Patent ID: 6366578
Filing Date: 2002-04-02
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
In a system for managing voice communications, the system providing voice prompts in one or more particular languages or language variants, a method for providing a set of voice prompts in a particular language, comprising the steps of:defining high level grammatical rules for the set of voice prompts in the particular language; storing the grammatical rules for the set of voice prompts in the system; developing a set of audio files in the particular language; storing the audio files in the particular language in the system; receiving a call from a user, wherein the system initiates a request for a voice prompt in response to the call from the user; in response to the request for the voice prompt, developing a sequential list of audio files, wherein, when the sequential list of audio files is played by the system, the requested voice prompt is played to the user in the particular language; wherein the sequential list of audio files is produced based on the grammatical rules; wherein the system is coupled to a wide area communication network comprising a plurality of network resources, the system providing voice and data communications to a plurality of users in an office, the method further comprising the steps of: transferring packetized data to and from the system via at least a first packet bus coupled to one or more packet-based devices under control of a processor; coupling voice communications from one or more telephones to at least one time division multiplex (TDM) bus, wherein the TDM bus is selectively coupled to the first packet bus and the wide area communication network; wherein the processor selectively controls voice communications from the one or more telephones over the TDM bus and packet-based communications over the first packet bus, wherein voice communications that stay in a circuit-switched form in the system occur over the TDM bus and the wide area communication network, and wherein packet-based communications are selectively coupled to the wide area communication network via the TDM bus; wherein the system is controlled at least in part in response to one or more commands entered by the user after playing of the requested voice prompt.