GB2458682A

GB2458682A - Facilitating a user of a primary service (e.g. voicemail) to access a secondary service (e.g. advert) without interruption of the primary service.

Info

Publication number: GB2458682A
Application number: GB0805593A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jeffrey Wilson; John Sinden
Original assignee: Telsis Holdings Ltd
Current assignee: Telsis Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 2008-03-27
Filing date: 2008-03-27
Publication date: 2009-09-30
Also published as: WO2009118501A1; GB0805593D0

Abstract

Facilitating access by a user of a primary service (e.g. voice mail server/speaking clock service, directory enquiries service normal call routing service) to a secondary service (advertisement, weather, news) in a telecommunications network are described, e.g., to assist a user of a voice-mail service to access another premium-rate service advertised during the user's interaction with the primary service. The method comprises establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service, providing a stimulus (e.g. an advert) to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service, detecting a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service, providing the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and initiating a facilitating communication from the control unit to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated. Thus, the user is provided with an opportunity to communicate with a third party at some time in the future (without interrupting access to the primary service).

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES APPARATUS AND METHOD

BACKGROUND ART

The invention relates to telecommunications services apparatus and methods for use in telecommunications systems / networks, such as fixed or mobile telephone systems. More particularly, the invention relates to facilitating the establishment of communications between a user of a service provided by the telecommunications system and a third party.

It is known for telecommunication systems to provide various services which users may access by placing a voice or video call. Such services may be referred to as automated services, and may range from relatively simple services, such as a Is "speaking clock" service which tells callers the current time, to a whole raft of more complex audio / audio-visual services, e.g. for providing sport commentary, weather information, train timetables, dating services, and so on. Some of these services are sometimes called "premium rate" services to reflect the relatively high call charges often associated with accessing the service. However, some of the services may not attract a premium tariff, or may be free, for example automated bill-paying or hotel reservation services. One common class of audio service available in many telecommunications networks is a message recording application known generically as voice-mail. This allows a user of the service to retrieve (i.e. listen to) recorded messages left by people who attempted to call the user but were unable to get through.

GB 2 388 273 [1] describes a scheme for presenting users of a voice-mail service with an opportunity to switch to another service during their interaction with the voice-mail service. For example, a user calling the service to retrieve their voice-mail may be greeted with a message such as "press 1 to hear latest weather news". If the user wishes to hear the weather news, they press the "1" button on their telephone handset. This is recognized by the server providing the voice-mail service (e.g. using conventional dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) type signalling or equivalent), and the user is diverted away from the voice-mail service to a weather news server providing the weather news.

It is also known for such automated services and audio-visual services to offer content to callers comprising some advertising material. For example, a user intending s to access his voice-mail might first be made to listen to a short commercial before being provided with access to stored messages. The purpose of the advertising is often to cover or contribute towards the cost of running the service, since the advertisers may pay a fee to have their advertisements played to callers. Users may thus be offered a lower tariff by agreeing to receive the adverts. Fulfilment of the advertisements may be achieved by allowing a caller to make a selection in response to an advertisement, which can result in the call being redirected to a termination point associated with the advertiser in a manner similar to that described in the above example of weather news, for example to allow a purchase to be made.

Also in the field of interactive television, a button on a viewer's remote control handset (e.g. "the red button") may be used by a viewer to indicate a desire to interact in response to broadcast content, for example in response to advertising content inviting the viewer to "press the red button now for more information".

In the prior art, this results in the original call (or in the case of interactive television, the television program) being interrupted by the connection to the advertiser. This may be intrusive to the caller, and he may be discouraged from making a selection in response to an advertisement on the grounds that his original call purpose may not be fulfilled.

There is thus a need for schemes for facilitating communication between a user of a service provided by a telecommunication network and third party.

S

SJMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service; providing a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service; detecting a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; providing the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and initiating a facilitating communication from the control unit to assist in establishing a secondary conmiunications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.

