System and method for forwarding messages

• US 8,203,951 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gao, Xiaofeng, Scott, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUONGCHAU BA
• Application Number:
  US12/116,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230.1, 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, comprising:

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

a voice message recorder configured to record a voice message in response to an unavailability of the first party;

a voice message segmentor configured to segment the voice message that is recorded into voice-message segments, each of the voice-message segments having a size that does not exceed a threshold capacity of a voice buffer;

an electronic message preparation logic configured to prepare electronic messages recursively for the voice-message segments, wherein each of the electronic messages corresponds to a separate one of the voice-message segments, wherein the electronic message preparation logic comprises;

a caller information logic configured to determine caller information;

an electronic message header logic configured to generate an electronic message header for each of the electronic messages, wherein each of the electronic messages is an email; and

a voice buffer attachment logic configured to attach each of the voice-message segments to the separate one of the electronic messages, wherein the electronic message preparation logic is further configured to forward the electronic messages to a predetermined forwarding address; and

a call controller configured to determine whether a proper delivery of each of the electronic messages has occurred, the call controller further configured to clear the voice buffer in response to a determination of the proper delivery of each of the electronic messages.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a program logic configured to store and control user-programmable features of the call controller, including settings for the unavailability of the first party.

3. A method for forwarding messages comprising:

determining an unavailability of a first party for an internet telephony session;

recording a voice message, wherein the recording the voice message comprises;

determining a threshold capacity of a voice buffer; and

segmenting the voice message into voice-message segments, each of the voice-message segments having a size that does not exceed the threshold capacity of the voice buffer; and

recursively repeating the following for each one of the voice-message segments until every segment of the voice message has been delivered;

storing a segment of the voice-message segments in the voice buffer;

attaching the segment of the voice message that is stored to an electronic message;

delivering the electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address; and

clearing the voice buffer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating an electronic message header for the electronic message.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the electronic message is a simple mail transfer protocol compatible electronic message.

6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, comprising:

a logic determining an unavailability of a first party for an internet telephony session;

a logic receiving a voice message from a first caller;

a logic recording the voice message in response to the unavailability of the first party;

a logic segmenting the voice message into voice-message segments, each of the voice-message segments having a size that does not exceed a threshold capacity of a voice buffer;

a logic recursively repeating the following for each of the voice-message segments until every segment of the voice message has been delivered;

storing a segment of the voice-message segments in the voice buffer;

attaching the segment that is stored in the voice buffer to an electronic message;

delivering the electronic message; and

clearing the voice buffer;

a logic detecting electronic messages that have been delivered;

a logic retrieving the electronic messages that have been delivered;

a logic reconstructing the voice message that has been recorded from the electronic messages that have been retrieved; and

a logic playing the voice message that has been reconstructed.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising:

a logic generating an electronic message header for the electronic message.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising:

a logic receiving a second voice message from a second caller through an established internet telephony session, wherein the second voice message is received in response to a returned pre-recorded voice prompt.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the delivering the electronic message delivers the electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address.