System and method for guest voicemail box

• US 8,611,510 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Shekhar
• Primary Examiner(s): Hashem, Lisa
• Application Number:
  US12/004,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20090161840A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,189 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.18, 379/88.22, 379/100.08, 379/202, 379/67.1, 379/88.01, 379/88.27, 379/88.12, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.25, 379/88.251
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/65 Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party in the exchange H04M3/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53383 Message registering commands or announcements; Greetings

Abstract

A system and method for establishing guest mailboxes. User input to partition a voicemail box of a user is received to create a guest voicemail box. The voicemail box is partitioned to create the guest voicemail box. An access number is established for the guest voicemail box. The guest voicemail box is removed based on an expiration.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a guest voicemail box, the method comprising:

receiving, with a computer, user input to partition a voicemail box of a user to create a plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes;

partitioning, with the computer, the voicemail box to create the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes;

establishing, with the computer, an access number for the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes; and

automatically removing, with the computer the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes based on a criteria received in the user input.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving, partitioning, establishing, and automatically removing is performed by a voicemail system.

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

requiring selection of the access number in response to the partitioning; and

associating the access number with at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the criteria specifies an expiration time, wherein at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes is terminated based on the expiration time.

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

receiving user input to remove at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes.

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

entering a password to enable configuration of the voicemail box; and

recording a prompt for at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes.

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

receiving an incoming communication from a caller;

playing a prompt indicating the voicemail box has been partitioned and includes at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes; and

recording a message from the caller.

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

determining whether a caller is authorized to access at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes; and

granting access to at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes based on receiving the access number for playing one or more recorded messages and for configuring at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes.

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

determining whether a caller is authorized to leave a message based on the access number.

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

communicating between the voicemail box and at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes is accessible from a device associated with the voicemail box.

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

associating a phone number linked with the voicemail box with at least one of the plurality of temporary guest voicemail boxes in response to the voicemail box being partitioned.

13. A system for generating temporary mailboxes, the system comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions; and

a non-transitory memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions are configured to receive user input to partition a voicemail box of a user into a plurality of temporary voicemail boxes, partition the voicemail box into the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes, establish an access number for the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes, and automatically remove the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes based on a criteria received in the user input.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the set of instructions partitions the voicemail box to generate the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes, wherein each of the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes is removed from the voicemail box based on a time expiration specified by the criteria.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein a pass code is required to access the voicemail box and the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes, wherein the pass code specifies whether a caller may leave a message or whether the caller may configure one of the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes and play messages.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the set of instructions associates a phone number linked with the voicemail box with one of the plurality of temporary voicemail boxes in response to the voicemail box being partitioned.

17. A voicemail system comprising:

a user interface for receiving user input from a user;

a voicemail box in communication with the user interface for managing voice messages;

a non-transitory memory having stored thereon partition control logic in communication with the user interface configured to partition the voicemail box to create one or more guest voicemail boxes in response to the user input, wherein the partition control logic receives an access number for the one or more guest voicemail boxes and an expiration time for each of the one or more guest voicemail boxes from the user input.

18. The voicemail system according to claim 17, wherein the partition control logic associates a phone number linked with the voicemail box with one of the one or more guest voicemail boxes in response to the voicemail box being partitioned.

19. The voicemail system according to claim 17, wherein the user input includes a pass code required to access the voicemail box or the one or more guest voicemail boxes, wherein the pass code specifies whether the user may leave a message or whether the user may configure one of the plurality of voicemail boxes and play messages.

20. The voicemail system according to claim 17, wherein the partition control logic deletes the one or more guest mailboxes based on the expiration time.