Thus a mechanism for facilitating a user of the primary service in accessing a secondary service is provided in a manner that does not interrupt the user's access to the primary service.

The facilitating communication may be at least one of a text message, an email, a facsimile, a voice call, and / or an audio-visual call.

The facilitating communication may sent after the primary communications link is terminated, or while the primary communications link is still established.

The facilitating conmninication may be directed to the user, or to a provider of the secondary service, or to both.

In the event the facilitating communication is directed to the user, it may contain contact information for accessing the secondary service so that the user is able to subsequently access the secondary service based on the contact information.

in the event the facilitating communication is directed to the provider of the secondary service, it may contain contact information for the user so that the provider of the secondary service is able to subsequently contact the user based on the contact information.

In some embodiments, the facilitating communication may comprise an out-dialled call to one or other of the user and the provider of the secondary service, and the secondary communications link may then be established by initiating a second out-dialled call to the other of the user and the provider of the secondary service, and connecting the two out-dialled calls.

The primary service may comprise an audio and / or audio-visual service.

Similarly, the stimulus may comprise an audio and I or audio-visual service, e.g. an advertisement for the secondary service.

The response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service may comprise a press of one or more keys of apparatus used by the user to access the primary service, or alternately may comprise a spoken response.

The facilitating communication may be such that it is not made over the primary communications link. For example, a text message may be sent to a calling line number associated received as part of the a primary audio (voice) or audio-visual (video) call.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a communications services apparatus for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network, the apparatus comprising: a control unit associated with the primary service, wherein the control unit is operable to communicate with the user via a primary communications link between the user and the control unit, to provide a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service, to detect a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service, to provide the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and to initiate a facilitating communication to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a telecommunications network comprising a communications services apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention.

S

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TIlE DRAWING

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect reference is now made by way of example to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 schematically shows a telecommunications network in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

I

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 schematically shows a telecommunications system / network 8 according to an embodiment of the invention. The network comprises a conventional S telephone network infrastructure 20 for routing communications variously between users 10, 11, 12 of the network, a third party 26, and an audio (and / or audio-visual) server 21 for providing a service to the users in accordance with embodiments of the invention. In this example it will be assumed the audio / audio-visual server 21 is a voice-mail server which operates in a largely conventional manner except as described further below.

The telecommunications network 8 further comprises a service control unit 22 for controlling the operation of the audio server 21, and, in this example, a conventional Short Message Service (SMS) Router 23. The control unit 22 is coupled to a storage unit 24 which provides for at least temporary storage of information as described further below. The storage unit 24, control unit 22 and the SMS Router 23 are schematically shown in Figure 1 as discrete elements primarily for ease of explanation. In a practical implementation, the functionality of the storage unit 24 and the control unit 22 might be subsumed into the audio server 21, and the SMS Router 23 could be an existing element within the conventional telephone network infrastructure 20.

As schematically indicated in Figure 1, users of the telecommunications network may access the voice-mail service using any conventional apparatus, e.g. a mobile telephone handset 10, a fixed-line telephone 12 (landline), or other fixed terminal 11.

The third party 26 in this example is a party wishing to advertise a product or service to users of the voice-mail service. For example it will be assumed here for the purposes of explanation that the third party comprises a weather news server for providing a weather news service.

