Visual voicemail management

• US 8,396,456 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2006
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Integrated Cabinet Solutions, Inc. (Avaya Incorporated)
• Inventors: Brackbill, Douglas L., Fernandez, Ronald J., Klein, Mark D., Kolbly, Michael J., Manzo, Michael Scott, Stelter, Ronald D.
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US11/475,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20080207176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,451 Days
• Field of Search: 455/413, 4554121-4122, 455/415, 455/566, 455/567, 379/88.22, 379/88.23
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53325 Interconnection arrangements between voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects

Abstract

A voicemail message management system and method are provided. A list of voicemail messages is displayed on a screen such as a cellular telephone screen. Indicators specify whether messages are new, urgent, saved, not yet heard, and the like. Other attributes can also be displayed, including for example indications as to source of a message, message duration, date/time, caller, urgent or private, and the like. These indicators provide guidance to the user for selecting which messages he or she would like to hear at a given time. The user can listen to messages, delete them, move them, categorize them, and perform other operations in any order the user chooses.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first telecommunications terminal from a voicemail management system;

(i) a first plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on a first voicemail platform, and

(ii) a second plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on a second voicemail platform;

displaying, by the first telecommunications terminal, the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia interleaved in a chronological order;

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal, a user input selecting a voicemail indicium from among the indicia that are displayed at the telecommunications terminal;

transmitting to the voicemail management system, by the first telecommunications terminal, a signal to retrieve a voicemail message that is associated with the selected voicemail indicium; and

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal, the voicemail message from the voicemail management system, wherein the voicemail message is streamed from the voicemail management system to the first telecommunications terminal,

wherein the voicemail management system interleaves the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia into the chronological order that is displayed by the first telecommunications terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the voicemail message in a memory of the first telecommunications terminal.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first telecommunications terminal enables the user to access the voicemail message from the memory when the first telecommunications terminal does not have network connectivity.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal from the voicemail management system, presence information of one or more callers associated with at least one of the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

displaying, by the first telecommunications terminal, an indicator of the presence information of the one or more callers;

wherein the indicator of the presence information is displayed adjacent to each corresponding voicemail indicium of the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the indicator is indicative of whether the one or more callers are available to answer a call.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the indicator is indicative of a locale of the one or more callers.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal, a user input selecting a voicemail indicium from among the indicia that are displayed at the telecommunications terminal; and

transmitting, by the first telecommunications terminal, a signal to the voicemail management system, wherein the signal is to establish a communications session with a user of a second telecommunications terminal corresponding to the selected voicemail indicium; and

wherein the signal instructs the voicemail management system to transmit a telephone number of a third telecommunications terminal to the second telecommunications terminal as a caller identification of the first telecommunications terminal.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

periodically transmitting, by the first telecommunications terminal to the voicemail management system, a signal to poll the first voicemail platform and the second voicemail platform for voicemail indicia.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal, a user input selecting a voicemail indicium from among the indicia that are displayed at the telecommunications terminal;

transmitting, by the first telecommunications terminal to the voicemail management system, a first signal to delete a voicemail message that is associated with the selected voicemail indicium;

wherein, in response to receiving the first signal from the first telecommunications terminal, the voicemail management system;

(i) deletes the voicemail message that is stored at the voicemail management system, and

(ii) transmits a second signal to the first voicemail platform to delete a corresponding voicemail message that is stored at the first voicemail platform.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal, a first signal from the voicemail management system, wherein the signal causes the first telecommunications terminal to transition from an idle state to an active state; and

transmitting, by the first telecommunications terminal to the voicemail management system, a second signal to retrieve a voicemail indicium from the voicemail management system.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal from a user of the first telecommunications terminal, an input to exclude a voicemail indicium that is associated with a user of a second telecommunications terminal;

transmitting, by the first telecommunications terminal to the voicemail management system, a signal to exclude the voicemail indicium that is associated with the user of the second telecommunications terminal; and

receiving, by the first telecommunications terminal from the voicemail management system, a third plurality of voicemail indicia, wherein the voicemail management system excludes from the third plurality of voicemail indicia all voicemail indicia that are associated with the user of the second telecommunications terminal based on the input.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first telecommunications terminal is a wireless telecommunications terminal.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first voicemail platform is connected to a first network that is different from a second network to which the second voicemail platform is connected.

