Computer, internet and telecommunications based network
First Claim
1. A unified-messaging network for managing, sending and receiving user-level messages relating to a first user of the unified-messaging network, said unified-messaging network utilizing both at least one telephone connection and at least one internet connection, said user-level messages sent to and received from a plurality of communication networks employing a plurality of communication protocols, comprising:
- a first-voice server in a first cluster of voice servers, said first-voice server comprising;
telephony hardware coupling said at least one telephone connection to at least one application with a first capability to identify one or more user events based on user input from an electronic device of the first user passed through said at least one telephone connection, said at least one application having a second capability to create and to transmit a plurality of telephony-related network messages to at least one of a plurality of second servers;
an internet-connection interface for establishing an internet connection and including a third capability to create and to transmit a plurality of internet-related network messages to at least one other server of the plurality of second servers; and
a cluster-switching and resource-allocation device coupled to said telephony hardware and said internet-connection interface, said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device including a first computing capability to process said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages, said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages created to enable the managing, sending and receiving of said user-level messages;
said plurality of second servers coupled to said first-voice server and responsive to said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages, said plurality of second servers interfacing each other through the telephony-related network messages or the internet-related network messages executed under control of the cluster-switching and resource-allocation device to at least one of receive a first user-level message from and transmit a first user-level message to said electronic device of the first user over at least one of the telephone connection and the internet connection, the first user-level message received from or sent to said electronic device associated with the first user and using a first network protocol from a plurality of network protocols associated with said at least one of the telephone connection and the internet connection, the plurality of second servers further comprising;
at least one database server for storage of data relating to the first user for use in performing a voice-enabled task for the first user and a file server coupled to the database server, at least one of the file server and the database server accessible to the first user to manage an account including stored data associated with the first user including one or more setting options to send and to receive the user-level messages according to a preference of the first user, at least one of said database server and said file server accessible to said first-computing capability of said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device, wherein said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device processes said plurality of telephony-related network messages and said plurality of internet-related network messages with a capability to reference at least one of said database server and said file server; and
at least one web server coupled to the internet-connection interface of the first-voice server with a second-computing capability and adapted to provide access to the first user over the internet connection; and
one or more additional voice servers coupled to the first-voice server in the cluster of voice servers, at least one of first-voice server and the one or more additional servers further comprising;
an interactive speaker-independent, phoneme-based speech recognition device coupled to the cluster-switching and resource-allocation device and with a capability to receive a natural speech input at least over the telephone connection and to process the received natural speech input using phoneme-based speech recognition and to initiate execution of a voice-enabled task for the first user, based at least in part on the natural speech input, the interactive speaker-independent, phoneme-based speech recognition device adapted to recognize a plurality of natural speech commands and adapted to automatically trigger execution of a plurality of different voice-enabled tasks, each voice-enabled task corresponding to at least one specific natural speech command, and adapted to initiate the first user-level message in a manner relating to the voice-enabled task and a second user-level message, such that the first user-level message is transmittable over the telephone connection and over the internet connection to at least one electronic device designated by the first user, the electronic device being any one of at least a computer and a mobile device, and the first computing capability of said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device adapted to control processing of the second user-level message and to initiate transmission of the second user-level message at least by the internet connection to at least one of the mobile device in text format and to the computer or the mobile device in email format.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for a computer and telecommunication network which can receive, send and manage information from or to a subscriber of the network, based on the subscriber'"'"'s configuration. The network is made up of at least one cluster containing voice servers which allow for telephony, speech recognition, text-to-speech and conferencing functions, and is accessible by the subscriber through standard telephone connections or through internet connections. The network also utilizes a database and file server allowing the subscriber to maintain and manage certain contact lists and administrative information. A web server is also connected to the cluster thereby allowing access to all functions through internet connections.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A unified-messaging network for managing, sending and receiving user-level messages relating to a first user of the unified-messaging network, said unified-messaging network utilizing both at least one telephone connection and at least one internet connection, said user-level messages sent to and received from a plurality of communication networks employing a plurality of communication protocols, comprising:
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a first-voice server in a first cluster of voice servers, said first-voice server comprising; telephony hardware coupling said at least one telephone connection to at least one application with a first capability to identify one or more user events based on user input from an electronic device of the first user passed through said at least one telephone connection, said at least one application having a second capability to create and to transmit a plurality of telephony-related network messages to at least one of a plurality of second servers; an internet-connection interface for establishing an internet connection and including a third capability to create and to transmit a plurality of internet-related network messages to at least one other server of the plurality of second servers; and a cluster-switching and resource-allocation device coupled to said telephony hardware and said internet-connection interface, said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device including a first computing capability to process said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages, said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages created to enable the managing, sending and receiving of said user-level messages; said plurality of second servers coupled to said first-voice server and responsive to said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages, said plurality of second servers interfacing each other through the telephony-related network messages or the internet-related network messages executed under control of the cluster-switching and resource-allocation device to at least one of receive a first user-level message from and transmit a first user-level message to said electronic device of the first user over at least one of the telephone connection and the internet connection, the first user-level message received from or sent to said electronic device associated with the first user and using a first network protocol from a plurality of network protocols associated with said at least one of the telephone connection and the internet connection, the plurality of second servers further comprising; at least one database server for storage of data relating to the first user for use in performing a