Patent Publication Number: US-2005125286-A1

Title: Voice mail advertising system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      Not Applicable  
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
      Not Applicable  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      This invention pertains to a voice mail advertising system that produces an audio advertisement upon access of a phone voice mail system by a caller. The number of advertisements made to callers is counted and selected credit is given to the owner of the voice mail system for payment of the cellular phone bill. Advertisers provide credit in return for being allowed to use the voice mail as an advertising medium.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Telephone answering systems are known. These systems either take the form of a stand-alone device attached to a telephone line or are services offered by a service provider. The telephone answering services are either automated systems or have humans answer the phone.  
      The following are examples of telephone voice mail systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,047, titled “Remote Voice Mail Messaging and Management System,” issued to Stabler on Aug. 10, 1999, discloses a voice messaging and management system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,066, titled “Systems and Methods for Storing, Delivering, and Managing Messages,” issued to Bobo, II, on Feb. 26, 2002, discloses a voice mail system connected to the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,321, titled “Systems and Methods for Storing, Delivering, and Managing Messages,” issued to Bobo, II on May 13, 2003, discloses a system for routing messages to intended recipients.  
      Other telephone systems have been developed for managing data and messages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,223, titled “Cellular Telephone System with Remote Programming, Voice Responsive Registration and Real Time Billing,” issued to Amadon, et al. on Apr. 5, 1994, discloses a cellular telephone rental system.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,970, titled “Intelligent-Networked Telephone System Having Advertisement with Bonus Free Phone Call Service,” issue to Cai, et al., on Jul. 8, 2003, discloses a system in which a customer is permitted to make a free telephone call after listening to an advertisement. The bonus call is limited to a predefined duration monitored by a timer reset at the beginning of the bonus call. The system includes a switch that routes the free calls and an intelligent peripheral that stores a pre-recorded menu and advertisements. The intelligent peripheral allows a customer to select a product or service advertisement for playback.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,596. titled “System and Method for the Creation and Automatic Deployment of Personalized, Dynamic and Interactive Voice Services, Including Deployment Through Digital Sound Files,” issued to Zirngible, et al., on Aug. 12, 2003, discloses the creation and automatic deployment of personalized, dynamic, and interactive voice services. Zirngible discloses delivery of voice service information through a digital sound file.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      According to one embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for a voice mail advertising system is provided. Incoming telephone calls are routed to a user. If the user does not answer the call, the call is routed to a voice mail server, which communicates with an advertising server. The servers execute software for determining if the user has subscribed to voice mail advertising, selecting an advertisement for playback, playing the advertisement, recording an incoming message, if any, and billing the advertiser if the advertisement was played in its entirety without early termination by the caller. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above-mentioned features of the invention will become more clearly understood from the following detailed description of the invention read together with the drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a voice mail advertising system;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of one embodiment of the steps for processing an incoming call; and  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of one embodiment of the steps for playing an advertisement message. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      An apparatus for a voice mail advertising system  10  is disclosed. The voice mail advertising system  10  produces an audio advertisement upon access of a phone voice mail system by a caller. The number of advertisements made to callers is counted and selected credit is given to the owner of the voice mail system for payment of a cellular phone bill. Advertisers provide credit in return for being allowed to use the voice mail as an advertising medium  
       FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the voice mail system  10 . A caller  114  dials the number of a cellular phone user  112 . The call is routed by the phone router  102  to the user  112 . If the user  112  is not available or chooses not to answer the call, the phone router  102  routes the telephone call to a voice mail server  104 , which responds to the caller  114 . The voice mail server  104  queries the advertisement server  106  for an advertisement that is played as part of the outgoing message to the caller  114 .  
      The caller  114  is any person calling the user  112 . The caller  114  originates the call from a POTS, cellular, or other type of telephone. In the illustrated embodiment, the user  112  is a cellular telephone user. In another embodiment, the user  112  is a subscriber to a remote voice mail system that monitors the telephone of the user  112 .  
