The exemplary embodiments generally relate to communications and to data processing and, more particularly, to voicemail and to message notifications.
Voicemail notifications are needed. When users send emails, notifications may be sent to alert of events or activities. When the email recipient reads the email, for example, a “read receipt” may be sent to alert the sender. When voicemails are recorded and played, however, no such notifications currently exist. What is needed, then, are methods, systems, and products for providing voicemail notifications.
Exemplary embodiments provide methods, systems, and products for notifications. These notifications provide alerts of audible messages, such as voicemails. When a recipient of a voicemail retrieves, plays, or otherwise accesses a voicemail, a notification may be sent. The notification communicates to the sender or recorder of the voicemail. The notification informs the recording party of when the recipient retrieves or listens to the voicemail. Exemplary embodiments may even notify the sender of the recipient's physical location at which the voicemail was retrieved. Exemplary embodiments even permit the sender/recorder to retrieve and playback the voicemail.
Exemplary embodiments include a method for voicemail notifications. A first notification is received that indicates a caller has recorded a voicemail. In response to the first notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail was recorded. A second notification is received that indicates the recipient retrieved the voicemail. In response to the second notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail has been played. When the recipient listens to the voicemail, the communication log thus informs the caller.
More exemplary embodiments include a system for voicemail notifications. A first notification is received that indicates a caller has recorded a voicemail. In response to the first notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail was recorded. A second notification is received that indicates the recipient retrieved the voicemail. In response to the second notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail has been played. When the recipient listens to the voicemail, the communication log thus informs the caller.
Other exemplary embodiments describe a computer program product for providing voicemail notifications. The computer program product stores instructions for receiving a first notification that indicates a caller has recorded a voicemail. In response to the first notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail was recorded. A second notification is received that indicates the recipient retrieved the voicemail. In response to the second notification, the caller's communication log is updated to indicate that the voicemail has been played. When the recipient listens to the voicemail, the communication log thus informs the caller.
Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according to the exemplary embodiments will be or become apparent to one with ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, and/or computer program products be included within this description, be within the scope of the claims, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the exemplary embodiments are better understood when the following Detailed Description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The exemplary embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the exemplary embodiments to those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, all statements herein reciting embodiments, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future (i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure).
Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the diagrams, schematics, illustrations, and the like represent conceptual views or processes illustrating the exemplary embodiments. The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing associated software. Those of ordinary skill in the art further understand that the exemplary hardware, software, processes, methods, and/or operating systems described herein are for illustrative purposes and, thus, are not intended to be limited to any particular named manufacturer.
As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first device could be termed a second device, and, similarly, a second device could be termed a first device without departing from the teachings of the disclosure.
The client-side communications application 34 may update the user's communications log 50. The communications log 50 monitors or tracks some or all communications sent and/or received by the user. The communications log 50 is illustrated as being stored in the memory 36 of the user's device 20, but the communications log 50 may be remotely accessible via the communications network 24. The communications log 50, in particular, may indicate that the user recorded the voicemail 26 for the recipient. As
Exemplary embodiments also permit archival storage of the voicemail 26. As
The user's device 20 and the server 22 are only simply illustrated. Because their architecture and operating principles are well known, their hardware and software components are not further shown and described. If the reader desires more details, the reader is invited to consult the following sources, all incorporated herein by reference in their entirety: A
Exemplary embodiments may be applied regardless of networking environment. The communications network 24 may be a cable network operating in the radio-frequency domain and/or the Internet Protocol (IP) domain. The communications network 24, however, may also include a distributed computing network, such as the Internet (sometimes alternatively known as the “World Wide Web”), an intranet, a local-area network (LAN), and/or a wide-area network (WAN). The communications network 24 may include coaxial cables, copper wires, fiber optic lines, and/or hybrid-coaxial lines. The communications network 24 may even include wireless portions utilizing any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and any signaling standard (such as the I.E.E.E. 802 family of standards, GSM/CDMA/TDMA or any cellular standard, and/or the ISM band). The concepts described herein may be applied to any wireless/wireline communications network, regardless of physical componentry, physical configuration, or communications standard(s).
