[19]
`United States Patent
`4,790,003
`[45]
`Date of Patent:
`Kepley et al.
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
`Patent Number:
`
`[111
`
`[54] MESSAGE SERVICE SYSTEM NETWORK
`
`[75]
`
`Inventors: Garry D. Kepley, Boulder; John R.
`Lothrop, Longmont; Albert Mizrahi,
`Boulder, all of C010.
`
`[73] Assignee: American Telephone and Telegraph
`Company, AT&T Information
`Systems, Holmdel, N.J.
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 43,016
`
`'
`
`[22] Filed:
`
`Apr. 27, 1987
`
`Int. Cl.‘ ...................... H04M 3/50; H04M 11/00
`[51]
`[52] U.S. Cl. ...................................... .. 379/88; 379/96;
`379/ 142
`[58] Field of Search ..................... 379/96, 88, 142, 93,
`379/89
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5/1981 Novak ............................. 379/142 X
`4,266,098
`4,304,968 12/1981 Klausner et al.
`............... 379/ 142 X
`.
`4,436,963
`3/1984 Cottrell et al.
`4,506,111
`3/1985 Takenouchi et al.
`4,549,047 10/1985 Brian et al.
`.
`.. 379/88
`4,581,486 4/1986 Matthews et
`.
`.................... 379/88
`
`4,612,416 9/1986 Emerson et al.
`.
`4,625,081 11/I986 Lotito et al. .................... 379/196 X
`4,646,346 2/1987 Emerson et al.
`.
`
`.
`
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`Hedman, “MD-1 10 in the Automated Office”, Ericsson
`Review, No. 2, 1983, pp. 88-93.
`Lee et al., “Meridian SL Information Services”, Telesis
`1985 two, pp. 12-19.
`V
`T. Kamae, “Development of a Public Facsimile Com-
`munication System Using Storage and Conversion
`Techniques”, IEEE, 1980 National Telecommunica-
`tions Conference, Houston, Tex., Nov. 30—Dec. 4, 1980,
`pp. 19.4.1 to 19.4.5.
`“An Experimental Teleter-
`Bayer & "Thompson,
`minal—The Software Strategy”, The Bell System Techni-
`cal Journal, vol. 62, No. 1, Jan. 1983, pp. 121-144.
`Primary Examiner—-Keith E. George
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—John C. Moran
`
`ABSTRACT
`[57]
`This invention relates to business communication sys-
`tems and, in particular, to a message service system
`network that interconnects a plurality of message ser-
`vice systems and provides a voice mail message transfer
`capability between voice mail message service systems.
`The voice mail message transfer is performed as a com-
`puter-to-computer data file transfer operation over high
`speed data lines. The data file consists of the digitally
`encoded and compressed voice mail message to which
`is appended the message sender’s name and telephone
`number as well as the message recipient’s telephone
`number.
`
`6/1985 Japan ................................... 379/142
`60-121863
`W086/05650 9/1986 World Int. Prop. 0. ............ 379/96
`
`12 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets
`
`TELEPHONE-SHITEHIIE 91§TEH
` 5111 ‘NIH FRUIESSCN
`
`
`rP§Eé6§§ER
`1
`V8?