voice-enabled task for the first user and a file server coupled to the database server, at least one of the file server and the database server accessible to the first user to manage an account including stored data associated with the first user including one or more setting options to send and to receive the user-level messages according to a preference of the first user, at least one of said database server and said file server accessible to said first-computing capability of said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device, wherein said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device processes said plurality of telephony-related network messages and said plurality of internet-related network messages with a capability to reference at least one of said database server and said file server; and at least one web server coupled to the internet-connection interface of the first-voice server with a second-computing capability and adapted to provide access to the first user over the internet connection; and one or more additional voice servers coupled to the first-voice server in the cluster of voice servers, at least one of first-voice server and the one or more additional servers further comprising; an interactive speaker-independent, phoneme-based speech recognition device coupled to the cluster-switching and resource-allocation device and with a capability to receive a natural speech input at least over the telephone connection and to process the received natural speech input using phoneme-based speech recognition and to initiate execution of a voice-enabled task for the first user, based at least in part on the natural speech input, the interactive speaker-independent, phoneme-based speech recognition device adapted to recognize a plurality of natural speech commands and adapted to automatically trigger execution of a plurality of different voice-enabled tasks, each voice-enabled task corresponding to at least one specific natural speech command, and adapted to initiate the first user-level message in a manner relating to the voice-enabled task and a second user-level message, such that the first user-level message is transmittable over the telephone connection and over the internet connection to at least one electronic device designated by the first user, the electronic device being any one of at least a computer and a mobile device, and the first computing capability of said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device adapted to control processing of the second user-level message and to initiate transmission of the second user-level message at least by the internet connection to at least one of the mobile device in text format and to the computer or the mobile device in email format. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A unified-messaging-network method for managing, sending and receiving user-level messages relating to a first user, by using both telephone and internet connections, over a plurality of networks, comprising:
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interconnecting a plurality of voice servers in a cluster with a voice bus, the plurality of voice servers including a first-voice server including a cluster-switching and resource-allocation device; configuring the first-voice server to receive user input from an electronic device passed through at least one of a telephone connection and an internet connection, and to use at least one telephony application for processing user input passed through the telephone connection, said at least one telephony application with a first capability to identify one or more user events based on the user input and a second capability to create and to transmit a plurality of telephony-related network messages to at least one of a plurality of second servers by a first network protocol from a plurality of network protocols associated with the one of a plurality of networks and the telephone connection and to use at least one other application for the user input passed through the internet connection, the at least one other application with a third capability to create and to transmit a plurality of internet-related network messages to at least one other server of the plurality of second servers by a second network protocol from said plurality of network protocols associated with another one of the plurality of networks, and to use said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device including a first computing capability to process the telephony-related network messages and the internet-related network messages to enable the managing, sending, and receiving of said user-level messages relating to said first user; interconnecting a database server with the first-voice server for storage of data relating to the first user for use in performing a task for the first user; interconnecting a file server with the database server and the first-voice server, the file server providing access to the first user via said electronic device to manage an account associated with the first user including setting options for sending and receiving the user-level messages according to a preference of the first user; interconnecting a web-server with said first-voice server, said database server and said file server and providing access for the first user, so that the first user can access the network via said electronic device using at least one of a plurality of the internet protocols including http protocol, over the internet connection; and configuring at least the first-voice server to include an interactive speaker-independent phoneme-based speech recognition capability, said interactive speaker-independent phoneme-based speech recognition capability capable of receiving a natural speech input at least by the telephone connection, said first-voice server adapted to process the natural speech input received based on phoneme-based speech recognition and to initiate execution of the task for the first user, based at least in part on the natural speech input, the interactive speaker-independent phoneme-based speech recognition capability adapted to recognize a plurality of natural speech commands and adapted to automatically trigger execution of a plurality of different voice-enabled tasks, each voice-enabled task corresponding to a specific natural speech command, and to initiate transmission of a second user-level message relating to the voice-enabled task or the first user-level message to any one of a computer and a mobile device, the computing capability of said cluster-switching and resource-allocation device adapted to process the second user-level message and to initiate transmission by the internet connection to at least one of the mobile device in a text format and to the computer or the mobile device in an email format. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method of unified messaging over a network to process user-level communications over at least one telephone connection and at least one internet connection, said user-level communications sent to and received from a plurality of communication networks using a plurality of communication protocols, comprising:
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receiving at a first-voice server, user input passed through at least one of a telephone connection and an internet connection, using a first application of the first-voice server to identify a user event passed through said telephone connection and using a second application of the first-voice server to identify a user event passed through said internet connection, and using a first capability of said first application to generate and send a plurality of telephony-related network messages to at least one of a plurality of servers coupled to said first-voice server and using a second capability of said second application having a second capability to generate and send a plurality of internet-related network messages to at least one other server of said plurality of servers; selectively switching among said plurality of servers based on said telephony-related network messages and said internet-related network messages to control the transmission of at least one user-level message and a notification relating to the user-level message over at least the internet connection to at least one user device designated to receive user-level messages; and receiving a natural speech input over said telephone connection and processing said natural speech input based on phoneme-based recognition to initiate execution of a voice-enabled task, said voice-enabled task generating said at least one user-level message and said notification and initiating transmission of said user-level message in at least one of a telephony-specific audio format over said telephone connection and a computer-specific audio format over said internet connection and said notification in text format over said internet connection to said user device. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification