Telephonic communications – Reception of calling information at substation in wireline...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-11
2001-10-02
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Reception of calling information at substation in wireline...
C379S142170, C379S142060, C379S142040, C379S142150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298128
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a communication device able to communicate in more than one communications medium, and in particular to a communication device with interaction between the communications media.
One such communications medium is telephone. Telephone instruments with caller ID capabilities have been in use for some time. When such instruments receive a telephone call, they also receive the telephone number of the calling telephone and the name of the person owning the calling telephone. The telephone number and/or name may be displayed when the telephone call is received. The subscriber can then know the person making the call, and prepare for the conversation or not answer the call at all.
The caller ID capabilities are often combined with answering machine capabilities, a combination termed voice mail. Should the intended recipient be unable to receive a telephone call, the caller records a message, which may be retrieved later by the subscriber. The caller ID information is associated with the recorded message, and also stored. Should the subscriber wish to return the telephone call, the associated caller ID information is retrieved and allows the call to be automatically placed to the originating telephone number.
Another such communications medium is electronic mail (e-mail). Electronic mail communications devices have also been in use for some time. Such devices are coupled to a communications network, and have the capability of receiving e-mail messages from others also connected to that communications network. In its most basic form, e-mail messages are textual in nature, and are generally typed at a alphanumeric keyboard by the originator. The recipient can read the message on an alphanumeric display. Extensions to the basic e-mail system permit inclusion of, for example, sound files, image files, or other data files which may be seen in-line or processed as separate attachments. The message is packaged in an electronic envelope, which is sent, via the communications network, to the recipient. The envelope includes, among other things, the e-mail address of the recipient, the e-mail address of the originator, and the e-mail name of the originator.
In general, e-mail messages for a subscriber are stored in a system coupled to the communications network termed a mail box or mail server. When the subscriber wishes, the mail box is accessed from the e-mail device and the accumulated e-mail messages forwarded to the recipient and read. The information from the envelope, including the originating e-mail address and e-mail name, is retrieved along with the message. Should the recipient wish to reply to the e-mail message, the retrieved recipient e-mail address from the envelope allows the return e-mail to be addressed automatically.
Systems for accessing messages in various communications media in an integrated manner have also been described in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,416, issued Sep. 16, 1986 to Emerson et al., illustrates a PBX system including different communications functions for corresponding communications media (i.e. voice mail, e-mail, facsimile, etc.). When a subscriber checks any message function, all can be checked, and the user switched transparently to which ever function contains a message to be retrieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,798, issued Jun. 6, 1989 to Cohen et al., illustrates a communications system including a centralized, unified repository for received messages in any communications medium, including voice mail, e-mail, and any other media such as facsimile. The central location receives notification of each message received, and then notifies the recipient of the receipt of the message. The centralized repository also performs conversion of the message from one medium to another (for example, from e-mail to voice mail via text-to-voice generation) to the extent possible to permit the recipient to retrieve all messages in whatever medium desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,577 issued Aug. 24, 1993 to Bates et al. illustrates a telephone system in which all telephone numbers (for example, home, home fax, business, business fax, mobile, etc.) for an individual are accessible through a publically available, centrally located, directory of directories for that individual. A call intended for one of the telephone numbers may be completed by specifying another telephone number (e.g. home telephone), and requesting the desired other number (e.g. business telephone). The desired telephone number is found by consulting the centrally located directory of directories, and then the directory containing that individual's business telephone number.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,659, issued Sep. 17, 1996 to Hyde-Thomson, illustrates a system in which the e-mail communications medium is used for both e-mail and voice mail. Voice mail messages are converted to sound files and attached to e-mail messages which are, in turn, sent to the e-mail device of the subscriber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,002, issued Jul. 8, 1997 to Brunson, illustrates a system in which each different communication medium (i.e. voice mail, e-mail, facsimile, etc.) has it's own message reception center (i.e. mail box), in the usual manner. Each message is duplicated when it is received, to the extent possible, and sent to the reception centers of each of the other communications media. Each reception center is coupled to a synchronizer which maintains all of the mail boxes in synchronism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,269, issued Sep. 23, 1997 to Egan et al., illustrates a personal computer based telephone system in which a telephone number, derived in any of a number of different ways, is associated with each incoming telephone call, and if a return phone call is desired, the associated telephone number is used to place the return call.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,038, issued Nov. 25, 1997 to Kraus et al. illustrates a centrally controlled communications system involving several communications media in which a personal identification number is assigned to an individual, and each telephone number (or other identification such as e-mail address) associated with that individual is searched in an order set by the individual when that individual receives a message.
In addition, software products available at this time maintain a unified mail box for messages from different communications media. For example, Microsoft Outlook e-mail client maintains a single mail box containing both e-mail and facsimile messages.
It may, however, be desirable that a received voice mail message be replied to with an e-mail message, or vice versa. For example, a phone request for a document is best answered with an e-mail message to which the desired document is attached. Similarly, an e-mail message containing a document for which approval is sought may be best answered with a telephone call giving that approval. However, none of the above systems extract information associated with a message received in one communications medium and use that information to permit a user to reply to that message using a different communications medium.
In accordance with principles of the present invention, a method and system for messages communications in different media is disclosed. A first message is received via a first communications medium. First address information associated with the first communications medium is extracting from the first communications medium. Second address information associated with a second communications medium is determined automatically in response to the first address information. A reply for the first message is sent via the second communications medium using the second address information.
Also in accordance with principles of the present invention, a method for automatically providing a destination address for a reply in a first communications medium to a message received from an originating address and an originating name in a second communications medium comprises the following steps. A correspondent data base contains a plurality of entries, each entry representing a correspondent and containing an address
Caffrey John Justin
Ramey Blaine Edward
Wang Mingheng
Barnie Rexford N
Kuntz Curtis
Liao Frank Y.
Thomson Licensing S.A.
Tripoli Joseph S.
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