Voice message transfer between a sender and a receiver

• US 7,251,314 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2002
• Issued: 07/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Huang, Dawei
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hashem; Lisa
• Application Number:
  US10/134,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20030202641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.13, 379 8816- 8818, 379/88.1, 379/67.1, 379/266.1, 379/93.01, 379/93.06, 379 9308- 9309, 379/93.24, 379/265.09, 379/406.09, 379/88.14, 379/88.19, 455/445, 455/464, 455/466, 455/296, 455/412, 370/352, 370/466, 370/231, 709/206, 709/219, 704/230
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• 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: H04M 11/10 with dictation recording and playback systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53325 Interconnection arrangements between voice mail systems

Abstract

A method and system forwards voice messages from a sender to a receiver through a network. A voice-mail device records a phone number of a receiver and a voice message of a sender within a digital file. The voice message and phone number are encapsulated within an e-mail, which is forwarded through a network to another voice-mail device that acts as a gateway. The e-mail is opened to obtain the phone number of the receiver and the voice message, and the phone number of the receiver is dialed to deliver the voice message to the receiver via a telephone network.

Claims

1. A method of forwarding voice messages from a sender to a receiver through a network comprising the steps of:

recording at a first voice-mail device a phone number of a receiver and a voice message of the sender within a digital file;

encapsulating, by the voicemail device, the voice message and phone number within an e-mail;

forwarding the e-mail from the first voice-mail device to a first voice-mail gateway through a network and then to a second voice-mail device through another network;

opening the e-mail to obtain the phone number of the receiver and the voice message;

predicting near future channel capacities of the voice-mail gateway based on a queuing model and determining a time at which to deliver the voice message, after the predicting, so as to avoid time differences between the sender and the receiver; and

dialing the phone number of the receiver and delivering the voice message to the receiver via a cellular telephone network at the determined time.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein, voice-mail device comprises a telephone switch.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein, at least one of the first voicemail device and second voice-mail device comprise a cellular base station or radio network center.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of forwarding a voice message to a receiver as digital voice.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of forwarding the e-mail through the network using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of recording the voice message at the first voice-mail device as a wave file.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of forwarding an e-mail using a mail transfer agent.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising the step of forwarding text from the mail transfer agent via an internet.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein, at least one of the first voicemail device and second voice-mail device is operative for

a) prompting and receiving a dial tone;

b) recording and playing a voice message;

c) locating an e-mail address; and

d) sending and receiving the e-mail.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of compressing a voice message at the first voice-mail device using a recursive least square algorithm and a run length coding method.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of compressing a voice message using a recursive least square algorithm.

12. A method of forwarding voice messages from a mobile station sender to a receiver through a network comprising the steps of:

recording, at a first voice-mail device, a phone number of a receiver and a voice message of the sender within a digital file via the mobile station;

encapsulating, by the voicemail device, the voice message and phone number within an e-mail;

deciding whether to forward the e-mail to a first voice mail gateway based on predicted channel capacities, the predicted channel capacities being based on a queuing model in wireless network systems;

forwarding the e-mail from the voice mail device to the first voice-mail gateway through a network;

sending the e-mail from the first voice-mail gateway to a second voice mail device through another network;

opening the e-mail to obtain the phone number of the receiver and the voice message;

predicting near future channel capacities of the voice-mail gateway based on the model;

determining a time to deliver the voice message, after the predicting; and

dialing the phone number of the receiver and delivering the voice message to the receiver via a telephone network at the determined time.

13. A system for forwarding voice messages from a sender to receiver through a network comprising a voice-mail device operative as a gateway within a network for receiving a voice message and phone number from a sender via a telephone network, said voice-mail device being operative for:

a) prompting and receiving a dial tone;

b) recording and playing a voice message;

c) locating an e-mail address;

d) encapsulating the voice message and the phone number within an e-mail;

e) opening the e-mail to obtain a phone number of the receiver and the voice message;

f) predicting near future channel capacities of the voice-mail gateway based on a queuing model;

g) determining a time at which to send the voice message to a receiver, after the predicting, so as to avoid time differences between a sender and the receiver;

g) sending and receiving the e-mail to the receiver via at least two networks, a first of the two networks being an internet and a second of the at least two networks being a telephone network.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the telephone network is a public switched telephone network.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the telephone network is a cellular telephone network.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device comprises a telephone switch.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device comprises a cellular base station or radio network center.

18. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device is operative for recording and playing a voice message as a WAV file.

19. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device is operative for forwarding one-way voice messages on the basis of predicted channel capacities based on a queuing model in wireless network systems.

20. The system according to claim 13 further comprising a mail transfer agent for forwarding an e-mail.

21. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device is operative for forwarding an e-mail through the internet using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

22. The system according to claim 13, wherein a voice-mail device indicates a processor for text-to-speech conversion.

23. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice-mail device includes a processor for compressing a voice message using a recursive least square algorithm.

24. A method of forwarding voice messages from a sender to a receiver through a network comprising the steps of:

recording at a first voice-mail device a phone number of the receiver and a voice message of the sender within a digital file via a mobile device;

encapsulating, by the voice-mail device, the voice message and phone number within an e-mail;

deciding whether to forward the e-mail from the first voice-mail device to a first voice-mail gateway;

forwarding the e-mail from the first voice-mail device to the first voice-mail gateway through a first network;

sending the e-mail from the first voice-mail gateway to to a second voice-mail device through a second network, at least one of the first and second networks being a wireless network;

opening the e-mail to obtain the phone number of the receiver and the voice message;

predicting near future channel capacities based on a queuing model in a wireless network;

determining a time at which to deliver the voice message based on the predicted near future channel capacities and so as to avoid time differences between the sender and the receiver; and

delivering the voice message at the determined time.

25. A method of forwarding a voice message from a mobile station sender to a receiver through a wireless network comprising the steps of:

opening an e-mail having a voice message and a phone number of a receiver encapsulated, therein, to obtain the phone number and the voice message, the phone number and voice message having been recorded, at a first voice-mail device, within a digital file by the mobile station sender, and encapsulated by the voicemail device;

determining a time at which to send the voice message to the receiver based on predicted near future channel capacities and so as to avoid time differences between the sender and the receiver, the predicted channel capacities being predicted based on a queuing model for a wireless network; and

sending the voice message to the receiver via a wireless network using the phone number at the determined time.

26. A system for transferring voice messages from a mobile station sender to a receiver through a network comprising:

a first voice-mail device operative as a gateway within a network for receiving a voice message and phone number from a sender via a wireless network, said voice-mail device including,

a recorder that records a phone number of a receiver and a voice message of the mobile station sender within a digital file;

an encapsulator that encapsulates the voice message and the phone number within an e-mail; and

a message forwarder that forwards the e-mail from the first voice-mail device through a wireless network to a second voice-mail device;

wherein

the first voice-mail device decides whether to forward the e-mail based on predicted channel capacities, the predicted channel capacities being based on a queuing model in wireless network systems, and

the second voice-mail device opens the e-mail to obtain the phone number of the receiver and the voice message, predicts near future channel capacities of the voice-mail gateway based on the model, determines a time to deliver the voice message based on the predicted near future channel capacities and so as to avoid time differences between the sender and the receiver, and dials the phone number of the receiver and delivering the voice message to the receiver via a telephone network at the determined time.

27. A system for receiving a voice message from a sender through a network comprising:

an e-mail opener that opens, from the sender, an e-mail having a voice message and a phone number of a receiver encapsulated, therein, to obtain the phone number and the voice message, the phone number and voice message having been recorded, at the sender, within a digital file via a mobile station, and encapsulated by the sender prior to sending; and

a dialer that dials the phone number of the receiver and sends the voice message to the receiver via a wireless network;

wherein

the system is further configured to predict near future channel capacities of a voice-mail gateway based on the model, determine a time to deliver the voice message based on the predicted near future channel capacities and so as to avoid time differences between the sender and the receiver, wherein

the dialer dials the phone number of the receiver and delivers the voice message to the receiver via a telephone network at the determined time.