Content sensitive do-not-disturb (DND) option for a communication system

• US 8,625,749 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2006
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jain, Mukul, Shaffer, Shmuel, Gatzke, Alan D., Patel, Labhesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US11/277,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20070223662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,847 Days
• Field of Search: 379 8801- 8828
• US Class Current: 379/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2005 Temporarily overriding a service configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4563 Voicemail monitoring during recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A method and apparatus is described to process an incoming telephone call. The method may comprise, at a recipient telephone system, receiving the incoming call including speech and identifying when a Do-Not-Disturb option is set. The Do-Not-Disturb option may identify that a user has requested not to receive telephone calls. Content analysis may be performed to identify content of the speech and a reference database may be interrogated based on the content to identify an associated rule. Thereafter, the Do-Not-Disturb option may be selectively overridden based on the associated rule. The content analysis may comprise performing speech recognition on the speech to obtain a reference word/phrase and interrogating the reference database with the word/phrase to identify the associated rule. A method of configuring a Do-Not-Disturb option in a telephone system is also described that allows a user to define reference words and associated rules.

Claims

1. A method of processing an incoming telephone call, the method comprising:

at a recipient telephone system,

receiving the incoming call including speech;

identifying when a Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying that a user has requested not to receive telephone calls;

recording the incoming call in a voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set;

performing content analysis to identify content of the speech while recording the incoming call in the voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the performance of the content analysis including performing speech recognition on the speech to obtain at least one reference word that is included in the speech;

interrogating a reference database with the at least one reference word to identify an associated rule; and

selectively overriding the Do-Not-Disturb option based on the associated rule.

2. The method of claim 1, which comprises conferencing in a voice path of the speech with a speech recognition module to perform the speech recognition.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the voice path is a voice path of the voicemail system.

4. The method of claim 1, in which selectively overriding the Do-Not-Disturb option comprises temporarily disabling the Do-Not-Disturb option in a Private Branch eXchange (PBX).

5. The method of claim 1, in which the associated rule comprises communicating the call to a telephone endpoint associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 5, which comprises continuing to record the call in the voicemail system when the call is unanswered by the user.

7. The method of claim 5, which comprises:

identifying when the user is on another telephone call; and

providing an audio communication to the user at a reduced volume level that is lower than a volume level of voice communications of the other telephone call to inform the user of the incoming call.

8. The method of claim 1, which comprises identifying a caller from the content of the speech, the associated rule being associated with the caller.

9. The method of claim 1, which comprises performing the associated rule irrespective of an identity of a caller that is a source of the incoming call.

10. The method of claim 1, which comprises:

receiving a communication from a user, the communication defining the at least one reference word;

identifying at least one rule associated with the at least one reference word; and

storing the at least one reference word and the at least one rule in the reference database for interrogation when the incoming call is received.

11. The method of claim 10, which comprises:

communicating a plurality of configuration options to the user via an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) module; and

storing responses received from the user in the reference database as reference words and associated rules that are implemented when the reference words are identified in the content of the speech of the incoming call.

12. The method of claim 10, which comprises:

communicating a plurality of configuration options to the user via the Internet using a web interface; and

storing responses received from the user in the reference database as reference words and associated rules.

13. The method of claim 1, which comprises storing a personal profile of reference words and associated rules for each of a plurality of users associated with the recipient telephone system.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the recorded speech includes a message directed to the user.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified content of the speech includes a language profile of the speech.

14. A method of configuring a Do-Not-Disturb option in a telephone system, the method comprising:

receiving at least one reference word and an associated rule from a user, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying when a user has requested not to receive telephone calls and the associated rule selectively modifying operation of the Do-Not-Disturb option, wherein the associated rule includes identifying the at least one reference word included in an incoming call while recording the incoming call in a voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the identification of the at least one reference word including performing speech recognition analysis on speech included in the incoming call to obtain the at least one reference word; and

storing the reference word and associated rule received from the user in the reference database for a subsequent interrogation with the reference word to identify the associated rule.