`
`Apple 1042
`
`U.S. Pat. 9,189,437
`
`
`
`
`
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`rpasezast
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`I51
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`
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`
`105
`
` I42
`
`TELEPHONE‘ SHITEHINC SYSTEM
`SNIYEN PRUZESSUR
`I53
`
`Apple 1042
`U.S. Pat. 9,189,437
`
`

`
`..lnmD13U
`
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
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`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
`Sheet 3 of7
`
`4,790,003
`
`ETIG. 3
`
`TO
`SNI“CH
`PROCESSOR
`
`
`
`‘02
`
`303
`
`DMA
`INTERFACE
`
`C BUS
`
`301
`
`-PROCESSOR
`
`
`
`ME35AgE
`SERVICE
`INTERFACE
`
`MESSAOE
`SERVICE
`INTERFACE
`
`
`
`302
`
`‘MEMORY
`
`A
`
`:312
`MESSACE
`'
`SERVICE
`
`INTERFACE
`
`
`
`MESSACE
`SERVICE
`INTERFACE
`
`TO VOICE
`MAIL
`SERVICE
`SYSTEM
`
`TO
`MESSAGE
`CENTER
`SERVICE
`SYSTEM T20
`
`TO OTHER
`MESSACE
`SERVICE
`SYSTEM
`
`TO OTHER
`MESSACE
`SERVICE
`SVSTEM
`
`

`
`US. Patent
`
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
`Sheet 4 of7
`
`4,790,003
`
`FIG. 4
`
`'
`
`ADDRESS HEADER
`
`VOICE MAIL MESSAGE
`21-
`
`|
`
`FIG. 5
`
`{<—2——+—2—+{<—?z2a———->J|
`FIELD
`DATA
`0
`Z 2
`ID
`‘ LENGTH
`E
`DATA
`
`FIG. 6
`
`'
`
`4
`
`MODE 3
`
`DC?
`
`0
`
`LAPD
`
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`
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`
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`
`MIA
`
`

`
`U.S.L Patent
`
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
`Sheet 5 of 7
`
`4,790,003
`
`DESTI ATION VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`"RANSMITS ITS ALPHANUMERIC IDENTIFIER TO
`
`TRE ORICINATINC VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`ORICINATINC VOICE MAIL SERVICE
`
`COMPARES RECEIVED ALPHANUMERIC
`SYSTE
`
`IDENTIFIER ITH THE IDENTIFIER
`
`
`STORED IN ITS MEMORY FOR THE
`DESTI ATIO VOICE MAIL.SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
` COMPAR
`EIVED IDENTIFIER AND
`
`PASSWORD NIT4 THE IDEN IFIER AND PASSWORD
`
`
`STORED IN ITS MEMORY FOR THE
`ORICINA _ 3 VO.CE MA_L SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`
`
`
`710
`
`TERMINATE
`CALL
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`DESTINAII
`TRANSMITS
`
`JV VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`DATA CALL ACCEPTED SIGNAL TO
`
`A.
`PROTOCOL ACCEPTANCE
`(‘7("T1
`TO DESTINATION OI
`MAIL SERVIC
`I
`ORICI AII C VCICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`TRAN MITS FILE SEND REOUEST TO
`DESTI AIIJN VCICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`NYSTEM
`/ 708
`
`

`
`US. Patent
`
`Dec. 6, 1988
`
`Sheet 6 of7
`
`4,790,003
`
`F19, 5
`
`FROM HO.
`
`7
`
`PI)
`
`I
`
`O VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM
`RI vES FIRST STORED VOICE MAIL
`FROM DATA BASE PROCESSOR
`
`800
`
`"’“
`
`ER FOR
`RETRIEVED VOICE MAIL MESSAGE BY READING
`E CALLING PARTY NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH
`THE RETRIEVED VOICE MAIL MESSAGE AND
`ETRIEVING THE CALLING PARTY NAME IN TEXT
`M ASSOCIATED WITH THE CALLING PARTY NUMBER
`
`NETWORK CONTROLLER APPENDS CALLED PARTY NUMBER.
