Systems and methods for communicating using voice messages

• US 7,653,691 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2003
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeamConnect, LLC
• Original Assignee: Pacific Datavision Incorporated
• Inventors: Lasensky, Peter Joel, Fehrenbach, Mark Everett, Rohmann, Richard Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US10/659,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20050058260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,330 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 709/219, 709/203, 709223-224, 715/728, 379/93.01
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• 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 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A communication system comprises a communication device configured to receive a data message, such as a text message, and to generate and send a voice reply to the data message using a simple transmit action. The data message comprises an identifier that can be used to determine a reply path related to the data message. Thus, when a user receives the data message, they can read the message initiate the simple transmit action, and reply to the data message by speaking an appropriate reply into the communication device. The spoken response is stored as a voice message and attached to a data message that is sent using the reply path identified by the identifier.

Claims

1. A method of communicating, comprising:

a client device generating a data message comprising textual content intended to be received by one or more mobile devices;

the client device transmitting the data message to a message authority;

a message authority receiving the data message, associating an identifier associated with a mobile device with one of a plurality of intermediate addresses associated with the message authority, including or appending the intermediate address to the data message, and forwarding the data message to the mobile device;

the mobile device receiving the data message and displaying the textual content, without the need for the mobile device to initiate a connection with the message authority to collect the data massage;

the mobile device causing a voice reply to the data message to be generated by speaking into the mobile device using a transmit action, wherein generating the voice reply comprises initiating a native voice call from the mobile device to the intermediate address associated with the message authority only, and to no other address;

the mobile device associating the voice reply with the identifier that identifies the mobile device;

the mobile device transmitting the voice reply to the message authority via the native voice call; and

the message authority, determining a destination address for the voice reply by reference to a combination of the mobile device identifier and the intermediate address;

the message authority, converting spoken reply to a voice message and relaying the voice message to the determined destination address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the mobile device transmitting a spoken reply in response to the transmit action.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising a the message authority receiving the spoken reply, and storing the spoken reply as a voice-message.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the message authority generating a data message indicating that a voice message is pending sending the data message to the client device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the message authority attaching the stored voice message or a copy of the stored voice message to the data message sent to the client device.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the client device receiving the data message and retrieving the voice message or a copy of the stored voice message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the data message comprises the client device using an email client to receive the data message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the voice message comprises the client device receiving the data message and retrieving an attached voice message.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the voice message comprises the client device accessing the message authority to retrieve a copy of the voice message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating and transmitting the data message comprises using an email client to generate and transmit the data message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the data message is an email message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating and transmitting the data message comprises using a web browser interfacing with a web-based application to generate and transmit the data message.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the data message is an SMS message.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmit action comprises pressing and holding a button on the mobile device while speaking the reply.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmit action comprises pressing and releasing a button on the mobile device before speaking, and pressing and releasing a button on the mobile device when finished speaking.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating both the mobile device identifier and the intermediate address with a communication pathway associated with the destination address.