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US 8,135,123 B2Granted
Methods, systems, and products for responding to communications
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorDarryl Moore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for responding to a communication. The communication is received from a sender's address and is destined for a recipient's address. An audible message associated with the sender's address is retrieved. The audible message is sent to a server that stores messages associated with the sender.
Claims15
A method of responding to a communication, comprising:
- receiving the communication at a recipient device sent from a sender's communications address;
- querying a database stored in memory of the recipient device that associates stored voicemail messages to senders' communications addresses and to voicemail server addresses;
- determining a mode of operation of the recipient device;
- retrieving a rule from the database that is associated with the mode of operation of the recipient device;
- retrieving a stored voicemail message from the database that is associated with the sender's communications address and that is associated with the mode of operation of the recipient device;
- querying the database stored in the recipient device for a telephone number associated with the sender's communications address;
- auto-dialing the telephone number to establish a call from the recipient device to the telephone number;
- and
- playing the stored voicemail message during the call to respond to the communication.
6 more elements
A system for responding to a communication, comprising:
- a processor communicating with memory, the memory storing instructions for:
- receiving the communication at a recipient device sent from a sender's communications address;
- determining a mode of operation of the recipient device;
- querying a table stored in memory of the recipient device that associates voicemail messages to senders' communications addresses, to modes of operation of the recipient device, and to voicemail server addresses;
- retrieving a rule that is associated with the mode of operation of the recipient device;
- retrieving a voicemail message that is associated with the sender's communications address and with the mode of operation of the recipient device;
- querying the table for a telephone number associated with the sender's communications address;
- automatically initiating a call from the recipient device to the telephone number;
- receiving an acknowledgment produced by the sender's device that indicates the call is established;
- and
- playing the voicemail message during the call as a response to the communication.
8 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:
- receiving the communication at a recipient device sent from a sender's device at a sender's communications address;
- determining a mode of operation of the recipient device;
- querying a table stored in memory of the recipient device that associates voicemail messages to senders' communications addresses, to modes of operation, and to voicemail server addresses;
- retrieving a voicemail file that is associated with the sender's communications address and with the mode of operation of the recipient device;
- retrieving a voicemail server address from the database that is associated with the sender's communications address;
- sending the voicemail file to a voicemail server at the voicemail server address to be stored with voicemails for retrieval by a sender of the communication;
- querying the table stored in the recipient device for a telephone number associated with the sender's communications address;
- auto-dialing the telephone number to establish a call from the recipient device to the telephone number;
- receiving an acknowledgement outside a voice band of the call that indicates the call has been answered;
- playing the voicemail file during the call to respond to the communication;
- and
- terminating the call after the voicemail file has been played.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.