Interactive Response Telephony

A computerized method performed by a telephone, the method comprising:

• acquiring first data about one or more interactive response systems with which a user of the telephone is likely to interact, where the first data is acquired while no user experience telephone call is being processed by telephone;
• storing the first data on the telephone;
• upon determining that an outgoing user experience call is to be established by the telephone:
• accessing second data stored on the telephone concerning an interactive response system associated with the destination of the outgoing user experience call, where the second data is a subset of the first data;
• selectively displaying on the telephone a visual representation associated with the interactive response system, where the visual representation is produced based, at least in part, on the second data;
• and
• upon detecting a user response associated with the visual representation, selectively preparing a signal to provide to the interactive response system, where the signal is produced based, at least in part, on the second data.

A computer-readable storage device storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer in a telephone control the telephone to perform a method, the method comprising:

• identifying an interactive response system for which a likelihood that a user of the telephone will interact with the interactive response system exceeds a threshold;
• acquiring data about the interactive response system, where the data includes information from which a visual display can be produced, and where the data is opportunistically acquired while the telephone is not engaged in a user experience data communication with the interactive response system and at a time determined, at least in part, on a state of the telephone;
• storing the data on the telephone;
• upon determining that an outgoing user experience communication associated with a particular interactive response system is to be established by the telephone:
• accessing data concerning the particular interactive response system;
• selectively displaying on the telephone a visual representation associated with the particular interactive response system, where the visual representation is produced based, at least in part, on the data associated with the particular interactive response system, and where the visual representation is displayed asynchronously with the progress of the outgoing communication;
• and
• upon detecting a user response associated with the visual representation, selectively preparing a signal to provide to the particular interactive response system, where the signal is produced based, at least in part, on the data associated with the particular interactive response system, and where the signal is produced asynchronously with the progress of the outgoing communication.