Appending content to a telephone communication

• US 8,223,932 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2008
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Forbes, Scott C., Olson, Sean, Buch, Jeremy, Yee, Dawson, Moore, Timothy Mark, Basu, Kalyan Shankar
• Primary Examiner(s): WOO, STELLA L
• Application Number:
  US12/049,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20090232288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,585 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.23, 379/93.25, 379/93.17, 379/90.01, 379/93.21, 379/93.15, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/251
• US Class Current: 379/93.23
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/654 Pre, in or post-call message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42025 Calling or Called party identification service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0024 Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services arrangements which combine a telephonic equipment and a computer H04M7/0012

Abstract

An interactive information distribution system that facilitates automatic transmission of a variety of information packets to the communication devices of a calling party and parties called during a call. The information packets are comprised of actual files and or links to files or websites, and are automatically transmitted following the initiation of a call. Upon initiating a call, an indicator that may include metadata linked to information packets is processed to identify at least one database for locating information packets to which the metadata is linked. The interactive information distribution system also includes a verbal communication conversion engine that allows verbal telephone communications to be converted to text and filtered to generate keywords which are used in additional database searching to identify additional information packets. The information packets automatically identified are retrieved from a database and are transmitted to the communication devices of parties participating in a call during the call.

Claims

1. A method of appending content to voice communication, comprising:

receiving an indicator of an initiated voice call, wherein the indicator includes metadata used for identifying information that may be associated with the initiated voice call, the metadata being transmitted with the voice call and comprising at least a link to a shared data site at which parties participating in the voice call are provided temporary access in order to access a file share, the file share comprising data associated with a called party;

processing the indicator to identify at least one database for searching;

searching the at least one database for the information that may be associated with the initiated voice call;

retrieving the information that may be associated with the initiated voice call; and

transmitting, in real-time, select information to at least one party participating in the voice call.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the select information identified and transmitted is automatically controlled by a set of data transmission rules that are dependent upon the type of communication devices involved in initiating and receiving the call.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the select information transmitted is sent to the device upon which the call is initiated and the device upon which the call is received while the call is in process.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the communication devices involved in initiating and receiving the call are one of the following devices, an analog phone, a digital phone, a VoIP phone, a video phone, a computer, and a mobile phone.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of extracting metadata from the initiated call, and wherein the step of searching a database for information associated with the initiated call is performed through use of the extracted metadata, wherein information stored within the database includes associated metadata tags.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of filtering the content of the conversation between the parties in order to identify key words utilized in the following process:

automatically searching the at least one database for information associated with the key words; and

transmitting information identified as associated with the key words to at least one party participating in the call.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of automatically searching a database for information associated with the key words further comprises a step of utilizing the metadata associated with the call to further refine the information identified as associated with the key words.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting metadata that facilitates the identification of files associated with the initiated call upon initiation of the call, whereby the metadata transmitted is parsed by a search engine and used to identify files for transmission to at least one party participating in the call.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein an intermediary system is operationally connected to the database and configured to:

receive the indication of an initiated call;

extract metadata from the initiated call;

facilitate searching of the database for information associated with the metadata using the metadata extracted; and

transmit the information identified as associated with the metadata to the at least one party participating in a call.

10. A computer implemented system that facilitates appending content to a communication, comprising:

a content analyzer configured to;

receiving metadata associated with initiated voice communications, the metadata being transmitted with the voice call and comprising at least a link to a shared data site at which parties participating in the voice call are provided temporary access in order to access a file share, the file share comprising data associated with a called party;

process the voice communications and infer the substance of a conversation there from;

search a database for content relevant to the substance of the conversation; and

transmit at least a subset of the content identified as relevant to the substance of the conversation to at least one party of a conversation during the conversation.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the content analyzer is within an initiating client system and searches a database within the initiating client system for content relevant to the substance of the conversation, wherein the initiating client system retrieves data files including content relevant to the substance of the conversation and automatically transmits the retrieved data files to a receiving client system associated with the communication.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the content analyzer is within a receiving client system and searches a database within the receiving client system for content relevant to the substance of the conversation, wherein the receiving client system retrieves and presents the data files including content relevant to the substance of the telephone to the receiving client system.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the content analyzer includes speech a recognition engine configured to facilitate automatic interpretation of speech and initiation of database searching in response to words spoken by parties involved in voice communication.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the speech recognition engine is configured to infer from the content of the conversation between the participating parties command terms that are automatically used to perform command functions that include at least one of the following commands, retrieve data, send data, determine availability of additional voice communication participant, and initiate voice call to the additional voice communication participant.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the command of determining the availability of an additional voice communication participant is followed up by automatically initiating communication with the additional voice communication participant, wherein the communication initiated is comprised of voice and data transmissions, wherein the data communication includes contextual information which provides the additional voice communication participant with context for the call into which they are requested to join.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the content inferred from conversation may include the name of individuals, wherein the name inferred is searched in combination with other contextual information against names within the system database for a match, wherein when a match is found, the system identifies the individual and requests confirmation from at least one voice communication participant that the individual identified is the correct individual.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the content analyzer is on a server to which a communication initiating system and a communication receiving system are operatively connected, wherein the server determines the information which may be transmitted to the initiating client system and the receiving client system based on the type of initiating system and receiving system used.

18. A computer readable storage device containing executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of automatically transmitting content associated with a call to a receiving party, comprising:

receiving metadata associated with an initiated voice call, the metadata being transmitted with the voice call and comprising at least a link to a shared data site at which parties participating in the voice call are provided temporary access in order to access a file share, the file share comprising data associated with a called party;

processing voice communications and inferring there from the substance of a call;

searching a database for content relevant to the substance of the call; and

transmitting at least a subset of the content identified as relevant to the substance of the call to at least one party of a conversation during the conversation.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 18 further comprising executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of automatically providing information associated with a call, comprising:

processing the metadata to identify at least one database for searching;

searching the at least one database for information associated with the initiated call;

retrieving information associated with the initiated call from the at least one database; and

transmitting information associated with the initiated call to at least one party participating in a call.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 19 further comprising executable instructions that perform speech recognition that facilitates automatic interpretation of speech and initiation of supplemental database searching in response to words spoken interpreted as voice commands, wherein the data files identified in the supplemental database searching performed are identified based on terms interpreted from the voice communication and transmitted to at least one of the parties involved in the voice communication.