1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to telephony services and, more particularly, to enhanced telephony services for call management.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunication services, components and techniques, as well as features related to the present invention. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:
Presently, subscribers to call control services within the public switch telephone network (PSTN) are able to activate and modify their services by calling a customer service representative or by interaction with an interactive voice response (IVR) system using a standard dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) telephone device. However, these methods limit the number and type of services that can be provided to and modified by the subscribers because information related to the services is presented audibly. Furthermore, there is a reluctance on the part of the subscriber to use IVR systems.
Attempts have been made to incorporate the use of packet switched data networks, such as the Internet, to avoid conventional IVR systems and to streamline the process by which services can be activated and modified. For example, it is known for a subscriber to telephone services to use an internet portal to gain access to their subscription to examine the status of calls/service features and to initiate and/or modify a service through the portal.
Packet networks are general-purpose data networks that are designed to transmit bits. Such networks are well suited for sending stored data of various types, including messages, fax, speech, audio, video and still images.
Call management systems are known which are integrated with the PSTN and a packet network. One key feature of these systems is the ability to broker among communication options between a called party's preferences for being contacted or communicated with by others and on the other hand, the calling party's preference to establish communications contact with and/or send a message to the called party.
There is currently a need in the art for methods for efficient call management, wherein calls to a called party are intercepted when the called party's telephone is busy or does not answer. It would be advantageous to receive call information from a caller during the intercepted call and to process the call information in accordance with profile information associated with the called party, which could be set-up by the called party through an internet portal. The profile information would desirably include instructions regarding whether the call information should be stored on a server or sent to the called party as an email attachment, for example. Even more desirable would be a method wherein the call information includes a call log within which is embedded one or more interfaces to: an audio file representation of a message from a caller, a click-to-dial telephone service, a telephone directory service, or a personal address book of the called party.
The present invention provides a method for managing calls from at least one calling party to at least one called party. The method includes receiving an incoming call from the calling party designated to arrive at an end device of the called party, and retrieving profile information associated with the called party when the called party's end device is busy or does not answer. The method also includes processing call information received from the calling party based on the profile information. The profile information includes instructions regarding storing the call information, sending the call information to an address specified by the called party, or combinations thereof.
A system is also disclosed for implementing the method of the present invention which takes advantage of packet-switched telephony across a high-speed data network. The system of the present invention manages calls from at least one calling party to at least one called party. The system includes an internet protocol network connected to an end device of the called party. The system also includes at least one gateway for receiving an incoming call from the calling party designated to arrive at the called party's end device. Further included in the inventive system is at least one platform connected to the gateway for handling the incoming call received from the gateway when the called party's end device is busy or does not answer after a user-configurable timeout. The handling includes retrieving profile information associated with the called party; and processing call information from the calling party based on the profile information. The profile information includes instructions regarding storing the call information (for example, on a server), sending the call information to an address specified by the called party, or combinations thereof.
The called party is a VoIP subscriber who can configure the call management service to provide a notification, such as an email or page, when an email arrives and can provide the message itself as an attachment to the email. When the called party retrieves the message from the server, the messaging service can be advantageously integrated with other services. The telephone numbers presented in the message list, for example, can be utilized to present an interface to a “Click-to-Dial” service or can be utilized in a telephone directory service to lookup additional information about the individual/entity at that number.
It is also advantageous for the call management system to maintain a call log of all calls that a VoIP subscriber places or receives. The call log can include a timestamp, the VoIP subscriber's name, and the calling and called telephone numbers. Messages received in the context of a missed call can be embedded in the call log with links to an audio file representation of the message.
A provisioning mechanism is also disclosed which permits a called party to self-provision the integrated personal call management service feature. As used herein, the term provisioning means addition, modification or control of service features. The provisioning mechanism permits a called party to designate where and how the message should be stored and different notification mechanisms. A recording mechanism is disclosed which permits a called party to record a personalized greeting using a combination of a data service and a packet-switched telephony device.
