System and method for an outbound greeting

• US 8,077,841 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Emerson, David, Rondeau, David E., Lafreniere, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Sing, Simon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mohammed, Assad
• Application Number:
  US11/823,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20090003555A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,629 Days
• Field of Search: 379 69- 8828, 709/202, 709/203, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/14 Delay circuits; Timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A system and method for sending an outbound greeting. User input is received specifying a recipient, a date, and a time for delivery of the outbound greeting. The outbound greeting is received. The outbound greeting is stored for future delivery. A call is initiated to the recipient in response to the date and the time specified by the user input being met.

Claims

1. A method for sending an outbound greeting, the method comprising:

receiving user input specifying a recipient including one or more numbers associated with the recipient, an order of calling priority for calling the one or more numbers, a date, and a time for delivery of the outbound greeting, and conditions for transferring the outbound greeting to a voicemail system of the recipient in response to reaching a number of failed attempts to contact the recipient;

receiving the outbound greeting, the outbound greeting is capable of being user recorded and selected from a library of available outbound greetings;

storing the outbound greeting for future delivery;

initiating a call to the one or more numbers associated with the recipient according to the order of calling priority in response to the date and the time specified by the user input being met; and

transferring the outbound greeting to the voicemail system of the recipient in response to the recipient not personally answering the call and in response to the conditions.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

playing the outbound greeting to the recipient in response to the call being completed to one of the one or more numbers associated with the recipient.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

confirming a person answering the call is the recipient, wherein the outbound greeting is only played if the call is answered personally by the recipient.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing a call response based on feedback from the recipient.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the call response initiates a secondary call from the recipient to the user.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein expenses associated with the secondary call are billed to the user.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the call response transfers the recipient to a voicemail system of the user.

8. The voicemail server according to claim 7, wherein the set of instructions perform a call response, the call response is capable of being transferring the call to a messaging inbox of the user, initiating a secondary call to the user from the recipient at the expense of the user, and ending the call.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the call response terminates the call and the outbound greeting.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user input specifies a time interval for calling the one or more numbers until the call is answered personally by the recipient for delivery of the outbound greeting.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

reporting to a user delivery or nondelivery of the outbound greeting to the recipient.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the person answering the call is the recipient in order to determine whether the call is personally answered by the recipient.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the outbound greeting is capable of being recorded from any of a telephone, a wireless device, or a computing device, the date and the time are converted to a corresponding date and time for the recipient according to a time zone of the recipient.

14. A voicemail system for processing an outbound greeting, the voicemail system comprising:

a function trigger for initiating an outbound greeting feature in response to receiving user input specifying a recipient including one or more numbers associated with the recipient, an order of calling priority for calling the one or more numbers, a date, and a time for delivery of the outbound greeting, and conditions for transferring the outbound greeting to a voicemail system of the recipient in response to reaching a number of failed attempts to contact the recipient; and

outbound greeting logic configured to store the outbound greeting received from a user for future delivery and initiate a call to the one or more numbers associated with the recipient according the order of calling priority to deliver the outbound greeting in response to the date and the time specified by the user input being met, wherein the outbound greeting is capable of being user recorded and selected from a library of available outbound greetings, and wherein outbound greeting is transferred to the voicemail system of the recipient in response to the recipient not personally answering the call and in response to the conditions.

15. The voicemail system according to claim 14, wherein the outbound greeting logic is configured to play the outbound greeting to the recipient and perform a call'"'"'response based on feedback from the recipient.

16. The voicemail system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a graphical user interface in communication with the outbound greeting logic for receiving the user input from a client accessible by the user.

17. The voicemail system according to claim 14, wherein the voicemail system is integrated with any of a digital packet network, wireless network, and a plain old telephone service network, and wherein the date and the time are converted to a corresponding date and time for the recipient according to a time zone of the recipient.

18. A voicemail server comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions; and

a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions are configured to;

receive user input specifying (a) a recipient including one or more numbers associated with the recipient, an order of calling priority for calling the one or more numbers, (b) a date, and a time for delivery of the outbound greeting, and (c) conditions for transferring the outbound greeting from the voicemail server to a voicemail system of the recipient in response to the recipient not answering the call to the one or more numbers,

record the outbound greeting for future delivery, the outbound greeting is capable of being user recorded and selected from a library of available outbound greetings,

initiate a call to the one or more numbers associated with the recipient according to the order of calling priority in response to determining the date and the time specified by the user input are met, and

transfer the outbound greeting to a voicemail system of the recipient in response to the recipient not personally answering the call and in response to the conditions.

19. The voicemail server according to claim 18, wherein the set of instructions play the outbound greeting to the recipient in response to the call being completed to one of the one or more numbers associated with the recipient.

20. The voicemail server according to claim 18, wherein the set of instructions are further configured to:

play the outbound greeting to the recipient, and perform a call response in response to verifying that a party answering the call is the recipient based on feedback from the recipient.