NZ272410A

NZ272410A - Exchange voice mail: subscriber selection of stored messages

Info

Publication number: NZ272410A
Application number: NZ27241095A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: Wolfgang Eckhart
Original assignee: Alcatel Australia
Priority date: 1994-06-23
Filing date: 1995-06-22
Publication date: 1997-02-24
Also published as: CA2152461A1; AU2183195A; EP0689336A2

Description

<div class="application article clearfix" id="description"> Priority Dato(s): \.3.4 Complete Specification Filed: .s&Akifte. Class: (6) Publication Date: 2 i.FEB...199Z. P.O. Journal No: TRUE COPY NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION " VOICE MAIL ARRANGEMENT " WE, ALCATEL AUSTRALIA LIMITED, oOS A Company of the State of New South Wales, of 280 Botany Road, Alexandria, New South Wales, 2015, Australia, hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be grantc ! o us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a telephone exchange with a speech store equipment as well as a method to store voice messages in such an exchange, whereby the speech store equipment is able to store voice messages arriving from a calling subscriber and intended for a called subscriber and to send them to the called subscriber on his request. Telephone exchanges with speech store equipment are already known and are generally termed voice mail devices. A method and an arrangement for storing telephone messages in a PABX system is also known. The known systems have the disadvantage that the stored voice messages can only be accessed in the sequence they were originally stored. This means that there is no priority allocation possible. It is an object of the present invention to remove this disadvantage, and in particular to define a method whereby it is possible to select the order of the stored messages freely. The present invention meets this object in that a storage location is allocated to each called subscriber who has been forwarded to the speech store equipment, which storage location lists the identification characteristics, e.g. the subscribers' telephone numbers or the names of those calling subscribers who have deposited a 27241 message for the called subscriber in the speech store equipment, that the control equipment comprises means which send the contents of the storage location to the subscriber station of the called subscriber on the called subscriber's request and indicate them there on the display, and that the control equipment further comprises means which transmit the voice message selected by the called subscriber from the speech store equipment to the called subscriber after a predetermined request by the called subscriber, e.g. actuation of a key predetermined for this purpose. The method according to the invention contains the following additional procedure steps apart from the already known procedure steps, whereby the control equipment of the telephone exchange connects the calling subscribers to the speech store equipment, and whereby the voice messages arriving from the calling subscribers and intended for a called subscriber are stored in the speech store equipment and sent to the called subscriber on his. request: - storage of the identification characteristics of those calling subscribers who have deposited messages for the called subscriber in the speech store equipment, in a caller table assigned to the called subscriber, - transmission of this caller table to the subscriber station of the called subscriber on his request and indication on his display, - transmission of the stored voice messages from the speech store equipment 2724 to the called subscriber in the order requested by hinn, - erasion of the identification characteristic of the calling subscriber whose voice message has already been transmitted to the called subscriber. The advantage of such a method, respectively such an equipment, is that the freely selectable polling of the voice messages means that those with higher priority can be polled first. In a further development of the invention, the number of identification characteristics listed in each storage space is now specified. This enables the called subscriber a first orientation about the scope of the stored voice messages. In order that the invention may be readily carried into effect, embodiments thereof will now be described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the principle of a known PABX system which has the equipment according to the invention installed. Figure 2 shows an example of a caller table according to the invention. According to Figure 1, subscriber terminals are connected to the telephone exchange 1 via ports a...z. In the present example, ports a...w are provided for the connection of telephone handsets 2,3 and a voice mail device is connected to ports x, y and z. With this configuration 3 seizures of the voice mail device can take place simultaneously. The telephone exchange 1 comprises a switching matrix 4 to enable connection of terminal devices 2,3 7 with each other in the known manner and is controlled by a control program 5. Control equipment 5 comprises a memory 6, which stores, amongst other things, a caller table as described in Figure 2 for each subscriber that can be connected to voice mail device 7. Furthermore, control equipment 5 comprises a means 10, which sends the contents of the storage location to the subscriber station of the called subscriber 3 on the called subscriber's request and indicates them there on his display 8. Control equipment 5 further comprises a selection program 9, which transmits the voice message selected by the calling subscriber 3 from the voice mail equipment 7 to the handset of subscriber 3, in accordance with instructions issued by subscriber 3, e.g. actuation of a key predetermined for this purpose. Subscriber 2, for example, calls subscriber 3 who is however not ready to answer calls and has diverted his line to voice mail device 7. This diversion, which is conducted via control program 5 in the known manner, can also be conducted automatically after a preset calling time. Once the call from subscriber 2 has been diverted to the voice mail device 7, the information exchange typical for a voice mail device is initiated. The voice mail device introduces itself to subscriber 2 by means of stored text and requests subscriber 2 to record his message for subscriber 3. This procedure is generally terminated by subscriber 2 hanging up, or through expiry of a preset speaking time and the corresponding port of the voice mail device is then free for the next seizure. If a message is stored in the voice mail device for subscriber 3, a signal device, for example a LED or an appropriate indicator, is activated on a display 8 on the handset of subscriber 3 which indicates to the subscriber upon his return that one or more messages are waiting for him in the voice mail device. The number of messages and telephone numbers of the subscribers, which have left a message for called subscriber 3 in the voice mail equipment 7, are stored in a caller table as shown in Figure 2, in memory 6. As shown in Figure 2, memory 2 from Figure 1 comprises a caller table A, B, C, D, for each of the subscribers diverted to the voice mail equipment, which stores the telephone numbers of each subscriber who has left a message. If the telephone exchange has also stored all the names of the connected subscribers, the names of the subscribers can be listed in the caller table by a simple and known conversion process. In the shown example, caller table A contains three names N1 ,N2,N3, table B two names N4,N2, table C three names N1 ,N5,N6 and table D one name N2. Once subscriber 3 is ready to receive calls and wants to poll his voice mail, he can interrogate the caller table established for him by pressing a predetermined key 27241 on his handset, i.e. the number of entries in the table and the list of names is displayed on display 8. In accordance with known methods, the subscriber can select a name from his list A, for example N2, and then request his message from the voice mail equipment by again pressing a predetermined key. The voice mail equipment is called by the control equipment and a corresponding code dialed to let it now which message is to be transmitted to the subscriber. After the successful polling entry N2 in table A is erased and is available for new voice mail calls. </div>