15. An apparatus to process an incoming telephone call, the apparatus comprising:

a telephony interface to receive the incoming call including speech;

a Do-Not-Disturb identification module to identify when a Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying that a user has requested not to receive telephone calls;

a voicemail system to record the incoming call when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set;

an analysis module to identify content of the speech while recording the incoming call in the voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the analysis module being configured to perform speech recognition on the speech to obtain at least one reference word that is included in the speech;

a reference database; and

an interrogation module to interrogate the reference database based on the content to identify an associated rule, the Do-Not-Disturb option being selectively overridden based on the associated rule, the interrogation module being configured to interrogate the reference database with the at least one reference word to identify the associated rule.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a voice path of the speech is conferenced in with a speech recognition module to perform the speech recognition.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the voice path is a voice path of the voicemail system.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, in which the Do-Not-Disturb option selectively overridden by temporarily disabling the Do-Not-Disturb option in a Private Branch eXchange (PBX).

19. The apparatus of claim 18, in which the associated rule identifies that the ca is to be communicated to a telephone endpoint associated with the user.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the voicemail system continues to record the call when the call is unanswered by the user.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein, when the user is on another telephone call, an audio communication is provided to the user at a reduced volume level that is lower than a volume level of voice communications of the other telephone call to inform the user of the incoming call.

22. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a caller is identified from the content of the speech, the associated rule being associated with the caller.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the associated rule is performed irrespective of an identity of a caller.

24. The apparatus of claim 15, which comprises a user interface receiving a communication from a user, the communication defining the at least one reference word, the interrogation module identifying at least one rule associated with the at least one reference word, the at least one reference word and the at least one rule being stored in the reference database for interrogation when the incoming call is received.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a plurality of configuration options are communicated to the user via an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) module, and responses received from the user being stored in the reference database as reference words and associated rules.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a plurality of configuration options are communicated to the user via the Internet using a web interface, responses received from the user being stored in the reference database as reference words and associated rules.

27. The apparatus of claim 15, in which a personal profile of reference words and associated rules is stored for each of a plurality of users associated with the recipient telephone system.

28. An apparatus for configuring a Do-Not-Disturb option in a telephone system, the apparatus comprising:

a user interface to receive at least one reference word and an associated rule from a user, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying when a user has requested not to receive telephone calls and the associated rule selectively modifying operation of the Do-Not-Disturb option, wherein the associated rule includes identifying the at least one reference word included in an incoming call while recording the incoming call in a voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the identification of the at least one reference word including performing speech recognition analysis on speech included in the incoming call to obtain the at least one reference word; and

a reference database to store the reference word and associated rule received from the user in the reference database for a subsequent interrogation with the reference word to identify the associated rule.

29. A non-transitory tangible machine-readable medium embodying instructions to process an incoming telephone call, the instructions when executed by a machine causes the machine to:

receive the incoming call including speech;

identify when a Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying that a user has requested not to receive telephone calls;

record the incoming call in a voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set;

perform content analysis to identify content of the speech while recording the incoming call in the voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the performance of the content analysis including performing speech recognition on the speech to obtain at least one reference word that is included in the speech;

interrogate a reference database with the at least one reference word to identify an associated rule;

selectively override the Do-Not-Disturb option based on the associated rule.

30. An apparatus to process an incoming telephone call;

the apparatus comprising;

means for receiving the incoming call including speech;

means for identifying when a Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the Do-Not-Disturb option identifying that a user has requested not to receive telephone calls;

means for recording the incoming call in a voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set;

means for identifying content of the speech while recording the incoming call in the voicemail system when the Do-Not-Disturb option is set, the content-identifying means operating to perform speech recognition on the speech to obtain at least one reference word that is included in the speech;

a reference database; and

means for interrogating the reference database with the at least one reference word to identify an associated rule, the Do-Not-Disturb option being selectively overridden based on the associated rule.