Methods and systems for customized content services with unified messaging systems

• US 9,400,790 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2009
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yasrebi, Mehrad, Jackson, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Brannon W
• Application Number:
  US12/634,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20110137918A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,421 Days
• Field of Search: 707/711
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

Profile information and other information about users are received from information sources into a unified messaging platform. Multimedia messages and files for users are converted to text using approximation algorithms. Text and multimedia messages and files for users are analyzed using confidence scores and thresholds. Profile information, file keyword information and message keyword information are used to identify and transmit a limited amount of information about users to information consumers and content service providers. Information consumers and content service providers can customize their content that is presented to users.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at system comprising a processor, a voice mail message directed to a user and a facsimile message associated with the user;

determining, by the processor, that the voice mail message is in an audio format;

determining, by the processor, that the facsimile message is in a non-text format;

converting, by the processor, using a character recognition program, the facsimile message from the non-text format to a text format, the text format of the facsimile message comprising a first plurality of continuous strings of characters;

converting, by the processor, the voice mail message from the audio format to the text format, the text format of the voice mail message comprising a second plurality of continuous strings of characters;

determining, by the processor, a first confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the first plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the facsimile message and a second confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the second plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the voice mail message, the first confidence score indicating a first level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the non-text format of the facsimile message and the second confidence score indicating a second level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the audio format of the voice mail message;

determining, by the processor, that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below a threshold value;

in response to determining that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below the threshold value, discarding, by the processor, the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message;

determining, by the processor, that the second confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is not below the threshold value;

in response to determining that the second confidence score is not below the threshold value, determining, by the processor, a number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in at least a portion of other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value;

storing, by the processor, in a data set associated with the user, the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message along with the second confidence score and the number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in the at least a portion of the other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value;

providing, by the processor, the data set to an information recipient for use by the information recipient to customize content presented to the user;

selecting, by the processor, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, an advertisement to publish to the user, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based further on at least one of a phone number of a caller associated with the voice mail message, an area code of the caller associated with the voice mail message, or a country code of the caller associated with the voice mail message;

receiving, by the processor, from the user, a request to retrieve the voice mail message;

in response to receiving the request, publishing, by the processor to the user, the advertisement selected based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message; and

customizing, by the processor, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, a service provided to the user, wherein the service comprises providing program listings to the user and wherein customizing the service comprises rearranging a presentation of the program listings provided to the user based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from an information source, information about the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the user provided by the information source comprises information retrieval patterns of the user, information usage patterns of the user, demographics of the user, and locations associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based at least in part on both the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message and the information about the user provided by the information source.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a system, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a voice mail message directed to a user and a facsimile message associated with the user;

determining that the voice mail message is in an audio format;

determining that the facsimile message is in a non-text format;

converting, using a character recognition program, the facsimile message from the non-text format to a text format, the text format of the facsimile message comprising a first plurality of continuous strings of characters;

converting the voice mail message from the audio format to the text format, the text format of the voice mail message comprising a second plurality of continuous strings of characters;

determining a first confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the first plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the facsimile message and a second confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the second plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the voice mail message, the first confidence score indicating a first level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the non-text format of the facsimile message and the second confidence score indicating a second level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the audio format of the voice mail message;

determining that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below a threshold value;

in response to determining that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below the threshold value, discarding the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message;

determining that the second confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is not below the threshold value;

in response to determining that the second confidence score is not below the threshold value, determining a number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in at least a portion of other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value;

storing, in a data set associated with the user, the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message along with the second confidence score and the number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in the at least a portion of the other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value;

providing the data set to an information recipient for use by the information recipient to customize content presented to the user;

selecting, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, an advertisement to publish to the user, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based further on at least one of a phone number of a caller associated with the voice mail message, an area code of the caller associated with the voice mail message, or a country code of the caller associated with the voice mail message;

receiving, from the user, a request to retrieve the voice mail message;

in response to receiving the request, publishing, to the user, the advertisement selected based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message; and

customizing, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, a service provided to the user, wherein the service comprises providing program listings to the user and wherein customizing the service comprises rearranging a presentation of the program listings provided to the user based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from an information source, information about the user.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the information about the user provided by the information source comprises information retrieval patterns of the user, information usage patterns of the user, demographics of the user, and locations associated with the user.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable claim 6, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based at least in part on both the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message and the information about the user provided by the information source.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a voice mail message directed to a user and a facsimile message associated with the user,

determining that the voice mail message is in an audio format,

determining that the facsimile message is in a non-text format,

converting, using a character recognition program, the facsimile message from the non-text format to a text format, the text format of the facsimile message comprising a first plurality of continuous strings of characters,

converting the voice mail message from the audio format to the text format, the text format comprising a second plurality of continuous strings of characters,

determining a first confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the first plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the facsimile message and a second confidence score for a continuous string of characters of the second plurality of continuous strings of characters of the text format of the voice mail message, the first confidence score indicating a first level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the non-text format of the facsimile message and the second confidence score indicating a second level of certainty that the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is an accurate representation of a corresponding continuous string of characters of the audio format of the voice mail message,

determining that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below a threshold value,

in response to determining that the first confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message is below the threshold value, discarding the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message,

determining that the second confidence score for the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message is not below the threshold value,

in response to determining that the second confidence score is not below the threshold value, determining a number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the facsimile message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in at least a portion of other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value,

storing, in a data set associated with the user, the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message along with the second confidence score and the number of times the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message occurs in the text format of the voice mail message and has occurred in the at least a portion of the other voice mail messages associated with the user without being discarded for being below the threshold value,

providing the data set to an information recipient for use by the information recipient to customize content presented to the user,

selecting, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, an advertisement to publish to the user, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based further on at least one of a phone number of a caller associated with the voice mail message, an area code of the caller associated with the voice mail message, or a country code of the caller associated with the voice mail message,

receiving, from the user, a request to retrieve the voice mail message,

in response to receiving the request, publishing, to the user, the advertisement selected based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, and

customizing, based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message, a service provided to the user, wherein the service comprises providing program listings to the user and wherein customizing the service comprises rearranging a presentation of the program listings provided to the user based at least in part on the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from an information source, information about the user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the information about the user provided by the information source comprises information retrieval patterns of the user, information usage patterns of the user, demographics of the user, and locations associated with the user.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the advertisement to publish to the user is selected based at least in part on both the continuous string of characters associated with the voice mail message and the information about the user provided by the information source.