Selecting a message greeting for an unavailable party based upon contextual data associated with a contacting party

• US 8,634,519 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2013
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crawford, Jerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahee, Md S
• Application Number:
  US13/963,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20130322607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 165 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/72, 379/76, 379/88.12, 379/88.16, 379 8818- 8822, 379/167.08, 379/263, 455/412.2, 340/7.53
• US Class Current: 379/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53383 Message registering commands or announcements; Greetings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53391 dependent on calling party

Abstract

A message greeting system receives a notification that a party is unavailable in response to a communication initiated by a contacting party. In response to receiving the notification, the message greeting system acquires contextual data associated with the contacting party, determines a message greeting that is appropriate for the contacting party based upon the contextual data, acquires the appropriate message greeting, and sends the appropriate message greeting to a contacting party device associated with the contacting party. The appropriate message greeting includes a message greeting that is usable by the contacting party given a context in which the contacting party is involved as identified by the contextual data. In some embodiments, the message greeting system acquires the appropriate message greeting by adapting an inappropriate message greeting for the context in which the contacting party is involved, thereby creating the appropriate message greeting.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an appropriate message greeting, the method comprising:

receiving, using a message greeting system comprising a processor, a notification that a party is unavailable in response to a communication initiated by a contacting party;

in response to receiving the notification, acquiring, using the message greeting system, contextual data associated with the contacting party;

determining, using the message greeting system, an appropriate message greeting for the contacting party based upon the contextual data, wherein the appropriate message greeting is useable by the contacting party given a context in which the contacting party is involved;

acquiring, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party by performing operations comprising

querying, using the message greeting system, a message store to determine if the appropriate message greeting is stored in the message store, wherein the message store stores one or more message greetings associated with the unavailable party, the one or more message greetings comprising a default message greeting,

if the message greeting system determines that one of the one or more message greetings stored in the message store is the appropriate message greeting,

requesting, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting from the message store, and

receiving, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting, and

if the message greeting system determines that one of the one or more message greetings is not the appropriate message greeting, causing, using the message greeting system, an inappropriate message stored in the message store to be adapted from a first format to a second format, by an adaptation module, for the context in which the contacting party is involved, based upon the contextual data, to create the appropriate message greeting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring, using the message greeting system, the contextual data associated with the contacting party comprises acquiring, using the message greeting system, presence data associated with the contacting party from a presence system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein acquiring, using the message greeting, the contextual data associated with the contacting party further comprises acquiring, using the message greeting system, service provider data associated with the contacting party from a service provider data system, the service provider data comprising at least one of:

customer data associated with the contacting party;

device data associated with the contacting party device;

or

service plan data associated with the contacting party.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party to a contacting party device associated with the contacting party.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing, using the message greeting system, the inappropriate message stored in the message store to be adapted, by the adaption module, for the context in which the contacting party is involved, based upon the contextual data, to create the appropriate message greeting comprises

requesting, using the message greeting system, the inappropriate message from the message store;

receiving, using the message greeting system, the inappropriate message greeting from the message store; and

sending, using the message greeting system, the inappropriate message greeting to the adaptation module with instructions to adapt the inappropriate message for the context in which the contacting party is involved, based upon the contextual data, to create the appropriate message greeting; and

further comprising receiving, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting from the adaptation module.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein causing, using the message greeting system, the inappropriate message stored in the message store to be adapted, by the adaption module, for the context in which the contacting party is involved, based up on the contextual data, to create the appropriate message greeting comprises

instructing, using the message greeting system, the message store to send the inappropriate message to the adaptation module;

and

instructing, using the message greeting system, the adaptation module to adapt the inappropriate message for the context in which the contacting party is involved, based upon the contextual data, to create the appropriate message greeting; and

further comprising receiving, using the message greeting system, the appropriate message greeting from the adaptation module.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving a notification that a party is unavailable in response to a communication initiated by a contacting party;

in response to receiving the notification, acquiring contextual data associated with the contacting party;

determining an appropriate message greeting for the contacting party based upon the contextual data, the appropriate message greeting being a message greeting that is usable by the contacting party given a context in which the contacting party is involved as identified by the contextual data;

determining that the appropriate message greeting is not stored in a message greeting store, the message greeting store storing a default message greeting for the contacting party;

adapting a message greeting from a first format that is inappropriate for the context in which the contacting party is involved to a second format that is appropriate for the context in which the contacting party is involved so as to create the appropriate message greeting; and

sending the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party to a contacting party device associated with the contacting party, the appropriate message greeting notifying the contacting party that the party is unavailable.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first format is a text format or a video format and the second format is an audio format.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first format is an audio format or video format and the second format is a text format.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first format is a video format and the second format is a text format or an audio format.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the first format is an interactive format and the second format is a text format, an audio format, or a video format.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the contextual data comprises at least one of:

presence data associated with the contacting party;

customer data associated with the contacting party;

device data associated with the contacting party device;

or

service plan data associated with a service plan associated with the contacting party.

13. A message greeting system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having processor-executable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

receiving a notification that a party is unavailable in response to a communication initiated by a contacting party,

querying a presence system for presence data associated with the contacting party,

receiving the presence data associated with the contacting party from the presence system,

determining an appropriate message greeting for the contacting party based upon the presence data,

determining if the appropriate message greeting is stored in a message store, the message store storing a default message greeting,

if the appropriate message greeting is stored in the message store, acquiring the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party from the message store,

if the appropriate message greeting is not stored in the message store, adapting a message greeting stored in the message store from a first format that is inappropriate for a context in which the contacting party is involved, to a second format that is appropriate for the context based at least in part upon the presence data, thereby creating the appropriate message greeting, and

sending the appropriate message greeting to a contacting party device associated with the contacting party, the appropriate message greeting notifying the contacting party that the party is unavailable.

14. The message greeting system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising:

querying a service provider data system for service provider data associated with the contacting party; and

receiving the service provider data associated with the service provider data system from the service provider data system; and

wherein determining the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party based upon the presence data comprises determining the appropriate message greeting for the contacting party further based upon the service provider data.

15. The message greeting system of claim 14, wherein the service provider data comprises at least one of:

customer data associated with the contacting party;

device data associated with the contacting party device;

or

service plan data associated with the contacting party.