System for accessing multimedia mailboxes and messages over the internet and via telephone

• US 6,233,318 B1
• Filed: 11/05/1996
• Issued: 05/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Comverse Network Systems, Inc. (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Picard, Donald F., Root, Thomas Lyman, Weare, Gerald William, Schlueter, Jeffrey John
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foster, Roland G.
• Application Number:
  US08/743,793
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.34, 395/200.48, 395/200.49, 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/93.17, 379/93.24, 379/93.25, 379/67.1, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.17, 379/88.18, 379/88.12, 379/88.25, 348/15, 709/204, 709/218, 709/219, 709/206, 709/207, 709/227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 379/88.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53325 Interconnection arrangements between voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A unified messaging system that provides a multimedia mailbox. The system allows a subscriber to access stored multimedia messages, such as voicemail messages, facsimile messages, combined voice and facsimile messages and video messages, not only through a public switched telephone network using a telephone but also over a data network, such as the Internet or an intranet, using a personal computer. The system provides voicemail access over the telephone network, indicating message number, etc. with the ability to play messages to the telephone user as desired. For text type messages, such as facsimile and e-mail, the system converts the text into speech and plays the speech to the telephone user. The system allows a personal computer user to obtain the data network access using an Internet browser. The browser is used to access a home page of the system and get information about the messages stored, and is used to download (get) and play the messages at the personal computer via data streaming in the case of a voice or video messages or view the messages in the case of text type messages, such as facsimile and e-mail. The user can also perform the other typical messaging functions over the data network connection that are provided for telephone access, such as viewing a message list, saving and deleting messages, group list administration and other administration tasks.

Claims

1. A message storage system, comprising:

a single multimedia mailbox for each subscriber storing voice messages and text messages intermingled;

a voice interface providing access to the messages via a telephone; and

a network interface providing access to the messages over a network via a personal computer with message identifiers of the messages including a session number and a randomly assigned identifier and the message identifiers assigned to a file name sent to a browser.

2. A message storage and retrieval system, comprising:

a telephone;

a telephone network coupled to said telephone;

a computer including a digital network browser;

a digital network coupled to the computer; and

a distributed architecture message system coupled to said telephone network and said digital network, said message system comprising;

a digital switch coupled to said telephone network;

a control unit storing addresses of multimedia messages of a single mailbox for each subscriber including voice, text, and video messages, and controlling switching of said digital switch;

a processing unit coupled to said digital switch, storing and retrieving the multimedia messages, and outputting the voice and text messages to said telephone as audio over said telephone network responsive to telephone commands;

a local network coupled to said control unit and said processing unit; and

a network unit coupled to the digital network and said local network including a data conversion cache, providing a home page with a message list including message identifiers comprising a session number and a randomly assigned file identifier responsive to a home page request by the browser, retrieving the messages from the processing unit and streaming the messages to the computer responsive to browser message play requests to the home page having an expired expiration date, the computer playing an audio of the voice messages in real-time as the voice messages are received, displaying an image of the text messages in real-time as the video messages are received, and displaying images of video messages in real-time as the video messages are received, and said computer recording a message and forwarding a message to said network unit for storage in said processing unit.