Referring now to the drawings,
A called party is assumed to have access through some form of access device 26 to a high speed data (HSD) network 28. For example, the called party is assumed to have a broadband connection to a broadband access network, provided through a cable or digital subscriber line (DSL) modem. It is preferable that the subscriber have at least 128 Kbps upstream bandwidth. The called party connects their telephone via an RJ-11 jack (not shown) preferably into a terminal adaptor 30 (TA). The TA connects to the called party's cable or DSL modem. The use of the TA can ensure that the called party's data packets do not degrade the voice quality-of-service.
The high speed data network 28 provides access to the service provider's internet protocol network 28, such as AT&T's Internet Protocol (IP) Common Backbone Network (CBB). The backbone network is used for call setup signaling and network management. The backbone network is also used to carry the RTP stream to the telephony gateway.
The illustrative VoIP platform 18 is depicted in
Features of the present invention are implemented in application server(s) 22 in the VoIP platform 18. The service logic necessary to implement the features resides in the application servers while routing and policy information is stored in additional servers that support the capabilities of the application servers.
For example, in one embodiment, the platform 18 shown in
In accordance with an embodiment of an aspect of the invention, a number of advanced application servers 22, (which are alternatively referred to herein as “VPLUS” servers) are provided which provide the service logic for the advanced features of the VoIP platform. For example, the advanced application servers can be Sun Fire 280R servers with custom service feature software. It is preferable to build the service logic in composable software modules called “feature boxes.” See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,160,883 and 6,404,878, entitled “TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD,” which are incorporated by reference herein. These feature boxes are invoked for calls involving VoIP subscribers on the core advanced application server whenever a call is placed by or to them. Features can be subscribed to at the DN level. However, it is also advantageous to allow features to be subscribed to by “address patterns.” Address Patterns allow the bulk subscription of features to a set of addresses. See co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 09/644,128, entitled “ROUTING EXTENSIONS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD,” filed on Aug. 23, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. When the features require other resources to perform their service logic, they can invoke capabilities on other parts of the platform: such as a media server and a media bridge. The media server, for example, can be a server that supports VoiceXML and can be used whenever IVR like interaction is required with the VoIP subscriber. That is, whenever voice announcements are to be played or touchtone digits are to be collected, the VoiceXML media server capabilities can be requested by one or more feature boxes in the application server. As part of the invocation of the VoiceXML server, the feature boxes indicate where the appropriate scripts are to be found to direct the specific interaction with the user. Similarly, whenever audio needs to be bridged between more than two parties, the feature boxes involved will reroute the audio media to the media bridge so that the media can be mixed and redistributed to the parties involved. See co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 09/716,102, entitled “SIGNALING/MEDIA SEPARATION FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SYSTEM, filed on Nov. 17, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In accordance with an embodiment of another aspect of the invention, the features offered by the advanced application server are desirably invoked or controlled by means of touchtone key presses on the keypad of a phone. These key presses normally generate DTMF tones. For any call where advanced services are available to VoIP subscribers, the advanced application server can monitor for touchtones from the VoIP subscriber. The advanced application server never need modify in any way the touchtone digits that it detects. That is, it does not need to remove them from the media stream; it can merely recognize them in the media stream. So, for example, if a VoIP subscriber presses a wake up sequence, for example, ‘***’ on the keypad, any and all other people on the telephone call at that time will also hear the DTMF tones associated with ‘***’. When the VoIP subscriber is interacting with the Phone Feature Manager (as described further herein) or the mid-call IVR dialog, the VoIP subscriber is interacting directly with the advanced application server and all other parties on any active calls are on placed on hold. The parties on hold hear nothing of the interaction of the VoIP subscriber with the IVR dialog. That is, they do not hear touchtones entered by the VoIP subscriber nor do they hear any advanced application server announcements.
