Previewing voicemails using mobile devices

• US 8,660,038 B1
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ShoreTel Incorporated (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ShoreTel Incorporated (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Viswambharan, Raju, Pascazio, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBERTS, BRIAN S
• Application Number:
  US11/589,666
• Time in Patent Office: 2,675 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/259
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

Previewing voice over internet protocol (VoIP) voicemail is disclosed. A request is sent for VoIP voicemail available to preview using a data channel associated with a cellular phone system. Information of voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the voicemail available to preview are received. Information of voicemail available to preview is displayed. A selection of one of the available voicemails is received. A preview portion of the voicemail corresponding to the selection of one of the available voicemails is played.

Claims

1. A method of previewing VoIP voicemail comprising:

sending a request for VoIP voicemail available to preview using a data channel associated with a cellular phone system;

receiving information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, wherein each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview is less than all of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, and wherein the chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview are time compressed to speed up playback so that each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a longer portion of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

displaying the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving a selection of a voicemail, wherein the voicemail comprises one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview; and

playing, using a processor, a preview portion of the voicemail corresponding to the selection of one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving a user selection of an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail that a preview portion has already been received and played;

sending a request for the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving the requested additional preview portion, wherein the requested additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the VoIP voicemail not already processed and previewed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the requested preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP;

playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.

2. A computer program product for previewing VoIP voicemail, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

sending a request for VoIP voicemail available to preview using a data channel associated with a cellular phone system;

receiving information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, wherein each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview is less than all of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, and wherein the chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview are time compressed to speed up playback so that each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a longer portion of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

displaying the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving a selection of a voicemail, wherein the voicemail comprises one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview; and

playing a preview portion of the voicemail corresponding to the selection of one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving a user selection of an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail that a preview portion has already been received and played;

sending a request for the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving the requested additional preview portion, wherein the requested additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the VoIP voicemail not already processed and previewed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the requested preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP;

playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.

3. A system for previewing VoIP voicemail comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to;

send a request for VoIP voicemail available to preview using a data channel associated with a cellular phone system;

receive information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, wherein each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview is less than all of the VoIP voicemail available to preview and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview, and wherein the chunks of each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview are time compressed to speed up playback so that each of the one preview portion for each of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a longer portion of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

display the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receive a selection of a voicemail, wherein the voicemail comprises one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview; and

play a preview portion of the voicemail corresponding to the selection of one of the VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving a user selection of an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail that a preview portion has already been received and played;

sending a request for the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving the requested additional preview portion, wherein the requested additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the VoIP voicemail not already processed and previewed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the requested preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP;

playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.

4. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a caller ID.

5. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a date.

6. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a time.

7. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a message length.

8. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a forwarder ID.

9. A system as in claim 3, wherein the information of the VoIP voicemail available to preview includes a forwarder message length.

10. A system as in claim 3, wherein the selection of one of the available VoIP voicemails comprises selecting using a stylus.

11. A system as in claim 3, wherein the selection of one of the available VoIP voicemails comprises selecting using a keypad.

12. A system as in claim 3, wherein the selection of one of the available VoIP voicemails comprises selecting using a scroll button.

13. A system as in claim 3, wherein the selection of one of the available VoIP voicemails comprises selecting using a voice command.

14. A system as in claim 3, wherein playing the requested selection comprises processing to play a compressed audio format file.

15. A system as in claim 3, wherein the preview portion of the VoIP voicemail comprises one or more of the following:

the first 5 seconds the entire VoIP voicemail, 10 seconds beginning from the 4^th second of the VoIP voicemail, a middle portion, or a portion with a phone number embedded in it.

16. A system as in claim 3, wherein the preview portion comprises a pitch corrected time compressed portion of the VoIP voicemail.

17. A system as in claim 3, wherein the preview portion comprises a portion of the VoIP voicemail with blank spaces removed.

18. A system as in claim 3, wherein the preview portion comprises a portion of a forwarding message.

19. A system as in claim 3, wherein the user selection for the additional preview portion comprises a user selection a longer preview portion of the VoIP voicemail.

20. A system as in claim 3, wherein the user selection for the additional preview portion comprises a user selection of a last preview portion of the VoIP voicemail.

21. A system as in claim 3, wherein the user selection for the additional preview portion comprises a user selection of a preview portion with a phone number embedded in the VoIP voicemail.

22. A system as in claim 3, wherein the user selection for the additional preview portion comprises a user selection of a next preview portion of the VoIP voicemail.

23. A method of previewing VoIP voicemail comprising:

receiving a request for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogating a voicemail database for the requestor for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving information of VoIP voicemail available to preview including voicemail files;

processing, using a processor, the voicemail files to enable playing of a preview portion of a file of the voicemail files, wherein the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files is less than all of the file of the voicemail files and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of the file of the voicemail files, and wherein the chunks of the file of the voicemail files are time compressed to speed up playback so the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files includes a longer portion of the file of the voicemail files; and

sending information of VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the voicemail files;

receiving a request for an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail out of the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogating the voicemail database for the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving a VoIP voicemail file corresponding to the selected VoIP voicemail;

processing the VoIP voicemail file to enable playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the selected VoIP voicemail not already processed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail file after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the VoIP voicemail file, wherein the additional preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

sending the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.

24. A computer program product for previewing VoIP voicemail, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a request for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogating a voicemail database for the requestor for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receiving information of VoIP voicemail available to preview including voicemail files;

processing the voicemail files to enable playing of a preview portion of a file of the voicemail files, wherein the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files is less than all of the file of the voicemail files and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of the file of the voicemail files, and wherein the chunks of the file of the voicemail files are time compressed to speed up playback so the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files includes a longer portion of the file of the voicemail files; and

sending information of VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the voicemail files;

receiving a request for an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail out of the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogating the voicemail database for the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving a VoIP voicemail file corresponding to the selected VoIP voicemail;

processing the VoIP voicemail file to enable playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the selected VoIP voicemail not already processed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail file after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the VoIP voicemail file, wherein the additional preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

sending the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.

25. A system for previewing VoIP voicemail comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to;

receive a request for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogate a voicemail database for the requestor for information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

receive information of VoIP voicemail available to preview including voicemail files;

process the voicemail files to enable playing of a preview portion of a file of the voicemail files, wherein the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files is less than all of the file of the voicemail files and comprises a sampling of one or more chunks of the file of the voicemail files, and wherein the chunks of the file of the voicemail files are time compressed to speed up playback so the preview portion of the file of the voicemail files includes a longer portion of the file of the voicemail files; and

send information of VoIP voicemail available to preview and one preview portion for each of the voicemail files;

receiving a request for an additional preview portion of a selected VoIP voicemail out of the information of VoIP voicemail available to preview;

interrogating the voicemail database for the selected VoIP voicemail;

receiving a VoIP voicemail file corresponding to the selected VoIP voicemail;

processing the VoIP voicemail file to enable playing the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail, wherein the additional preview portion comprises another chunk of the selected VoIP voicemail not already processed, wherein the additional preview portion is extracted from the selected VoIP voicemail file after the request so that the additional preview portion is less than all of the VoIP voicemail file, wherein the additional preview portion is also time compressed to speed up playback so the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail includes a longer portion of the selected VoIP voicemail;

sending the additional preview portion of the selected VoIP voicemail.