Internet call waiting with voicemail system that provides monitoring during recording

• US 7,245,612 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2001
• Issued: 07/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Dunlap, David P., Boland, James J., Petras, Michael W., Petty, Douglas T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jagannathan, Melanie
• Application Number:
  US10/240,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20030108172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,309 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4563 Voicemail monitoring during recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4281 when the called subscriber is connected to a data network using his telephone line, e.g. dial-up connection, Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• 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

Abstract

An Internet Call Waiting (ICW) service provides single-line subscribers (100) connected to the Internet with incoming call information, call screening and voice messaging capabilities. An incoming call is terminated at an ICW server (154). The caller is prompted to leave a voice message and the voice message is relayed in real-time over the Internet connection (138) to permit the subscriber to monitor the message. The subscriber can choose to answer the call at any time before the caller disconnects. Subscriber profile options specify how calls are treated. Calls may be forwarded to a second directory number, directed to a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) connection, or the Internet connection may be dropped and the call completed to the subscriber'"'"'s directory number. The subscriber benefits from being able to screen voice messages in real-time, which assists the subscriber in determining how the call should be terminated.

Claims

1. A method of processing a telephone call from a calling station to a called station that is busy as a result of having established a data connection to a data network via an access server, the method comprising steps of:

receiving the call at a telephone network switch;

responsive to the called station being busy, forwarding the call to a call-waiting application server; and

responsive to receiving the call at the call-waiting application server, sending a data message to computer equipment at the called station used to establish the data connection, to notify a subscriber at the called station of an incoming call and providing a selection of call treatment options to the subscriber, comprising steps of;

a) storing at a registration server a complete copy of a subscriber profile for each subscriber to the system, the profile defining subscriber pre-selected preferences for incoming call processing options and call treatments;

b) registering the subscriber at the registration server when the subscriber establishes the data connection to the data network via the access server;

c) accepting at one of a plurality of application servers, the telephone call placed to the subscriber by a caller from the calling station, when the subscriber'"'"'s telephone line is busy, the application server establishes a data connection to the registration server to retrieve a copy of the subscriber profile when the telephone call is accepted, and inspects the subscriber profile to determine how the incoming call should be processed based upon the pre-selected subscriber preferences.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a step of checking the subscriber profile to determine whether the subscriber should be notified of the waiting call from the caller.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a step of notifying the subscriber of the waiting call and prompting the subscriber for a selecting a pre-determined call treatment option for the waiting call based upon the pre-selected subscriber preferences in the subscriber profile.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a step of examining the subscriber profile to determine whether the caller should be requested to leave a voice message for the subscriber.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising a step of recording a voice message left by the caller, or forwarding the caller to an external voice mail system.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a step of, on instructions received from the subscriber, completing the call to the subscriber via a predetermined path.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a step of rerouting the call to an alternate called station associated with the predetermined path.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a step of dropping the data connection to the data network and rerouting the call to the called station.

9. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a step of bridging the call from the call-waiting application server through the data network to the computer equipment at the called station as a Voice-over-data network call.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the computer equipment at the called station is an IP (Internet protocol) node, and the call is set up using Voice-over-IP (VoIP) protocol.

11. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein if a voice message left by the caller is recorded, the method further comprises a step of relaying the voice message to the computer equipment in a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet stream.

12. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein if a voice message left by the caller is recorded, the method further comprises a step of relaying the voice message to the computer equipment as streaming audio.

13. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein if a voice message left by the caller is recorded, the method further comprises a step of forwarding as an audio file attachment to an electronic mail message sent to the subscriber, the voice message left by the caller.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the audio file is in .wav format.

17. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the application server completes the call to the subscriber via a specified path stored in the subscriber profile, if the subscriber elects to answer the call.

18. A system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the profile stores a directory number for an alternate telephone connection as the specified path for completing the call.

19. A system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the profile stores the subscriber'"'"'s directory number, and the client component is adapted to drop the connection to the data network and the application server is adapted to reroute the call to the subscriber'"'"'s directory number if the subscriber elects to answer the call.

20. A system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the profile stores an option to establish a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection to the client component, and the server component is adapted to bridge the call via the data connection to the client component, and the client component is adapted to provide a client side of the VoIP connection for the call to the subscriber.

21. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the application servers relay a voice message being left by the caller to the client component as streaming audio.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the application servers create an audio file containing a voice message left by the caller and to attach the audio file to an electronic mail message that is sent to the subscriber.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the audio file is in .wav format.

15. A system for providing call screening capabilities to a subscriber whose telephone line is busy as a result of having established a data connection to a data network via an access server, comprising:

a) at least one registration server for storing a complete copy of a subscriber profile for each subscriber to the system, the profiles defining subscriber pre-selected preferences for incoming call processing and call treatments options, and for registering the subscriber when the subscriber establishes the data connection to the data network via the access server;

b) a plurality of application servers for accepting telephone calls placed to the subscriber by a caller when the subscriber'"'"'s telephone line is busy, the application servers establish a data connection to the at least one registration server to retrieve a copy of the subscriber profile when a one of the telephone calls is accepted and for inspecting the subscriber profile to determine how incoming calls should be processed based upon pre-selected subscriber preferences; and

c) a compatible client component on a computer operated by the subscriber to establish the data connection, the client component establishing a data connection to the at least one registration server to register the subscriber after the data connection to the data network is established.

16. A system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the application servers establish a second data connection to the client component when the telephone call is accepted, and the client component is further adapted to present the subscriber with a selection of call treatment options based upon the pre-selected subscriber preferences defined in the subscriber profile, and to accept the subscriber'"'"'s selection of a one of the call treatment options and to relay the selection to the application server.