System for providing emergency voice mail service
First Claim
1. An Emergency Voice Mail System connected to the telephone network for providing emergency voice mail service to a plurality of telephone customers whose serving local exchange is suffering a service outage, comprising:
- emergency customer mail box for storing voice messages for a plurality of telephone customers;
emergency voice mail controller, resident in the telephone network and responsive to a local exchange suffering a service outage, for activating emergency voice mail service, comprising;
service outage database for identifying a plurality of telephone customers served by said local exchange which is suffering a service outage,announcement system, responsive to a calling party dialing a telephone number of one of said identified telephone customers, for providing said calling party with a recorded announcement identifying the existence of said service outage,call redirection system for enabling said calling party to manually select one of;
automatic redirection of their call to said emergency customer mail box and manually dialing a telephone number of said emergency customer mail box; and
wherein said emergency customer mail box comprises;
mail box interface, responsive to said calling party accessing said emergency customer mail box and redialing the telephone number of said identified telephone customer, for enabling said calling party to record a message for said identified telephone customer.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The system for providing emergency voice mail service includes two components: a first component that informs a calling party that emergency voice mail service has been activated due to an interruption in telephone service provided by the affected local exchange(s), and a second component that provides emergency voice mail service to customers who are displaced from their residences or simply affected by the service outage. The calling party that wishes to leave a message or the customer whose service is interrupted and wishes to listen to their messages calls a nationwide toll free number and is routed to the Emergency Voice Mail System. The caller is asked to enter the telephone number of the customer who is out of service and then can enter a predetermined code to leave a voice mail message or retrieve a voice mail message for the wire -line or wireless customer who is out of service.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An Emergency Voice Mail System connected to the telephone network for providing emergency voice mail service to a plurality of telephone customers whose serving local exchange is suffering a service outage, comprising:
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emergency customer mail box for storing voice messages for a plurality of telephone customers; emergency voice mail controller, resident in the telephone network and responsive to a local exchange suffering a service outage, for activating emergency voice mail service, comprising; service outage database for identifying a plurality of telephone customers served by said local exchange which is suffering a service outage, announcement system, responsive to a calling party dialing a telephone number of one of said identified telephone customers, for providing said calling party with a recorded announcement identifying the existence of said service outage, call redirection system for enabling said calling party to manually select one of;
automatic redirection of their call to said emergency customer mail box and manually dialing a telephone number of said emergency customer mail box; andwherein said emergency customer mail box comprises; mail box interface, responsive to said calling party accessing said emergency customer mail box and redialing the telephone number of said identified telephone customer, for enabling said calling party to record a message for said identified telephone customer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operating an Emergency Voice Mail System that is connected to the telephone network for providing emergency voice mail service to a plurality of telephone customers whose serving local exchange is suffering a service outage, comprising:
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storing voice messages for a plurality of telephone customers in an emergency voice mail box. activating an emergency voice mail controller, resident in the telephone network and responsive to a local exchange suffering a service outage, to initiate emergency voice mail service, comprising; identifying, in a service outage database, a plurality of telephone customers served by said local exchange which is suffering a service outage, providing, in response to a calling party dialing a telephone number of one of said identified telephone customers, said calling party with a recorded announcement identifying the existence of said service outage, enabling said calling party to manually select one of;
automatic redirection of their call to said emergency customer mail box and manually dialing a telephone number of said emergency customer mail box; andwherein said step of storing voice messages in an emergency customer mail box comprises; enabling, in response to said calling party accessing said emergency customer mail box and redialing the telephone number of said identified telephone customer, said calling party to record a message for said identified telephone customer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification