Abstract:
A system and method for delivering interactive voice messages using a voice messaging system are disclosed. In an illustrative embodiment, the system comprises a voice messaging processor and memory containing machine readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, enable the voice messaging system to: receive an inbound call from a sender; record an interactive voice message from the sender directed to at least one recipient; receive a voice message retrieval request from a recipient; play the interactive voice message for the recipient; and initiate an interactive session with the recipient to elicit responses from the recipient regarding the interactive voice message. In one aspect of the invention, an application server is provided for generating interactive voicemails and placing the inbound call from the sender to the voice messaging processor.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to voice messaging, and more particularly, to an interactive voicemail system and methodology that enables a caller to leave an interactive voicemail for a called party on the called party&#39;s voice mailbox. 
     Voice messaging systems for sending and receiving messages between users that are subscribers of the system are well known in the art. A “subscriber” is a person that has actively subscribed to the voice messaging system by creating either (1) a voice mailbox and/or (2) a billing relationship with the provider where the Subscriber agrees to pay money, either directly or indirectly through the purchase of other services, for use of the voice messaging system. 
     A voice mailbox is a storage area within the voice messaging system that is addressable by a number. The number selected to address the voice mailbox may be any number, such a number coinciding with the subscriber&#39;s telephone number. The voice mailboxes of typical prior art voice messaging systems require that the subscriber both (1) periodically call into the system to determine if there are any messages in the mailbox, and (2) call into the system to listen to messages. Most people, however, already have separate voicemail systems or answering machines that answer the telephone and record messages from live callers. As such, these prior art voice messaging systems create yet another mailbox that both senders and/or receivers must check in addition to their existing answering machine or separate voicemail system. 
     Examples of a subscriber billing relationship include, but are not limited to, a monthly subscription fee, the purchase of related or unrelated services such as local telephone calling or long distance calling, or the outright purchase of a voice messaging system (hardware or software) through either an installment sale or single payment. It is through these and other types of billing relationships, or by creating a mailbox as described above, that people actively subscribe to become subscribers to prior art messaging systems. 
     After actively subscribing to the voice messaging service and/or creating a separate mailbox, a subscriber can send and receive messages with other subscribers by calling into the system, logging into the particular mailbox and then creating and sending messages to mailboxes of other subscribers within the same voice messaging system. 
     In an exemplary application, a subscriber who has previously subscribed to the voice messaging service, places a telephone call into the voice messaging system. The subscriber then signs into his or her voice mailbox, records a message for an intended recipient, and enters a telephone number of the intended recipient. The voice messaging service then determines whether the recipient is a subscriber to the voice messaging service. If the recipient is a subscriber, then the voice messaging system deposits the voice message in the recipient&#39;s voice mailbox. The recipient can then access the voice message by calling into the voice messaging system in a conventional manner. If the recipient is not a subscriber, the voice messaging service may call the recipient and simply play the recorded message. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,785,363 discloses a voice messaging system that enables non-subscribers of a voice messaging service to send, receive and reply to voicemails. In this regard, a system and methodology are provided for a sender to deliver voice messages to a receiver, where neither the sender nor receiver are subscribers to a voicemail service associated with the system. Voice messages can be delivered to non-subscribers and, if they are not home or reachable on a mobile phone, recorded into an existing answering machine or voicemail system of the recipient. 
     Telemarketers have been facing increasing challenges in reaching prospective customers. Consumers frustrated by such calls have resorted to caller ID and answer machine screening. Furthermore, “do-not-call” lists have become mandated and will continue to reduce a telemarketer&#39;s customer base. Since many telecommunications companies rely upon revenue from telemarketers, there exists a need for a system and methodology by which telemarketers can reach their intended customers. The present invention addresses this need by providing a system and methodology that enables telemarketers to reach prospective customers through a voice messaging system, and in particular, where the customers can choose to interact with the voicemail in response to interactive prompting. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a system and method are provided for delivering interactive voice messages using a voice messaging system. In an illustrative embodiment, the system comprises a voice messaging processor and memory containing machine readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, enable the voice messaging system to: receive an inbound call from a sender; record an interactive voice message from the sender directed to at least one recipient; receive a voice message retrieval request from a recipient; play the interactive voice message for the recipient; and initiate an interactive session with the recipient to elicit responses from the recipient regarding the interactive voice message. In one aspect of the invention, an application server is provided for generating interactive voicemails and placing the inbound call from the sender to the voice messaging processor. The application server is associated with a telemarketer who desires to leave interactive voicemails for recipients. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for delivering interactive voice messages using a voice messaging system. The method comprises the steps of: receiving an inbound call from a sender; recording an interactive voice message from the sender directed to at least one recipient; receiving a voice message retrieval request from a recipient; playing the interactive voice message for the recipient; and initiating an interactive session with the recipient to elicit responses from the recipient regarding the interactive voice message. The interactive voice message may provide the recipient with an opportunity to request information, an opportunity to decline information, an opportunity to respond to a questionnaire, an opportunity to respond to a survey, an opportunity to respond to the advertisement, or the like. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the voice messaging system can initiate calls to recipients who are not subscribers to the voicemail system to play interactive voicemails to those recipients. In this regard, the method comprises the steps of: receiving an inbound call from a sender; recording an interactive voice message from the sender directed to at least one recipient; placing an outbound call to the at least one recipient; playing the interactive voice message for the recipient; and initiating an interactive session with the recipient to elicit responses from the recipient regarding the interactive voice message. 
     These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a voice messaging system in accordance with an aspect of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart of a process whereby a telemarketer leaves an interactive voicemail for a recipient; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of a process whereby a recipient obtains and responds to an interactive voicemail; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a process whereby the voice messaging system initiates a call to a recipient of an interactive voicemail; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an exemplary interactive session. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic depicting an interactive voicemail system which generally comprises a voicemail platform  100  which includes a processor  102  and data storage  104  including memory containing machine readable instructions which are executed by the processor  102 . The voicemail platform  100  communicates through a switch  106  with a PTSN, VoIP or IP cloud  108  of the type well known in the art. Voicemails originate from a telemarketer generally characterized by the reference numeral  110 . The telemarketer has access to or otherwise includes an application server  112  which comprises a processor  114  and data storage  116 . The functions of these elements will be explained in more detail below. The application server  112  communicates with cloud  108  through an appropriate interface. The application server  112  initiates calls to the voicemail platform as will also be described in further detail below. For the purpose of description, the application server  112  is referred to as the “sender” herein. A targeted caller or “recipient”  118  can access the voicemail platform  100  through standard wireline access  120  via an end office  122 , wireless access  124  or Internet Protocol (IP) access  126 , all of which are coupled to cloud  108  in a conventional manner. For ease of description, the following discussion will refer to communications between the recipient  118  and the voicemail platform  100  as standard telephone calls. However, it is to be understood that telephone is meant to be any wireless or wireline device that communicates with cloud  108  through audio and/or video means. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is depicted an exemplary flowchart of a process whereby a telemarketer  110  leaves an interactive voicemail for a recipient  118 . At step  200 , the application server generates an interactive voicemail for a recipient  118  or a group of recipients (not shown). For the purpose of illustration, only a single recipient  118  is shown and described. The interactive voicemail may be retrieved from data storage  116  if it were previously created, or generated by the processor  114  through an appropriate computer interface to an operator. By “interactive,” it is meant anything that will require a prospective recipient to reply in some way to the voicemail. For example, the interactive voicemail might comprise a questionnaire for the recipient to respond to, a series of options for the recipient to request more information in response to the voicemail, an opportunity to decline additional information, or the like. At step  202 , the application server (sender)  112  calls into the voicemail platform  100 , such as, for example, dialing a telephone to place an inbound call into the voicemail platform  100 . The voicemail platform  100  receives the call and the application server  112  will be prompted to enter the telephone number of the recipient at step  204 . The voicemail platform  100  will then allow the sender  112  to record an interactive voicemail in the data storage  104  of the voicemail platform  100  at step  206 . It is assumed that the sender has a subscription agreement with the voicemail platform  100  that enables it to deposit such voicemail messages as described in the foregoing. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is depicted an exemplary flowchart of a first process whereby a recipient receives an interactive voicemail from the voicemail platform  100 . In step  300 , the recipient calls into the voicemail platform  100  to check his or her voice messages. Here, it is assumed that the recipient is a subscriber to a voicemail system encompassing the voicemail platform  100 . At step  302 , the voicemail platform  100  performs user authentication and verification to determine if the recipient is a subscriber to the voicemail system. If the recipient is verified at step  304 , control then jumps to step  306  where the voice platform  100  determines whether there are voicemails in the voice mailbox of the recipient. If there are voicemails in the recipient&#39;s mailbox, the voicemail platform checks at step  308  whether there are any interactive voicemails in the voice mailbox of the recipient. If there are no interactive voice messages but there are regular voice messages in the recipient&#39;s voice mailbox, control then goes to step  310  where the regular voicemails are played in a conventional manner. If there are interactive voice messages in the recipient&#39;s mailbox, then control goes to step  312  and an interactive voicemail session is initiated, an example of which is described in more detail below. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is depicted an alternative embodiment of the process depicted in  FIG. 3 , where a non-subscriber to the voicemail platform  100  is contacted by the voicemail platform  100 . In step  400 , the voicemail platform  100  initiates an outbound call to the recipient  118 . The recipient&#39;s phone number was previously specified by the application server  112  when it deposited an interactive voicemail message in the voicemail platform  100 . At step  402 , the voicemail platform  100  plays the interactive voicemail to the recipient. If the recipient agrees to participate at step  404 , the voicemail platform starts an interactive session at step  406 . This process continues until the voicemail platform determines that there are no outstanding responses to be elicited from the recipient at step  408 . Although this is similar to receiving a direct call from a telemarketer, the presence of an interactive voicemail message in lieu of a live caller may make it more likely that an intended recipient will be receptive to listen to the telemarketer&#39;s pitch. 
     In order to provide the interactive voicemail function, there are two exemplary applications. In the first, the voicemail platform  100  connects to the application server  112  and the application server maintains a session with the voicemail platform to provide the interactive functionality. In this connection, the voicemail platform may send a setup message to the application server in order to set up a media and command stream of the type well known in the art. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that common voice over IP (VoIP) protocols can be utilized. When the application server  112  releases the call, the voicemail platform  100  would continue the process independently. In another expedient, the interactive voicemail itself consists of messages and prompts encoded in a syntax that is understood by the voicemail platform  100 . An exemplary pseudo-code may take the following form:
         PLAY_MESSAGE (“Welcome. Would you like to take a survey?”);   COLLECT_SPEECH (response);   IF(response=“yes”) THEN ADMINISTER_SURVEY( );   ELSEPLAY_MESSAGE (“Good bye”);   ENDIFEXIT( )
 
It is anticipated that many different forms could be utilized within the scope of the invention.
       

       FIG. 5  is an exemplary flowchart of an interactive session in accordance with an aspect of the present invention where a recipient is presented with an interactive voicemail that provides the opportunity to take a survey. At step  500 , the voicemail platform  100  plays an interactive voicemail message to the recipient, such as, for example, “Welcome. Would you like to take a survey?” At step  502 , the voicemail platform  100  receives a response from the recipient as to whether the recipient wishes to participate or decline. If the answer is in the affirmative at step  504 , the voicemail platform  100  will administer the survey in an interactive session at step  506 . If the recipient declines to take part in the survey, the voicemail platform  100  plays a “goodbye” message at step  508 . The voicemail platform maintains an interactive session with the recipient until the recipient has indicated that he or she has completed the survey at step  510 . 
     The exemplary survey application is intended to be merely illustrative of many types of interactive sessions that can be established in accordance with the invention. For example, the interactive session could be a questionnaire of any type, or could include a plurality of advertisements for the recipient. An insurance company could leave a voicemail with a prompt for a recipient to hit “1” for more information. An information provider could provide advertisements to a recipient on a periodic basis, track the number of messages that the recipient listens to, and then compensate that recipient for the time spent listening to the advertisements. This methodology is an improvement over standard telemarketing as such voicemails can be deposited into a recipient&#39;s voice mailbox without ever ringing the recipient&#39;s telephone. It is further anticipated that a message waiting indicator can be set to either notify the recipient of these special messages, or to provide notification of non-interactive messages only. 
     The present invention has been shown and described in what are considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments. It is anticipated, however, that departures may be made therefrom and that obvious modifications will be implemented by those skilled in the art. It will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous arrangements and variations which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and are within their spirit and scope.