`CALLING PARTY NAME IN TEXT FORM, CALLING PARTY
`NUMBER TO VOICE MAIL MESSAGE
`
`BO3
`
`OO2
`
`L
`
`A E
`
`L
`Y TRANSMITS
`NETWORK CONTROLLER SEOUENTEA
`IC M
`128 BYTE SEGMENTS OF VO
`IL MESSAGE
`O
`WITH HEADER TO DESTINATI N
`OICE MAIL
`MESSAGE SYSTEM BY APPENDI G PR TOCOL HEADER
`ZZ
`A
`TO EACH T28 BYTE SEGMENT A D TR NSMITTING VIA
`ORIGINATING VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM DATA
`PORT CALL CO NECTION
`1
`I
`DESTINATION VOICE MAI- SERVICE SYSTE
`TRANSMITS FILE RECEIVED SIGNAL TO
`ORIGINATING VOICE MAI- SERVICE SYSTEM
`
`'
`
`2 B04
`
`DESTINATION VOICE MAI- SERVICE SYSTEM
`TRANSMITS RELEASE ACCEPTED SIGNAL TO
`ORIGINATING VOICE MAI_ SERVICE SYSTEM
`I
`ORIGINATING VOICE MAI- SERVICE SYSTEM
`DISCONNECTS FROV DATA CALL
`
`DESTINATION VOICE MAI- SERVICE SYSTEM
`DISCONNECTS FROM DATA CALL
`
`EBO7
`
`808
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`Dec.6,1988
`
`Sheet 7 of 7
`
`4,790,003
`
`FIG. 9
`
`CALLED PARTY ACTIVATES MESSAGE
`RETRIEVAL ON TELEPHONE STATION SET
`
`// 9OT
`
`TELEPHONE STATION SET TRANSMITS
`MESSAGE STATUS OUERY MESSAGE
`TO SWITCH PROCESSOR
`
`902
`
`SWITCH PROCESSOR SEOUENTIALL
`EACH MESSAGE SE
`D
`MESSAGE STATUS A
`THE CALLED P
`
`E
`Y
`5 STEM RESPONDS / 904
`SWITCH PROCESSOR POLL BY
`SSOCIATED
`OICE MAIL
`gALLED
`
`VOICE MAIL SERVICE SYSTEM TRANSMITS
`EACH RETRIEVED HEADER TO SWITCH
`PROCESSOR IN TEXT FORM
`
`‘
`;
`
` V
`
`I
`I
`:
`I
`1
`
`SWITCH PROCESSOR REFORMATS E
`HEADER RECEIVED PROM VOICE M
`SERVICE SYSTEM INTO A DISPL
`MESSAGE THAT LISTS THE CALLING
`PARTY NAME AND NUMBER AND
`SEOUENTIALLY TRANSMITS EACH
`REEORMATTED HEADER TO THE
`PARTY S TELEPHONE STATIO
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`THE CALLED PARTY'S TELEPHONE
`STATION SET OUTPUTS THE RECEIVED
`DISPLAY MESSAGE ON THE DISPLAY
`
`’
`
`

`
`1
`
`4,790,003
`
`MESSAGE SERVICE SYSTEM NETWORK
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`This invention relates to business communication
`systems and, in particular, to a message service system
`network that interconnects a plurality of message ser-
`vice systems and provides a voice mail message transfer
`capability between message service systems.
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Message services is the term used to collectively
`identify the various office automation systems associ-
`ated with a telephone switching system. These office
`automation systems are used to improve the productiv-
`ity of the white collar worker in an office environment
`by providing an asynchronous voice (or short text mes-
`sage) communication medium.
`The voice mail service system is one example of these
`message services. The voice mail service system offers
`two distinct communication features: Voice Mailbox
`(VM) and Call Answering (CA). The voice mailbox
`feature is involved when a message originator calls the
`voice mail service system by dialing an access code on
`the telephone station set touch-tone pad. The message
`originator identifies one or more message recipients
`who are also served by the telephone switching system
`by dialing their station numbers, and then generates a
`voice message for delivery by the voice mail service
`system to the designated message recipients. The deliv-
`ery of the voice message may be immediate or at a
`scheduled time specified by the message originator. The
`delivery is passive in that the voice mail service system
`places the message in a mailbox assigned to each identi-
`fied message recipient and activates the message recipi-
`ent’s message waiting indicator on the message recipi-
`ent’s telephone station set instead of actively calling the
`message recipient to playback the message. The mes-
`sage recipient may then access the voice mail service
`system to listen to the message, save the message for
`subsequent action, delete it, append comments and
`route the message to other message recipients, ‘or reply
`and return a message to the message originator.
