Text oriented, user-friendly editing of a voicemail message

A method comprising:

• creating a Multi-Layered Voicemail (MLVM) message in a unified messaging system (UMS) mailbox of a recipient, the voicemail message being left by a caller from an endpoint, the MLVM message including an audio layer comprising audio data corresponding to speech of the caller, a text layer comprising text data generated from a translation of the audio data, and a mapping layer that maps each word in the text layer to a corresponding segment of audio data in the audio layer;
• receiving input from a user interface running on the endpoint, the input comprising edits to one or more words of the text layer;
• changing one or more segments of audio data in the audio layer in correspondence with the edits to the one or more words of the text layer;
• storing the MLVM message with the changed one or more segments of audio data in the UMS mailbox of the recipient.

Logic encoded in one or more media for execution and when executed is operable to:

• record speech of a caller as a voicemail message for a recipient;
• translating the speech into text for display on a graphical user interface (GUI) running on an endpoint associated with the caller;
• map each word of the text to a corresponding segment of audio data of the recorded speech;
• receive input from the GUI that identifies one or more words of the text;
• record new speech from the caller;
• replace one or more segments of audio data of the recorded speech corresponding to the one or more words of the text with the new speech.

Logic encoded in one or more media for execution and when executed is operable to:

• record speech of a caller as an audio data file, the speech comprising a media message for a recipient;
• translating the speech into a text file for display on a graphical user interface (GUI) running on an endpoint associated with the caller;
• map each word of the text file to a corresponding segment of audio data of the recorded speech;
• receive input from the GUI that identifies a location within the text file;
• insert one or more segments of audio data at a position in the audio data file corresponding to the location within the text file, the one or more segments comprising new speech.

A system comprising:

• one or more network nodes running one or more application programs that implement a unified messaging system (UMS), the one of the nodes including:
• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory comprising one or more instructions executable at the processors, the one or more processors being operable, when executing the instructions, to:
• create a voicemail message from speech left by a caller associated with an endpoint, the voicemail message including an audio layer comprising audio data corresponding to the speech, a text layer comprising text data generated from a translation of the audio data, and a mapping layer that maps each word in the text layer to a corresponding segment of audio data in the audio layer;
• receive input from a user interface running on the endpoint, the input comprising one or more edits to the text layer;
• replace or insert one or more segments of audio data in the audio layer in correspondence with the one or more edits to the text layer;
• and
• store the MLVM message with the one or more segments of audio data in the UMS mailbox of the recipient.

A system comprising:

• a server associated with a unified messaging system (UMS), the server being operable to:
• record speech of a user as an audio data file, the speech comprising a voicemail message intended for a recipient;
• translate the audio data file into a text data file;
• map each word within the text data file to a corresponding segment of audio data in the audio data file;
• and
• a message editor coupled with the server, the message editor comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) running on an endpoint associated with the user, the GUI being operable to display the text data file on a display of the endpoint and allow the user to identify a portion of the text data file for replacement or deletion, the GUI being further operable to identify a position in the text data file for insertion of new text, the server being further operable to record new speech of the user as new audio data and to either replace one or more segments of the audio data file corresponding to the portion of the text with the new audio data, or insert the new audio data at a location of the audio data file corresponding to the position in the text data file.