WO2001037525A1

WO2001037525A1 - Voice mail system

Info

Publication number: WO2001037525A1
Application number: PCT/FI2000/000980
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pasi KYHERÖINEN
Original assignee: Elisa Communications Oyj
Priority date: 1999-11-11
Filing date: 2000-11-10
Publication date: 2001-05-25
Also published as: AU1525801A; FI19992427A

Abstract

The invention relates to voice mail equipment. The voice mail system according to the invention records the caller's audio message in digital form and conveys the thus generated file containing the audio message by e-mail to a predetermined e-mail address to the recipient. Such a system may also be arranged in connection to a telephone exchange so that the e-mail addresses corresponding to the exchange extensions may be determined to the system, and the system sends the recorded audio message to the e-mail address, which corresponds to the extension to which the call originally was directed.

Description

Voice mail system

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to voice mail equipment. The invention especially relates to voice mail systems according to the preamble of claim 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Several kinds of voice mail systems are previously known. Voice mail may, for example, be realised as a service of a network operator, in which case the voice mail is a system in possession of the network operator. If a call coming to a certain subscriber connection is not answered, the call is transferred to the voice mail system, which records the message possibly left by the caller. The holder of the subscriber connection can then later listen to the message through his/her subscriber connection or, for example, by calling a certain service code. Also a recording device connected to the subscriber connection in own premises of the holder of the subscriber connection can work as voice mail, in which case the use the device is simple.

However, such systems have certain drawbacks. For example, for listening to the messages, the user has to either use the device physically him-/herself, as is the case, for example, with an answering machine at home, or the user has to separately call such a device in order to listen to the messages. Further, the number of messages to be recorded is limited and often very small in many voice mail systems at network operators, so that the maximum number may become full, and the system is no longer able to record any new messages. In addition, many such systems record the messages only for a certain time, whereafter they are deleted, even if the user had not had time to listen to them.

The patent publication US-5 870 454 discloses a voice mail system, which transforms speech into text and forwards the text message thus formed. The caller may control the system to relay the message forward in many different ways. However, this solution contains many different drawbacks; for example, there are many problems related with the transformation of speech into text, and no sufficient speech identification accuracy is achieved in practice, if the speaker can be anyone and if the choice of words to be used is unlimited. Further in the system disclosed in the publication in question, the caller has to control the transmission of the message, which is very difficult. The system is also realised through the exchange devices in the telephone network so that the solution is very hard to carry out.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to avoid the drawbacks known in the state-of-the-art technology. In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a system, which makes it easy to listen to the messages, irrespective of the situation of the post, etc. It is further an object of the invention to provide a system, which makes it possible to send the received messages to other persons or the other places. It is also an object of the invention to provide a system, which makes it possible to realise a centralised voice mail system serving a large number of users without the need for large recording capacity.

These objects are achieved by transforming the message of the caller into a digital audio message, by recording the digital audio message as a file and by sending this file by e-mail to the recipient.

The system of the invention is characterised by what is shown in the characterizing part of the independent claim concerning the system. The method of the invention is characterised by what is shown in the characterizing part of the independent claim concerning the method. The dependent claims describe other preferable forms of embodiment of the invention.

The voice mail system of the invention records the audio message by the caller in digital form, and relays the thus generated file containing the audio message by e- mail to the recipient to a predefined e-mail address. Such a system can also be placed in connection of a telephone exchange, in which case it is possible to provide the system with e-mail addresses corresponding to the extensions of the telephone exchange, and in which case the system sends the recorded audio message to the e- mail address corresponding to the extension to which the call originally was directed. The caller may listen to the messages he wants with his own work station when reading the e-mail, and it is not necessary for him to separately call a voice mail system, the operation of which is typically very slow. The user may also utilise the control functions of e-mail systems for processing further the voice mail messages, so that it is, for example, possible for the user to forward his audio message to some other e-mail address if, for example, he is working in another branch of the company than usual. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention is next explained in more detail referring to the exemplary forms of embodiment and to the enclosed drawings in which

Fig. 1 illustrates the solution according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates the solution according to a second advantageous embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 3 illustrates the method according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention.

Same reference numbers and markings are used of the corresponding parts in the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

A. AN ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENT

An advantageous embodiment of the invention is next described referring to Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, there is shown the phone 10 of the caller, the telephone network 20, the voice mail system 100, the telephone 30 of the user of the voice mail system, the data network 50, the e-mail server 60, and computers 40 connected to the data network.

