Universal voice browser framework

• US 7,149,287 B1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dialogic, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: SnowShore Networks, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Inventors: Burger, Eric W., Van Dyke, John J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US10/346,549
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.17, 379/202.01, 709/217, 704/270, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/259, 370/401, 707/10
• US Class Current: 379/88.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

A system and method for providing voice communications over a network, including a media server having a voice rendering platform for supporting voice-based user interactions. The voice rendering platform provides prompting, information collection and validation, and audio recording and transcoding. A separate application server is responsible for performing call control actions. During a user dialog, control is passed to the media server for rendering and receiving data, and passed back to the application server for call control actions. The media server includes a script execution environment for rendering the voice components of the user dialogs. The application server is an execution platform for applications written in a procedural programming language. Voice communications over a network are provided without combining call control and voice rendering functionality into a single, script execution platform.

Claims

1. A method for providing voice communications over a network, comprising:

receiving, at a first server system, a first call signaling message, said first call signaling message requesting that a voice communications session be established;

determining, at said first server system, whether said first call signaling message indicates a service to be provided;

in the event that said first call signaling message does not indicate a service to be provided, processing, at said first server system, a default script in a predetermined mark up language;

forming, at said first server system, responsive to said processing of said default script and at least one call parameter of said first call signaling message, a second message including said at least one call parameter of said first call signaling message;

transmitting, from said first server system to a second server system separate from said first server system, said second message;

receiving a new script from said second server system; and

processing said new script from said second server system at said first server system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by said second server system, responsive to said at least one call parameter included in said second message, said new script; and

transmitting said new script in a third message to said first server system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first call signaling message is a session initiation protocol (SIP) INVITE message, wherein said second message is a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message, and wherein said predetermined mark up language is VoiceXML.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a telephone number associated with a caller.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a destination telephone number.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a time of day the call was placed.

7. A system for providing voice communications over a network, comprising:

a first server system including at least one processor communicably coupled to a program memory, said first server system operable to

receive a first call signaling message, said first call signaling message requesting that a voice communications session be established,

determine whether said first call signaling message indicates a service to be provided,

in the event that said first call signaling message does not indicate a service to be provided, process a default script in a predetermined mark up language,

form, responsive to said processing of said default script and at least one call parameter of said first call signaling message, a second message including said at least one call parameter of said first call signaling message,

transmit said second message to a second server system, receive a new script from said second server system, and

process said new script from said second server system.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a second server system including at least one processor communicably coupled to a program memory, wherein said second server system is operable to

determine, responsive to said at least one call parameter included in said second message, said new script; and

transmit said new script in a third message to said first server system.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said first call signaling message is a session initiation protocol (SIP) INVITE message, wherein said second message is a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message, and wherein said predetermined mark up language is VoiceXML.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a telephone number associated with a caller.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a destination telephone number.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one call parameter comprises a time of day the call was placed.

13. A method for providing voice communications over a network, comprising:

receiving a call initiation signaling message that includes at least one parameter;

determining whether the call initiation signaling message indicates a service to be provided;

responsive to receiving the call initiation signaling message, if the call initiation signaling message does not indicate a service to be provided, executing a first script written in a predetermined mark-up language, the first script calculating an address of a second script, written in the predetermined mark-up language, based on at least a portion of the at least one parameter; and

invoking the second script.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the call initiation signaling message comprises receiving at least one parameter selected from a list comprising a calling party number, a called party number, a call diversion reason and a time of day at which a call was placed.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein invoking the second script comprises passing at least a portion of the at least one parameter.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating a third script, written in the predetermined mark-up language, based on the passed at least a portion of the at least one parameter.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising returning the generated third script.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein executing the first script comprises calculating a uniform resource identifier (URI) of the second script.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein:

receiving the call initiation signaling message comprises receiving a session initiation protocol (SIP) INVITE message; and

invoking the second script comprises sending a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the predetermined mark-up language is VoiceXML.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the call initiation signaling message comprises receiving an SS7 incoming call indication.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein:

receiving the call initiation signaling message comprises receiving the call initiation signaling message on a first server; and

further comprising;

executing the second script on a second server that is separate from the first server.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising generating, on the second server, a third script, written in the predetermined mark-up language, based on at least a portion of the passed at least a portion of the at least one parameter.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising returning the generated third script to the first server.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising executing the third script on the first server.