Abstract:
A method and apparatus for registering unanswered telephone calls is provided. The method includes directing the unanswered call to an external server, recording details of the calling telephone, including the telephone number of the calling telephone (caller ID), the time and the date of the call, and notifying the called telephone of the details of the unanswered telephone call.

Description:
FIELD AND BRIEF BACKGROUND DISCUSSION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for registering unanswered telephone calls.  
           [0002]    One of the most useful features of cellular telephone systems is the registration of unanswered calls. If the telephone being called (call recipient) does not reply to a call, either because the line is busy or unanswered for any other reason, the cellular telephone having caller ID facility, can remember the number of the caller and display it on the screen. If the recipient of the non-answered telephone call wishes, he can dial the number displayed at a push of a button and initiate a call at his leisure to the person who tried unsuccessfully to call him.  
           [0003]    This feature is limited to telephones with a built in caller ID facility and an alpha-numeric display for displaying the calling number. In addition, the telephone requires the appropriate software and hardware means to select the number and to dial it. Therefore, this feature mainly exists in cellular telephone systems, which contain sophisticated DSP (Digital Signal Processing) hardware enabling this feature.  
           [0004]    However, if the cellular telephone is shut down or disabled for example, in public places such as hospitals and airplanes, this facility is not available.  
         SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention overcomes the limitation of the previous techniques and enables registration of unanswered calls for any telephone system including analog wired telephone systems. In addition, the present invention enables cellular phones to register unanswered calls even when the telephone is shut down.  
           [0006]    There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, apparatus and a method for registering unanswered telephone calls.  
           [0007]    The method includes directing the unanswered call to an external server; recording details of the calling telephone, including the telephone number of the calling telephone (caller ID), the time and the date of the call, and notifying the called telephone of the details of the unanswered telephone call.  
           [0008]    Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the external server is a voice mail box capable of identifying the telephone number of the calling telephone (caller ID). The step of notifying includes the step of the voice mail box preparing a message containing the details and forwarding the message to the calling telephone.  
           [0009]    Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the external server is a unified message box and the details of the calling telephone are notified via e-mail or through a facsimile machine.  
           [0010]    Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the step of notifying includes the step of the unified message box preparing a message containing the details.  
           [0011]    Alternatively, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the step of notifying includes the steps of the external server associating the telephone number of the called telephone with the e-mail address; and notifying the called telephone by an e-mail message.  
           [0012]    Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the step of notifying includes the steps of storing the details in a message database, the message database in communication with a plurality of roaming servers; and the calling telephone retrieving the details from any of the plurality of roaming servers. The step of retrieving includes the step of the message being retrieved via telephone or a facsimile machine. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart illustration of the registration of an unanswered call in an external server according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart illustration of the retrieval of the message details of an unanswered call according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    In the present art, if the telephone line is busy or there is no answer at the called phone, there are two possibilities:  
         [0016]    1. If the called phone is a cellular phone a message appears advising the called phone that a call has been missed and if caller ID is available, the caller number is displayed.  
         [0017]    2. If the called phone has a voice box the caller reaches the voice box, where he can leave a message or send an e-mail.  
         [0018]    It should be noted that situations 1 &amp; 2 are independent and in the case of cellular phone that has a voice box both sequences occurs independently.  
         [0019]    Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic flow chart illustration of the registration of an unanswered call in an external server according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0020]    In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, a call is made by the calling telephone  12  via the PSTN  14  to another telephone  16 . If there is no answer or the line is busy, the call is directed to an external server  18 . The external server  18  registers the ID of the calling telephone  12  and the time and the date of the call.  
         [0021]    If the called phone  16  has voice box facilities, the call is forwarded to a voice box system  20 . If the voice box system  20  has caller ID available, the identity of the called phone  12  will be known. Even if the person calling does not leave a message, the voice box  20  will still register the ID of the caller with an empty message. In this case, when the called person  14  will access his voice box  20  he will obtain a record of an unanswered call from telephone X, where X is uncalled caller ID detected. If the voice box has switching capabilities it will be possible to initiate a call directly from the voice box  20  to the calling telephone  12 .  
         [0022]    In an alternative embodiment of the invention, calls are forwarded to a unified message box (instead of a voice box). A unified message box is a box that can store both voice e-mail and fax. Moreover, the person who reaches this box can hear the voice message or his e-mail via text to speech engine (TTS) available for example by L&amp;H (Lernout &amp; Hauspie, USA), for example or even faxes by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) available by Ligatura Inc, for example and then read by TTS.  
         [0023]    These messages can also be read from the e-mail box at the computers of the voice box owner.  
         [0024]    In an alternative embodiment, similar results can be achieved without the use of a specific voice box. For example, the T-mailer server supported by Varicom Communications Ltd, the assignees of the present invention, provides a linkage between the user telephone and his e-mail address.  
         [0025]    The T-Mailer server is similar to the proxy server described in PCT Patent Application: PCT/IL99/00516 assigned to the Assignees of the present invention. The T-mailer server generally comprises a Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) card connected to a wave API (Application Program Interface) and a message storage device. The server further comprises components such as a voice proxy telephone server and a transport provider for receiving and forwarding voice/text messages.  
         [0026]    In this case, once a call is made to the T-mailer service using an assigned telephone number, the T-mailer software associates, through a look-up table or database (such as SAL, available from by Microsoft Corporation Inc), the appropriate e-mail address of the called telephone owner, creates an e-mail with attached wave file and sends it to the e-mail address of the called telephone owner.  
         [0027]    Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is a schematic flow chart illustration of the retrieval of the message details of an unanswered call, according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0028]    The unanswered message details including the phone number of the caller, the date and the time of the unanswered message can be retrieved in several different ways. For example, the message details by the calling phone can be retrieved by the called phone  16  via the PSTN  14  from the called person&#39;s voice box. Alternatively, using an external server, such as the T-mailer server, described hereinabove, the details can be sent by e-mail  30 , directly to a PC associated with the called person  32  or by fax  34  using the unified message boxes of T-mailer.  
         [0029]    It is apparent to persons skilled in the art that using Voice Mail box and T-mailer service, an e-mail message without voice attachment can be sent having a subject line entitled, for example “A reply was not made to a call from telephone X” where X is the caller ID of the calling person.  
         [0030]    This feature enables to people who have access to e-mail to obtain notification via their e-mail about unsuccessful (unanswered) calls made to them, even if their handset does not have the unanswered feature or their cellular phone is shut down.  
         [0031]    While the invention has been described with respect to embodiments, it will be appreciated that these are set forth merely for purposes of example, and that variations and applications can be made. Many other variations, modifications and applications of the invention will also be apparent to those skilled in this field.