To access the voice-mail service provided by the voice-mail server 21, a user makes a call via the telephone network infrastructure 20 to the automated voice mail server 21 in the usual way. However, the control unit 22 which controls the operation of the voice-mail server 21 is configured such that before providing the voice-mail service to the user (i.e. the service allowing the user to interact with his voice mailbox), the voice-mail server first presents the user with an advert for the weather news service provided by the weather news server 26. Furthermore, the user is offered a mechanism for responding to the advert to indicate further interest. For example, when a user first connects to the voice-mail service he may be presented with an audio recording (welcome message) such as: "Welcome to your voice-mail service, you will be connected to your voice-mail box shortly. If you would also like to receive the latest weather news, please press 1 on your handset now." The recorded message may be retrieved from the storage unit 24, and may, for example be randomly selected from a range of other messages associated with other services, such as a sports news service, or with products, such as new product provided by a company. For example, if the user were to call the audio server 21 at another time, he might be presented with a different audio recording, such as: "Welcome to your voice-mail service, you will be connected to your voice-mail box shortly. In the meantime, we would like to remind you that company X has just released new product Y. If you would like to find out more about product Y, please press 1 on your handset now." Alternatively, multiple different services / products may be advertised. For example, in another embodiment the user may be presented with an audio recording such as: "Welcome to your voice-mail service, you will be connected to your voice-mail box shortly. If you would also like to receive the latest weather news, please press 1 on your handset now. If you would like to receive the latest sports news, please press 2 on your handset now." Regardless of the nature of the produce or service provided by the third party / parties, and the exact manner in which the user is presented with the option of expressing interest, the underlying principle of the invention is the same. Thus for the purposes of explanation it is assumed here that the user is presented with a single advert for the weather news service.

The control unit 21 is operable to receive, and sense, a signal indicative of the user pressing the I button of his hand set, e.g., in accordance with the principles of conventional DTMF-type signalling, or equivalent. In this example, it is assumed the user is interested in hearing the latest weather news and pressed one accordingly in response to the stimulus provided in the welcome message. This positive response is detected by the control unit 22 and the control unit 22 is configured to store information relating to the positive response in the storage unit 24. In this example, the information stored is a record of the user's telephone number (e.g., as derived from a conventional calling line identity (CLI) associated with the user's call), and a flag indicating that the user has expressed interest in hearing the weather news.

Once the welcome message has been played, and the positive response from the user to the stimulus / prompt has been received, the service control unit 22 controls the voice-mail server 21 to act in a largely conventional manner in allowing the user to interact with his voice mailbox, i.e. allowing a user to retrieve his stored messages, delete old messages, change settings, etc..

When the user has finished interacting with their voice-mail service, i.e. when they have achieved the desired purpose of their initial call, they may terminate the call as usual (i.e. they may "hang-up"). The service control unit 22 senses completion of the call and in response initiates delivery of a message to the user regarding the service / product in respect of which the user expressed interest. In this example the message is an SMS text message delivered via the SMS router 23. The SMS text message contains information relating to the original stimulus (i.e. the nature of the service or product advert that prompted the positive response from the user) and providing

S

information allowing the user, for example, to contact the service. For example, the message might be an SMS message containing the text: "You expressed interest in hearing the latest weather news. Please dial XXXXX to hear the weather news." Where XXX)O( is a conventional dialling telephone number (e.g. a short code number) for the weather news server 26. The user may then contact the weather service at a time which is convenient to them, and without having had to interrupt the original purpose of their call to the voice-mail server 21.

(If the user were not interested in hearing the weather news, the user would not press button 1 in response to the advertising stimulus. In this case the control unit 22 would time-out of waiting for an expression of interest after a given time, say five seconds, and would control the voice-mail server 21 to proceed with providing the voice mail service as normal.) In an alternative embodiment, on termination of the user's original call to the voice-mail service, the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish an outgoing audio (or video) return call to the user to deliver appropriate information relating to the service or product that prompted the positive response from the user, and providing contact information for the service or product provider. This again provides the user with the ability to contact the provider of the service or product at a time which is convenient to them, and without disrupting their initial call.

In a still further embodiment, on termination of the user's original call to the voice-mail service, the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish an outgoing audio (or video) return call to the user, and as this call is established (e.g. when the user "picks-up"), the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish a parallel outgoing audio (or video) call to the third party service provider, and to bridge the two calls so that the user is automatically connected on answer through to the vendor.

The maimer in which appropriate charging is maintained (to the extent this is desired) will depend on the nature of the service provided by the third party. If the third party is associated with a value service, such as the provision of weather news,

S

the user may be charged for any subsequently established communication with the third party. For example, the XXXXX dialling telephone number for the third party might be a premium rate number, or in the case of an automatic call completion, charging records may be maintained by the control unit 22. However, in some examples, the third party might be keen to encourage communications, e.g. because they are trying to promote a new product, and so the third party may bear any network charges associated with the subsequently established communication between the user and the third party.

Thus it will be appreciated that an advantage of the present invention is that a user is provided with an opportunity to communicate with a third party at some time in the future. His response to a stimulus received during a voice or video call initially established for a first purpose (e.g. to retrieve voice-mail messages) does not commit him to curtailing that call and immediately commencing an alternative call. Instead he is encouraged to respond to the stimulus by accepting the opportunity to receive a text message or other communication that will allow him to make contact with the third party, or receive other information relating to the stimulus, that he can deal with at some point in the future.

As noted above, a positive response to a stimulus such as an advertisement during a call may be indicated by the user pressing a key, possibly as instructed by the advertisement itself. Other means of responding positively to a stimulus are possible.

The control unit 22 controlling the audio / audio-visual server 21 which is providing the media being played to the user detects the user's acceptance of the stimulus, e.g. by detecting a DTMF tone or otherwise-signalled key press, and triggers the sending of a corresponding message or other communication to the user.

In the above-described embodiment, a text message is used to fulfil the acceptance. The acceptance is stored and the sending of the message to the user is deferred until after the end of a current (in-progress) call, In alternative embodiments, a message may be sent to a user while the initial call is still in progress. The user can still deal with it later, however this may be slightly more intrusive to the user.

Furthermore, since alert tones on a mobile handset are typically muted during a call, arrival of the message may not be noticed. Also by the time the present call has finished the user may have forgotten that a text message had been previously received.

S

In either case, multiple stimulus-responses can be stored as appropriate, and a message or messages sent in response to each after the end of the call.

As an alternative to sending a facilitating communication (communication enabling message) to the user, a facilitating communication may be sent instead, or also, to a third party. This then allows further communication to be initiated by the third party, who may have more incentive to do so than the user. In this scenario, the communication enabling message sent to the third party might contain at least contact details for the user, preferably comprising a calling number derived from the original call, e.g. from a CLI. The facilitating communication may contain information identifying the particular stimulus to which the user responded.

By employing embodiments of the present invention, it is expected that response rates to advertising material may be increased by the provision of an indirect means of connecting a user to a third party / vendor, such as a deferred text message or voice/video call. It can be arranged that the message or call is received by the user at a time when he is more likely to be free and so more likely disposed to engage in a call to the third party, such as at the end of the present call.

The scheme does not require any pre-registration by the user. However, in some examples pre-registration may optionally be provided for so that users can specify further information and details, e.g. an email address, to be stored in association with their calling line identity. Thus when a user responds to a stimulus to indicate a desire for further interaction, the email can be retrieved based on the user's calling line identity such that communication enabling messages can be sent to the user's email account.

It will be appreciated that the above specific example based on a voice-mail service a weather news service is purely for example and the specific nature of either service is not significant to the principles underlying the invention. In the above-described examples, the voice-mail server provides the service of primary interest to the user (i.e. it is the service the user initially calls) and may be referred to as a primary service. The weather news, on the other hand, is not associated with the primary purpose of the call and may be referred to as a secondary service. Thus, the voice-mail server 21 of Figure 1 providing the primary service (in this case voice-mail) could equally be replaced with a different service platform providing a different primary service. For example the primary service could equally be a speaking clock service, a directory enquiries service, a sports commentary service and so on. Similarly, the secondary service provided by the third party 26 in Figure 1 need not be a weather news service arid could equally provide a different service service. For example the secondary service could also equally be a speaking clock service, a directory enquiries service, a sports commentary service and so on. The primary and secondary service need not be automated services hut could be any form of service conventionally provided in telecommunications networks. For example, the primary service could equally be a normal call routing service. Thus a user might be provided with reduced call charges if they first route their calls through a call routing service that presents a welcome message and a stimulus (e.g. advert) for the user to express interest in before their call is routed on to the intended destination. Likewise the secondary service provided by the third party may equally be a straight-forward voice, e.g. to the marketing department of a company associated with the advert / stimulus presented to the user in association with the primary service. A network might include multiple primary and secondary service (and indeed some services could be both a primary service in their own right, and also a secondary services associated with another primary service(s)).