      The telephone router  102  includes the equipment of the telephone service provider that handles telephone calls, both those of the user  112  and those of callers  114 . The telephone service provider is a phone service company providing standard or enhanced services to an individual or company, including voice mail.  
      The voice mail server  104  provides presentation and retention of voice mail for multiple users  112 . In one embodiment, the calls are digitally recorded and stored for presentation to the user  112 . The user  112  plays back these messages at a later time. Voice mail servers  104  provide services to callers  114  ranging from simple to complex. For example, a simple service plays a message for the user  112  to callers  114 , and records a reply from the caller  114 . The reply is played back to the user  112  when the user  112  queries the system. An example of a complex system is one that presents the caller  114  with a menu of options from which the caller  114  chooses one. The options range from leaving a message for the user  112  to sending a text message to the user  112 .  
      The advertisement server  106  interacts with the voice mail server  104  for providing the caller with various advertisements as part of the voice mail system  10 . The advertisement server  106  stores the advertisements and billing information relating to the advertisements. In the illustrated embodiment, the voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  are illustrated as individual servers. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the functions performed by each server  104 ,  106  can be performed by a single server running software that contains the functions described herein for each server  104 ,  106 .  
      The voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  should be broadly construed to mean a computer, computer platform, an adjunct to a computer or platform, or any component thereof that provides data or information to a client, such as the phone router  102 , the user  112 , the caller  114 , or a computer workstation. The voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  run, or execute, software that allows the servers  104 ,  106  to properly handle and process client requests, in addition to other processes necessary for the servers  104 ,  106  to perform their required functions. Of course, a client should be broadly construed to mean the equipment that requests or gets a file or information, and a server is the equipment that provides the file or information.  
      The voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  should also be broadly construed to mean any computer or component thereof that executes software. In one embodiment the voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  are general purpose computers, in another embodiment, the voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  are specialized devices for implementing the functions described herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is possible to program a general-purpose computer or a specialized device to implement the functions described herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the voice mail server  104  and the advertisement server  106  each includes an input component, an output component, a storage component, and a processing component. The input component receives input from external devices, such as the phone router  102  and other servers  104 ,  106 . The output component sends output to external devices, such as the phone router  102  and other servers  104 ,  106 . The storage component stores data, including voice mail messages and advertisements, and program code. In one embodiment, the storage component includes random access memory. In another embodiment, the storage component includes non-volatile memory, such as floppy disks, hard disks, and writeable optical disks. The processing component executes the instructions included in the software and routines.  
       FIG. 2  illustrates one embodiment of the steps for processing an incoming call by the voice mail system  10 . Incoming calls  202  are received and routed to the user  112 . If the user  112  answers the call  204 , the call is terminated and the system  10  returns to waiting for an incoming call  202 . If the user  112  does not answer the call  204 , the voice mail system answers the call  206 . The system  10  checks to see if the user  112  has subscribed to voice nail advertising  208 . If the user has not, an outgoing message is played  210  for the caller and the caller&#39;s incoming message, if any, is recorded  214 . If the user  112  has subscribed to voice mail advertising  208 , the system  10  plays the advertisement message  212  and then the caller&#39;s message, if any, is recorded  214 . In one embodiment, if the user  112  does not answer the call  204 , the telephone router  102  routes the unanswered telephone call to the voice mail server  104 .  
       FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of the steps for playing an advertisement message  212 . The voice mail server  104  runs a routine to read the user data  302 . The user data includes information on the advertisements selected by the user  112  for playback. The next step is to select the advertisement to play  304  and then to play that advertisement  306 . If the full advertisement is played  308  without the caller  114  terminating the call, the user  112  receives credit for the advertisement and the billing  310  routine is invoked. If the caller  114  terminates the call without the advertisement being played in its entirety, the billing  310  routine is skipped. It is possible that no message will be left by the caller  114  to the user  112 , but that will not be used to quantify whether or not the caller  114  has heard the advertisement.  
      The advertisement server  106  contains digital voice files for the advertisements. The user  112  selects one or more advertisements for playback. The advertisements are short messages that promote a good or service. For example, one advertisement message states, “Remember to use XYZ for your Internet search engine, and leave Jason a message.” In this example, the name of the user  112  is part of the advertising message.  