Claims

<div class="application article clearfix printTableText" id="claims"> 2724 1 What we claim is:

1. A telephone exchange with a speech store equipment, whereby the speech store equipment is able to store voice messages arriving from a calling subscriber and intended for a called subscriber and to send them to the called subscriber on his request, and whereby the subset of the called subscriber has a display, wherein - a storage location is allocated to each called subscriber who has been forwarded to the speech store equipment, which storage location lists the identification characteristics, e.g. the subscribers' telephone numbers or the names of those calling subscribers who have deposited a message for the called subscriber in the speech store equipment, - the control equipment comprises means which send the contents of the storage location to the subscriber station of the called subscriber on the calied subscriber's request and indicate them there on the display, - the control equipment further comprises means which transmit the voice message selected by the called subscriber from the speech store equipment to the called subscriber after a predetermined request by the called subscriber, e.g. actuation of a key predetermined for this purpose.

2. A telephone exchange as claimed in claim 1, wherein in each storage location the number of the identification characteristics listed in it is also stored.

3. A method to store voice messages in a telephone exchange with a speech store equipment, whereby the control equipment of the telephone exchange connects the calling subscribers to the speech store equipment, and whereby the voice messages arriving from the calling subscribers and intended for a called subscriber are stored in the speech store equipment and sent to the called subscriber on his request, wherein the following procedure steps: - storage of the identification characteristics of those calling subscribers who have deposited messages for the called subscriber in the speech store equipment, in a caller table assigned to the called subscriber, - transmission of this caller table to the subscriber station of the called subscriber on his request and indication on his display, - transmission of the stored voice messages from the speech store equipment to the called subscriber in the order requested by him, - erasion of the identification wherein the calling subscriber whose voice message has already been transmitted to the called subscriber. 2

4. A method and equipment substantially as herein described, with reference to Figures 1-2 of the accompanying drawings. ALCATEL AUSTRALIA LIMITED 10 B. O'Connor Authorized Agent P5/1/1703 </div>