Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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llP254CA
SUSTAINED CALL ANNOUNCE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of
telephony, and in particular to a method of telephone
call messaging.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
When a first party is speaking on the telephone
in a multi-telephone enterprise, it is not uncommon that
a second call intended for the first party is received.
The first party has typically entered a code to have
such second calls transferred to another telephone, such
as to an operator or receptionist (second party). The
second party answers the second call, and in some
systems enables a light or display message to be sent to
the telephone of the first party, to indicate that an
important call is waiting (call announce). This type of
operation is obtained in the SX-2000TM telephone
switching system using a Superset 7TM operator terminal
and Superset 4TM LCD message display telephones, all
sold by Mitel Corporation. The messages that are
transmitted are preprogrammed into the switching system
and are selected and transmitted to the telephone of the
first party.
In that system, the call announce messages and
light control signals are transmitted over the telephone
lines (using data under voice in case the target line
was busy). However, this system always involves
actuation of circuits in a telephone. If the system is
to be upgraded to provide new features, the telephone
must be made either to anticipate all expected future
features, which increases the cost of the telephone, or
the telephone must be replaced, which can also be
expenslve.
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Another type of system is described in U.S.
Patent 5,657,446 issued August 12, 1997. This system
utilizes a server to control telephone communications;
each user of a telephone has an associated personal
computer which is used as an aid to control
communications. For example, the personal computer can
be used to automatically dial numbers from a locally
generated and stored directory of telephone numbers.
Communication is controlled by a server. The computers
and the server communicate via a local area network
(LAN) or an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.
The telephones can be connected either to peripheral
circuits that interface the server or to circuit cards
plugged into the computers.
In the latter system the telephones that are
used need not be special feature telephones, thus
reducing cost. Because they have no capability of
indicating that a call is waiting, there is a need to be
able to announce that an important call is waiting in a
manner such as to alert the user who is currently on the
line. While such messages can be stored at the server
and be transmitted to the user from time to time, this
is both processor and memory intensive, particularly in
a system with many telephones, slowing down operation of
the server, or increasing its cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention,
messages are generated by a message generation, storage
and display (MGSD) device (e.g. a personal computer) in
response to an incoming call which has been picked up,
and the message is transmitted to the MGSD of the
intended party. The message can be comprised of a
control signal for invoking a message or series of
segments of a message already stored at the MGSD of the
intended party, can be a typed message by the person who
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picked up the call, can be a message or series of
segments of a message stored at the server, can be an
audio signal locally stored or stored at the server as
one or a series of wav files, or can be an audio signal
formed as a series of e.g. words or sounds which are
locally stored but immediately sent to the MGSD of the
intended party for immediate display by the MGSD.
By use of the term display is meant either
visual or acoustic reproduction of the message.
It is an important aspect of the present
invention that the transmitted message should be stored
at the MGSD of the intended called party, rather than by
the server. Disconnection of that MGSD from the LAN or
data network will thus not disturb recall of the message
by the intended party, and memory and processor load at
the server will thus be minimized.
The MGSDs can be in communication either via the
LAN or ATM network, or by another network such an
external network.
In case the intended party has indicated that he
is at a third location, the message can be sent to the
third location by means of local software stored at the
MGSD of the intended called party. At least part of the
content of the message can be context sensitive and be
variable as will be described later.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention, A method of telephone call messaging in a
system which includes a first telephone to which an
incoming call is intended and a second telephone which
picks up the incoming call, and first and second message
generation, storage and display apparatus (MGSD)
associated with respective ones of the first and second
telephones comprised of generating a message at the
second MGSD apparatus and transmitting it to the first
MGSD, and storing the message at the first MGSD for
, .~
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subsequent pickup by a person associated with the first
telephone.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A better understanding of the invention will be
obtained by a consideration of the detailed description
below, in conjunction with the following drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system on which
the present invention can be implemented, and
Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating operation
of an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
The aforenoted U.S. Patent 5,657,446 is
incorporated herein by reference. The basic
architecture of that system is shown in Figure 1.
