Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Multimedia system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-06
2001-02-20
Weaver, Scott L. (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Multimedia system
C379S088110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06192111
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to communication systems that provide a user with access to stored messages and, in particular, to a multi-media message storage system that enables a user to retrieve a message that is stored in a native mode, as well as a summary of the stored message, in a mode that differs from the native mode of the received message, such as receiving an audible summary of a text message.
PROBLEM
It is a problem in the field of communication systems to provide a user with efficient access to the information that is transmitted to them by other users. This is a particular problem in the field of message storage systems wherein there presently is no apparatus that enables a user to conveniently retrieve a message in a selected communication mode when this message has been stored in another, native communication mode that is different than the selected communication mode. In particular, voice messaging systems, such as voice mail, enable a calling party to store a voice message in a memory for later retrieval by the called party. The message transmission storage and retrieval functions in such a system are all performed in the form of voice mode of communication. Similarly, in a text storage system, such as e-mail, the message transmission storage and retrieval are in a uniform communication mode which comprises text communication. In such an environment, it is difficult for a user to retrieve text messages in voice form or voice messages in text form.
There are some communication mode conversion systems that enable a user to retrieve a stored text message in audible form wherein such system converts the text message into a computer generated spoken output. The difficulty with such a system is that the content of communications among humans varies as a function of the communication mode. In particular, a calling party typically transmits a message in voice form that is of shorter length than a text message that would be transmitted from that calling party. Therefore, a system that converts a stored text message to voice response form results in the playback of an extremely long message compared to messages that were originated, stored and played back in voice form. In order to reduce the duration of the playback interval, these systems sometimes play back the header that is prepended to the stored text message or play only a truncated version of the message. The difficulty with such a method of playback is that the calling party may not provide a header or may provide a header that is cryptic in nature and does not benefit the user in ascertaining the content of the message. Furthermore, the playback of a truncated version of the message simply provides a small segment of information and the significant content of the message may not reside in the truncated portion that is presented to the user. In this instance, the playing of the truncated portion of the message does not benefit the user.
There does exist a multi-media messaging system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No 5,524,137 that enables a user to select the communication format for communications between the system and the user. This enables the user to direct the system to convert the communication format of a stored message for the user from a first format (video) to a second format (audio). Another feature of this system enables the user to change the language of the outputted message to be different from the language of the stored message.
Therefore, in existing message storage systems, there is no effective mode of communicating the content of a stored message to a user in audible form. Existing message storage systems either play back the entirety of the message or resort to an ineffective manner of communicating the message content. Thus, the conversion of text and video messages to voice form is an inefficient mode of message retrieval since playing back the entirety of the message typically occupies a significantly increased amount of message retrieval time for the user.
SOLUTION
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present multi-media message storage system that functions to provide the user with a playback that represents an accurate capsulization of the content of the stored message to thereby enable the user to determine whether the stored message contains sufficient information that warrants the user playing back the entirety of the message. The summary consists of content descriptive information that is excerpted from the body of the message and played back to the user in a form that differs from that used to store the received message. This feature enables a voice mail system to store and retrieve text messages for a user in an efficient manner, thereby enabling the voice mail system to function as a multi-media message storage system.
This processing of text messages by the multi-media message storage system is accomplished by transmitting the text message, when received in the multi-media message storage system, to a message abstract apparatus that functions to process the received text message in a manner to extract information from the body of the received text message that accurately describes the content of the text message. The abstracting system can perform its function in numerous ways with varying degrees of complexity of processing and various degrees of relevance of its output. For example, a simple processing method of abstracting the received text message can be the extraction of the first sentence of each paragraph for storage in an associated file comprising the abstract portion of the message. A far more sophisticated type of processing comprises parsing the entirety of the received text message to identify word frequency and word pattern content therein to create a set of key words representative of the message content and/or strings that are indicative of the message content. As with the last described system, this abstracting information is stored in a separate file and is associated with the received text message.
Further message characterizing data can be produced by the message abstract apparatus, such as the length of the text message in terms of number of words and the predicted length of time required for playback. Therefore, when the user accesses the multi-media message storage system, the user is provided the opportunity to retrieve the abstract portion of the stored information to thereby determine the relevancy of the entirety of the text message. By the provision of this abstract information, the user can more efficiently scan through a series of messages to identify those that are of particular relevance and that warrant immediate attention. In addition, the provision of additional message characterizing data enables the user to determine how much time is required to deal with a particular stored message.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5381466 (1995-01-01), Shibayama et al.
patent: 5475738 (1995-12-01), Penzias
patent: 5479411 (1995-12-01), Klein
patent: 5524137 (1996-06-01), Rhee
patent: 5717742 (1998-02-01), Hyde-Thomson
patent: 5781614 (1998-07-01), Brunson
patent: 5822404 (1998-10-01), Cave
patent: 5870454 (1999-02-01), Dahlen
patent: 5987100 (1999-11-01), Fortman et al.
patent: 5999594 (1999-12-01), Mizoguchi et al.
patent: 6072862 (2000-06-01), Srinivasan
patent: 6075843 (2000-06-01), Cave
Avaya Inc.
Duft, Graziano & Forest, P.C.
Weaver Scott L.
LandOfFree
Abstracting system for multi-media messages does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Abstracting system for multi-media messages, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Abstracting system for multi-media messages will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2614816