Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Interacting voice message systems
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-09
2004-05-18
Hoosain, Allan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Interacting voice message systems
C379S067100, C379S084000, C379S088130, C379S088170, C379S088220, C379S088250
Reexamination Certificate
active
06738458
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONS
These inventions generally relate to telecommunications, and particularly, to messaging systems in telecommunication networks. More particularly, these inventions relate to the organization of the mailboxes of subscribers in such messaging systems.
BACKGROUND
A messaging system such as a voice mail service typically provides a subscriber with at least two features: (1) the ability to record a name and/or greeting that will be heard or otherwise reviewed by callers or message senders when they access the subscriber's mailbox; and (2) the ability to retrieve messages that have been left by callers or other message senders and associated with the subscriber's mailbox.
An example of a messaging system is the Access NP® system from Comverse Network Systems, Inc. (CNS), 100 Quannapowitt Parkway, Wakefield, Mass., USA. Information about the Access NP® system is available from the web site of CNS at http://www.comversens.com/prodserv/products/accessnp.htm. The information at that web site on the Access NP® system including information on platform management, hardware architecture, software architecture, services to succeed, and specifications is incorporated herein by reference.
Also refer for further information on messaging systems to the following patents assigned to Comverse Technology Inc.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,628 Message Management System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,173 Message Management System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,855 Message Management System; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,483 Remote Subscriber Migration. Further see the following patents assigned to Boston Technology, Inc.: U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,455 Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Creating Message Mailboxes; U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,599 Voice Mail Network and Networking Method; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,139 System for Automatic Access to Automated Telephonic Information Services. All of the above patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The Access NP® system includes hardware and software components with the software components including at least three general programs: system administration; maintenance mode; and online diagnostics. The system administration program includes administration features for mailboxes for subscribers to the messaging services provided by the system. A subscriber may be provided with voice mail service by the Access NP® system, and for such voice mail service, the subscriber may be assigned one or more voice mailboxes. Typically, each voice mailbox has a name or address so that the mailbox may be accessed. The name or address of a voice mail box may be a number that corresponds to a subscriber's telephone or other number. For example, a subscriber's voice mailbox may be assigned the number 404.815.6213 corresponding to the subscriber's telephone number in the NPA-NXX-XXXX format. (NPA refers to the numbering plan area or area code for the telephone number; NXX generally refers to the telephone exchange serving the telephone number; and XXXX refers to the particular number assigned to the subscriber.) Of course, the subscriber may have other voice mailboxes whose numbers correspond to numbers or identifiers for such other devices. For example, in addition to a voice mailbox corresponding to his or her telephone (landline/Wireline) number, the subscriber may have a voice mailbox corresponding to the number of his or her wireless unit such as a cellular unit.
A messaging system such as the Access NP® system may serve thousands of subscribers and include thousands of mailboxes. To provide a subscriber with service, the messaging system must be able to readily access or to readily provide access to the subscriber's mailbox. Given that the messaging system may include thousands of mailboxes, the mailboxes may be organized into groups or associated with respective domains so as to facilitate access to any particular mailbox. When mailboxes of a messaging system are organized into groups or associated respectively into domains, then a particular mailbox generally is accessed through the use of the group or domain with which the voice mailbox is associated. Thus, the group or domain with which a mailbox is associated also may be referred to as an addressing domain in the sense that a mailbox is addressed or accessed through its group or domain.
The addressing domains of a messaging system may be set up so as to include or be associated with mailboxes having a common feature or attribute. For example, an addressing domain may be set up as the “404 domain”. Mailboxes whose numbers follow the telephone number format and include “404” as the NPA may be associated with the 404 domain. Thus, a mailbox with the number of 404.815.6213 is accessed through the 404 domain of the messaging system. Of course, an addressing domain in a messaging system may be set up so as to include or be associated mailboxes having a common feature other than an NPA. As an example, assume a company adopts a messaging system for use by its employees. A mailbox on the messaging system may be assigned respectively to each employee. All of the mailboxes assigned to the employees of the company may be associated with the same domain such as a “company domain”.
An association of a mailbox with a particular domain is not necessarily a permanent association. Events may transpire that lead to a change in association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain in the messaging system. For example, initially, a particular mailbox may have a feature in common with the other mailboxes associated with its domain, but that feature may change with respect to that particular mailbox. An example of a change in a common feature is that of a change in the NPA of a subscriber's telephone number. Typically, a change in the subscriber's telephone number leads to a corresponding change in the number of the subscriber's mailbox for that telephone number. Referring to a previous example, the 404.815.6213 telephone number of a subscriber may become the new number of 770.815.6213. With the change, the new number of the subscriber's mailbox may no longer have a common feature with the other numbers for mailboxes associated with the 404 domain. The association between the subscriber's new mailbox number and the 404 domain is no longer valid for accessing the subscriber's mailbox. A change in the association of the mailbox from the 404 domain to the 770 domain may need to be made to facilitate ready access to the subscriber's mailbox with its new number.
Messaging systems such as the Access NP® system include processes for the change in association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain. These processes generally simply change the mailbox name in the appropriate field to reflect the change in domain.
Generally, such processes for changing the association of a mailbox from one domain to another domain in messaging systems have been problematic. An area of problems relates to the handling of information relating to miscellaneous services provided to a subscriber in addition to or in connection with the subscriber's messaging service. To provide such miscellaneous services, a call to the subscriber's mailbox may need to be forwarded or otherwise routed to another element, and/or information relating to the call must be provided to and/or obtained from another element. The information for the provision of the miscellaneous services to the subscriber may be present in connection with the association of the subscriber's mailbox with an original domain. But this information may be lost or convoluted as the result of a process used to change the association of the subscriber's mailbox from the original domain to a new domain. If the information is lost or convoluted, then the subscriber may not receive or may not properly receive the miscellaneous services.
Another area of problems relates to service interruptions caused by the process(es) used to change the association of a subscriber's mailbox from one domain to another domain. The interruption in messaging se
Cline John E.
Morgan Darrell
Myers Joe H.
Bell South Intellectual Property Corporation
Hoosain Allan
Tocups, Esq. Nora M.
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