Some aspects of voicemail and of communications logs are known, so this disclosure will not greatly explain the known details. If the reader desires more details, the reader is invited to consult the following sources, all incorporated herein by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,571 to Langlois et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,118 to Bayless et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,973 to Smith et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,590 to Tidwell et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,610 to Kung et al; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0137884 to Engstrom et al.; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0074109 to Hanson et al.; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0111631 to Jordan; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0002536 to Ambrose; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0062205 to Doherty et al.; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0077957 to Reddy et al.; and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0234693 to Isidore et al.
Exemplary embodiments, however, may not send the second notification (e.g., Step 70). When the recipient retrieves, plays, or listens to the voicemail 26, the server-side communications application 40 may be prevented from sending the date and time 54 that the recipient retrieved the voicemail 26. The recipient, for example, may configure the server-side communications application 40 to never send, or to “block,” the second notification. The recipient, in other words, may not want the server-side communications application 40 to notify the client-side communications application 34 of when the voicemail 26 has been played. The recipient may optionally configure the server-side communications application 40 to prompt before sending the second notification. When the recipient retrieves the voicemail 26, the server-side communications application 40 may be configured to send a message to the recipient's retrieving device 30. The message creates or produces a visual and/or audible prompt at the recipient's retrieving device. When the recipient wishes to update the sender's communications log 50, the recipient affirmatively responds to the prompt. The recipient's retrieving device then sends an affirmative response to the server-side communications application 40. The affirmative response authorizes the server-side communications application 40 to send the second notification (e.g., Step 70). In response to receipt of the second notification, the client-side communications application 34 updates the user's communications log 50 to indicate that the voicemail 26 has been played (e.g., Step 74).
Exemplary embodiments may also permit changing a status of messages. After the recipient retrieves, reads, plays, or listens to a message (such as the voicemail 26), the recipient may instruct the server-side communications application 40 to maintain, or reset, a “new” message status. When the voicemail message 26 is played, for example, ordinarily the server-side communications application 40 may change the voicemail's status from “new” to “old” or “stored.” The recipient, however, may indicate that the voicemail 26 should be maintained as “new” and unread or not retrieved. The recipient, for example, may wish to keep the voicemail 26 queued with new messages as an audible reminder. Because the voicemail 26 may be repeatedly returned to a top of the voicemail queue, the recipient would hear the voicemail each time the queue is accessed.
Exemplary embodiments may also inform the sender of deleted messages. When the recipient deletes a message, the server-side communications application 40 may be configured to send a message informing the sender of that deletion. The sender's communications log 50 may even present a deletion icon to provide a visual notification. When, for example, the recipient deletes the voicemail 26 (even without listening/playing the voicemail 26), the server-side communications application 40 may be configured to so inform the client-side communications application 34. The sending user is thus informed of when the recipient ignores and deletes the voicemail 26. Sales and marketing personnel, for example, would immediately know that their voicemail 26 was ignored.
Exemplary embodiments also permit duplicate voicemails. Because the voicemail 26 may be archived/stored in the user's device 20 (and/or at any destination the user desires, as above explained), the sending user may retrieve and resend the same voicemail 26. The user, for example, may resend to emphasize the importance of the voicemail 26. Even if the recipient retrieved and played the originally-sent voicemail 26, a second send of the same voicemail 26 further reinforces the content of the voicemail 26. When the recipient deletes the voicemail 26, the user may wish to resend another, duplicate copy. The user may even wish to send duplicate copies of the same voicemail 26, regardless of whether the originally-sent voicemail 26 has been retrieved and played by the recipient.
The process continues with
The process continues with
The recipient's location may also be reported. When the recipient retrieves and/or plays the audible message (Step 160), the server-side communications application 40 may receive the location coordinates of the recipient's retrieving device (illustrated as reference numeral 30 in
The disposition of the audible message is also reported. Here, when the recipient sends or forwards the audible message to another party/recipient or alternate destination, the destination address (to which the audible message was forwarded) is sent (Step 188). The communications log 50 is updated to indicate that the recipient forwarded the audible message to another destination address (Step 190).
