Voice Message Script Processing for Interactive Contact Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing voice mail systems do not effectively allow callers to provide multiple contact options, such as phone numbers and email addresses, in a persistent and error-free manner, and do not enable recipients to easily interact with this information.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that transmit and receive scripts attached to voice messages, allowing for a visual display of contact information with keypad responses, enabling automatic dialing and text-messaging features, compatible with both wireless and wired telephones, including standard devices without direct script processing capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple contact options are left verbally in voice messages, then the recipient can receive contact information, but the message may be erased before copying or the copied numbers may be lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-provides a persistent digital storage location (voice mail box) where contact information is stored before the recipient needs it. The caller can leave contact information in the voice mail message, and the recipient can retrieve it at any time through visual display and keypad interaction, eliminating the risk of erasure or loss that occurs with verbal-only transmission.
2Adaptability or versatility
If caller identification services provide callback information, then the calling number can be identified, but the service does not provide multiple contact numbers
Solution Approach 1:
The voice mail system serves multiple functions: it stores voice messages, preserves contact information persistently, displays contact information visually, and enables automated calling. This multi-functional approach allows the system to provide multiple contact numbers and options without requiring separate services for each function, thereby increasing versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If wireless telephones provide contact lists controlled by service providers, then contact information can be displayed, but the lists represent only individual numbers associated with unique voice messages
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of the service provider controlling and limiting the contact list content, the system inverts control to the caller who leaves the voice message. The caller determines what contact information is provided and how it is organized, while the service provider merely facilitates the delivery and display. This inversion increases flexibility and adaptability while maintaining ease of operation through automated processes.
4Adaptability or versatility
If voice messages contain multiple contact options, then the recipient can choose from multiple numbers, but it is inconvenient for both caller and recipient to leave and retrieve multiple numbers
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an automated intermediary (the voice mail system with visual display and script processing) that mediates between the caller's intent to provide multiple contact options and the recipient's need to easily retrieve them. The intermediary automatically displays the contact information visually, allows keypad-based selection, and automates the calling process, eliminating the manual inconvenience of handling multiple numbers while preserving the versatility of offering multiple contact options.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system and telephone answering device for processing control scripts attached to voice messages provides a mechanism by which a caller can leave an interactive list of contact information. The scripts provide for control of a display and input responses from a keypad or other input device so that an entry on the contact information list can be activated in response to user input, thus returning the call. The list information displayed may be arbitrary textual associations with the underlying contact number. The contact information may also include e-mail addresses, so that activation of an e-mail list element will activate a text messaging service, if available. For wireless telephone devices, the method implementing the present invention may be operable at the service provider only, so that standard wireless telephones may be programmed to provide the interactive list from a provider-side interpretation of the scripts.