Abstract:
A system for distributing voice information service messages (VISMs) to subscribers through their voice pagers is provided with a voice information service workstation where VISMs are recorded, and a voice information service terminal which converts the VISMs into voice pages and transfers them into a voice paging network for distribution to subscribers&#39; voice pagers. The system may be accessed by subscribers via telephone, computer, or voice pager for changing personal settings.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to paging systems, and more particularly to paging systems that are adapted to receive information from information services providers such as voice messages which are automatically delivered to subscribers. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior art paging systems are used to send electronic notices, or pages, to subscribers informing them that they have been called by other persons. Typical paging systems include a wireless messaging system with a paging terminal and one or more paging stations. The paging terminal is connected to the publicly switched telephone network and is configured to receive incoming calls from persons who wish to contact subscribers of the system. In response to receiving a call, the paging terminal creates a page for the subscriber, which is forwarded to the paging stations where the page is transmitted to the subscribers&#39; pagers. When the pagers receive pages directed to them, they alert their respective subscribers of the incoming pages. Usually these alerts are in the form of a audio buzzing or a silent vibration, and are commonly accompanied by a displayed message on an alphanumeric display. 
     Older paging systems employed one-way pagers, which could only receive pages. In order for subscribers to acknowledge receipt of the pages or to convey other information, they would contact the senders through other systems, such as conventional telephones. Modern paging systems often employ two-way pagers which can not only receive pages, but may also acknowledge receipt of pages as well as transmit other information back to the paging stations. 
     A recent embodiment of modern paging systems is the voice paging system, in which a recorded voice message forms part of the page. 
     Most voice paging systems operate by allowing a caller to communicate a voice message to a recipient using a combination of digital “land-line” or satellite networking and analog radio frequency transmissions from the caller to the recipient&#39;s voice pager. 
     In a typical system, a caller dials a recipient&#39;s assigned phone number and records a message on a voice paging terminal (VPT). This message is automatically forwarded from the VPT to a voice paging message router (VPMR). The VPMR determines which voice paging base station (VPBS) is in broadcast range of the recipient and proceeds to forward the message to that VPBS, which then transmits the voice message to the recipient&#39;s voice pager over an RF communication path known as a forward channel. 
     In conventional two-way messaging systems, a VPBS may also receive communications from voice pagers over an RF communication path known as the reverse channel. Modern two-way paging systems employ voice pagers that can both receive pages as well as acknowledge their receipt. The reverse channel may also be used to transmit other information such as responses to electronic mail messages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, a voice paging system for allowing voice information service providers, e.g., organizations which collect and distribute information on news, stock quotes, weather, etc., as voice messages, to distribute information to subscribers through voice pagers is provided. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an overview of the system of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a flowchart depicting an operation of the system according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an operation for modifying system settings according to a first aspect of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an operation for modifying system settings according to a second aspect of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a system is provided for voice information service providers (VISPs) to distribute collected information in the form of voice pages to their subscribers through the subscriber&#39;s voice pagers  199 . In the system according to the present invention, any number of voice information service providers,  101 - 1 ,  101 - 2  . . .  101 -n, may provide news, stock quotes, sports scores, lottery results, and other types of collected information to their subscribers. Each voice information service provider, such as exemplary VISP  101 - 1  typically includes a workstation (VISW)  105  having a processor  102 , a microphone  104  or other such means to input voice messages into the system, a speaker  103  or other sound reproducing means, a digital signal processing card  106 , and memory  107  holding software (not shown) including data compression routines for reducing transmission times and speech enhancement routines for optimizing speech availability. The VISW will typically be a general purpose computing device such as a personal computer, but may be any computing device capable of providing the functionality disclosed herein. 
     A voice information services terminal (VIST)  120  serves as an interface between VISPs  101 - 1 ,  101 - 2  . . .  101 -n, and a voice paging network  10 . The VISP communicates with the VIST through a telephone or network central office  110 . The VIST  120  consists of hardware and software necessary to accept a voice information service message (VISM), process it, and route it to the appropriate voice paging terminal (VPT)  130 - 1 ,  130 - 2  . . .  130 -m for delivering the VISM to a subscriber. A VIST has a connection to each VPT in a Voice Paging Provider (VPP) system, typically through a telephone or network central office  125 . The VIST  120  routes the VISM to every VPT in the VPP&#39;s voice paging network system  10  using a voice information services network (VISN) protocol. A typical VIST  120  in the system of the present invention includes such components as a processor  131 , memory  132 , non-volatile mass storage  133 , which may include one or more of a hard drive, a floppy drive, a CD ROM, and a digital video disk (DVD-also known as digital versatile disk). VIST  120  will also include such communications interfaces as a network interface card (NIC)  134  and a modem  135 . 
     VISP  101 - 1  connects to and communicates with the VIST  120  through a telephone or network system  110  using the modem  135  or NIC  134  of VIST  120 , respectively. 
     VIST  120  interfaces into a VPP&#39;s Voice Paging Network  10  through a telephone or network system  125  using a modem  135  or NIC  134 , respectively, to communicate with a voice paging terminal, such as exemplary VPT  130 - 1 . The Voice Paging Network  10  may be any paging network known in the art that has been modified to handle voice pages. Components for an exemplary paging network are available from Glenayre Electronics, Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the assignee of the present invention. A typical Voice Paging Network  10  includes voice paging terminals, such as exemplary VPT  130 - 1 , for receiving incoming telephone calls from individuals interested in contacting the subscribers of the paging network. The VPT  130 - 1 , in response to receiving a call, creates a voice page for the subscriber which is forwarded to the Voice Paging Message Router (VPMR)  140 . The VPMR  140  determines which Voice Paging Base Station (VPBS)  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2  . . .  140 -p is in broadcast range of the subscriber, and forwards the voice page to that VPBS. The VPBS, such as exemplary VPBS  140 - 1 , then transmits the voice page to the voice paging subscriber over an RF communications path conventionally known as the “forward channel.” The subscriber receives the voice page through a portable voice paging personal device  199 , which is commonly referred to as “voice pager” or simply “pager.” The voice pager  199  will typically include a processor  162 , speaker  166 , and a number of button controls  164 . Further details of these and other components of voice paging networks  10  are well known in the art and will not be described in detail herein, as such a detailed description is not necessary for an understanding of the present invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, according to the present invention, the Voice Information Service Provider (VISP) records information to be distributed to subscribers as voice messages. See block  200 . After recording the voice message, a determination is made as to whether the voice message should be played back to the VISP according to a further aspect of the present invention. See block  205 . If no playback is desired, the voice message is forwarded to the Voice Information Services Terminal (VIST) at block  210 , where the voice message is converted into a voice page. See block  215 . The voice page is then forwarded to a voice paging terminal (VPT), the entry point to the subscriber&#39;s voice paging network. See block  220 . 
     Once in the voice paging network  10 , the voice page is forwarded from the VPT to the Voice Paging Message Router (VPMR), at block  225 , which determines which Voice Paging Base Station (VPBS) is in broadcast range of the subscriber. See block  230 . 
     The voice page is then forwarded to the appropriate VPBS at block  235 , whereupon the VPBS transmits the voice page to the subscriber&#39;s pager. See block  240 . 
     Returning to block  205 , the present invention includes the capability for the VISP to play back the voice message. If, at block  205 , such a playback is desired, a simulation of how the voice page will sound on the subscriber&#39;s pager is played to the VISP through speaker  104  of the VISW  105 . See block  245 . The simulated voice page may be created using audio simulation, and acoustic, speech and signal processing techniques known in the art. These techniques would typically take into account parameters based on known acoustic properties of the voice paging system, including the speaker  166  of the subscriber&#39;s pager, and/or parameters based on expected characteristics derived from mathematical models of the system. These properties may all be reproduced using the DSP card  106  of the VISW  105 . 
     Referring to FIG. 3, a further aspect of the present invention is depicted in which a subscriber to the system may modify various settings for the subscriber&#39;s voice mailbox, including the frequency with which the subscriber receives automatic voice information service messages, and the types of content for these messages among other settings that a VISP may wish for a subscriber to customize. This aspect of the invention may be implemented with two-way voice paging networks. 
     According to a first aspect of this updating feature, the subscriber presses a menu button on the pager. See block  300 . A menu request is transmitted from the voice pager to the VPBS over an RF communications path commonly known as the “reverse channel,” and is forwarded to the VPT. See block  305 . A voice menu is downloaded from the VIST  120  to the VPT  130 - 1  and then transmitted to the pager  199 , at block  310 , and is played back through speaker  166  of the subscriber&#39;s pager. See block  315 . 
     After the subscriber has received the voice menu, menu selections are made using the pager buttons  164 . See block  320 . The menu selections are then sent back to the VPBS and forwarded to the VPT. See block  325 . The menu selections are then forwarded to the VIST, at block  330 , and the subscriber&#39;s profile is updated according to the menu selections. See block  335 . 
     For example, the initial voice menu prompts the subscriber with the message “Press A to delete service; Press B to add service; Press C to end menu.” If the subscriber presses “B” for instance, the next voice menu is presented to the subscriber as “Press A to add sports; Press B to add news; Press C to add weather,” and so on. Frequency of delivery could be implemented as yet another level of menus after the selection of service such as “Press A for hourly; Press B for daily; Press C for weekly.” Other menu organizations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, a method is shown for updating a subscriber profile according to another aspect of the present invention. According to this aspect of the present invention, a subscriber connects to a voice paging terminal such as exemplary VPT  130 - 1  through a conventional telephone or network system  125  using a telephone  180  or computer  185 , respectively. See block  400 . A subscriber then accesses his or her mailbox, typically by entering a user ID/password combination. See block  405 . Upon gaining access to the subscriber&#39;s mailbox, a menu, in the form of an interactive voice menu, is played to the subscriber, at block  410 , whereupon a subscriber makes various menu selections. See block  415 . Since access to the VPT will be through a conventional telephone, or through a network such as the Internet, more buttons will typically be available than on a pager. The interactive menus may offer more selections at each level, such as “Press  1  to add news updates once per hour,” “Press  2  for market reports twice per day,” Press  3  for sports updates once per hour,” “Press  4  to review current information services status and charges,” “Press  5  to delete services,” and “Press  6  to add new services.” However, a simple menu such as discussed above for the pager may be employed as well. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the menu may also be presented as a textual/graphical menu in addition to or instead of a voice menu. The subscriber&#39;s menu selections are then forwarded to the VIST  120 , at block  420 , and the subscriber profile is updated based on the menu selections. See block  425 . 
     While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.