Additional locations may be reported. Because the recipient forwarded the audible message to another destination address, exemplary embodiments may report the physical location of the device retrieving the forwarded message. When the audible message is retrieved from the destination address, the server-side communications application 40 may receive the location coordinates associated with the retrieving device (that is used to retrieve the forwarded message) (Step 192). The location coordinates describe the current location associated with the device that retrieves the forwarded audible message. The location coordinates are sent (Step 194) and the recording party's communications log 50 is updated to indicate the location at which the forwarded message was retrieved (Step 196).
An example is provided. Suppose a first party (e.g., the caller) records a voicemail for a second party (e.g., the recipient or the called party). When the second party retrieves and listens to the voicemail, the second party forwards the voicemail to a third party recipient. The voicemail is thus stored in a message database associated with the third party. When the third party's device retrieves the voicemail, the location coordinates associated with the third party's device are reported or sent to the server-side communications application 40 (operating in the server 22). The server 22 then sends those location coordinates to the first party's device 20. The communications log 50 is thus updated with the location coordinates of the third party recipient.
Exemplary embodiments may also permit editing of the voicemail 26. When the user's device 20 retrieves the voicemail 26, the client-side communications application 34 may permit the user to edit and/or to augment the voicemail 26. The client-side communications application 34, for example, may prompt the user to edit the voicemail 26, record and append additional material to the voicemail 26, and/or delete and re-record the voicemail 26 (Step 212). When the user chooses to edit the voicemail 26, for example, the user may be instructed to identify a portion of the voicemail 26 at which new material will be recorded for replacement. When the user chooses to record and append new material, that new material is appended to an end of the recorded voicemail 26. When the user chooses to delete and re-record, the client-side communications application 34 deletes the original voicemail file and records a new voicemail file. Regardless, once the user has completed the editing process, the client-side communications application 34 sends a revised voicemail (Step 214). When the server-side communications application 40 receives the revised voicemail, the server-side communications application 40 deletes the previously-stored voicemail 26 and, instead, stores the revised voicemail (Step 216). The revised voicemail is then queued for presentation to the recipient.
At any time, though, the revised voicemail may be denied. The server-side communications application 40 may configured with a set of rules for receiving and/or storing revised voicemails. If the recipient, for example, has already listened to, saved, or deleted the originally-recorded voicemail 26, then the server-side communications application 40 may be prevented from receiving/storing the revised voicemail. The recipient may also configure the server-side communications application 40 to deny any characteristic of a revised voicemail. The recipient, for example, may wish to deny any revised voicemail that is longer in time than the originally-recorded voicemail 26. When the revised voicemail exceeds some threshold time when compared to the originally-recorded voicemail 26, then the revised voicemail may be denied. The recipient may wish to deny any revised voicemail that has a different date than the originally-recorded voicemail 26. When the revised voicemail would be chronologically queued at a different position, the recipient may wish to deny the revised voicemail. The user, alternatively may specify that the revised voicemail be queued in the same chronological position as the originally-recorded voicemail 26.
Exemplary embodiments may be physically embodied on or in a computer-readable medium. This computer-readable medium may include CD-ROM, DVD, tape, cassette, floppy disk, memory card, and large-capacity disk (such as IOMEGA®, ZIP®, JAZZ®, and other large-capacity memory products (IOMEGA®, ZIP®, and JAZZ® are registered trademarks of Iomega Corporation, 1821 W. Iomega Way, Roy, Utah 84067, 801.332.1000, www.iomega.com). This computer-readable medium, or media, could be distributed to end-subscribers, licensees, and assignees. These types of computer-readable media, and other types not mention here but considered within the scope of the exemplary embodiments. A computer program product comprises processor-executable instructions for responding to communications.
While the exemplary embodiments have been described with respect to various features, aspects, and embodiments, those skilled and unskilled in the art will recognize the exemplary embodiments are not so limited. Other variations, modifications, and alternative embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/170,224 filed Jun. 28, 2011 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,824,644, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/707,805 filed Feb. 16, 2007 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,995,720, with both applications incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
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Child | 14334727 | US | |
Parent | 11707805 | Feb 2007 | US |
Child | 13170224 | US |