A server 1 is connected to a LAN or ATM network
3 (hereinafter referred to as a network). Telephones,
e.g. first, second and third telephones 5, 7 and 9 are
connected to line circuits of the server. Each of
telephones 5 and 7, at least, has a message generation,
storage and display (MGSD) apparatus, for example
personal computers 9 and 11, associated with it. The
MGSD apparatus are connected for data communication to
the LAN or ATM network 3. The server is also connected
to a public switched telephone network or wide area
network (WAN) 12. Remote computers 14 and 16 can be
connected to network 12 in a well known manner.
Telephones 18 and 20 are connected to interfaces of
computers 14 and 16, for example via a universal serial
bus USB.
The server controls the interconnection of
telephone calls, and various client based application
programs are operated on the computers 9, 11, 14 and 16
to aid users in making telephone calls from handsets
connected to them or to control which peripherals of the
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server should be used for particular calls, as described
in the aforenoted patent.
In accordance with the present invention, the
memories of the MGSD devices store call announce
messages transmitted to them by another MGSD device.
These messages can be selected by a user on an MGSD from
a menu of messages displayed on his/her MGSD. These
messages can be pre-stored in a memory of the server, or
can be pre-stored in the memories of the local MGSD
devices, or can be typed into the MGSD by the user. The
messages could alternatively be audio files stored as
wav files, or stored acoustic signal segments which are
assembled and are transmitted as a group or in a stream
with or without an text message.
Consider now a typical call announce situation,
as described with reference to the flow chart of Figure
2. A user is talking on telephone 5. The user of
telephone 5 has invoked call forwarding on busy to
telephone 7(A). The server l in response causes a
program stored in computer ll which is associated with
telephone 7 to monitor the busy or idle status of
telephone 5(B).
Now another telephone call is received that is
destined for telephone 5, its receipt being controlled
by the server l. The server transfers the call to
telephone 7(D). The user of telephone 7 answers the
call and determines that it is of sufficient importance
that the user of telephone 5 should be notified of its
arrival (E).
The user of telephone 7 can type a message on
computer ll(F) and send it to computer 9 via network 3
and server l(G). The message can include a wav file,
which causes computer 9 to acoustically reproduce it via
its audio circuitry, and it can also to display the
typed message on its monitor (H). The wav file can be a
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message such as "An important call has come in", or can
be a part message such as "A call from ---- has come
in", where --- is a voiced representation of the
caller's name typed in by the user of telephone 7. It
can also record a message by invoking an application on
his computer which lets him use the phone, or the
speaker and microphone on the computer to create the wav
file or screened file to be sent. The user of telephone
5 is thereby notified of the important call, and the
call can be answered by the server 1 transferring the
call to telephone 5 after noting that the telephone 5 is
free by the current call being put on hold, or by
terminating the current call (I).
In another call announce sequence, assume that a
call for telephone 7 arrives through an external trunk
to the server 1. A user at telephone 7 answers the
call. However, the system has been set up to have
computer 9 which is associated with telephone 5 monitor
the calls to telephone 7.
Now another call comes in for telephone 7. The
server 1 receives the call and sends an indication of
the incoming call intended for telephone 7, to computer
9, over the network 3. A software application operating
in computer 9 displays a message to the user of
telephone 5 that an incoming call has arrived for
telephone 7.
The user of telephone 5 now intends to notify
the user at telephone 7 of the arrival of the incoming
call. To do so, using an application stored on his
computer 9 he either types a message on his computer 9,
or accesses a prepared message that has been previously
stored either on the server or on his computer 9, and
transmits the message over the network 3 to computer 11
which is associated with the user of telephone 7.
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Computer 11 displays the message to the user of
telephone 7.
The user of telephone 7 now has the option of
replying to the displayed message either by using a
S predetermined message stored in a memory in server 1 or
in a memory in computer 11 or by typing a message, or he
can put his current call on hold or terminate it. Once
the telephone 7 is free, the server transfers the call
to telephone 7.