`The call answering feature of voice mail service is
`geared to the convenience of the message recipient,
`unlike the voice mailbox feature which is geared
`towards aiding the message originator. The nonavaila-
`bility of an individual to answer a telephone call results
`in that telephone call being redirected to the voice mail
`service system call answering feature. The caller re-
`ceives a prerecorded announcement message from the
`absent individual and can then leave a voice message in
`the absent individual’s voice mailbox.
`The difficulty with existing voice mail service sys-
`tems is that when a customer has a plurality of tele-
`phone switching systems with associated voice mail
`service systems, it is difficult to network the voice mail
`service systems together without incurring a significant
`transmission cost and a degradation of the quality of the
`voice transmission. The quality of the voice mail mes-
`sage transmission is a function of both the number of
`signal conversions and the quality of the transmission
`medium. A typical voice mail message system converts
`the received analog voice signal to digitally encoded
`form and stores this message in memory. The stored
`voice mail message is reconverted to analog form for
`transmission over standard voice-grade trunks to a dis-
`tant voice mail system. The received analog voice mail
`
`5
`
`10
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`15
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`30
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`35
`
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`
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`
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`
`2
`message is reconverted into digitally encoded form and
`stored in memory in the distant voice mail system. The
`voice mail message remains in memory until the mes-
`sage recipient requests retrieval at which time the voice
`mail message is again converted to analog form and
`delivered to the message recipient.
`Each analog-digital conversion operation negatively
`impacts on the voice quality of the voice mail message
`as well as uses expensive analog-digital signal conver-
`sion apparatus. In addition, the use of standard voice-
`grade trunks severely degrades the voice quality of the
`voice mail message. Some existing voice mail systems
`use automatic trunk test equipment to establish a test
`call between voice mail systems to determine the qual-
`ity of the transmission medium before transmitting the
`voice mail message. Since the voice-grade trunks con-
`tain no error correction capability, this test call is one
`method of minimizing the loss of voice quality of the
`voice mail message.
`The second factor is the cost of transmitting a voice
`mail message. This transmission cost is due to the fact
`that a voice mail message, generated on one voice mail
`service system and destined for a user served by another
`voice mail service system, must be transmitted along
`with header information over the transmission facilities
`that interconnect the plurality of message service sys-
`tems. This transmission presently consists of the header
`and voice mail message in analog form, as received from
`the message originator. This voice mail message ex-
`change consumes a significant amount of transmission
`capacity. For example, to provide the name of the mes-
`sage originator in the header requires approximately
`four seconds of speech which translates to 64K bits of
`PCM encoded data. To minimize the header informa-
`tion to reduce the transmission cost, the name of the
`message sender as well as the telephone number of the
`message sender is usually omitted from the voice mail
`message. The resultant transmission still occupies more
`time than the real-time transmission of the voice mail
`message. The exchange of a significant number of voice
`mail messages between two voice mail systems can
`apply a significant traffic load on the voice mail systems
`using such a message transmission arrangement.
`These problems have presented a significant impedi-
`ment to the networking of voice mail systems. As a
`result, existing voice mail networks provide poor qual-
`ity voice transmissions at high cost.
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`These problems are solved and a technical advance
`achieved by the subject message service systems net-
`work which provides an efficient message transfer capa-
`bility between message service systems. This message
`transfer capability includes the transmission of an in-
`depth header, containing for example the name of the
`message sender and the telephone number of the mes-
`sage sender and message recipient, along with the re-
`corded message. This intermessage service system com-
`munication efficiently uses transmission capacity by
`performing the message transfer as a computer-to-com-
`puter data file transfer over high speed data lines which
`provides error correction capability. If a wideband
`transmission facility is available, this computer data file
`transmission can be executed faster than a realtime
`voice message transmission. In addition, a level of inte-
`gration with existing text message services is accom-
`plished to provide the called party with a uniform mes-
`
`

`
`3
`sage notification regardless of whether the received
`message is a text or voice mail message.
