Communication system with voice mail access and call by spelling functionality

• US 8,838,075 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2009
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Value8 Co., Ltd. (Wisefin Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. (Trak Global Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Basir, Otman A., Miners, William Ben
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, PHUOC HUU
• Application Number:
  US12/488,013
• Publication Number:
  US 20090318119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,915 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/413, 455/414.1, 704/235, 705/39, 705/13, 705/44
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message

Abstract

A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device includes receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name and identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters. A communication to the contact is initiated from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information. A method of presenting voicemail to a user establishes communication with a mobile communication device. A first voicemail box is checked for messages, the first voicemail box being associated with the mobile communication device. A second voicemail box is checked for messages, the second voicemail box being associated with a second communication device. At least one voicemail message received from at least one of the first and second voicemail boxes is presented to a user via a single interface.

Claims

1. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters;

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information;

D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters; and

E) receiving a command to accept the suggested contact, to reject the suggested contact, to re-spell contact, or to exit a contact spelling mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (B) includes:

comparing the spoken letters to known contacts in the database using an approximate string matching algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated contact information is a telephone number and wherein said step (C) includes initiating a telephone call.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (C) includes:

receiving a spoken message for the contact; and

transmitting an email containing the spoken message to the contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (C) includes:

receiving a spoken message for the contact; and

transmitting at least one of an SMS or MMS message containing the spoken message to the contact.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step (B) includes:

ignoring a second portion of the spoken letters in response to a first portion of the spoken letters being sufficient to identify a desired contact.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step (E) includes receiving the command to accept the suggested contact.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said step (E) includes receiving the command to re-spell the contact.

9. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information;

wherein said step (A) includes;

receiving at least one exemplary word for each of the plurality of spoken letters, the at least one exemplary word having the same initial letter as a spoken letter; and

using the exemplary word to confirm a spoken letter associated with the exemplary word.

10. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information;

D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters; and

E) transmitting a reminder that the user can repeat step (A) in response to the user rejecting a suggested contact a predetermined quantity of times.

11. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information; and

D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters, including indicating a quantity of identified contacts in response to identification of a plurality of contacts in said step (B).

12. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information; and

D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters, including transmitting a name of a suggested contact and a supplemental piece of information associated with the suggested contact in response to multiple identified contacts having the same name.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the supplemental piece of information is at least one of a contact company, a contact city, a middle name, and an email address.

14. A method of initiating a communication from a mobile communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name;

B) identifying a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters; and

C) initiating a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information; and

D) transmitting a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters;

wherein said step (D) is selectively repeated in response to the user rejecting a suggested contact.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein contacts are suggested in a decreasing order of confidence.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein frequently used contacts are suggested prior to rarely used contacts.

17. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information, wherein the control unit is operable to transmit a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters and wherein the control unit is operable to receive a command to accept the suggested contact, to reject the suggested contact, to re-spell contact, or to exit a contact spelling mode.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the control unit is operable to transmit a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters.

19. A method of initiating a communication from a communication device, comprising:

A) receiving a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, wherein said step A) includes;

receiving at least one exemplary word for each of the plurality of spoken letters, the at least one exemplary word having the same initial letter as a spoken letter; and

using the exemplary word to confirm a spoken letter associated with the exemplary word;

B) identifying a suggested contact and associated contact information from a database associated with a communication device in response to the spoken letters;

C) presenting the suggested contact in response to the identification in said step B);

D) receiving a command to accept the suggested contact after said step C); and

E) initiating a communication to the suggested contact from the communication device using the associated contact information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said step C) includes indicating a quantity of identified contacts in response to identification of a plurality of suggested contacts in said step (B).

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said step C) includes:

presenting a name of a suggested contact and a supplemental piece of information associated with the suggested contact in response to multiple identified contacts having the same name.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the supplemental piece of information is at least one of a contact company, a contact city, a middle name, and an email address.

23. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information, wherein control unit is also operable to receive at least one exemplary word for each of the plurality of spoken letters, the at least one exemplary word having the same initial letter as a spoken letter, and wherein the control unit uses the exemplary word to confirm a spoken letter associated with the exemplary word.

24. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information, wherein the control unit is operable to transmit a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters, wherein the control unit is operable to present a reminder that the user can repeat the spoken letters in response to the user rejecting a suggested contact a predetermined quantity of times.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the control unit is operable to indicate a quantity of identified contacts in response to identification of a plurality of contacts in said step (B).

26. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information, wherein the control unit is operable to transmit a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters, wherein the control unit is operable to present a name of a suggested contact and a supplemental piece of information associated with the suggested contact in response to multiple identified contacts having the same name.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the supplemental piece of information is at least one of a contact company, a contact city, a middle name, and an email address.

28. A vehicle communication system comprising:

a mobile communication device;

a control unit in a vehicle, the control unit being in communication with the mobile communication device, the control unit being operable to receive a plurality of spoken letters corresponding to a spelling of at least a portion of a contact name, to identify a contact and associated contact information from a database associated with the mobile communication device in response to the spoken letters, and to initiate a communication to the contact from the mobile communication device using the associated contact information, wherein the control unit is operable to transmit a suggested contact in response to identification of a contact from the spoken letters, wherein the control unit is operable to present a second suggested contact in response to the user rejecting the suggested contact.