VoIP subscriber information (including profile information provisioned by the called party regarding whether to store and/or send call information to the called party to a specified address) can reside in a relational database controlled by software on the core server. Feature boxes can query and change subscriber data using an interface to a software component of the core server. It is advantageous to permit VoIP subscribers to individually enable and disable some features using several methods. For the advanced services, VoIP subscribers can enable some of them and disable some of them using either an interactive voice dialog with the Phone Feature Manager or by accessing the trial website and filling out forms there.
The VoIP subscriber (e.g., the called party) is assigned a new 10-digit NANP number. The number assigned to the VoIP subscriber is provisioned in the PSTN at the time the PrimePlex telephony service is provisioned from the LNS switch to the gateway. The number is active in the PSTN at that time and will route to the policy and application servers. If the TN has not yet been assigned to a particular VoIP subscriber, (e.g., the called party), the calling parties will hear an announcement that the TN is not a working number. The Phone Feature Manager (also used by Voice Mail) and Personal Conferencing will each have one TN assigned per NPA. These two numbers per NPA will be provided to all users with VoIP TNs within that NPA. The VoIP subscriber's existing IP address associated with their broadband service is the IP address associated with the VoIP subscriber. In addition, the VoIP subscriber can be assigned a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) using any advantageous format, e.g. such as TNnpanxxxxxx.service.att.com. For calls from the VoIP subscriber TN, all calls can be dialed as 1+NPA-NXX-XXXX. The gateway (as instructed by the policy server) will signal the appropriate dialing plan for the originating PRI facility and the called party number combination to the LNS switch.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, it is preferable to provide the VoIP subscribers with mechanisms for self-provisioning service features. For example and without limitation, subscribers can be provided with a website portal in conjunction with the advanced application server. It is advantageous to provide a web server to provide a customer website where subscribers go to accomplish three broad sets of tasks: (1) Signing up for service and retrieving account information; (2) Provisioning of advanced services; and (3) Invocation of advanced services. It is also advantageous to provide an HTTP proxy in front of the web server, primarily to provide failover capability in the event that the primary web server fails. The proxy server is the place where HTTP requests first arrive from the subscribers' web browsers. The server then proxies these HTTP requests to the currently active web server.
Alternatively or as a supplemental mechanism to the website portal, a phone feature manager can be provided. The Phone Feature Manager provides VoIP subscribers a telephone number to dial to control their services (as an alternative to the VoIP Web Portal). By calling the Phone Feature Manager, a VoIP subscriber can provision advanced services, retrieve voicemail, return calls to callers who left voicemail, and for whom a return calling number is available, change outgoing message for voicemail, activate/de-activate different services/features, call a speed dial number, call an arbitrary (non-international) number, etc. The Phone Feature Manager can be reached by dialing a speed dial code (e.g., 2-8-8-0-#) from the VoIP device, or by calling one of a service specified set of 10-digit numbers from any phone. The VoIP subscriber can configure auto-login capability for calls placed to the Phone Feature Manager from specified telephone numbers. The options for each telephone number are, for example: (a) Login with VoIP subscriber number and PIN from this telephone number (for TNs unknown to the service); (b) Login with PIN only from this telephone number; or (c) Auto-login from this telephone number (where neither VoIP TN nor PIN is required). For the purposes of announcements and the pre-population of some auto-login numbers, some VoIP subscriber information is gathered from the VoIP subscriber data provided at time of service sign up. There need be no limits imposed on the number of users who can access the Phone Feature Manager using the same VoIP subscriber TN. No login steps are required for calls to the Phone Feature Manager from the phone connected to the VoIP device. When a VoIP subscriber places calls through the Phone Feature Manager, all of the activated VoIP subscriber features can be made active, and the caller ID presented can be the VoIP subscriber's number, regardless of which device was used to access the Phone Feature Manager.