`The message service system network consists of a
`plurality of telephone switching systems each serving
`one or more associated message service system and a
`plurality of terminal devices to provide business com-
`munication services to a plurality of subscribers. A
`message sender at a first telephone switching system
`generates a voice mail message in well-known fashion
`on the associated originating voice mail service system
`and designates one or more message recipients who are
`served by a second or destination voice mail service
`system. The originating voice mail service system re-
`sponds to this message origination by transmitting the
`recorded voice mail message to the destination voice
`mail service system at the message delivery time desig-
`nated by the message sender.
`The transmission of this voice mail message is effi-
`ciently accomplished by performing a computer-to-
`computer data file transfer between the originating and
`destination voice mail service systems. The data file
`consists of the digitally encoded and compressed voice
`mail message to which is appended a text header identi-
`fying the name and telephone number of the message
`sender and the telephone number of the message recipi-
`ent. The resultant data file is formatted by the originat-
`ing voice mail service system and transmitted to the
`destination voice mail service system, where it is stored
`in the message recipient’s voice mail box. The voice
`mail message exchange between the voice mail service
`systems is accomplished by a computer-to-computer
`data file transfer via a data call connection. A computer
`data file transfer operation uses well-known data integ-
`rity and data correction arrangements to preserve the
`quality of the transmitted encoded and compressed
`voice mail message. In addition, existing data links be-
`tween systems can be used to minimize the traffic load
`on the voice mail service systems.
`.
`The message recipient typically receives a message
`waiting indication on their telephone station set to indi-
`cate the presence of one or more unretrieved messages
`in one of the plurality of message service systems. To
`review the list of messages, the message recipient acti-
`vates the message retrieval function at the telephone
`station set and the message headers are sequentially
`listed on the display of the telephone station set. The
`voice mail messages in existing systems were simply
`indicated by a listing such as “You have voice mail". No
`further information was available to the message reci-
`pientwithout independently accessing the voice mail
`service system and retrieving the voice mail messages.
`The present system, however, also has the identity of
`the message sender included in the header of the data
`file in text form. Therefore, the present system provides
`the message recipient with a list of message senders who
`have transmitted voice mail messages to the message
`recipient. This is accomplished by the destination voice
`mail service system sequentially transmitting the mes-
`sage sender’s name from the header of each unretrieved
`voice mail message in the voice mailbox of the message
`recipient. The destination voice mail service system
`transmits the message sender’s name in text form to the
`switch processor of the telephone switching system,
`which forwards the text via a control signaling channel
`to the message recipient’s telephone station set. The text
`received at the telephone station set is listed on the
`display.
`
`5
`
`l0
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`30
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`4,790,003
`
`4
`The present message service system network there-
`fore efficiently interconnects a plurality of message
`service systems and transparently provides the message
`service independent of the ocation of the message
`sender and recipient. This network maintains the integ-
`rity of the voice mail message by using a computer-to-
`computer data file transfer operation to directly transfer
`the digitally encoded and compressed voice mail mes-
`sage.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1/ illustrates the subject message service system
`network in block diagram form;
`FIG. 2 illustrates the voice mail service system in
`block diagram form;
`FIG. 3 illustrates the data channel interface unit in
`block diagram form; and
`FIGS. 4—6/ illustrate various message formats;
`FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate, in flow diagram form, the
`operation of the subject message service system net-
`work to provide message transfer between a plurality of
`message service systems; and
`FIG. 9 illustrates, in flow diagram form, the opera-
`tion of the subject message service system network to
`provide message retrieval by a called party.
