Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Voice activation or recognition
Patent
1996-10-29
1998-12-29
Hunter, Daniel S.
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Voice activation or recognition
379 8819, H04M 164
Patent
active
058548270
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a process for activating a mailbox message notification in accordance with the preamble of patent claim 1.
Different communications systems are known, which, in addition to the actual switching control, are also capable of controlling and/or implementing additional procedures which go beyond the actual switching functions. Such additional functions are generally referred to as performance features, a large number of different performance features being known here in particular for the "voice" communications service.
Such a communications system is known from a telcom report and Siemens-Magazine COM "ISDN im Buro", Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin and Munich, 1985, in particular pages 76 to 79, the said communications system providing a call answering function or voice information service.
The absence of a subscriber when a call is made leads to the call being diverted to an electronic mailbox. The caller then receives a recorded message from the absent called subscriber and can leave a message himself--a voice message within the context of the voice information service--in the electronic mailbox.
As soon as a message has been stored in a mailbox, a mailbox message notification, for example in the form of a signal lamp, is activated at the communications terminal of the called subscriber. By means of this communications terminal, the called subscriber can call up the messages stored in the mailbox, at any desired time.
As a supplement to this, notification function has also already been proposed which is intended to serve to pass on the mailbox message notification to other communications terminals, in a way analogous to diverting a call, which can be selected by means of their extension call number.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,126 discloses a process for outputting messages, stored in a mailbox, to a terminal. An item of identification information, originating from the calling subscriber, is transmitted to a control of the mailbox and compared with the mailbox number of the calling subscriber. In the case of correspondence, a connection is set up to one or more terminals and the message stored in the corresponding mailbox is transmitted to the terminals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is based on the object of providing supportive measures in a communications system for the notification of events via the said communications system.
In general terms the present invention is a process for activating a mailbox message notification at a communications terminal of a communications system having at least one electronic mailbox for storing messages which can be issued at the communications terminal. A respective item of individual identifier information is assigned to each message. In the course of a connection set-up to the electronic mailbox, an item of identification information is transmitted to the controller of the electronic mailbox. The identification information is compared by the controller with the individual items of identifier information of the messages stored in the electronic mailbox. The mailbox message notification is activated only when correspondence occurs.
Advantageous developments of the present invention are as follows.
When there is a lack of correspondence of the identification information with each of the individual items of identifier information, a message which indicates that the electronic mailbox has been disabled from receiving messages is transmitted from the controller to the subscriber extension which bring about the connection set-up.
The extension call number of the subscriber extension which brings about the connection set-up is provided as identification information.
When correspondence occurs, the respective message is marked as newly arrived.
When correspondence occurs, the respective message is provided with an item of time information which includes the present time of day.
The process is used in a communications system having an activatable notification function which provides a mailbox message notifica
REFERENCES:
patent: 4585906 (1986-04-01), Matthews et al.
patent: 5195126 (1993-03-01), Carrier et al.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 36, No. 068, (1993), Sure Bulletin, Operating System Termination via Telephone Criteria Reminder, pp. 249-250.
Siemens ISDN in the Office -HICOM, German version of the specification, pp. 76-79 and corresponding English version of the specification, pp. 73-76.
Hunter Daniel S.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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