System verifying if an email request passed a policy check before initiating an interactive telephony session

• US 7,412,525 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2001
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Scullin, Will H., Porter, Brandon W., Cafarella, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): LUU, LE HIEN
• Application Number:
  US09/769,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20020099776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,757 Days
• Field of Search: 718/102, 718/105, 704/245, 709/227, 709/203, 709/228, 709/229, 709/206, 370/236, 370/401, 370/352, 379/201.01, 379/154, 379/156, 379/157, 379/201.02
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/432 Arrangements for calling a subscriber at a specific time, e.g. morning call service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/125 Details of gateway equipment

Abstract

A system and method are provided for an intermediate party to facilitate an interactive telephony session between a customer and a sender of a request for the session. The sender can provide the request to the intermediate party via electronic mail. The request includes the information to initiate the interactive telephony session with the customer as well as the information to conduct that session. In one embodiment, the information to conduct the interactive telephony session includes a URL that provides an application in VoiceXML (Voice Extensible Markup Language). The intermediate party can initiate and conduct the session at the appropriate time and provide the sender with a status regarding the session. During the session, the customer can respond with voice or DTMF inputs to various prompts, thereby proceeding with a transaction and/or providing valuable feedback to the sender.

Claims

1. A method for providing a telephony session, the method including:

receiving an electronic mail request from a third party to provide the telephony session;

determining whether the electronic mail request passes a policy check;

wherein the policy check comprises a policy specified by a customer to designate a volume of calls to accept in a predetermined amount of time;

calling the customer in accordance with the electronic mail request, in response to determining that the electronic mail request passes the policy check;

accessing a URL providing a VoiceXML application in accordance with the electronic mail request;

running the VoiceXML application when the customer answers; and

responding to an interaction with the customer during the telephony session.

2. The method of claim 1, further including storing the status of the telephony session for access by the third party.

3. The method of claim 1, further including monitoring a plurality of telephony servers to determine availability for the telephony session.

4. The method of claim 3, further including scheduling the telephony session for a predetermined time.

5. The method of claim 3, further including prioritizing a plurality of telephony sessions.

6. The method of claim 3, further including receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of third parties to provide a plurality of telephony sessions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of requests are dispatched to the plurality of telephony servers based on a semi-randomized selection process biased toward low load telephony servers.

8. The method of claim 3, further including capturing a status of the telephony session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy check is set by the third party.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy check is set by the customer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy check is set by a receiver of the request.

12. The method of claim 1, further including reformatting the request for processing.

13. A system of providing a telephony session requested by a third party, the system including:

a gateway for receiving a request from the third party to provide the telephony session;

an event queue interface to determine whether the request passes a policy check;

wherein the policy check comprises a policy specified by a first customer to designate a volume of calls to accept in a predetermined amount of time;

a telephony server for calling the first customer, accessing a URL providing a VoiceXML application, running the VoiceXML application when the first customer answers, and responding to an interaction with the first customer during the telephony session, wherein the telephony server configurably receives an incoming call from a second customer.

14. The system of claim 13, further including:

a plurality of telephony servers as recited in claim 13; and

wherein the event queue interface monitors a status of each of the plurality of telephony servers to determine availability for the telephony session.

15. The system of claim 14, further including an event scheduler for scheduling the telephony session for a predetermined time.

16. The system of claim 14, further including means for prioritizing a plurality of telephony sessions.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the event queue interface includes a plurality of event queue servers for receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of third parties to provide a plurality of telephony sessions.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of event queue servers dispatch the plurality of requests to the plurality of telephony servers based on a semi-randomized selection biased toward low load telephony servers.

19. The system of claim 14, further including an accounting interface for capturing a status of the telephony session.

20. A system for providing a telephony session, the method including:

means for receiving an electronic mail request from a third party to provide the telephony session;

means for determining whether the electronic mail request passes a policy check;

wherein the policy check comprises a policy specified by a customer to designate a volume of calls to accept in a predetermined amount of time;

means for calling the customer in accordance with the electronic mail request;

means for accessing a URL providing a VoiceXML application in accordance with the electronic mail request;

means for running the VoiceXML application when the customer answers; and

means for responding to an interaction with the customer during the telephony session.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for receiving includes an SMTP gateway interface.

22. The system of claim 20, further including means for storing the status of the telephony session for access by the third party.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for storing comprises a database and a server providing Internet access.

24. The system of claim 20, further including means for monitoring a plurality of telephony servers to determine availability for the telephony session.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the means for monitoring includes an event queue interface.

26. The system of claim 24, further including means for scheduling the telephony session for a predetermined time.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for scheduling includes a database regarding the customer.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for scheduling includes a database provided by the third party.

29. The system of claim 24, further including means for prioritizing a plurality of telephony sessions.

30. The system of claim 24, further including means for receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of third parties to provide a plurality of telephony sessions.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the means for receiving a plurality of requests includes a plurality of HTML servers.

32. The system of claim 24, further including means for capturing a status of the telephony session.

33. The system of claim 20, further including means for receiving the policy check from the third party.

34. The system of claim 20, further including means for receiving the policy check from the customer.

35. The system of claim 20, further including means for receiving the policy check from a receiver of the request.

36. The system of claim 20, further including means for reformatting the request for processing.

37. A computerized method for providing an interactive telephony session, the method comprising:

calling a customer pursuant to an occurrence of a triggering event, the triggering event including an electronic request for the interactive telephony session;

determining whether the electronic request passes a policy check;

wherein the policy check comprises a policy specified by the customer to designate a volume of calls to accept in a predetermined amount of time;

executing a software program responsive to a voice input when the customer answers; and

responding to a voice input of the customer during the interactive telephony session.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the triggering event is an email message.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the triggering event is an HTTP request.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the triggering event is upon reaching a predetermined time and data.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the software program includes VoiceXML.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of responding includes connecting the customer to a third party.

43. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of responding includes contacting a third party with information from the interactive telephony session.

44. A method for providing a telephony session, the method including:

receiving an HTTP request from a third party to provide the telephony session;

determining whether the HTTP request passes a policy check;

wherein the policy check comprises a policy specified by a customer to designate a volume of calls to accept in a predetermined amount of time;

calling the customer in accordance with the HTTP request;

accessing a URL providing a VoiceXML application in accordance with the HTTP request;

running the VoiceXML application when the customer answers; and

responding to an interaction with the customer during the telephony session.

45. The method of claim 44, further including storing the status of the telephony session for access by the third party.

46. The method of claim 44, further including monitoring a plurality of telephony servers to determine availability for the telephony session.

47. The method of claim 46, further including scheduling the telephony session for a predetermined time.

48. The method of claim 46, further including prioritizing a plurality of telephony sessions.

49. The method of claim 46, further including receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of third parties to provide a plurality of telephony sessions.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the plurality of requests are dispatched to the plurality of telephony servers based on a semi-randomized selection process biased toward low load telephony servers.

51. The method of claim 46, further including capturing a status of the telephony session.

52. The method of claim 44, wherein the policy check is set by the third party.

53. The method of claim 44, wherein the policy check is set by the customer.

54. The method of claim 44, wherein the policy check is set by a receiver of the request.