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`The subject message service system network is
`shown in block diagram form in FIG. 1. The network of
`the exemplary embodiment illustrates one of many pos-
`sible configurations. A plurality of telephone switching
`systems (100 and 140) are shown, each having associ-
`ated message service systems (voice mail service system
`110, message center service system 120 and voice mail
`service system 150,
`respectively). Each telephone
`switching system 100,140 serves a plurality of telephone
`station sets (T100-Tm and T160 - T16m) and is con-
`nected to a central exchange office 130 by a plurality of
`trunks (TR1-TRn and TR171-TR17n). The telephone
`switching systems 100,140 are shown connected to the
`same central exchange office 130, although they can be
`geographically separated and each served by a different
`central exchange office.
`Each stored program controlled telephone switching
`system 100 provides business communication services
`to a plurality of trunk circuits T1-Tn and telephone
`station sets T100-Tm. Included in telephone switching
`system 100 is a switching network 101 for establishing
`communication connections among telephone station
`sets T100-Tm and trunk circuits T1-Tn. A switch pro-
`cessor 102 controls the operation of telephone switch-
`ing system 100. The message service system network of
`FIG. 1 includes several message service systems: voice
`mail service system 110 which electronically stores and
`forwards voice messages, and message center service
`system 120 which provides operators at consoles 121-
`12n to record messages in text form for message origina-
`tors. These systems are known in the art and, to illus-
`trate the sbbject message transfer between a plurality of
`message service systems, voice mail service system 110
`will be described in further detail below.
`Telephone switching system 100 provides each tele-
`phone station set T100-Tm and trunk circuit T1-Tn
`with access to message service systems such as voice
`mail service system 110. An individual can directly call
`voice mail service system 110 from one of telephone
`station sets T100-Tm or trunk circuits T1-Tn or can
`redirect their incoming calls from their associated tele-
`
`

`
`4,790,003
`
`5
`phone station sets T100-Tm to voice mail service sys-
`tem 110. Telephone switching system 100 provides a
`control message communication link from switch pro-
`cessor 102 via data communication interface unit
`(DCIU) 103 and data link 105 to voice mail service
`system 110 to exchange call related information such as:
`new call, call disconnect, message waiting indication
`control, etc.
`
`6
`originating voice mail service system 110 over one of
`communication lines 104, through telephone switching
`system 100, central exchange office 130,
`telephone
`switching system 140, over one of communication lines
`154 to destination voice mail service system 150. This
`data call connection enables the two voice mail service
`
`systems 110,150 to exchange data files.
`In the present example, feature processor 112 formats
`the retrieved voice mail message for transmission over
`the data call connection. Feature processor 112 first
`reads the telephone number of the message sender from
`the retrieved voice mail message and uses this number
`to retrieve the name of the message sender from a user
`identification file in data base processor 113. The name
`of the message sender is appended, in text or phoneme
`form, to the retrieved voice mail message. Feature pro-
`cessor 112 additionally adds data file transfer header
`information to this retrieved voice mail message and
`transmits the resultant data file over the data call con-
`nection to destination voice mail service system 150.
`The data file is received by destination voice mail ser-
`vice system 150 where the data file header information
`is stripped off and the voice mail message, with the
`message sender’s identification, is stored in the message
`recipient’s voice mail box. Destination voice mail ser-
`vice system 150 transmits a control message via data
`link 155 to telephone switching system 140 to indicate
`the presence of a voice mail message for the message
`recipient. Switch processor 142 responds to this control
`message by activating the message waiting indicator on
`the message recipient’s telephone station set T160.