It will be appreciated that the above described functionality may be provided using appropriately programmed elements of the kind commonly used in telecommunication networks, for example, the audio / audio-visual server 21, service control unit 22, and storage unit 24 shown in Figure 1 may be provided by an appropriately configured programmable computer of the kind normally used in telecommunication systems.

It will also be appreciated that while the above example is based on a user intending to access a primary service being invited to indicate an interest in a secondary service by pressing a button before accessing the primary service, other techniques could be employed. For example a welcome message might invite a user to press a button at any time during access to a primary service as an indication of interest in the secondary service. Although in this case care may need to be taken to avoid conflict between the button intended to express interest in a secondary service and buttons associated with normal interaction of users with the primary service. -13-

A response by the user to a stimulus relating to a secondary service need not be made by key presses, but could, for example, be based on speech recognition techniques.

For example, a welcome message could invite a user to say "weather", either initially, or at any time during access to a primary service, to express interest in accessing a secondary weather news service.

In so far as the embodiment(s) of the invention described above may be implemented, at least in part, using software controlled processing apparatus, it will be appreciated that a computer program providing such software control and a storage medium by which such a computer program is stored are envisaged as aspects of the invention.

Thus apparatus and methods for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network are described, e.g., to assist a user of a voice-mail service to access another premium-rate service advertised during the user's interaction with the primary service. The method comprises establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service, providing a stimulus (e.g. an advert) to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service, detecting a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service, providing the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and initiating a facilitating communication from the control unit to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated. Thus a user of the primary service is assisted in accessing the secondary service in a manner that does not interrupt access to the primary service.

S -14-

REFERENCES

[1] GB 2 388 273 (Intellprop Limited) -15-

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service; providing a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service; detecting a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; providing the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and initiating a facilitating communication from the control unit to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.
2. The method of claim 1, where the facilitating communication is directed to the user and contains contact information for accessing the secondary service such that the user is able to subsequently access the secondary service using the contact information.
3. The method of claim 1, where the facilitating communication is directed to a provider of the secondary service and contains contact information for the user such that the provider of the secondary service is able to subsequently contact the user.
4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the facilitating communication is at least one of a text message, an email, a facsimile, a voice call, and / or an audio-visual call.
5 The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating communication comprises an out-dialled call to one of the user and a provider of the secondary service, and wherein

Sthe secondary communications link is established by initiating a second out-dialled call to the other of the user and the provider of the secondary service, and connecting the two out-dialled calls.s
6. The method of any of claims I to 5, wherein the facilitating communication is sent after the primary communications link is terminated.
7. The method of any of claims I to 4, wherein the facilitating communication is sent before the primary communications link is terminated
8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the primary service comprises an audio and / or audio-visual service.
9. The method of any of claims I to 8, wherein the stimulus comprises an advertisement for the secondary service.
10. The method of any of claims I to 9, wherein the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service comprises a press of one or more keys of apparatus used by the user to access the primary service.
11. The method of any of claims I to 9, wherein the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service comprises a spoken response.
12. The method of any of claims I to 11 wherein the facilitating comnumication is not made over the primary communications link.
13. A communications services apparatus for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network, the apparatus comprising: a control unit associated with the primary service, wherein the control unit is operable to communicate with the user via a primary communications link between the user and the control unit, to provide a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service, to detect a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service, to provide the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and to initiate a facilitating communication to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.
14. A telecommunications network comprising a communications services apparatus according to claims 13.
15. A method for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
16. A communications services apparatus for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
17. A telecommunications network substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.