Processing a received voicemail message

• US 8,385,513 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Howell, David A, Milstein, David, Criddle, Linda, Chou, Philip A
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yuwen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mohammed, Assad
• Application Number:
  US11/445,057
• Publication Number:
  US 20070280434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,463 Days
• Field of Search: 379 8801- 8828
• US Class Current: 379/67.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention are directed at software for processing a received voicemail message to provide enhanced features in a voicemail system. In one embodiment, a user interface is provided where a callee may generate events to modify audio attributes of a received voicemail message. When an event to modify the audio attributes of the received voicemail message is received, aspects of the present invention obtain a set of event data that describes input generated by the callee. Then, a media player program is used to modify attributes of the data packets in the voicemail message in accordance with the input received from the callee.

Claims

1. In a digital voice communication environment operative to transmit a voicemail message to a client associated with a callee, a method of providing the callee with access to a summary of the voicemail message, the method comprising:

providing a user interface used to interact with the voicemail message that includes controls used in modifying audio attributes of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a bass control for adjusting a bass of the voicemail message, a treble control for adjusting a treble of the voicemail message and a volume control for adjusting a volume of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface an overlay button that when selected is used to determine an electronic audio file to multiplex with the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a from field that identifies an author of the voicemail message, a to field that identifies recipients of the voicemail message, and a carbon copy field that identifies any further recipients and a subject field and a summary textbox;

determining a type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message;

wherein the voicemail message comprises contextual data packets and conversational data packets;

indexing the conversational data packets of the voicemail message used for navigation within the voicemail;

determining when the summary will be created and when the summary will not be created for the voicemail message, comprising accessing a first set of preferences when the type of the client device is a limited-feature device to determine whether or not to create the summary and accessing a second set of preferences when the type of the client device is a feature-rich device to determine whether or not to create the summary;

when the summary is to be created, performing actions, comprising;

identifying when the voicemail includes a specified term;

identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary;

wherein the type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message is used in identifying the set of data to be included in the summary;

extracting the set of data that will be included in the summary from the voicemail message; and

making the summary available on the client.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary includes creating a configurable voicemail account that defines preferences of the callee.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary includes indexing packets in the body of the voicemail message.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

receiving input to modify the audio attributes of the voicemail message; and

using the index to identify the conversational data packets that will be modified.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein extracting the set of data that will be included in the summary from the voicemail message includes using a voice-recognition engine to convert audio to text.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising inserting the summary into the body of an email message.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein extracting the set of data that will be included in the summary from the received voicemail message includes using targeted filtering techniques to identify voicemail messages that reference a specified term.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein making the summary available on the client includes inserting metadata that references the summary into the voicemail message.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein making the summary available on the client includes:

determining the capabilities of the client device being used to access a voicemail system; and

converting the summary into a format that may be accessed from the client based on the determined capabilities.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein making the summary available on the client includes providing a user interface where a callee may generate an event to modify audio attributes of the voicemail message.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, excluding a signal, containing computer-readable instructions which, when executed in a client performs a method of allowing a callee to modify audio attributes of a voicemail message, the method comprising:

providing a user interface used to interact with the voicemail message that includes controls used in modifying audio attributes of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a bass control for adjusting a bass of the voicemail message, a treble control for adjusting a treble of the voicemail message and a volume control for adjusting a volume of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface an overlay button that when selected is used to determine an electronic audio file to multiplex with the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a from field that identifies an author of the voicemail message, a to field that identifies recipients of the voicemail message, and a carbon copy field that identifies any further recipients and a subject field and a summary textbox;

determining a type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message;

wherein the voicemail message comprises contextual data packets and conversational data packets;

indexing the conversational data packets of the voicemail message used for navigation within the voicemail;

determining when the summary will be created and when the summary will not be created for the voicemail message, comprising accessing a first set of preferences when the type of the client device is a limited-feature device to determine whether or not to create the summary and accessing a second set of preferences when the type of the client device is a feature-rich device to determine whether or not to create the summary;

when the summary is to be created, performing actions, comprising;

identifying when the voicemail includes a specified term;

identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary;

wherein the type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message is used in identifying the set of data to be included in the summary;

extracting the set of data that will be included in the summary from the voicemail message; and

making the summary available on the client.

12. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, wherein identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary includes creating a configurable voicemail account that defines preferences of the callee.

13. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, further comprising using the index to identify the conversational data packets that will be modified.

14. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, wherein:

the user interface is further configured with controls for navigating to any location in the body of the voicemail message;

in response to receiving input to navigate to a specified data packet in the voicemail message;

receiving a set of event data that describes the input generated by the callee; and

using an index to identify a location where playback of the voicemail message will continue.

15. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 14, wherein a control for navigating to a location in the body of the voicemail message allows the callee to forward playback of the voicemail message to a data packet that is subsequent to the current data packet.

16. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 14, wherein a control for navigating to a location in the body of the voicemail message allows the callee to rewind playback of the voicemail message to a previous data packet.

17. The computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 11, wherein the event data that describes the input generated by the callee includes the identity of a control selected by the callee and the index positions of the data packets where the callee initiated and ended movement of the control.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor and a computer-readable storage medium, excluding a signal;

a user interface used to interact with the voicemail message that includes controls used in modifying audio attributes of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a bass control for adjusting a bass of the voicemail message, a treble control for adjusting a treble of the voicemail message and a volume control for adjusting a volume of the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface an overlay button that when selected is used to determine an electronic audio file to multiplex with the voicemail message;

displaying on the user interface a from field that identifies an author of the voicemail message, a to field that identifies recipients of the voicemail message, and a carbon copy field that identifies any further recipients and a subject field and a summary textbox;

determining a type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message;

wherein the voicemail message comprises contextual data packets and conversational data packets;

indexing the conversational data packets of the voicemail message used for navigation within the voicemail;

determining when the summary will be created and when the summary will not be created for the voicemail message, comprising accessing a first set of preferences when the type of the client device is a limited-feature device to determine whether or not to create the summary and accessing a second set of preferences when the type of the client device is a feature-rich device to determine whether or not to create the summary;

when the summary is to be created, performing actions, comprising;

identifying when the voicemail includes a specified term;

identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary;

wherein the type of client device that is accessing the voicemail message is used in identifying the set of data to be included in the summary;

extracting the set of data that will be included in the summary from the voicemail message; and

making the summary available on the client.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein identifying a set of data that will be included in the summary includes creating a configurable voicemail account that defines preferences of the callee.

20. The system as recited in claim 18, further comprising inserting the summary into the body of an email message.