Call Handling Treatment for Voicemail Systems

• US 20110085646A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rainer, Brian Keith, Sigmund, William Joseph, Zubas, Michael Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,798,238 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

A voicemail system (100) can include at least one processor (104) and at least one communication interface (102) operatively linked and in communication with the at least one processor (104) that is configured to receive an incoming call. The voicemail system (100) can further include at least one memory (108) operatively linked and in communication with the processor (104), wherein the at least one memory (108) is configured to store a call treatment application (112) that includes at least one rule for determining call handling treatment of the incoming call. A method (400) for operating the voicemail system (100) can include receiving (406) an address message (200) at the voicemail system (100), wherein the address message (200) identifies at least a called party number (206) of the incoming call. The method (400) can further include analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine (408) which of a plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply, and applying (410) at least one of the call handling treatment rules.

Claims

1. A voicemail system (100), comprising:

at least one processor (104);

at least one communication interface (102) operatively linked and in communication with the at least one processor (104), the at least one communication interface (102) configured to receive an incoming call; and

at least one memory (108) operatively linked and in communication with the processor (104), the at least one memory (108) configured to store at least one call treatment application (112) comprising at least one rule for determining call handling treatment of the incoming call.

2. The voicemail system (100) of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication interface (102) is further configured to receive an address message (200), the address message (200) identifying at least a called party number (206) of the incoming call.

3. The voicemail system (100) of claim 2, wherein the at least one rule determines that only the called party number 206 is present and instructs the voicemail system (100) to forward the incoming call to an open tree greeting, whereby a calling party is requested to enter a voicemail box number for the voicemail box the calling party is attempting to access.

4. The voicemail system (100) of claim 3, wherein the at least one rule prevents the incoming call from being routed to a calling party voicemail box.

5. The voicemail system (100) of claim 2, wherein the address message (200) further identifies at least one of a calling party number (202), an original called number (204), and a redirecting number (208).

6. The voicemail system (202) of claim 5, wherein the at least one rule determines that the redirecting number (208) is present and instructs the voicemail system (100) to forward the incoming call to the redirecting number (208).

7. The voicemail system (100) of claim 5, wherein the at least one rule determines that the calling party number (202) and the original called number (204) are equal and instructs the voicemail system (100) to route the incoming call to a calling party voicemail box such that the calling party can retrieve voicemail messages.

8. The voicemail system (100) of claim 5, wherein the at least one rule determines that the original called number (204) is present and instructs the voicemail system (100) to forward the incoming call to a voicemail box associated with the original called number (204).

9. The voicemail system (100) of claim 5, wherein the at least one rule determines that a calling party mailbox and a called party mailbox are resident on the voicemail system (100) and the calling party number (202) is present, and wherein the at least one rule instructs the voicemail system (100) to route the incoming call to a voicemail box associated with the calling party number (202) without requiring the calling party to reenter the calling party number (202).

10. The voicemail system (100) of claim 5, wherein the at least one rule determines that the calling party number (202) is present and instructs the voicemail system (100) to route the incoming call, to a voicemail box associated with the called party number (206).

11. A method (400) for operating a voicemail system (100) to determine call handling treatment of an incoming call, the method (400) comprising:

receiving (406) an address message (202) at the voicemail system (100), the address message (200) identifying at least a called party number (206) of the incoming call;

analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of a plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply; and

applying (410) at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules.

12. The method (400) of claim 11, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 1002) that only the called party number (206) is present and determining to apply a first rule whereby a calling party is requested to enter a voicemail box number for the voicemail box the calling party is attempting to access.

13. The method (400) of claim 12, wherein applying (410) at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the first rule.

14. The method (400) of claim 11, wherein the address message (200) further identifies at least one of a calling party number (202), an original called number (204), and a redirecting number (208).

15. The method (400) of claim 14, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 602) that the calling party number (202) and the original called number (204) are equal and determining to apply a second rule whereby the incoming call is routed to a calling party voicemail box such that the calling party can retrieve voicemail messages.

16. The method (400) of claim 15, wherein applying (410) at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the second rule.

17. The method (400) of claim 14, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 502) that the redirecting number (208) is present and determining to apply a third rule whereby the incoming call is forwarded to the redirect number (208).

18. The method (400) of claim 17, wherein applying at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the third rule.

19. The method (400) of claim 14, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 702) that the original called number (204) is present and determining to apply a fourth rule whereby the incoming call is forwarded to a voicemail box associated with the original called number (204).

20. The method (400) of claim 19, wherein applying at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the fourth rule.

21. The method (400) of claim 14, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 902) that the calling party number (202) is present and determining to apply a fifth rule whereby the incoming call is routed to a voicemail box associated with the called party number.

22. The method (400) of claim 21, wherein applying at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the fifth rule.

23. The method (400) of claim 14, wherein analyzing (406) the address message (200) to determine which of the plurality of call handling treatment rules to apply comprises determining (408, 802) that the calling party number (202) is present and determining to apply a sixth rule whereby the incoming call is routed to a voicemail box associated with the calling party number (202) without requiring the calling party to reenter the calling party number (202).

24. The method (400) of claim 23, wherein applying at least one of the plurality of call handling treatment rules comprises applying the sixth rule.

25. A method (400, 800) for operating a voicemail system (100) wherein a voicemail user roaming internationally calls the voicemail system (100) to retrieve voicemail messages, the method (400, 800) comprising:

receiving (406) a call at the voicemail system (100) from the voicemail user to retrieve voicemail messages, the call identifying a voicemail box number;

determining (408) that the voicemail box number is proper for the voicemail user; and

routing (802) the call to a voicemail box associated with the user.

26. The method (400, 800) of claim 25, wherein routing (802) the call to the voicemail box number comprises routing (802) the call to the voicemail box number without prompting the voicemail user to reenter the voicemail box number.

27. A method (400, 1000) for operating a voicemail system (100), the method (400, 1000) comprising:

receiving (406) a call at the voicemail system (100);

determining (408) to route the call to an open tree voicemail greeting, whereby a calling party is requested to enter a voicemail box number for the voicemail box that the calling party would like to access; and

routing (1002) the call to the voicemail box number identified by the calling party.