System and method for forwarding messages

• US 7,379,421 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2002
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gao, Xiaofeng, Scott, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Huy D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUONGCHAU BA
• Application Number:
  US10/201,701
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 455/567, 379/93.24
• US Class Current: 370/230.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64

Abstract

A system and method for forwarding voice messages is presented. One embodiment of the system comprises a voice message recorder configured to record a voice message, and a call controller configured to attach the recorded voice message to an electronic message and forward the electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address. One embodiment of the method can be broadly summarized as receiving a voice message from a caller in response to a pre-recorded voice prompt, recording the received voice message, and preparing and delivering an electronic message with the voice message attached to the electronic message.

Claims

1. A device connected to a network, wherein the device comprises:

an unavailability determiner configured to determine whether a first party is unavailable for an Internet telephony session;

a voice message recorder located within the device, wherein the voice message recorder is configured to record a voice message in response to an unavailability of the first party;

a message generator configured to generate an electronic message, to attach the recorded voice message to the generated electronic message, and to forward the electronic message having the attached recorded voice message to a predetermined forwarding address,

a call controller configured to determine whether proper delivery of the forwarded electronic message has occurred; and

a voice message segmentor configured to segment the voice message into multiple voice-message segments, wherein the size of each of the multiple voice-message segments does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer, wherein each segment of the voice message is recursively recorded and transmitted until the entire message has been recorded and transmitted.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is an email.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the call controller is further configured to clear a voice buffer in response to a determination of proper delivery of the forwarded electronic message.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the message generator comprises:

caller information logic configured to determine caller information;

electronic message header logic configured to generate an electronic message header for the electronic message; and

voice buffer attachment logic configured to attach the recorded voice message to the electronic message.

5. The device of claim 1, further comprising electronic message preparation logic configured to prepare multiple electronic messages, wherein each of the multiple electronic messages corresponds to each of the multiple voice-message segments.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the electronic message preparation logic comprises:

caller information logic configured to determine caller information;

electronic message header logic configured to generate an electronic message header for each of the multiple electronic message; and

voice buffer attachment logic configured to attach each of the multiple voice-message segments to a separate one of the multiple electronic messages.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the electronic message preparation logic is further configured to forward each of the multiple electronic messages to the predetermined forwarding address, wherein the call controller is further configured to clear the voice buffer in response to the forwarding of each of the multiple electronic messages to the predetermined forwarding address.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising program logic configured to store and control user-programmable features of the call controller, including first party unavailability settings.

9. In a device connected to a network, a method for forwarding messages comprising:

establishing an Internet telephony session;

determining an unavailability of a first party during the established Internet telephony session;

returning a pre-recorded voice prompt to a second party, wherein the pre-recorded voice prompt is indicative of the unavailability of the first party;

receiving a voice message from the second party through the established Internet telephony session, wherein the voice message is received in response to the returned pre-recorded voice prompt;

recording the received voice message;

preparing an electronic message including the voice message, wherein preparing the electronic message includes determining whether to segment the voice message into multiple voice-message segments and in response to determining to segment the voice message, segmenting the voice message into multiple voice-message segments, wherein the size of each of the multiple voice-message segments does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer, wherein each segment of the voice message is recursively recorded and transmitted until the entire message has been recorded and transmitted;

delivering the prepared electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address;

determining whether proper delivery of the electronic message occurred; and

clearing a voice buffer in response to proper delivery of the electronic message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the electronic message is an email.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting the delivered electronic message;

retrieving the electronic message;

opening the retrieved electronic message having the recorded message; and

playing the recorded voice message.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the Internet telephony session is a session initiation protocol (SIP) session.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein recording the received voice message comprises:

determining a threshold capacity of a voice buffer; and

storing a voice message segment in the voice buffer, wherein the size of the voice message segment does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein preparing the electronic message comprises attaching the stored segment of the voice message to the electronic message.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

recursively repeating the following;

storing a segment of the voice message,

attaching the stored segment of the voice message to the electronic message,

delivering the prepared electronic message, and

clearing the voice buffer,

until every segment of the voice message has been delivered.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

detecting multiple delivered electronic messages;

retrieving the multiple electronic messages;

reconstructing a recorded voice message from the multiple electronic messages; and

playing the recorded voice message.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein recording the received voice message comprises storing the voice message in a voice buffer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the voice message is stored in MP3 format.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the voice message is stored in WAV format.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein preparing the electronic message including the recorded voice message comprises:

generating an electronic message header; and

attaching the recorded voice message to the electronic message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the header comprises information related to the second party.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the information related to the second party comprises:

a name of the second party; and

contact information of the second party.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the header comprises information related to the recorded voice message.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the information related to the recorded voice message comprises:

a date that the voice message was received;

a time that the voice message was received; and

a length of the voice message.

25. The method of claim 9, wherein the electronic message is a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) compatible electronic message.

26. A computer readable storage medium encoded with a computer program with logic, comprising:

logic establishing an Internet telephony session;

logic determining an unavailability of a first party during the established Internet telephony session;

logic returning a pre-recorded voice prompt to a second party, wherein the pre-recorded voice prompt is indicative of the unavailability of the first party;

logic segmenting a voice message into multiple voice-message segments, wherein the size of each of the multiple voice-message segments does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer, wherein each segment of the voice message is recursively recorded and transmitted until the entire message has been recorded and transmitted;

logic determining proper delivery of an electronic message that includes the segmented voice message;

logic clearing a voice buffer in response to proper delivery of the electronic message;

logic for recording the voice message; and

logic determining a threshold capacity of a voice buffer.

27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising:

logic detecting the delivered electronic message;

logic retrieving the electronic message;

logic opening the retrieved electronic message having the recorded message; and

logic playing the recorded voice message.

28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising

logic storing a voice message segment in the voice buffer, wherein the size of the voice message segment does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the logic preparing the electronic message comprises logic attaching the stored segment of the voice message to the electronic message.

30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising:

logic clearing the voice buffer in response to delivering the prepared electronic message; and

logic recursively repeating the following;

storing a segment of the voice message,

attaching the stored segment of the voice message to the electronic message,

delivering the prepared electronic message, and

clearing the voice buffer,

until every segment of the voice message has been delivered.

31. The computer readable storage medium of claim 30, further comprising:

logic detecting multiple delivered electronic messages;

logic retrieving the multiple electronic messages;

logic reconstructing a recorded voice message from the multiple electronic messages; and

logic playing the recorded voice message.

32. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising:

logic generating an electronic message header; and

logic attaching the recorded voice message to the electronic message.

33. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising logic receiving a voice message from the second party through the established Internet telephony session, wherein the voice message is received in response to the returned pre-recorded voice prompt.

34. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising logic recording the received voice message.

35. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising logic preparing an electronic message including the voice message.

36. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, further comprising logic delivering the prepared electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address.