Technique for efficiently accessing telephone messages
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorPramod Vasant Argade
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a telephone answering system, announcements are pre-recorded to elicit from a caller one or more attributes and details of a message. Such attributes may include the identity of the caller, the purpose of the call, etc. Information concerning each attribute of the message is stored in the system separate from the message details. By reviewing at least one attribute of each message saved on the system, the called party is able to identify any messages of interest before listening to any message details. The called party may then retrieve the message details of each identified message.
Claims29
A system for answering a telephone call comprising:
- a circuit for receiving at least one message from a caller of the call, the message including a plurality of attributes of the message, the attributes having contents provided by the caller;
- a memory for storing the message;
- a selecting element for selecting one of the plurality of attributes of the stored message;
- and
- an operating element for reviewing the content of the selected attribute provided by the caller.
A system for answering telephone calls comprising:
- an interface for receiving a plurality of messages from callers of the telephone calls, each message including one or more attributes and details thereof, the attributes of the plurality of messages being stored according to a predetermined number of categories;
- a selecting element for selecting one of the predetermined number of categories of attributes for a review thereof;
- an operating element for identifying any one of the attributes in the selected category as being of interest based on a content of the attribute which is provided by one of the callers;
- and
- a processor for accessing a selected part of the message having the attribute of interest.
A method for use in a telephone answering system comprising:
- receiving at least one message from a caller of the call, the message including a plurality of attributes of the message, the attributes having contents provided by the caller;
- storing the message;
- selecting one of the plurality of attributes of the stored message;
- and
- reviewing the content of the selected attribute provided by the caller.
A method for use in a system for answering telephone calls comprising:
- receiving a plurality of messages from callers of the telephone calls, each message including one or more attributes and details thereof;
- storing the attributes of the plurality of messages according to a predetermined number of categories;
- selecting one of the predetermined number of categories of attributes for a review thereof;
- identifying any one of the attributes in the selected category as being of interest based on a content of the attribute which is provided by one of the callers;
- and
- accessing a selected part of the message having the attribute of interest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.