Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Interaction with an external nontelephone network
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-08
2001-06-05
Weaver, Scott L. (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Interaction with an external nontelephone network
C379S088220, C379S115030, C379S213010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243444
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to the following co-pending U.S. Patent Applications that are hereby incorporated by reference:
Filing
Application No.
Date
Title
Docket ITC:9901
1/29/99
INTEGRATED MESSAGE STORAGE
AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
DISTRIBUTED OVER A LARGE
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
Docket ITC:9902
1/29/99
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
PROVIDING UNIFIED MESSAGING TO
A USER WITH A THIN WEB BROWSER
Docket ITC:9903
1/29/99
CENTRALIZED COMMUNICATION
CONTROL CENTER AND METHODS
THEREFOR
Docket ITC:9904
1/29/99
COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED CALL
FORWARDING OPTIONS AND
METHODS THEREFOR IN A
UNIFIED MESSAGING SYSTEM
Docket ITC:9905
1/29/99
INTERACTIVE BILLING SYSTEM
UTILIZING A THIN WEB CLIENT
INTERFACE
Docket ITC:9906
1/29/99
A SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MANAGE
PHONE SOURCED MESSAGES
Docket ITC:9907
1/29/99
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
NETWORK INDEPENDENT INITIATION
OF TELEPHONY
Docket ITC:9908
1/29/99
APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR
DEVICE INDEPENDENT MESSAGING
NOTIFICATION
Docket ITC:9909
1/29/99
APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR
CHANNEL-TRANSPARANT
MULTIMEDIA BROADCAST
MESSAGING
Docket ITC:9910
1/29/99
VOICE ACCESS THROUGH A DATA-
CENTRIC NETWORK TO AN
INTEGRATED MESSAGE STORAGE
AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Data-centric network: a network that carries digital data, primarily to facilitate information exchange among computers and computer peripherals. Examples include distributed computer networks such as the Internet.
Telephony-centric network: a network that carries telephony information such as voice, fax, page messages, and the like, primarily to facilitate information exchange among telephony devices.
Message: a communication which may be transmitted via either the data-centric network or the telephony-centric network. Examples include voicemail, electronic mail (email), facsimile (fax), page, and the like.
Telecommunication device: POTS telephone, cellular telephone, satellite telephone, web telephone, PC (desktop and laptop), web surfer, personal digital assistant (PDAs), facsimile machine, teletype, modem, video telephone, set top telephone.
Web telephone: a telephone implemented via a computer that is coupled to the data-centric network. An example is a PC with microphone, speaker and internet connection.
Set top telephone: a telephone set coupled to a cable-based set top box, bypassing the local telco provider. The cable-based system may be provided by, for example, WebTV, TCI cablevision.
Web surfer: an Internet-ready PC with a network connection and pre-installed web browser.
PDA: personal digital assistant, e.g., Palm Pilot available from 3COM.
Thin Web Client: A commonly employed web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator—JAVA enabled.
PSTN: Public Service Telephony-centric network, e.g., AT&T, MCI, Sprint-owned telco.
GUI: graphic user interface
POTS: plain old telephone service
NOC: Network Operations Center
POP: point of presence, e.g., co-location at a local telco switch or at a company controlled area with T
1
connections to a local switch.
WPOP: Web POP
VPOP: Voice POP
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of telephony, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for locally intercepting a long-distance call and providing a caller the option to leave a voicemail message rather than placing the long-distance call.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention of the telephone at the turn of the century presented a new form of communication to the population at large. Whereas prior messages were delivered directly to a message recipient either by mail, telegraph, or personal courier, telephones introduced a new option for delivering a message. More urgent matters were treated immediately with a telephone call while less important matters were relegated to the mail.
Technological advances in the field of telephony have only served to intensify the sense of immediacy that so profoundly dictates the business models in use today. The provision of affordable long-distance services in particular has resulted in the creation of entire departments within certain businesses consisting exclusively of customer service representatives whose sole responsibility is to contact customers and notify them of facts related to order status, reservation confirmation, solicitation needs, and like information. Whereas businesses in former times relegated such notification tasks to the mail, today's businesses can profit by more immediately initiating customer notifications.
Deregulation within the communications industry has contributed extensively to the affordability of telecommunications services. In most parts of the United States today, a consumer is allowed to choose from hundreds of long-distance carriers for routing of his/her long-distance calls to their intended destinations. It is common practice today for a consumer to specify a particular long-distance carrier who will by default be used to route the consumer's long-distance calls. This specification is known as direct provisioning. But a caller can also override direct provisioning to select another long-distance carrier to route a specific call or group of calls. Routing logic within a local telephone switch distributes long-distance calls to specified carrier equipment based upon this direct provisioning or upon overriding commands provided by a caller.
Competition within the long-distance carrier industry is so intense that consumers and businesses today routinely treat long-distance service as a commodity item-an item where price is the driving consideration when selecting a service provider. And this commodity mindset has crept into the manner in which businesses interact with their customers. For example, in businesses that have a number of notifications to provide to customers, operators are dedicated to providing such notifications via telephone. A given operator may make hundreds of calls each workday, essentially to have hundreds of one-way conversations like, “Hello Mr. Smith. Your order, number 123456, that you placed on February 22, has just been shipped.”
In addition to repeatedly having to say the same phrases though, operators experience inefficiencies by being forced to redial telephone numbers that are busy. Yet a considerable problem that is generally accepted in the industry is that each long-distance call placed to a customer incurs a corresponding long-distance charge. That each call accrues charges is significant for two reasons. First, the cost of each call, although most likely costing less than 25 cents for most calls within the United States, becomes noteworthy when viewed from the standpoint of 1,000 calls a day. But the more remarkable aspect of such business practices is that these businesses utilize a two-way communication medium to provide for one-way delivery of a message-the message recipient is not required to respond to the message! The implication of this fact is that a recipient can be notified without the requirement that an operator be present during the notification. One skilled in the art will appreciate that a technique that allows messages to be transmitted via telephone without incurring long-distance charges is highly desirable. Furthermore, one skilled in the art will acknowledge that operator efficiency will improve if a technique for notifying customers is provided that does not require an operator to be present during transmission of a message.
Therefore, what is needed is a method that allows a long-distance caller to avoid the unnecessary charges associated transmitting an audio message to a recipient.
In addition, what is needed is an apparatus that provides the option for a caller to send a voicemail rather than placing a long-distance call prior to incurring long-distance-free carrier charges associated with placing the call.
Furthermore, what is needed is a long-distance call intercept and service mechanism that captures long-distance calls at a local switch prior to placing the calls over a long-distance carrier.
SUMMARY
To address the above-detailed deficiencies, i
Huffman James W.
Huffman Richard K.
International ThinkLink Corporation
Weaver Scott L.
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