System for obtaining forwarding information for electronic system using speech recognition

A telecommunications network comprising:

• a central office switching system configured for receiving a line-sided connection with a calling party;
• a unified message platform system comprising a speech recognition unit for identifying a destination party identity and a destination address type based on respective speech samples supplied by the calling party via the line-sided connection, the unified message platform outputting a destination address query based on the destination party identity and the destination address type;
• a directory database for storing destination addresses for respective destination parties based on destination address type, the directory database generating a directory response based on reception of the destination address query;
• and
• a data network for transporting the destination address query and the directory response between the unified message platform system and the directory database according to a prescribed data network protocol.

A method in a switched communications network, the method comprising:

• connecting a calling party via a line-sided connection to an originating central office switching system serving the calling party;
• processing speech samples spoken by the calling party on the line-sided connection to identify a destination party and a destination address type, the destination address type corresponding to a destination address to be utilized by the calling party for access to the destination party;
• and
• accessing a directory database via a data network for retrieval of the destination address corresponding to the destination party and the destination address type.

A telecommunications network comprising:

• a central office switching system configured for receiving a line-sided connection with a calling party;
• and
• a unified message platform system comprising:
• (1) a speech recognition unit for identifying a destination party and a destination address type from respective speech inputs provided by the calling party via the line-sided connection, and
• (2) a directory access system for accessing destination address information for the destination party based on the corresponding destination address type, the unified message platform configured for forwarding a recorded message based on accessing the destination address information for the corresponding destination address type.