The TA opens a signaling path with the control logic located in the VoIP platform. The control logic provides the IP address of the destination to the TA and the TA establishes a media path to the endpoint. For calls to other VoIP subscribers, this media path may be to a VoIP subscriber on the same broadband network or a VoIP subscriber on another broadband network. In the latter case, if the two broadband networks use different broadband providers that peer with each other, the traffic will not traverse the backbone network. In the unlikely case where the two providers do not peer with each other but do peer with the backbone network, then the traffic will traverse the backbone network. The connection between the backbone network and the VoIP platform should accommodate all signaling traffic and all single-point off-net media traffic. Where additional enhanced features are provided by the advanced application server(s), it is advantageous for all media to route through the VoIP platform, including calls to both PSTN users and VoIP subscribers. Calls to VoIP subscribers should account for the media stream to the advanced application servers and the media stream from the advanced application servers.
The following flow describes an illustrative call from a VoIP subscriber to a number served by the PSTN.
1) The TA is assumed to have registered with the Class 5 Application Server (ASX) and obtained an IP address. The application server instructs the TA to notify the application server should the PSTN end user go off hook.
2) The end user goes off hook, the application server is notified and instructs the TA to play dial tone.
3) The end user dials a 1+10-digit number. This is independent of whether this is a local or LD call.
4) The TA sends the dialed digits to the application server.
5) The application server processes the digits, querying the policy server to determine that the call is permissible and that it is an off-net call. The policy server provides the appropriate PSTN gateway to the application server.
6) The application server sends a call setup message to the gateway requesting call setup. A two-way RTP stream between the TA and the gateway is established.
7) The gateway queries the policy server to determine the route for the call. Upon receiving the policy server response, the gateway sends a call setup request over the PRI facility to the LNS switch. The setup request includes the end user's TN.
8) The LNS switch uses the rate center associated with the PRI facility and the called party number to route the call to the PSTN. The end user's TN is included in subsequent call setup signaling as the Calling Party Number.
9) When the PSTN switch applies ringing to the called party, the terminating switch plays ringing in the backward direction to the calling party.
10) When the called party answers a two-way bearer path is established and the stable call proceeds.
The following flow describes an illustrative call from a PSTN user to a VoIP subscriber, where the two parties are in the same rate center. This example includes Caller ID.
1) The Calling Party may dial a 7- or 10-digit number, depending on the local dialing plan.
2) The ILEC switch determines that the call is permitted and routes the call to the LNS switch.
3) The LNS switch determines that the number is part of PrimePlex service terminating on the gateway. The LNS switch sends a call setup request over the PRI to the gateway.
4) The gateway queries the policy server to determine the route for the call and the policy server responds that the call should be routed to the application server.
5) The gateway sends a call setup message to the application server.
6) The application server queries the policy server to determine the route for the call and the policy server responds that the call should be routed by the application server.
7) The application server determines that the call receives Caller ID and sends a call setup request and the Caller ID to the TA.
8) The TA rings the telephone and provides the Caller ID to the caller ID equipment.
9) The VoIP subscriber answers and the bearer path is established.
In accordance with an embodiment of an aspect of the invention, an integrated personal call management system is provided. The call management system provides call answering capability in the event that the called party's end device or devices are busy or do not answer after a user-configurable timeout (typically specified in ring cycles). The called party is a VoIP subscriber. The VoIP subscriber advantageously can utilize the VoIP end-user website to configure the service. It is advantageous to allow the VoIP subscriber to choose from a variety of outgoing message: for example, a pre-recorded system greeting, a pre-recorded system greeting with text-to-speech rendering of the VoIP subscriber's name, or a personalized message recorded by the VoIP subscriber. The VoIP subscriber can also specify general disposition for all incoming voice mail messages. The VoIP subscriber can choose to have the messages stored on a messaging server, sent as an email attachment to one of his or her own email addresses, or both. In addition, the VoIP subscriber can specify an email address to alert when a voice mail message has been received. When a VoIP subscriber uses the VoIP website to view his or her voice mail, s/he can choose to send a particular piece of voice mail to a specified list of email addresses. These email addresses can contain any email address, not necessarily one of the VoIP subscriber's own email addresses. For example, this would be useful when a VoIP subscriber wants to forward one particular voice mail message to friends. The call management system can activate/deactivate the Message Waiting Indicator stutter dial tone and play stutter dial tone to the subscriber when they pick up the handset. They are notified that they have new voice mail messages through the use of stutter dialtone heard on the VoIP endpoint when they pick up the VoIP device handset. After VoIP subscribers listen to their new voice mail, stutter dialtone is no longer heard. Messages stored on the server can be retrieved, saved and deleted via touchtone or website access.