As the caller calls the user, the call is directed through the telephone network 20 to the user's subscriber connection, to which the voice mail system is connected. The voice mail system directs the call to the user's phone 30 as usual. Unless the user answers the phone within a certain time, the voice mail system answers the call by replaying a predefined message directed to the caller and by giving the user a chance to leave an audio message. For this purpose, the voice mail system comprises equipment for replaying the audio message and equipment for recording the audio message. If the user does not immediately cut off the connection but leaves a message, the equipment for recording the audio message transform the audio message into digital form and record it as a file. Then the voice mail system sends the file by e-mail to a predefined e-mail address. For this purpose, the voice mail system comprises equipment 130 for sending the e-mail, which send the audio message as e-mail to the e-mail server 60. The user may then later listen to the message when reading the e-mail with the help of his work station.

For example, an auxiliary device capable of controlling the subscriber connection can be used for replaying and recording the audio message, such as a modem, a sound card 110, and a bulk storage device 120, such as a hard disk, if the voice mail system 100 is realised using a personal computer. A modem or a similar device, such as a modem card, or some other equipment suitable for controlling the subscriber connection, such as a phone card, may be programmed to answer the call, if the user does not answer the phone 30 within a certain time or, for example, after a certain number of alarm signals. In this case, the modem or a similar device opens the telephone line so that the audio signals coming from the telephone line are directed to the sound card, etc., and the audio signals from the sound card or a similar equipment are directed to the telephone line. Such an arrangement may be realised in may different ways, as is known for one skilled in the art. This kind of arrangement may be realised, for example, with the help of a modem and a sound card by using such a modem card, which includes an audio signal interface, for example, for a separate headset combination and which can be connected to the sound card interface so that the sound card receives the audio signals coming from the telephone line and the audio signals generated by the sound card are directed to the telephone line. In such an implementation, the modem card is used only foi connecting to the telephone line. A similar arrangement may also be realised by using a special telephone card which, besides the control functions for a subscriber connection, also comprises digital/analog (D/A) and analog/digital (A/D) transformation equipment. The user may thus record a greeting message as a digital audio message to the hard disk 120, the audio message of which is transformed into audio signals by the sound card 110 to be sent to the telephone network. Respectively, the sound card may transform the caller's audio message into digital form so that the audio message in digital form can be recorded to the hard disk 120 for transmission by e-mail.

The voice mail system may record the audio message as a file in may different ways, for example, as raw data generated by the A/D transformation, or as compressed. The system advantageously utilises a file format which packs, i.e. compresses well the audio message, and which is used extensively. In this case, known audio file formats, such as WAV, MP3 (MPEG layer 3), or RA (Real Audio) formats may be utilised. Also other audio file formats besides the ones listed above may be used. Listening to the audio messages with the present e-mail read programs is easy, because the reading programs for e-mail typically contain functions for opening an attachment sent along with the e-mail with a program intended for the file format in question. If the voice mail system records the audio message to a generally known file format and sends the audio message file as an e-mail attachment, the recipient is able to listen to the audio message simply by commanding the e-mail program to open the attachment with the program needed for this.

The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 is very well suited to be realised with the user's work station. The voice mail system may be implemented, for example, with the help of the user's personal computer by connecting modem and sound cards to it and by providing the computer with a software realising the functions of the voice mail system. In this case, the user's work station answers the phone if the user is not at his post. After returning to his post, the user may listen to the messages left for him with the help of the e-mail program at his work station.

B. SECOND ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENT

Figure 2 illustrates a second advantageous embodiment of the invention. In Figure 2, there is shown the voice mail system 100 connected to the telephone exchange 70. Such an embodiment is applicable, for example, in connection of a company's telephone exchange. Figure 2 further shows the telephone exchange 70, the company's internal telephone network 80 connected to it, and telephones 30 in the internal telephone network. In this kind of embodiment, the telephone exchange 70 may direct the call to the voice mail system 100, for example, if the desired extension 30 does not answer or if it is occupied. In such direction of a call, many kinds of control rules and mechanisms may be utilised in a way known for one skilled in the art.

In this embodiment, the voice mail system 100 preferably comprises more than one sound card 110 or other piece of equipment 110 transforming the audio signals to digital form so that the voice mail system is able to serve more than one caller at the same time, which is necessary in telephone exchanges of large organisations.

In this embodiment, several pairs of telephone numbers and e-mail addresses are recorded to the voice mail system so that the voice mail system 100 sends the recorded audio message as e-mail to the e-mail address corresponding to the extension 30 of the telephone exchange, to which the call was originally directed. Figure 2 further illustrates such an embodiment, in which the voice mail system comprises control equipment 140 for changing data in the voice mail system. This control equipment is most advantageously available for the users of the telephone system 30, 70, 80, in which case each user may determine to which e-mail address the messages left to his extension will be sent. The internal e-mail address of the user in question within the organisation may be used as the default e-mail address. With the help of the control equipment 140, the user may guide the e-mail messages also elsewhere, for example, to an e-mail address in the system of the company's other branch. With the help of the control equipment 140, the user may also preferably change the parameters related with the voice mail system, for example, after how many alarm signals the voice mail system will answer a call coming to the extension. For example, the recording format for the audio file can be given as a second example of such parameters. If the voice mail system has been realised so that it is able to record the audio message in more than one file format, it is possible for the user to advantageously select with the help of the control equipment 140, in which format he wishes to receive the audio messages left for him. The control equipment 140 may be realised, for example, based on the well-known intranet technology, in which case the control equipment preferably comprises server software for generating the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) pages, with the help of which the users may change parameters and data they want by using the HTML browser programs. Such an implementation makes it possible for the users to be able to change these parameters and data with the help of their own work station, which they also use to listen to the messages left for them.

The voice mail system of the invention may also naturally be used as an internal voice mail system in a company so that also other employees of the company using the telephone system can leave messages to the voice mail system in the same way as external callers.

C. SOME ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Some advantageous embodiments of the invention will be described next referring to Figure 2.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system of the invention for receiving audio messages comprises at least

- equipment 110 for receiving the call

- equipment 120 for recording the audio message in a digital form - equipment 130 for sending the recorded audio message by e-mail Equipment 120 according to a second advantageous embodiment of the invention for recording the audio message in digital form comprises equipment for recording the audio message in compressed form.

According to a third advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system further comprises at least memory means 120 for recording the e-mail addresses and equipment 150 for selecting the e-mail address from the e-mail addresses recorded to the said memory means on the basis of the target phone number of the received call so that the system is arranged to send the recorded message as e-mail to the e- mail address selected on the basis of the said target phone number.

According to a fourth advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system comprises at least the memory organ 120 for recording the e-mail addresses, equipment 152 for determining the telephone number of the caller of the call to be received, and equipment 154 for selecting the e-mail address from the e-mail addresses recorded to the said memory means at least partly on the basis of the said phone number of the caller so that the system is arranged to send the recorded message as e-mail to the e-mail address selected on the basis of the said phone number of the caller.

According to a fifth advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system comprises equipment 156 for determining the phone number of the caller of the call to be received, and equipment 158 for joining the said phone number of the caller to the header data of the e-mail message.

According to a sixth advantageous embodiment of the invention, the systems comprises equipment 160 for copying the e-mail message conveying the audio message for more than one recipient.

According to a seventh advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system comprises control equipment 140 for changing data in the system.

The said equipment 130, 140, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158 and 160 may preferably be realised, for example, with the help of programs recorded to the memory organ of the system 100, controlling the operation of the processor of the system 100. D. SOME OTHER ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Some other advantageous embodiments of the invention are next described referring to Figure 3.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the object of the invention is a method for carrying out the voice mail system of the invention, comprising the stages in which the message left by the caller is recorded 210 as a file and the said file is sent 220 as an e-mail message.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, such a method further comprises stages in which the phone number is determined 212, which is the target for the call, the e-mail address is selected 216 from a predetermined number of e- mail addresses at least partly on the basis of the telephone number which was the target for the said call, and the said file is sent 220 as an e-mail message to the selected e-mail address.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, this method also comprises the stages in which the caller's phone number is determined 214 and the determined phone number of the caller is joined 218 to the header of the e-mail message to be sent.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, such a method comprises also the stages in which the phone number of the caller is determined 214, the e-mail address is selected 216 from a predetermined number of e-mail addresses at least partly on the basis of the caller's telephone number, and the said file is sent 220 as e-mail to the selected e-mail address.

E. OTHER ADVANTAGEOUS EMBODIMENTS

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the voice mail system is arranged to add the caller's phone number to the header field of the e-mail message to be sent. The user will then see from his e-mail program, from which telephone number the message has been left so that the user may, according to his choice, first listen to the messages coming from telephone numbers he recognises, for example, messages left by his wife. In a another advantageous embodiment of the invention, instead of the telephone number, the voice mail system adds the caller's name or some other identifier to the header field of the e-mail message to be sent, if the voice mail system knows the name or address corresponding to the phone number in question. For this purpose, the voice mail system may, for example, utilise the company's internal telephone catalogue, or a list separately entered by the user. The user may enter telephone numbers and corresponding names to the voice mail system, foi example, with the help of the control equipment described above.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the voice mail system selects the target address for the e-mail message conveying the audio file on the basis of the caller's number. In such an embodiment, the user may enter telephone numbers and/or telephone number groups as well as corresponding e-mail addresses to the voice mail system.

