UNIFIED MESSAGING STATE MACHINE

• US 20090083709A1
• Filed: 09/24/2007
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Manda, Srinivasa, Millett, Thomas W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,074,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A unified messaging (UM) application benefits from platform independence and human intelligibility of eXtended Markup Language (XML). A finite state machine (FSM) of the UM application is created utilizing an XML feature to create a valid menu state based upon a UM software component. For a UM software component that is a context or setting of the UM application, an XML conditional attribute conditions a prompt, transition or grammar node of the UM FSM. For a UM software component that is an XML snippet, an XML importation element replicates the XML snippet upon compilation, avoiding time-consuming and error prone requirements for manual code duplication. For a UM software component such as an external method, function, variable or action, a function wrapping XML tool validates the existence of such external UM software components at build time and captures version information to verify the availability of the same version upon execution.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for programming a unified messaging (UM) application, comprising:

a user interface;

a programming environment accessed via the user interface for composing in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) a UM finite state machine (FSM) comprising menu states defined by a plurality of user prompts and transitions between user prompts, each transition defined by a particular user response to a prompt;

a UM software component; and

an XML feature utilized by the programming environment to create a valid menu state based upon the UM software component.

2. The computer-implemented system of claim 1, wherein the UM software component comprises a setting of the UM application, the XML feature comprises a conditional attribute predetermining a transition of the UM FSM.

3. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the conditional attribute comprises an attribute composed of a context variable.

4. The computer-implemented system of claim 3, wherein the conditional element comprises an attribute composed of a plurality of context variables combined by at least one logical operator suitable for parsing into a parse tree.

5. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the UM software component comprises a grammar node, the XML feature comprises a conditional element attribute making a command grammar selectively active.

6. The computer-implemented system of claim 1, wherein the UM software component comprises an XML snippet, the XML feature comprising an importation element utilized by the programming environment to replicate the XML snippet upon compilation.

7. The computer-implemented system of claim 6, wherein the XML snippet comprises a speech menu defining prompts and transitions in response to a nonresponsive user utterance.

8. The computer-implemented system f claim 7, wherein the nonresponsive user utterance is one or more responses selected from a group consisting of a silence, a mumble, and a word not applicable in current context.

9. The computer-implemented system of claim 1, wherein the UM software component comprises an external constituent called by the UM FSM, the XML feature comprising a function wrapper that validates the external constituent.

10. The computer-implemented system of claim 9, wherein the external constituent is one of a group consisting of a method, function, variable and action.

11. The computer-implemented system of claim 9, wherein the function wrapper validates the external constituent at build time causing an error when absent during compilation.

12. The computer implemented system of claim 9, further comprising a verification tool invoked upon execution of the UM FSM that compares a version of the external constituent present at build time is the same as a version of the external constituent available for execution.

13. The computer-implemented system of claim 1, further comprising an automated speech recognition menu for defining a semantic event as one of a plurality of user responses semantically equivalent to the user prompts, the transitions dependent upon a particular semantic event.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 1, further comprising a dial tone multi frequency (DTMF) interface that defines a semantic event as a DTMF keypad input.

15. A method for developing a user interface to a unified messaging (UM) system, comprising:

creating a finite state machine composed of menu states prompting a user and transitions to a next menu state in accordance with a user response; and

creating a valid menu state based upon an existing UM software component by employing an eXtended Markup Language (XML) feature.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein creating the valid menu state is based upon an XML snippet duplicated in the finite state machine by an XML importation element.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein creating a valid menu state is based upon a context variable referenced by an XML conditional attribute of an XML element defining a prompt or transition.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein creating a valid menu state is validated by wrapping called actions and variables of the finite state machine that reference in an external UM software component and creating a build time error if not locatable.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising verifying that an external UM software component referenced by a compiled version of the finite state machine is identical upon execution as when validated.

20. A computer-implemented system for developing a user interface to a unified messaging (UM) system, comprising:

a means for creating a finite state machine composed of menu states prompting a user and transitions to a next menu state in accordance with a user response; and

a means for creating a valid menu state based upon an existing UM software component by employing an eXtended Markup Language (XML) feature.