System and method for email notification

• US 7,590,539 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2000
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkpatrick, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick; Michael N
• Application Number:
  US09/604,965
• Time in Patent Office: 3,366 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/270.1, 715/752, 379/88.01
• US Class Current: 704/260
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

Email subscribers are notified of the receipt of new email messages when they are not at their computers via voice or page. An email notification server polls the email server corresponding to the subscriber'"'"'s email account for the presence of new email messages. New email messages are obtained. Header information is extracted. If new email notification is by voicemail, the extracted header information is converted from text to voice. A voicemail message containing the extracted header information is saved on the voicemail system corresponding to the subscriber for whom the email message was intended. The email notification server can also send a page to notify the subscriber of the presence of new email.

Claims

1. A system for providing notification of an incoming email message to a subscriber, comprising:

an email server to which the incoming email message is sent and on which the incoming email is stored;

an email notification server to automatically poll the email server for presence of at least one new email message;

a header extraction process to extract the header of the new email message;

a text-to-speech converter to extract at least a portion of the header to speech as converted header information;

a process to call a voicemail server corresponding to the subscriber and leave a voicemail message indicating the presence of the new email message and containing the converted header information; and

a process to automatically notify the subscriber of the voicemail message in a manner which refers to the new email message;

wherein more than one email account are assigned to the subscriber, the email notification server automatically polls each email account of the subscriber for the presence of new email messages, and different preferences are capable of being designated by the subscriber for polling each email account in an account record.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the process to notify the subscriber of the voicemail message comprises sending the converted header information to the subscriber.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein each email account has a different predetermined amount of time, capable of being specified in the account record by the subscriber, that the email notification server waits prior to polling the email account.

4. A method for notifying a subscriber of the presence of new email messages, comprising:

automatically polling an email account associated with the subscriber by an email notification server for the presence of at least one new email message when a predetermined amount of time has elapsed;

obtaining the new email message;

extracting at least a portion of header information of the new email message as extracted header information;

contacting, by the email notification server, a voicemail system associated with the subscriber;

leaving, by the email notification server, a voicemail message for the subscriber in a manner which refers to the new email message and containing the header information; and

automatically notifying the subscriber of the voicemail message;

determining whether the subscriber has additional email accounts; and

automatically polling each additional email account if the subscriber has additional email accounts, wherein different preferences are capable of being designated by the subscriber for polling each of the additional email accounts in an account record.

5. The method recited in claim 4, further comprising converting the extracted header information to speech as converted header information.

6. The method recited in claim 4 wherein the email notification server service automatically polls each of the additional email accounts for presence of new email message, and wherein each of the additional email accounts has a different predetermined amount of time capable of being set in the account record by the subscriber that the email notification service waits to poll new email message.

7. The method recited in claim 4, wherein the notifying the subscriber of the voicemail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone.

8. The method recited in claim 4, wherein the notifying the subscriber of the voicemail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone, the text message including the extracted header information.

9. A system for providing email notification to a plurality of subscribers, comprising:

one or more email servers to which emails destined for any of the plurality of subscribers are sent and stored;

a database system containing an account record corresponding to each of the plurality of subscribers;

a notification server coupled to the database system, the notification server comprising;

a first process to automatically poll the one or more email servers to determine if there are any new email messages for the plurality of subscribers, wherein the one or more email servers for the plurality of subscriber are assigned with different predetermined amounts of time that the first process waits to poll for the new email messages; and

a second process to read an account record in the database corresponding to each subscriber to determine information needed to notify each subscriber, the second process further configured to, for each subscriber, leave a voicemail message indicating the presence of a new email message and to automatically notify that subscriber of the voicemail message in a manner which refers to the new email message;

wherein a plurality of email accounts are assigned to at least one of the subscribers, the first process automatically polls each email account of the plurality of email accounts of the at least one subscriber for the presence of new email messages, and a different predetermined amount of time is capable of being designated by the at least one subscriber for polling each email account in the account record.

10. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the notification server further comprises a third process to automatically obtain each new email message from each of the one or more email servers, convert at least a portion of the email header associated with each new email message from text to speech as converted header information and to send the converted header information to a voice mailbox corresponding to the subscriber to whom the email was directed.

11. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the account record contains email contact information for the subscriber corresponding to the account record.

12. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the email contact information includes a field describing a type of email system.

13. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the account record contains voicemail contact information for the subscriber corresponding to the account record.

14. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the account record contains pager contact information for the subscriber corresponding to the account record.

15. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the second process notifies the subscriber of the voicemail message by sending a pager message to the subscriber.

16. The system recited in claim 9, wherein the second process notifies the subscriber of the voicemail message by sending a pager message to the subscriber which includes the header of the e-mail message.

17. The system recited in claim 9, wherein prior to polling for a particular subscriber, the first process first determines if a predetermined time that is preset to the particular subscriber has been reached, and polling for the particular subscriber only if the predetermined time has been reached.

18. The system recited in claim 17, wherein prior to polling a particular email account for a particular subscriber, the first process first determined if a predetermined time that is preset for the particular email account has been reached, and polling the particular email account for the particular subscriber only if the predetermined time has been reached.

19. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that cause a computer to perform providing email notification to a plurality of subscribers, the instructions causing the computer to further perform:

connecting to a database to obtain an account record for a particular subscriber;

obtaining email account contact information for the particular subscriber from the account record for the particular subscriber;

automatically polling the email account according to the email account contact information for the presence of at least one new email message; and

causing the particular subscriber to be notified of the new email message in the email account when the new email message has been polled from the email account, wherein causing the subscriber to be notified comprises;

obtaining at least a portion of the header information from the new email message for the particular subscriber;

converting the obtained header information from the new email message for the particular subscriber;

sending the converted header information to a voicemail system associated with the particular subscriber in accordance with voicemail system contact information contained in the account record for the particular subscriber; and

automatically notifying, in the server, the subscriber of the new email message using the converted header information, wherein the email notification is separate from and in addition to sending the converted header to the voicemail system;

wherein the particular subscriber is assigned multiple email accounts, the program further comprising;

automatically polling each of the email accounts for the presence of new email, wherein the multiple email accounts are polled in different predetermined amounts of time that are capable of being specified by the particular subscriber in an account record; and

causing the particular subscriber to be notified of the presence of email in any of the email accounts.

20. The computer readable medium recited in claim 19, wherein polling the email account comprises polling the email account only after a predetermined time has elapsed.

21. The computer readable medium recited in claim 19, wherein causing the subscriber to be notified comprises sending a page to the particular subscriber in accordance with pager contact information contained in the account record.

22. The computer readable medium recited in claim 19, wherein notifying the subscriber of the new email message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone.

23. The computer readable medium recited in claim 19, wherein notifying the subscriber of the new e-mail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone, the text message including the extracted header information.

24. A method for providing email notification to a plurality of subscribers, comprising:

connecting to a database to obtain an account record for a particular subscriber;

obtaining email account contact information for the particular subscriber from the account record for the particular subscriber;

automatically polling, by an email notification server, the email account according to the email account contact information for the presence of new email; and

causing the particular subscriber to be notified of a new email message in the email account by the email notification server, wherein causing the subscriber to be notified comprises;

obtaining at least a portion of the header information from the new email message for the particular subscriber;

converting the obtained header information to speech;

sending the converted header information to a voicemail system associated with the particular subscriber in accordance with voicemail system information contained in the account record for the particular subscriber; and

automatically notifying the subscriber of the new email message using the converted header information, wherein the email notification is separate from and in addition to sending the converted header information to the voicemail system;

wherein the particular subscriber is assigned multiple email accounts, further comprising;

automatically polling each of the email accounts for the presence of new email, wherein the multiple email accounts are polled in different predetermined amounts of time that are capable of being specified in the account record by the particular subscriber; and

causing the particular subscriber to be notified of the presence of new email in any of the email accounts of the particular subscriber.

25. The method recited in claim 24, wherein the multiple email accounts are on multiple email servers.

26. The method recited in claim 24, wherein causing the subscriber to be notified comprises sending a page to the particular subscriber in accordance with pager contact information contained in the account record.

27. The method recited in claim 24, wherein the notifying the subscriber of the new email message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone.

28. The method recited in claim 24, wherein the notifying the subscriber of the new e-mail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone, the text message including the extracted header information.

29. A system for providing notification of incoming email to a subscriber, comprising:

an email server to which the incoming email message is sent and on which an incoming email message is stored;

an email notification server to automatically poll the email server for the presence of the incoming email;

a header extraction process to extract the header of the incoming email message;

a text-to-speech converter to convert at least a portion of the header to speech as converted header information;

a process to call a voicemail server corresponding to the subscriber and leave a voicemail message in a manner which refers to the incoming email message, the voicemail message containing the converted header information; and

a process for automatically notifying the subscriber of the email message separate from and in addition to leaving the voicemail message;

wherein more than one email account are assigned to the subscriber, the email notification server automatically polls each email account of the subscriber for the presence of new email messages, and different preferences are capable of being designated by the subscriber for polling each email account in an account record.

30. The system recited in claim 29, wherein the email notification server waits for the predetermined amount of time prior to polling the email server to obtain the incoming message, and the predetermined amount of time is specified in the account record.

31. The system recited in claim 29, wherein the predetermined amount of time is random.

32. The system recited in claim 29, wherein the process for automatically notifying the subscriber of the e-mail message performs the notification by sending a pager message to the subscriber.

33. The system recited in claim 29, wherein the process for automatically notifying the subscriber of the e-mail message performs the notification by sending a pager message to the subscriber which includes the header of the e-mail message.

34. A method for notifying a subscriber of the presence of new email, comprising:

automatically polling, by an email notification server, an email account associated with the subscriber for the presence of at least one new email message;

obtaining the new email message identified in response to the polling;

extracting at least a portion of header information of the new email message identified in response to the polling;

contacting, by the email notification server, a voicemail system associated with the subscriber;

leaving, by the email notification server, a voicemail message for the subscriber in a manner which refers to the new email message, the voicemail message containing the converted header information; and

automatically notifying, by the email notification server, the subscriber of the new email message identified in response to the polling, wherein the email notification is separate from and in addition to sending the voicemail message;

wherein more than one email account are assigned to the subscriber, the email notification server automatically polls each email account of the subscriber for the presence of new email messages, and different preferences are capable of being designated by the subscriber for polling each email account in an account record.

35. The method recited in claim 34, further comprising sending a page to the subscriber to notify the subscriber of one or more of the new email messages.

36. The method recited in claim 34, further comprising placing a telephone call to a telephone number associated with the subscriber to notify the subscriber of one or more of the new email messages.

37. The method recited in claim 34, wherein the automatically notifying the subscriber of the new e-mail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone.

38. The method recited in claim 34, wherein the automatically notifying the subscriber of the new e-mail message further comprises:

sending a text message to a digital phone, the text message including the extracted header information.

39. The method recited in claim 34, further comprising

converting the extracted header information to speech.

40. The method recited in claim 39, further comprising:

determining whether the subscriber has additional email accounts; and

for each additional email account;

automatically polling the additional email account for the presence of new email messages, wherein the multiple email accounts are polled in different predetermined amounts of time;

obtaining any new email messages identified in response to the polling of the additional email account;

extracting at least a portion of header information of each new email message identified in response to the polling of the additional email account; and

automatically notifying the subscriber of each new email message identified in response to the polling of the additional email account.

41. The method recited in claim 40, further comprising determining whether a predetermined time has elapsed for each of the subscriber'"'"'s email accounts where the subscriber has multiple email accounts, and wherein the predetermined amount of time for each of the subscriber'"'"'s email accounts is specified in the subscriber'"'"'s account record.