Internet protocol telephony voice/video message deposit and retrieval

• US 7,167,468 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2002
• Issued: 01/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: MCI Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Donovan, Steven R.
• Primary Examiner(s): MARCELO, MELVIN C
• Application Number:
  US10/068,381
• Publication Number:
  US 20020071429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 370/351, 370/352, 370/356
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53308 Message originator indirectly connected to the message centre, e.g. after detection of busy or absent state of a called party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/912 Packet communications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/90 Internet, e.g. Internet phone, webphone, internet-based telephony

Abstract

A method for signaling an Integrated Messaging System (IMS) on an Internet Protocol (IP) based network to deposit a message, including the steps of sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) SIP INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message deposit action; receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message deposit action; and sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message; and depositing the message in a destination mailbox. A method of signaling an IMS on an IP based network to retrieve a deposited message, the method including the steps of sending a SIP INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message retrieval action; receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message retrieval action; sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message; and retrieving the deposited message from a mailbox corresponding to known account information.

Claims

1. An apparatus for signaling an integrated Messaging System (IMS) on an Internet Protocol (IP) based network to deposit a message, comprising:

means for sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message deposit action;

means for receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message deposit action; and

means for sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for depositing the message in a destination mailbox.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the deposited message includes voice data.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the deposited message includes video data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SIP INVITE request includes a Require header following the SIP Require header protocol extension mechanism.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the Require header includes at least a first and second parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates the message deposit action to the IMS and the second parameter is a call forwarding parameter.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the call forwarding parameter identifies whether the message was deposited unconditionally or conditionally based on a busy signal condition of a called party or a no answer condition of the called party.

8. An apparatus for signaling an integrated Messaging System (IMS) on an Internet Protocol (IP) based network to retrieve a deposited message, comprising:

means for sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message retrieval action;

means for receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message retrieval action; and

means for sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the IMS sends and receives messages from a secure Network Server (NS).

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising the means for retrieving the deposited message from a mailbox corresponding to known account information.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the known account information includes an account identification which has been authenticated.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the known account information includes an account identification which is not authenticated, and wherein the method includes the further step of prompting a user for a password.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising means for asking the user for a user name and a new password when an incorrect password is entered for the prompted password.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the known account information includes no account identification, and wherein the method includes the further step of prompting a user for a user name and password.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the retrieved message includes voice data.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the retrieved message includes video.

17. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the SIP INVITE request includes a Require header following the SIP Require header protocol extension mechanism.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the Require header includes at least a first parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates the message retrieval action to the IMS.

19. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein an IMS account user is notified when the deposited message is ready for retrieval.

20. An apparatus for signaling an Integrated Messaging System (IMS) on an Internet Protocol (IP) based network to deposit a message and retrieve the deposited message, comprising:

means for sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message deposit action;

means for receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message deposit action;

means for sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message;

means for depositing the message in a destination mailbox;

means for sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the IMS indicating a message retrieval action;

means for receiving a corresponding SIP message from the IMS agreeing to participate in the message retrieval action;

means for sending an SIP acknowledge message to the IMS confirming receipt of the corresponding SIP message; and

means for retrieving the deposited message from the destination mailbox, wherein the destination mailbox corresponds to known account information.

21. A method of signaling in a data network, the method comprising:

transmitting a request to a messaging system according to a communication protocol that supports signaling for media transport over the data network, wherein the request specifies a deposit operation to deposit a message with the messaging system; and

receiving, in response to the request, an agreement message from the integrated messaging system, wherein the agreement message also specifies an agreement to the request for depositing of the message.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising depositing a message corresponding to the request in a destination mailbox.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the deposited message includes voice data.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the deposited message includes video data.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the communication protocol includes a session initiation protocol and the request is an INVITE request, the session initiation protocol INVITE request including a Require header according to the session initiation protocol Require header protocol extension mechanism.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the Require header includes a first parameter and a second parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates the deposit operation to the messaging system and the second parameter is a call forwarding parameter.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the call forwarding parameter identifies whether the message was deposited unconditionally or was deposited conditionally based on a busy signal condition of a called party or a no answer condition of the called party.

28. A method of signaling in a data network, the method comprising:

transmitting a request to a messaging system according to a communication protocol that supports signaling for media transport over the data network, wherein the request specifies a retrieval operation to retrieve a message from the messaging system; and

receiving, in response to request, an agreement message from the messaging system, wherein the agreement message specifies agreement to the request for retrieval of the message.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the messaging system sends and receives messages from a secure Network Server (NS).

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising retrieving the message from a mailbox of the messaging system, the mailbox corresponding to known account information.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the known account information includes an account identification which has been authenticated.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the known account information includes an account identification which is not authenticated, and wherein the method includes the further step of prompting a user for a password.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising requesting the user for a user name and a new password when an incorrect password is entered for the prompted password.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the known account information includes no account identification, and wherein the method includes the further step of prompting a user for a user name and password.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the retrieved message includes voice data.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein the retrieved message includes video data.

37. The method of claim 28, wherein the communication protocol includes a session initiation protocol and the request is an INVITE request, the session initiation protocol INVITE request including a Require header following the session initiation protocol Require header protocol extension mechanism.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the Require header includes at least a first parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates the message retrieval action to the messaging system.

39. The method of claim 28, wherein an account user of the messaging system is notified when the deposited message is ready for retrieval.

40. An apparatus for signaling the deposit of a message with an integrated messaging system on an internet protocol based network, comprising:

means for transmitting a session initiation protocol INVITE request to an integrated messaging system, the session initiation protocol INVITE request indicating a message deposit action;

means for receiving a session initiation protocol agreement message from the integrated messaging system, the session initiation protocol agreement message corresponding to the session initiation protocol INVITE message, the session initiation protocol agreement message also indicating an agreement to participate in the message deposit action; and

means for sending an session initiation protocol acknowledge message to the integrated messaging system, the session initiation protocol acknowledge message confirming receipt of the session initiation protocol message indicating an agreement to participate in the message deposit action.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising means for depositing a message corresponding to the session initiation protocol INVITE request in a destination mailbox.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the deposited message includes voice data.

43. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the deposited message includes video data.