15. A method comprising:

receiving by a voicemail management system;

(i) a first plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on a first voicemail platform, and

(ii) a second plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on a second voicemail platform;

interleaving, by the voicemail management system, the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia into a list of indicia that are in chronological order;

transmitting, by the voicemail management system, the list of indicia to a first telecommunications terminal;

receiving, by the voicemail management system, a signal from the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the signal is indicative of a voicemail indicium selected from the list of indicia by a user of the first telecommunications terminal; and

streaming, by the voicemail management system, a voicemail message that is associated with the selected voicemail indicium to the first telecommunications terminal in response to receiving the signal.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving by the voicemail management system from the first voicemail platform and the second voicemail platform, presence information of one or more callers who are correspondingly associated with the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia; and

transmitting, by the voicemail management system to the first telecommunications terminal, an indicator of the presence information of the one or more callers.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the indicator is indicative of whether the one or more callers are available to answer a call.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the indicator is indicative of a locale of the one or more callers.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, by the voicemail management system, a signal from the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the signal is indicative of a voicemail indicium selected from the list of indicia by a user of the first telecommunications terminal; and

establishing, by the voicemail management system, a communications session between the first telecommunications terminal and a second telecommunications terminal after receiving the signal;

wherein a telephone number of a third telecommunications terminal is transmitted by the voicemail management system to the second telecommunications terminal as a caller identification of the first telecommunications terminal.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

periodically receiving, by the voicemail management system, a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to poll the voicemail management system for other voicemail indicia.

21. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, by the voicemail management system, a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to synchronize the first voicemail platform and the second voicemail platform with the voicemail management system.

22. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

transmitting, by the voicemail management system, a first signal to the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the first signal causes the first telecommunications terminal to transition from an idle state to an active state;

receiving, by the voicemail management system, a second signal from the first telecommunications terminal when the first telecommunications terminal transitions from the idle state to the active state; and

transmitting, by the data-processing system, the list of indicia to the first telecommunications terminal based on the second signal.

23. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, by the voicemail management system, a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to exclude from a third plurality of voicemail indicia any voicemail indicia that are associated with a user of a second telecommunications terminal; and

transmitting, by the voicemail management system to the first telecommunications terminal, the third plurality of voicemail indicia, wherein the voicemail management system excludes from the third plurality of voicemail indicia all voicemail indicia that are associated with the user of the second telecommunications terminal based on the signal.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the first voicemail platform is connected to a first network that is different from a second network to which the second voicemail platform is connected.

25. A voicemail management system comprising:

a server having a connection to a local area network, wherein the connection enables the server to communicate with a first voicemail platform and a second voicemail platform, and wherein the server is operative to;

receive a first plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on the first voicemail platform, and a second plurality of voicemail indicia associated with voicemails stored on the second voicemail platform;

interleave the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia into a list of indicia in a chronological order that is to be displayed by a first telecommunications terminal;

transmit the list in the chronological order to the first telecommunications terminal;

receive a signal from the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the signal is indicative of a voicemail indicium selected from the list of indicia by a user of the first telecommunications terminal; and

stream a voicemail message that is associated with the selected voicemail indicium to the first telecommunications terminal in response to receiving the signal.

26. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

receive from the first voicemail platform and the second voicemail platform, presence information of one or more callers who are correspondingly associated with the first plurality of voicemail indicia and the second plurality of voicemail indicia; and

transmit to the first telecommunications terminal, an indicator of the presence information of the one or more callers.

27. The voicemail management system of claim 26 wherein the indicator is indicative of whether the one or more callers are available to answer a call.

28. The voicemail management system of claim 26 wherein the indicator is indicative of a locale of the one or more callers.

29. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

receive a signal from the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the signal is indicative of a voicemail indicium selected from the list of indicia by a user of the first telecommunications terminal; and

establish a communications session between the first telecommunications terminal and a second telecommunications terminal after receiving the signal;

wherein a telephone number of a third telecommunications terminal is transmitted by the server to the second telecommunications terminal as a caller identification of the first telecommunications terminal.

30. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

periodically receive a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to poll the voicemail management system for other voicemail indicia.

31. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

receive a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to synchronize the first voicemail platform and the second voicemail platform with the voicemail management system.

32. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

transmit a first signal to the first telecommunications terminal, wherein the first signal causes the first telecommunications terminal to transition from an idle state to an active state;

receive a second signal from the first telecommunications terminal when the first telecommunications terminal transitions from the idle state to the active state; and

transmit the list of indicia to the first telecommunications terminal based on the second signal.

33. The voicemail management system of claim 25, wherein the server is further operative to:

receive a signal from the first telecommunications terminal to exclude from a third plurality of voicemail indicia any voicemail indicia that are associated with a user of a second telecommunications terminal; and

transmit to the first telecommunications terminal, the third plurality of voicemail indicia, wherein the server excludes from the third plurality of voicemail indicia all voicemail indicia that are associated with the user of the second telecommunications terminal based on the signal.