`The message recipient scrolls through the messages
`stored on the various message service systems by acti-
`vating the message retrieval function on telephone sta-
`tion set 160. Switch processor 142 responds to the mes-
`sage retrieval request by sequentially transmitting dis-
`play messages to telephone station set T160. Each dis-
`play message identifies a message sender who left a
`message for the message recipient on one of the message
`service systems. In existing voice mail service systems,
`a message sender identification is unavailable and the
`display message simply indicates “You have voice
`mail”. The present system provides the identification of
`the message sender for voice mail messages for the
`message recipient. Switch processor 142 transmits a
`voice mail message query to voice mail service system
`150 via DCIU 143 and data link 155. Feature processor
`152 responds to the voice mail message query by re-
`trieving the header of each unretrieved voice mail mes-
`sage stored for the message recipient in voice mail ser-
`vice system 150. Feature processor 152 transmits a
`voice mail message log containing the name of the mes-
`sage sender in text form; the telephone number of the
`message sender and the message delivery time to switch
`processor 142 via data link 155 and DCIU 143.
`Switch processor 142 formats each header received
`from feature processor 152 into a display message and
`transmits the display message to the message recipient’s
`telephone station set T160. The display message indi-
`cates the identity and telephone number of the message
`sender as well as the time of message delivery. The
`format of this display message is consistent with display
`messages from the other message service systems, such
`as message center service system 120 and the leave
`word calling feature of telephone switching system 140.
`The following description provides a more detailed
`explanation of the disclosed embodiment. A typical
`voice mail message creation and delivery session is
`
`Voice Mail Service System Overview
`
`An individual accesses voice mail service system 110
`to, for example, generate a voice mail message by going
`off hook on their associated telephone station set T100
`and dialing the voice mail service system access num-
`ber. Switch processor 102 receives and decodes the
`dialed number in well-known fashion and connects
`telephone station set T100 to one of the voice mail
`service access lines 104 via switching network 101. This
`establishes a voice communication connection from
`telephone station set T100 via switching network 101
`and voice mail service access line 104 to voice mail
`service system 110.
`Switch processor 102 also simultaneously transmits a
`control message identifying the calling party to voice
`mail service system 110 through data communication
`interface unit 103 and over data link 105. Once a control
`
`message comes over data communication interface unit
`103 from telephone switching system 100 announcing a
`new call, voice storage processor 111 and feature pro-
`cessor 112 interact directly with the message sender to
`provide the required message service features. Voice
`storage processor 111 controls the sequencing of the
`telephone call connection until a disconnect signal is
`received from the message sender. Voice storage pro-
`cessor 111 is comprised of many different elements
`working together to provide voice encoding capability.
`The hardware necessary to digitize voice and success-
`fully buffer it before storing it in data base processor
`system 113 is part of voice storage processor 111.
`Feature processor 112 provides the various system
`level features associated with voice mail service, such as
`mailing lists, message delivery, etc. Data base processor
`113 serves as a mass storage element to store all the
`digitally encoded voice signals as well as control algo-
`rithms used by voice storage processor 111 and feature
`processor 112. Additional details of voice mail service
`system 110 are disclosed below.
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`Voice Mail Message Delivery
`As part of the voice mail message creation session,
`the message sender at telephone station set T100 desig-
`nates the time at which this voice mail message is sched-
`uled for delivery to the message recipient (ex telephone
`station set T160). Feature processor 112 of voice mail
`service system 110 places this voice mail message in a
`queue in time of delivery ordered sequence. Feature
`processor 112 retrieves the stored voice mail message
`when the scheduled delivery time matches the present
`time or a prescheduled message delivery interval. The
`retrieved voice mail message indicates the identity of 60
`the message recipient, telephone station set T160. Since
`the message recipient is served by voice mail service
`system 150, feature processor 112 originates a data call
`to this destination voice mail service system 150 to
`transfer the retrieval voice mail message.
`The transfer of a voice mail message is accomplished
`as a computer-to-computer data file transfer. The
`above-mentioned data call connection extends from
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`described as well as the subsequent voice mail message
`scrolling operation. This description begins with a fur-
`ther review of a typical voice mail service system.