It is advantageous for the call management system to maintain a call log of all calls that a VoIP subscriber places or receives. The call log can include the following information: a timestamp, the VoIP subscriber's name, and the calling and called TNs. An icon can be provided in the call log for each phone number that can link to a telephone directory service or to the VoIP subscriber's personal address book to retrieve more information about the number. Another icon can be provided to access each voicemail message directly from the call log. Also, the phone numbers displayed on the website can be presented as “Click-to-Dial” links. When a VoIP subscriber clicks on such a link, indicating a certain telephone number, a call is placed to the VoIP subscriber's VoIP device. When the device is answered, the desired party is also called, just as if the call had been placed by pressing digits on the VoIP phone. If the VoIP device is not answered within a timeout period, e.g. 10 seconds, the attempt is aborted. See co-pending Utility patent application Ser. No. 09/348,819, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING TELEPHONIC CONNECTION SERVICES USING A DATA NETWORK,” filed on Mar. 19, 1997, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
This can advantageously be accomplished using a “Click to Record” feature, in accordance with an embodiment of another aspect of the invention. The VoIP subscriber clicks a relevant button on the website which causes the VoIP device to ring. If the VoIP device is busy or rings with no answer, nothing is recorded. If the VoIP subscriber answers, a feature-specific prompt is played and the VoIP subscriber records a message. It is advantageous to permit the VoIP subscriber to review and/or change the message.
With reference again to
Finally, at step 207, an alert is sent to the VoIP subscriber notifying the subscriber of the missed call and the message. For example, the VoIP subscriber could be send an email alert indicating that the new message has been recorded, independent of whether the message is included as an attachment or not. The email subject can include message header information, such as the date, the time, the Caller ID if available, etc. Where the VoIP telephone has some form of Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) support, the telephone could be made to show the VoIP subscriber that a message has been recorded. When a new message arrives, the VoIP platform sends a SIP NOTIFY message to the application server. The application server then sends a message to the TA to activate the MWI, e.g., wither by activating an MWI lamp or through a stutter dial tone. When the VoIP subscriber picks up the VoIP phone, the subscriber would be able to hear the stutter dial tone followed by a regular dial tone. When messages are in a “new” state and then all messages have been deleted or changed to a “saved” state, the VoIP platform can send a SIP NOTIFY message to the application server. The application server then sends a message to de-activate the MWI. For example, the VoIP subscriber would pick up the VoIP phone and hear a regular dial tone with no stutter dial tone.
The VoIP subscriber can then access and retrieve the messages using either Phone Feature Manager or the Web Portal. By using a web browser to access the VoIP Web Portal, as mentioned above, a variety of additional services are possible and can be integrated with the message list. Moreover, as a separate or integrated service, the list can include entries in the form of a call log for all calls placed and received over a number of days. All of the calls can include information such as:
The foregoing description is to be understood as being in every respect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scope of the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from the description, but rather from the claims as interpreted according to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. It is to be understood that the embodiments shown and described herein are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. For example, the detailed description describes an embodiment of the invention with particular reference to a VoIP service architecture. However, the principles of the present invention could be readily extended to other network service architectures. Such an extension could be readily implemented by one of ordinary skill in the art given the above disclosure.
This Application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/507,903 filed on Oct. 1, 2003, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60507903 | Oct 2003 | US |