Instead of using typed or prestored text
messages, voice messages stored in wav files in the
local computer can be sent from one computer to the
other through the server and the network. The voice
message can be appended to a typed text or a selected
stored message, or be sent on its own, or created at
that time.
Indeed, the telephone at the message recipient's
location need not be busy in order to send the voice
message concerning the incoming call; the user can have
set up the other telephone location to monitor his calls
whether or not his telephone is busy, and the call
transfer sent to the monitoring party's telephone if the
incoming call is not answered after a predetermine
number of rings, or if screened for example by a
secretary. It should be noted that computers and
telephones 14, 16, 18 and 20 can be substituted for, or
be used in conjunction with computer 9 and 11 and
telephones 5 and 7. Thus for example either a boss or
secretary can be located at any location, and the
functions described herein operated.
If the incoming call to telephone 7 is answered
by the user of telephone 5 and the user of telephone 7
is absent, the message sent by the user of telephone 5
to computer 11 can be stored locally at computer 11 for
later pickup by the user of telephone 7. The
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application program at computer ll can then display the
message, complete with any wav files, in a planner, or
by any other useful means for display.
Instead of using computer 9 to transmit a
message to telephone ll, if telephone 5 is connected to
an interface card in the computer, such as to a
universal serial bus, a control button on the telephone
5 could cause a message stored in computer 9 to be
transmitted to computer ll. The message can be either
or both of text in character or a wav file.
Different buttons could be used for different
people, or groups of people, or for different messages.
The control signal resulting from depression of
the button, or the message, can be context sensitive, so
that it call announces at the destination from which the
call was forwarded, automatically.
In addition, the user of telephone 7 could have
invoked an additional call forwarding function of call
control software in server l, whereby after his call is
picked up by telephone 5 and determined to have a high
degree of importance, the call can be automatically
forwarded to a further telephone 13 upon invoking of an
application program stored in computer 9 which instructs
server l to forward the call to telephone 13.
Voice messages can be constructed of a plurality
of message segments, with or without additions provided
by the user of the telephone picking up the call. For
example, there could be a prestored message which states
"An important call for ----- has been received. The
caller's name is llllllll. The software stored in
computer 9 accesses a database stored in server l which
correlates the incoming directory number of the called
party with the associated user's name and transmits the
latter to computer 9. Alternatively, upon transfer of
the call intended to telephone 5 the server can access
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the database and transmit the name of the called party
to computer 9. Computer 9 then adds the name of the
called party at the location - .
The user of the telephone 5 then either types or
speaks the name of the calling party. The computer 9
then adds the name of the calling party at the location
~ l. The result is a complete message to the user
of telephone 7 at his computer ll. Voice to text
conversion can be used to insert the text translation of
the spoken word at the appropriate location in the
transmission. Text to voice conversion can be used to
insert translation of the database information
transmitted from the server at the appropriate location
with the audio message reproduced at the receiving
computer.
Indeed, the content of the message and/or the
required information to be inserted (whether textual or
audio) can be sensitive to the context of the
communication, e.g. at least one of the state of the
call, at least part of the message, a characteristic of
the first or second MGSD, a characteristic of the
destination, and or real or relative time.
It should be noted that computer 9 may translate
a stored message to voice, or may translate the words
spoken by the user at telephone 5 to text, and use
either or both as the message transmitted to computer ll
which it or they are displayed either or both visually
and acoustically.
The system could alternatively provide "real
time call announce" wherein the audio signal is streamed
over the network instead of being recorded into a file
and then sent. Streaming audio involves recording
short, but contiguous short intervals of audio
(typically less than one second each) and sending each
audio interval the instant it has been recorded.
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At the receiving end, each interval of audio is
reproduced as it is received. If the intervals of audio
are short enough and network delays short enough, this
would give the impression of real-time communication.
A person understanding this invention may now
think of alternate embodiments and enhancements using
the principles described herein. All such embodiments
and enhancements are considered to be within the spirit
and scope of this invention as defined in the claims
lo appended hereto.
