composed audio message; and a telephony message delivery management mechanism to manage delivery of the audio message via telephone calls to persons answering telephones and to answering machines, the delivery management mechanism comprising a transaction server, a database, a scheduler, and a message queue. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A message notification system comprising:
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a sender interface, the sender interface comprising an audio message selection mechanism to select delivery of an audio message to a plural set of recipients via a telephony route, the sender interface further comprising an audio message compose mechanism to receive from the sender a composed audio message; and a telephony message delivery management mechanism to manage delivery of the audio message via telephone calls to persons answering telephones and to answering machines, the delivery management mechanism comprising a transaction server, a database, a scheduler, and a message queue wherein the transaction server accesses the database, the scheduler, and the message queue, the delivery management mechanism further comprising an answer detection mechanism to detect when a call for delivery of the audio message is answered by a person answering a telephone and when the call is answered by an answering machine, the delivery management mechanism further comprising a personal delivery mechanism and further comprising an answering machine delivery mechanism; the personal delivery mechanism delivering one message when the call is detected to be answered by a person, and the answering machine delivery mechanism delivering another message when the call is detected to be answered by an answering machine. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A message notification system comprising:
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a sender interface comprising an address book selection interface, the address book selection interface comprising contact addresses presented to the sender for selection as message recipients, the message recipients comprising human recipients, the sender interface further comprising a message selection mechanism to select delivery of a message to a plural set of selected recipients via a communications route, the address book selection interface comprising a message type categorization mechanism to identify contacts in categories likely to receive similar messages, so that the sender selecting through the address book selection interface a given category causes a contact selection display to be presented to the sender of individually selectable contacts limited to the given category; and a message delivery management mechanism to manage delivery of the message to the selected message recipients, the delivery management mechanism comprising a transaction server, a database, a scheduler, and a message queue;
wherein the transaction server accesses the database, the scheduler, and the message queue. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification