| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 379880190 | Call source identification | 46 |
| 20080198982 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY SELECTING OUTGOING VOICEMAIL MESSAGES - A system for automatically selecting an outgoing message for an incoming call. In response to receiving an incoming call, a calling party is identified. The identified calling party is compared against call log data to determine that the identified calling party has previously heard a first outgoing message. In response to determining that the identified calling party has not previously heard the first outgoing message, the first outgoing message is played as a selected outgoing message for the incoming call. In response to determining that the identified calling party has previously heard the first outgoing message, a second outgoing message is played as the selected outgoing message for the incoming call. Then, the call log data is updated to identify the selected outgoing message played for the incoming call. | 08-21-2008 |
| 20080240383 | CALLING PARTY NAME PROVISIONING - A system may receive a telephone call request for a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) user. The telephone call request omits a name of a calling party. The system may further determine if the VoIP user has a calling party name feature enabled and obtaining, when the VoIP user has a calling party name feature enabled, the name of the calling party from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) based repository of calling party names. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20090003550 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CALLING PARTY CONTROL OF RINGBACK TONE CONTENT - A method and system for allowing a subscriber of equipment to control the content of a Ring Back Tone (RBT) (i) based on a restriction level or maturity rating, or (ii) dynamically, during the process of connecting a call. More specifically, during call setup, (a) provisioned or subscribed RBT control can be based on maturity level and (b) dynamic RBT control, includes the ability to: override subscribed/provisioned restriction level, block RBT content being played permanently or skip RBT content being played during current call set up time. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090202051 | Custom voicemail greeting message based on caller - A method and apparatus for providing customized voicemail greeting messages. A user device is constructed with a memory unit storing a plurality of customized voicemail greeting messages in association with respective contact information. When the user device receives an incoming call from a caller and the call has not been answered after a certain time, the user device may play the customized voicemail greeting message to the caller. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090214007 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING TELEPHONE CALL NOTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - Various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter provide methods and systems to receive an incoming call message via a data interface upon activation of a trigger established with a voice communication network and activated when the voice communication network receives an incoming call to a destination identified by a pre-determined subscriber account; generate a call notification in response to the incoming call message; obtain a list of set-top boxes corresponding to the pre-determined subscriber account; and route the call notification to the set-top boxes on the list. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090245484 | ORDERING TELEPHONE MESSAGES LEFT FOR A USER - A method that associates the first telephone number of a first user with a second telephone number of a second user that has a relationship with the first user; tracks incoming and outgoing telephone calls; and stores a plurality of telephone messages received by the first user. For each telephone message, the method assigns such telephone message to one of first, second, and third groups; and sorts the plurality of telephone messages for playback. By doing so, the telephone messages may be prioritized such that the first user may be able to more quickly determine whether or not the first user should return a telephone message, often reducing the number of unnecessary telephone calls and improving efficiency. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090310761 | System and Method for Identifying a Caller by a Customer Premises Equipment Voicemail System and Playing a Previously Recorded Personalized Message to that Caller - Embodiments of a system and method for providing a personalized greeting to a caller include receiving an incoming call by a first communication device from caller using a second communication device. The first communication device is located at a customer premise location. The method further includes entering an off-hook mode by the first communication device and determining a caller identity associated with the second communication device. The method still further includes determining if the caller identity matches a pre-assigned caller identifier from a pre-assigned caller list, and playing an outgoing message associated with the pre-assigned caller identifier if the caller identity matches the pre-assigned caller identifier from the pre-assigned caller list. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20100034362 | NETWORK CALL RECORDING - A method and system of an embodiment may include receiving at least a portion of a call recording request at a voice response unit, identifying a call received at the voice response unit as a call matching one or more parameters of the call recording request, and utilizing available digital signal processing resources of the voice response unit to record one or more specified portions of the call. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100054432 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CALL SCREENING - The present invention provides flexible, user-definable call screening processes. The user can optionally define to which telecommunication terminals a screened call is to be broadcast to and under what conditions. An incoming call is forwarded to a call management system that asks the caller to leave a voice message. The call management system selectively couples the call to a POTS line or a VoIP-capable device so that the user can listen to the incoming message and thereby screen the incoming call. Based on the screening, the user can instruct the call management system to connect the caller to the user. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100080363 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACKNOWLEDGING AN INCOMING PHONE CALL - An embodiment of a method, system, and apparatus for acknowledging an incoming call includes receiving an incoming call request addressed to a first communication device from a second communication device, and forwarding the incoming call request to the first communication device. The method further includes receiving an acknowledgment indication from the first communication device that the incoming call request has been received by a user of the first communication device. The method still further includes connecting a call between the second communication device and a media server in response to receiving the acknowledgment indication. In at least one embodiment, the media server is configured to play an acknowledgment voice message to the second communication device. A further embodiment includes sending a reminder message to the first communication device if the user of the first communication device has not initiated a return call to the second communication device within a predetermined time period. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100098226 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MESSAGES - A system and method for managing messages, such as, but not limited to, voicemails and text messages, is presented. For example, in one embodiment, the method includes identifying a caller associated with a message for a callee. The method determines whether at least one other new message for the callee is from the caller. In response to at least one other new message for the callee is from the caller, the method groups the message with the at least one other new message. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100166160 | Method And System For Providing Enhanced Caller Identification Information Including Screening Invalid Calling Party Numbers - A system and method deliver audible caller identification information when standard Caller ID information is invalid or cannot be provided. In one disclosed embodiment, the Caller ID information must include a valid number of digits and a valid area code. If the Caller ID information is not valid, a calling party is prompted by an announcement to provide the audible caller identification information. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100166161 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING VOICE MESSAGING SERVICES - A voicemail system is capable of recording multiple personalized voicemail greetings for multiple individual potential calling parties. When a call is received by the voicemail system, the identity of the calling party is determined. This can be accomplished through caller ID information for the incoming call, or by interpreting spoken input provided by the calling party. If a personalized voicemail greeting has been established for the calling party, then the personalized voicemail greeting is played to the calling party. If no personalized voicemail greeting has been established for the calling party, a generic voicemail greeting is played to the calling party. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100215157 | Callee Centric Location and Presence Enabled Voicemail Using Session Initiated Protocol Enabled Signaling for IP Multimedia Subsystem Networks - An architecture and method of voicemail based on session initiated protocol presence and location information of a callee is disclosed. A method of providing voicemail includes determining a location and a presence of a callee, and playing a customized voicemail greeting to a caller based on preferences defined by the callee and also based on at least one of the location and the presence. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100266108 | MESSAGE RELAY SYSTEM WITH MESSAGE RELAY SERVER - A message relay server includes; a call state control section configured to acquire a call state data which contains identification data of telephones, which perform a speech communication call, of a plurality of telephones from a line switching server which controls the speech communication call; a call state storage section configured to store the call state data for every the speech communication call; a message relay section configured to receive a message which includes the identification data of a first telephone of the plurality of telephones, from a first client terminal of the plurality of client terminals in cooperation with the first telephone, and specify a second telephone which performs the speech communication with the first telephone based on the identification data of the first telephone which is contained in the message and the call state data; and a message storage section configured to store the message and an identification data of the second telephone which are related to each other. The message relay section receives a message inquiry to acquire a message which includes the identification data of the second telephone from a second client terminal of the plurality of client terminals which is in cooperation with the second telephone, and transmits the stored message for the identifier data of the second telephone which is contained in the message inquiry to the second client terminal. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100322396 | Telephone Carrier ID - A method for providing communications network identification data (carrier ID) to a calling party and/or a receiving party in advance of the termination, acceptance or refusal of the call request from a first party to a second party. The highlighted background and/or carrier name and information of the calling and/or receiving party are displayed on the calling party and/or receiving party's endpoint device(s) and may be associated and displayed with their respective caller ID information. Upon display of the carrier ID information, the calling party and/or the receiving party may accept, terminate or decline the call request pursuant to the carrier ID information of each respective party. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110044436 | Personal Notification And Broadcasting - While various communication systems permit one-on-one communication between users, it is difficult to contact multiple users at a time with little hassle. The personal notification and broadcasting system provides a solution for contacting a plurality of contacts in emergency and non-emergency contexts. The system receives a call from a caller attempting to reach the plurality of contacts. The system compares an identifier associated with the caller to identifiers stored in a database to authenticate identity of the caller. Responsive to a positive authentication of the identity of the caller, the system identifies which contacts on a contact list to be reached based on information provided by the caller. In some embodiments, the system retrieves from a database stored contact information for the identified contacts. The system contacts the identified plurality of contacts and selects an action to take (e.g., arranging a conference call, broadcasting a message from the caller, etc.) from a one or more actions, wherein the action to take is selected based on the identifier. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110051909 | PHONE KEY AUTHENTICATION - A phone key registration process between a user and an institution directed to establishing an audible sound or a collection of audible sounds recognizable to a user and stored with the institution. Subsequent to establishing the phone key, when the institution calls the user, the registered phone key may be played back to the user allowing the user to authenticate that the calling party is, indeed, the institution which the user registered the phone key with. Such a process may prevent an unauthorized party without knowledge of the phone key to call a user acting as the institution to illegally obtain private or sensitive information. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110069823 | COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND COMMUNICATION METHOD THEREOF - A communication device provides a face detection module and a face recognition module. The face detection module detects faces in a photo input by a user. The face recognition module searches the detected faces in a storage system of the communication device. If the detected faces do not exist in the storage system, the communication device prompts the user to edit communication information of the detected faces. If the user wants to dial a phone number, the communication device searches the storage system for the phone number of a selected face in a photo and dials the phone number. If a phone number is calling in, the communication device displays a photo corresponding to the phone number, and highlights a face corresponding to the phone number. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110091024 | Flagged Messages in an Automatic Integrated Unified Messaging Escalation System - An automatic message escalation system includes attaching an acknowledgement flag to a message after it is received in the message mailbox of an identified message recipient. The status of the acknowledgement flag indicates whether or not the message has been retrieved. After a given or specified period of time, the acknowledgement flag is checked to see if the message was retrieved. If the message was retrieved, the message will not be escalated. If the message was not retrieved, the message will be sent to the next message recipient on an escalation list. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110188645 | Telephone call handling system - A telephone call handling system wherein a user is provided with caller I.D. information. For responding to the information, the system affords the user a plurality of call handling options beyond the simple option of answering the call or not. The user can instruct the system to implement any one of the plurality of options. One option can send a call back message to the caller. Another option can send a hold message to the caller and then places the caller on hold. A third option can send entertainment to the caller such that user and caller can simultaneously enjoy the entertainment. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110194678 | System and Method for Handling Telephone Interruptions - A system and method for handling telephone call interruptions from a common telephone number or common user that provides the user with intelligent options to efficiently manage the interruption. The system is particularly efficient in handling interruptions that involve voicemail messages. The system identifies matches of outgoing calls to and incoming calls from common numbers and/or users and presents various options to the user to handle the call. These options include allowing the user to cancel or delete voicemail messages that are in progress while simultaneously accepting the incoming call. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20120219128 | Customized caller ID based upon called party number - A “customized” caller ID service platform is utilized within a telecommunications network (which may be the PSTN, an IP network, or any other network for supporting voice communication) to allow for the caller ID information transmitted to a called party to be tailored to the specific called party. A database within the platform is configured to store a listing of registered subscribers and a set of “pre-defined called numbers” associated with each subscriber. For each listed number, the subscriber provides the specific customized information (for example, an account number) that is to be transmitted to that specific called number as the caller ID information. A registered subscriber is able to gain access to the platform and modify the entries as need be. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120224676 | CORRELATING CALLS AFTER A REFERRAL - In one embodiment, a network device attaches a header including an identifier for an original call to an outgoing refer message and may also modify a table entry for a consultative call to include the identifier. The network device then monitors incoming invite messages for a header containing the identifier and observes that an incoming invite message containing the header correlates to the original call. When a header is not included, the network device extracts information from the incoming invite messages and compares the extracted information to the modified table entry to correlate one of the incoming invite messages to the original call. | 09-06-2012 |
| 20120230478 | CALLEE CENTRIC LOCATION AND PRESENCE ENABLED VOICEMAIL USING SESSION INITIATED PROTOCOL ENABLED SIGNALING FOR IP MULTIMEDIA SUBSYSTEM NETWORKS - An architecture and method of voicemail based on session initiated protocol presence and location information of a callee is disclosed. A method of providing voicemail includes determining a location and a presence of a callee, and playing a customized voicemail greeting to a caller based on preferences defined by the callee and also based on at least one of the location and the presence. | 09-13-2012 |
| 20120275580 | EASY CALL ABANDON - A technique for managing simultaneous incoming and outgoing calls between the same far-end called terminal and far-end calling terminal and/or same user associated with a far-end called terminal and user associated with the far-end calling terminal includes an easy call abandon facility on a near-end terminal configured to compare information associated with an outgoing call to information associated with an incoming call. The easy call abandon facility is configured to initiate an audible or visible indicator when the terminal and/or user of the far-end called party is the same as that of the far-end calling party. In response to an easy call abandon indication received from a near-end terminal user, the easy call abandon facility disconnects the call from the near-end and connects the call received from the far-end terminal. | 11-01-2012 |
| 20120328087 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING IDENTIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION ORIGINATORS - Systems, apparatuses and methods for facilitating identification of the originator of a communication. A communication is received from a sending device. Sending device identification information is requested from a distributed contact database fashioned from the contact databases of the communication devices in a group of communication devices. If the sending device identification information is available at a given communication device, it is received from the communication device. | 12-27-2012 |
| 20130094638 | Apparatus and Method For Performing Precognitive Lawful Intercept In Group Calls - A method and apparatus for performing lawful intercept in a group call is described. A group call for is established and at least one target member device of the group call is identified as corresponding to a subject to be tracked. Call content for communications corresponding to the call is then tracked from the beginning of the call. A query is presented to a law enforcement authority to determine whether the law enforcement authority wishes to receive call data collected before the target joined the call or after the target leaves the call. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130136245 | PROVIDING SELECTIVE VOICE MAIL SERVICES - A device is configured to receive a request for a first user, of a first telephone device, to leave a voice mail message for a second user of a second telephone device; retrieve a profile associated with the second telephone device and to determine, based on the profile, whether the second telephone device is registered for a selective voice mail service; determine, based on the profile, whether the first user is allowed to leave the voice mail message when the second telephone device is registered for the selective voice mail service; and allow the first user to leave the voice mail message for the second user of the second telephone device when the second telephone device is not registered for the selective voice mail service or when the first user is allowed to leave the voice mail message. | 05-30-2013 |
| 20130329869 | Modifying Voice Messages Stored in a Voicemail System - A method for removing voice messages in a voicemail system queue. The method includes acquiring data associated with a first call, including a voice message provided during the first call and a unique identifier assigned to the voice message of the first call. The method also includes receiving a second call and acquiring data for the second call, the data including information indicating whether the second call relates to a voice message previously provided to the voicemail system. The method also includes determining if the second call is related to the first call based on a comparison of at least a portion of the data for the second call and at least a portion of the data for the first call. The method also includes modifying the stored data associated with the first call if the second call is determined to be related to the first call. | 12-12-2013 |
| 20150071420 | Audio Call Screening for Hosted Voicemail Systems - The present invention allows a user to screen messages being left at a hosted voicemail system from a telephone terminal. Incoming calls intended for the telephone terminal are routed to the voicemail system immediately or after attempting to connect incoming call to the telephone terminal. As the caller is leaving a message at the voicemail system, a connection between the incoming call, voicemail system, and telephone terminal is established to allow the user to listen to the message and decide whether to take the call. The user may decide to take the call or let the caller finish leaving the message. In one embodiment, the telephone terminal is equipped to open only the speaker channel for monitoring the message and will provide a fully bi-directional connection if the user takes the call. The supporting switch and telephone terminal communicate with each other to facilitate the monitoring and taking of calls. | 03-12-2015 |
| 20150078540 | SYSTEM FOR AND METHOD OF RECYCLING NUMBERS SEAMLESSLY - Systems and methods for recycling contact numbers are presented. A service provider receives a disconnect request for a device associated with a contact number. The system retrieves and stores the device's contact list and/or communication history. One or more messages are created and stored. The contact number is placed in a pool of recycled numbers and mapped to the stored information, and may later be assigned to a second device. Subsequently, when a call is made over the service provider's network, the called number is compared with numbers in the pool. If a match is found, the system retrieves the stored contact list and/or communication history, and compares the calling number to numbers in the contact list and/or communication history. If a match is found, the system retrieves and plays the message to inform the calling party that the number they are trying to reach has been re-assigned. | 03-19-2015 |
| 20160255195 | Audio Call Screening for Hosted Voicemail Systems | 09-01-2016 |
| 379880200 | Automatic Number Identification (ANI) | 2 |
| 20110013754 | PROVIDING AUDIO ANNOUNCEMENT TO CALLED PARTIES - The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer-readable medium for providing audio announcement of communications to a called party in a communication network. The method includes receiving communication from a calling party and performing a lookup of information relating to the calling party in a database via an Internet Protocol connection based on an identifier of at least one of the calling party and the called party. The information comprises one or more audio files. The method then provides the audio announcement to a called party based on the audio files. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110013755 | DELIVERING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO RECEIVING PARTIES FOR TEXT MESSAGING BASED CALLER ID - The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer readable medium for providing information to a receiving party in a communications network. The method includes receiving a message from a sending party and performing a lookup of information relating to the sending party in a database via an Internet Protocol connection. The lookup is based on an identifier of at least one of the sending party and the receiving party. Subsequently, the information is provided to the receiving party based on the availability of the information in the database. | 01-20-2011 |
| 379880210 | Caller identification received at substation | 11 |
| 20080240384 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO PROVIDE PRESENCE INFORMATION - Methods and apparatus to present presence information are disclosed. An example method includes requesting presence information associated with a first user, receiving the presence information from the first user, receiving information from a monitoring sensor associated with the first user, and sending a first message indicating that a communication session is permissible when the presence information and the information from the monitoring sensor indicates that a communication session is permissible. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080317223 | Methods, Systems, and Products for Providing Communications Services - Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for providing communications services. One method receives a communication from an originating party, with the communication intended for a receiving party. A database of pre-created messages is accessed, with the database storing a pre-created message having a common association between the receiving party and the originating party. The pre-created message is then communicated. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090003551 | Method And Apparatus For Managing A Call - According to embodiments described in the specification, a method and apparatus for managing a call to a user associated with a destination communications device, the call initiated by a caller at an originating communications device, is described. An indication of the call is received, the indication of the call comprising data associated with the user. A state of the user is determined by processing the data associated with the user and consulting a record of the state of the user. The call is parked if the state of the user comprises a delayed answer state, the delayed answer state comprising the user being available to receive the call, but requiring additional time to retrieve the call using the destination communications device, and a notification of the call is triggered at the destination communications device by transmitting a signal to the address of the communications device. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090010402 | System and method for identifying a caller using associated sounds | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090080624 | System and Method for Rules-Based Caller ID Notification - A method for caller identification notification, including determining caller identification information associated with a telephone call to a first device. The method further includes sending a notification to a second device when the caller identification information matches a user defined list of caller identification information. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20100142685 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING EXPANDED TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE - The present invention relates to telephone call processing. In one embodiment, a call processing system receives from a caller a first call for a user, the first call including call signaling information. The call processing system determines whether the call signaling information includes caller identification information and whether the call signaling information indicates that the caller identification information is restricted. If the caller identification information is restricted, the call processing system instructs the caller to take a first action so that the caller identification information can be provided to the user. The call processing system determines whether the caller has performed the first action during the first call, and if the caller has performed the first action during the first call, the call processing system provides at least a portion of the caller identification information to the user. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100316200 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SPECIAL CALL HANDLING FOR VALUED CUSTOMERS OF RETAILERS - The present invention enables users of a network service to register with the network as valued shoppers, thereby allowing them to receive specialized treatment when calling registered retailers. The present invention enables retailers to register with the network, thereby allowing them to set preferred service logic for handling valued customer calls by the network. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20130070914 | AUGMENTING A CALL WITH CONTEXT - A method and system for providing context of a caller to a callee when a call is initiated is provided. The context system executing on the calling device collects context for the call. The calling device initiates the call and sends a message to the callee that includes the context. Upon receiving the message, the callee device notifies the caller that a call has been initiated and displays the received context. The callee can decide based on the received context whether to answer the call or not answer the call. | 03-21-2013 |
| 20130089190 | CALLER ID MEMO SYSTEM - A system and method of saving and delivering a voice memo or text memo to identify incoming calls is provided. A user of the system of the invention is given the option of recording a memo on the calls he or she has received through a prompt on a telecommunication device. The user can choose to record a voice memo or text memo after each call. The memos are saved in connection with caller id information pertaining to the number from which the call was placed. When a user of the system receives a call from a number that has a memo saved in relation thereto, the user will be prompted to hear, and may listen to, the voice memo before answering the call. If the memo is in text form, the user can configure the system to provide various processing options. In one processing option, a text to speech audio presentation of the text of the memo is made available to permit the message to be heard over a telephone or networked audio capable PDA device. In other processing options, the user has the text of the message sent to the user's PC or emailed or sent by instant message to the user's PDA device. | 04-11-2013 |
| 20130148795 | AUTOMATIC INTEGRATED ESCALATION IN A UNIFIED MESSAGING SYSTEM - A user is identified based at least in part on a user identification designation associated with an incoming communication. A message recipient is then determined based at least in part on the identified user and one or more address books associated with message recipients by comparing the user identification designation to one or more entries in the one or more recipient databases. The incoming communication is routed to the determined message recipient. Escalation procedures are implemented up to a configured level in the recipient organization based on various criteria. As messages are escalated and deposited in mailboxes associated with the determined message recipients, the determined message recipients are notified of the deposited messages. | 06-13-2013 |
| 20160150077 | DELIVERING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO RECEIVING PARTIES FOR TEXT MESSAGING BASED CALLER ID - The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer readable medium for providing information to a receiving party in a communications network. The method includes receiving a message from a sending party and performing a lookup of information relating to the sending party in a database via an Internet Protocol connection. The lookup is based on an identifier of at least one of the sending party and the receiving party. Subsequently, the information is provided to the receiving party based on the availability of the information in the database. | 05-26-2016 |