      The voice mail advertising system provider recruits advertisers. Each time a voice mail advertisement is heard in its entirety by a caller  114 , the advertiser is charged an amount of money, or advertiser fee. In one embodiment, the voice mail advertising system provider retains a percentage of the advertiser fee and the user  112  receives the remainder of the advertiser fee. In one embodiment, the portion retained by the user  112  is applied as a credit to the user&#39;s telephone bill. The billing  310  routine tracks the activity of advertisement messages played and the associated charges and fees.  
      In one embodiment, calls duplicated from the same originating number to the telephone user  112  are not credited for advertising over a specified period. In various embodiments, the specified period is between 24 and 48 hours.  
      In one embodiment, the advertising server  106  maintains digitally stored messages from the telephone user  112  to be presented to the caller  114 . The advertising server  106  maintains a database of tables. In one embodiment, a table contains fields identifying the user  112 , the advertisement played  304 ,  306 , the caller  114  who received the advertisement, and the date and time the advertisement was played  306 .  
      Additional information relating to the data structure may be helpful. Such information may include fields for the various tables and the relationship between tables and fields.  
      In one embodiment, the key identifier is the telephone number of the cell phone user  112 , a cellular telephone advertisement identification number is a secondary identifier, and an advertisement order identifier is also a secondary key (if multiple advertisements are setup by the cell phone user). Included in the database are custom tag phrases that the user  112  can incorporate into the advertisements going out to the caller  114 , for example, the user&#39;s name or company title. The advertisement system tracks the number of times the advertisement has been played to callers  114  and the remaining times available for it to be played. Each interaction within the advertisement system generates an entry into a master log for tracking purposes and verification purposes. Charges and system credits for an advertisement are predetermined before the user  114  selects an advertisement for use. The advertisement system has an interface for entering new advertisements and for making adjustments to advertising fees or credits. The advertising server  106  interacts with the voice mail server  104  with the voice mail server  104  maintaining a key value indicating whether the user  112  participates in the advertising system  10 .  
      In one embodiment, each of the functions identified in  FIGS. 2 and 3  are performed by one or more software routines run by the servers  104 ,  106 . In another embodiment, one or more of the functions identified are performed by hardware and the remainder of the functions are performed by one or more software routines run by the servers  104 ,  106 . In still another embodiment, the functions are implemented with hardware, with the servers  104 ,  106  providing routing and control of the entire integrated system  10 .  
      The servers  104 ,  106  execute software, or routines, for performing various functions. These routines can be discrete units of code or interrelated among themselves. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the various functions can be implemented as individual routines, or code snippets, or in various groupings without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. As used herein, software and routines are synonymous. However, in general, as used herein, a routine refers to code that performs a specified function, whereas software is a more general term that may include more than one routine or perform more than one function.  
      The voice mail advertising system  10  includes various functions. The function of routing an unanswered telephone call from a caller  114  to a user  112  is implemented by the telephone router  102 . The function of playing an advertisement for the caller  114  is implemented, in one embodiment, by the voice mail server  104 , the advertising server  106 , and the software executed on the servers  104 ,  106 . The function of billing an advertiser for playing an advertisement is implemented by the billing routine  310  executed on one or the other of the servers  104 ,  106 . The function of crediting the user for playing an advertisement is implemented by the billing routine  310  executed on one or the other of the servers  104 ,  106 . The function of receiving a message from a caller is implemented by the voice mail server  104 .  
      From the foregoing description, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that a voice mail advertising system  10  has been provided. Incoming telephone calls are routed to a user. If the user does not answer the call, the call is routed to a voice mail server, which communicates with an advertising server. The servers execute software for determining if the user has subscribed to voice mail advertising, selecting an advertisement for playback, playing the advertisement, recording an incoming message, if any, and billing the advertiser if the advertisement was played in its entirety with early termination by the caller.  
      While the present invention has been illustrated by description of several embodiments and while the illustrative embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicant&#39;s general inventive concept.