Systems and methods for providing live voicemail to a mobile handset

• US 8,712,385 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2013
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Young, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Arevalo, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/847,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20130217362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 405 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/413, 455/436, 455/422.1, 455/414.3, 455/414.2, 455/412.1, 455/518, 455/519, 370/328, 370/252, 370/400, 370/412, 370/352, 370/394
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The exemplary live voicemail functionality offers a user of a mobile station the ability to listen to a voicemail message, as the message is being recorded in a voicemail platform. The mobile communication network serving the user directs an incoming call intended for the mobile station to the voicemail platform, which records the audio for the incoming message. The network infrastructure also duplicates the audio and directs the duplicate audio to the mobile station for monitoring of the incoming message by the user, as the platform is recording the voicemail message.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture, comprising:

at least one non-transitory machine readable medium; and

programming embodied in the at least one medium,

wherein execution of the programming by a processor of each of one or more elements of a mobile communication network configures the network to implement functions, including functions to;

(a) receive an incoming call for a destination mobile station accessible for communication through the mobile communications network;

(b) duplicate audio of the incoming call such that the audio of the incoming call and the duplicate audio form two copies of the audio of the incoming call; and

(c) direct one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to a voicemail platform; and

(d) while directing one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform, direct another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station, to enable audible output of the another the copies of the audio of the incoming call from the destination mobile station as the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call is being recorded at the voicemail platform.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein the function to direct the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform is responsive to a determination that the destination mobile station has not answered the call.

3. The article of claim 2, wherein the determination that the destination mobile station has not answered the call is responsive a user input at the destination mobile station indicating to end the call or to monitor the call.

4. The article of claim 3, wherein the execution of the programming by the processor of each of one or more elements of the mobile communication network further configures the network to implement further functions, including functions to:

determine whether a party associated with the destination mobile station has ended the call at the destination mobile station after at least some direction of duplicated audio through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station; and

terminate the direction of the duplicated audio through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station upon the determination that the party associated with the destination mobile station has ended the call at the destination mobile station.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein:

the execution of the programming by the processor of each of one or more elements of the mobile communication network further configures the network to implement a further function to determine whether a party associated with the destination mobile station has subscribed to a live voice mail service offered through the mobile communication network, and

the functions to duplicate the audio of the incoming and direct the duplicated audio through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station are performed in response to determination that the party associated with the destination mobile station has subscribed to a live voice mail service offered through the mobile communication network.

6. The article of claim 5, wherein the functions to duplicate the audio of the incoming call and direct the duplicated audio through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station are further responsive to a determination that the destination mobile station has not answered the call.

7. The article of claim 1, wherein:

the function to duplicate the audio of the incoming call comprises duplicating voice packets of the incoming call;

the function to direct the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform comprises directing voice packets of the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the mobile communication network to the voicemail platform; and

the function to direct the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call comprises directing the voice packets of the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station.

8. A system, comprising:

a wireless mobile communication network configured to receive an incoming call intended for a called mobile station; and

a media gateway coupled to or implemented in the wireless mobile communication network, the media gateway being configured to;

duplicate audio of the incoming call, such that the audio of the incoming call and the duplicate audio form two copies of the audio of the incoming call;

,

direct one of the copies of as the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform for recording, and

while directing the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform, route another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the wireless mobile communication network to the called mobile station for live audible output from the called mobile station as the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call is being recorded at the voicemail platform.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the media gateway is configured to route the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the wireless mobile communication network to the called mobile station as a one-way transmission without the ability to induce any audio communication from the mobile station to the call origination.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the wireless mobile communication network comprises a mobile switching center configured to receive the call;

the system further comprises a digital access cross connect coupled to the mobile switching center, the voicemail platform and the media gateway; and

the digital access cross connect is configured to provide;

a connection for the call to the voicemail platform,

a connection for the call to the media gateway, and

a connection for the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the wireless mobile communication network to the called mobile station.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the wireless mobile communication network comprises:

an evolved packet core configured to receive audio for the incoming call in packet form; and

an access network controller configured to route received packets of audio for the incoming call to the mobile switching center.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the evolved packet core comprises a mobility management entity (MME), a serving gateway (SGW), and a packet Gateway (PGW).

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the evolved packet core further comprises a packet core rules function (PCRF).

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a packet-switched infrastructure configured to receive audio for the call in packet form; and

an access network controller configured to route received packets of audio for the call to the mobile switching center.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the packet-switched infrastructure comprises one or more gateways and a session initiation protocol (SIP) application server for call set up through the packet-switched infrastructure.

16. A method, comprising steps of:

receiving an incoming call to a destination mobile station through a mobile communications network;

duplicating audio of the incoming call such that the audio of the incoming call and the duplicate audio form two copies of the audio of the incoming call;

directing one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to a voicemail platform; and

while directing the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform, transmitting another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station, as a one-way transmission without the ability to induce any audio communication from the mobile station to the call origination.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmission of the another of the, copies of the audio of the incoming call to the destination mobile station in real time enables audible output of the duplicated audio from the destination mobile station as the audio is being recorded at the voicemail platform.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the function to direct the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform is responsive to a determination that the incoming call is not to be completed to the destination mobile station.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

responsive to the determination not to complete the incoming call to the destination mobile station, signaling a media gateway to reserve resources for transfer of audio to the destination mobile station through the mobile communications network; and

establishing a communication session for the incoming call through the media gateway to the voicemail platform.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein

the step of duplicating the audio of the incoming call comprises duplicating voice packets of the incoming call;

the step of directing the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming call to the voicemail platform comprises directing voice packets of the one of the copies of the audio of the incoming through the mobile communication network to the voicemail platform; and

the function to transmit the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call comprises directing the voice packets of the another of the copies of the audio of the incoming call through the mobile communication network to the destination mobile station.