Single telephone number access to multiple communications services

• US 7,831,029 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2003
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Callahan Cellular LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Yolab Networks LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Galvan, Thomas J., Chib, Rupika, Gross, Karen A.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, HEMANT SHANTILAL
• Application Number:
  US10/423,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20040105535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,755 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379 8812- 8813, 379/88.2, 379/88.22, 379/93.01, 379/100.08, 379/142.06, 379/207.02, 379/207.15, 379/243, 379/372, 455/412.2, 455/413, 455/414.1, 455/415, 455/417
• US Class Current: 379/207.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42127 Systems providing several special services or facilities from groups H04M3/42008 - H04M3/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005

Abstract

A platform provides access to multiple telecommunications services via a single telephone number. These services may include, for example, voicemail services, facsimile messaging services, paging services, and outbound calling services. A guest caller may call the single phone number to speak to a subscriber, leave a voicemail message for a subscriber, leave a facsimile message for a subscriber, or place a page to a subscriber. A subscriber may call the phone number to place outbound calls. In addition, a subscriber may call the single phone number to retrieve or send facsimile messages and/or voicemail messages. A subscriber may also call the phone number to configure service options. For instance, a subscriber may select routing options and choose what services are available to guest callers.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications system, a method comprising:

providing a group of services that are accessible through a single phone number for a subscriber, where the group of services include an automatic callback feature that calls back an automatic number identifier received from a caller;

receiving a first call from a first caller calling the single phone number;

automatically identifying the first caller in response to receiving a first automatic number identifier associated with the first call;

automatically offering the first caller calling the single phone number a first subset of the group of services in response to identifying the first caller;

receiving a second call from a second caller calling the single phone number;

automatically identifying the second caller in response to receiving a second automatic number identifier associated with the second call;

automatically offering the second caller calling the single phone number a second subset of the group of services in response to identifying the second caller, where the first and second subsets of the group of services are different; and

processing at least one service within the first and second subsets of the group of services using a mode indicator value that uniquely identifies the at least one service, the mode indicator value indicating that the at least one service corresponds to one in the group of services including a voicemail type of service, a fax with voice annotation type of service, a fax without voice annotation type of service, a voicemail or fax retrieval type of service, a list maintenance type of service, and a recording mailbox name type of service.

2. The method of claim 1 where providing a group of services includes providing voice messaging services and facsimile messaging services.

3. The method of claim 1 where providing a group of services includes providing video messaging services.

4. The method of claim 1 where offering the first caller and offering the second caller include providing audible menus of options, and where the method includes receiving voice instructions from the first and second callers and automatically selecting options based on the voice instructions.

5. The method of claim 1 where offering the first caller includes offering a service for paging the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1 where the group of services includes conference calling features where the conference calling features are not provided in the first and second subsets of the group of services.

7. The method of claim 1 where the group of services includes administration services for administering services provided to the subscriber, where the administration services are not included in the first and second subsets of the group of services.

8. The method of claim 1 where the first subset of the group of services includes providing a low volume announcement to the subscriber if the subscriber is in the process of a telephone call, where the low volume is lower than a normal speaking volume.

9. The method of claim 1 where the first subset of the group of services includes an urgent subscriber notification feature provided in a menu of the first subset of the group of services.

10. The method of claim 1 where the subscriber determines services provided in the first and second subsets of the group of services.

11. A telecommunications system comprising:

a platform for providing a plurality of services that are accessible through a single phone number associated with a subscriber, where the platform includes;

an automatic call distributor that receives a call to the single phone number from a caller; and

an automated response unit connected to the automatic call distributor that automatically identifies the caller in response to the automatic call distributor receiving an automatic number identifier associated with the call and offers at least some of the plurality of services to the caller based on the automatically identified caller, where the automated response unit offers an automatic callback service to the subscriber to automatically call back the received automatic number identifier associated with the call, the automated response unit including a network application server that provides a mode indicator value used to process and uniquely identify a service being offered to the identified caller, the mode indicator value indicating that the service corresponds to one in the plurality of services including a voicemail type of service, a fax with voice annotation type of service, a fax without voice annotation type of service, a voicemail or fax retrieval type of service, a list maintenance type of service, and a recording mailbox name type of service.

12. The telecommunications system of claim 11 where the automatic response unit includes a database for storing information identifying services to be offered for a plurality of callers.

13. The telecommunications system of claim 11 where the platform is to receive information from the subscriber identifying first services to be offered to a first caller.

14. The telecommunications system of claim 13 where the platform is to receive information from the subscriber identifying second services to be offered to a second caller, where the first services and second services are different.

15. A method of providing services within a telecommunications system, the method comprising:

providing a group of services that are accessible to a subscriber through a first phone number, where the group of services include an automatic callback feature that calls back an automatic number identifier received from a calling party;

receiving a call to the first phone number from a caller;

automatically identifying the caller in response to receiving an automatic number identifier associated with the call;

providing a subset of the group of services to the caller, the subset of the group of services is determined based on the automatically identified caller; and

processing a service provided to the caller using a mode indicator value that uniquely identifies the service being provided to the caller, the mode indicator value indicating that the service corresponds to one in the group of services including a voicemail type of service, a fax with voice annotation type of service, a fax without voice annotation type of service, a voicemail or fax retrieval type of service, a list maintenance type of service, and a recording mailbox name type of service.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

providing the caller with a menu to select one service from the subset of the group of services.

17. The method of claim 15 where the group of services includes administration services for administering services provided to the subscriber, where the administration services are not included in the subsets of the groups of services.

18. The method of claim 17 where the subscriber uses the administration services to determine services provided in the subsets of the groups of services.