`Voice Mail Service Svstem
`
`Voice mail service system 110 is disclosed in block
`diagram form in FIG. 2. This system comprises three
`main elements: voice storage processor 111, feature
`processor 112 and data base processor 113. Broadly
`stated, the voice storage processor controls the follow-
`mg:
`a. Keeping track of control information about current
`voice messages being played or recorded, includ-
`ing where in the message the caller stopped play-
`back, and whether the caller is playing back or
`recording.
`b. Opening voice channels in preparation for record-
`ing or playback.
`c. Closing voice channels to end recording or play-
`back.
`
`cl. Controlling playback speed.
`e. Controlling playback volume.
`Feature Processor 112 controls the following func-
`tions:
`
`a. Controlling message headers-how they are read
`and created.
`
`b. Concatenating two messages together, or duplicat-
`ing a voice message.
`c. Erasing a message (includes telling the data base
`processor system to deallocate all extents associ-
`ated with this message).
`d. Rewinding a message.
`e. Keeping track of problems so that information can
`be provided to the caller when questions arise.
`f. Retrieving messages from a caller’s mailbox and
`preparing to play back both the message summary
`and the message body.
`g. Skipping to the next message (if any).
`h. Saving a message for later playback (becomes an
`old message in the mailbox).
`i. Verifying the password typed in by the caller.
`j. Retrieving distribution lists to later send out mes-
`sages.
`k. Controlling the delivery of messages.
`1. Storing a working message, one per subscriber.
`m. Retrieving initial lists of all messages (both new
`and old) in a user’s mailbox.
`n. Deleting a message and clearing up the disk space
`for later use.
`
`o. Retrieving a list of outgoing messages to report the
`status of each.
`
`p. Canceling the delivery of a piece of undelivered
`mail.
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`accessed.
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`Data Base Processor
`
`Data base processor system 113 is a back-end file‘
`system and data base machine. As a back-end processor,
`data base processor system 113 serves to offload file
`system and data base operations from voice storage
`processor 111. It also provides all the non-volatile stor-
`age used by voice storage processor 111.
`Both voice and non-voice files are stored by data base
`processor system 113 for voice mail service system 110.
`The voice files will include announcements and mes-
`sages. The non-voice files will
`include system pro-
`grams, system data, and user data. Data base processor
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`8
`system 113 provides basic file system support for voice
`mail service with functions which include, but are not
`limited to: File system management functions (e.g.,
`create, modify, delete, backup, recover, and report
`status of files and file systems); File manipulation func-
`tions (e.g., insert, modify, delete data in a file); File level
`concurrency control functions; Data base processor
`system administration functions; Data base processor
`system maintenance functions.
`Data base processor 113 includes central processing
`unit (CPU) 200, memory 201 and disk controller 202.
`Central processing unit 200 operates under control of
`instructions stored in memory 201 to transfer data from
`DBP BUS to disk storage 203 via disk controller 202.
`This operation is well-known and is not discussed fur-
`ther herein. Data base processor 113 also includes net-
`work controller 114 which is an interface device that
`operates under control of feature processor CPU 250 to
`transmit a data file from disk storage 203 to DCP port
`115. The DCP port 115 is a standard data port con-
`nected to switching network 101 and functions to pro-
`vide data call connection capability between voice mail
`service systems.
`
`Voice Processors
`
`Voice processors (220-22n) and voice ports (210-21n)
`take care of the following physical operations: touch-
`tone signal receiving; answer, disconnect; ring detec-
`tion; digit queuing; bandwidth compression (compress
`the voice data from 64k bits/s down to 16k bits/s) and
`expansion; silence compression (encode the length of
`long silences so that the encoded length value rather
`than the actual silent interval can be stored on disk) and
`expansion; playback speed control (speed-up or slow-
`down the rate of playback); playback volume (louder or
`softer); automatic gain control; per port timing (inter-
`token timing); freezing a voice channel to temporarily
`stop recording or playback; applying audible tone right
`before recording to signal the caller to begin; m