The audio messages transmitted by e-mail may naturally be forwarded with the help of conventional e-mail handling programs, for example, by using the procmail program used in the Unix surroundings. These functions may, for example, direct the e-mail to the desired e-mail address on the basis of the caller's number, if the voice mail system attaches the caller's telephone number to the header of the e-mail message to be sent. Copies of the e-mail may also be sent to different e-mail addresses so that, for example, to the secretary may be sent copies of all messages left for the director. The e-mail message may be also sent to a mailing list so that, for example, the audio messages left to a certain extension may be distributed to a desired group of recipients with the help of the mailing list. Such a mailing list transmission may be utilised in many ways. The audio message may be sent, for example, to a mailing list with "message files" and "reception"; this list could be connected to the messages left to the number of the company's exchange in such times when the company's exchange is not open. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, such control operations for e-mail may be implemented in the voice mail system itself so that the transmission of the audio messages may be controlled in very versatile ways.

The invention has many advantages. For example, it is not necessary for the network operator to record the incoming messages to its own system, but only the e- mail addresses and other possible control data of users so that no recording equipment with very large capacity is needed. This is a substantial advantage, as the systems of the network operators typically have very large numbers of users, and relatively much memory capacity is needed for recording the voice.

It is not necessary for the user to call a voice mail or a voice mail system for listening the arrived messages, but the messages arrive as e-mail directly to the user's post irrespective of the fact where the user's post is at any given moment. This is of great advantage especially when the user is abroad. Directing the messages to another address with the help of e-mail is very simple. Also several copies can be sent of messages left with the help of e-mail functions to different places.

The user may also forward the message he received to other users as an ordinary e- mail message. This way the user may forward, for example, his superior's instructions or a customer's complaint to several fellow employees or to be filed.

The invention also has the advantage that all messages left for the user, both voice messages and e-mail messages, are available at one place. In known systems, the user has to separately check both his e-mail and his voice mail messages.

The invention has been explained above referring to some of its advantageous forms of embodiment, but it is obvious that the invention may be varied in many ways according to the inventive idea defined in the claims.

Claims

1. System for receiving audio messages, characterised in that it comprises at least

- equipment (110) for receiving a call; - equipment (120) for recording an audio message in digital form;

- equipment (130) for sending the recorded audio message via e-mail.

2. System according to claim 1. characterised in that said equipment (120) for recording the audio message in digital form comprises equipment for recording the audio message in compressed form.

3. System according to claim 1, characterised in that it further comprises at least

- memory means (120) for recording e-mail addresses;

- equipment (150) for selecting the e-mail address from said e-mail addresses recorded to said memory means on the basis of the target telephone number of the received call;

so that the system is arranged to send the recorded message as e-mail for the e-mail address selected on the basis of said chosen target telephone number.

4. System according to claim 1, characterised in that it further comprises at least

- memory means (120) for recording e-mail addresses;

- equipment (152) for determining a telephone number of the caller; - equipment (154) for selecting an e-mail address from the e-mail addresses recorded to said memory means at least partly on the basis of the telephone number of said caller; so that the system is arranged to send the recorded message as e-mail to an e-mail address selected on the basis of said telephone number of the caller.

5. System according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises

- equipment (156) for determining the telephone number of the caller of the call to be received;

- equipment (158) for joining the telephone number of said caller to the header information of the e-mail message.

6. System according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises equipment (160) for copying the e-mail message conveying the audio message to more than one recipient.

7. System according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises control equipment (140) for changing data in the system.

8. Method for implementing the voice mail system, characterised in that it comprises stages in which - the message left by the caller is recorded (120) as a file;

- the said file is sent (220) as an e-mail message.

9. Method according to claim 8, characterised in that it comprises the stages in which

- the phone number which was the target of the call is determined (212); - the e-mail address is selected (216) from a predetermined number of e-mail addresses at least partly on the basis of the telephone number that was the target of the said call;

- the said file is sent (220) as an e-mail message to the selected e-mail address.

10. Method according to claim 8, characterised in that it comprises the stages in which

- the telephone number of the caller is determined (214);

- the determined telephone number of the caller is joined (218) to the header of the e-mail message to be sent.

11. Method according to claim 8, characterised in that it comprises the stages in which

- the telephone number of the caller is determined (214);

- the e-mail address is selected (216) from a predetermined number of e-mail addresses at least partly on the basis of the telephone number of the caller;