IP Library Granted Patent US 7,327,833
Granted Patent B2
US 7,327,833 · App. 10/393,106 · Granted Feb 5, 2008

Voice communications menu

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,327,833
App. No.
10/393,106
Granted
Feb 5, 2008
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and systems are described for providing a telecommunications services menu accessible via a voice interactive system, such as a voice services node. A subscriber accesses a voice communications menu by accessing a voice services node. The voice services node queries a customer profile database to obtain a list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber. At the voice services node, a voice prompt is constructed for providing the subscriber a voice menu of the available services. After the subscriber receives the voice prompt of menu items, the subscriber may select a service from the provided menu.

Claims (58)

1. A method of providing a telecommunications services menu accessible via a voice interactive system, comprising:

placing a call at a subscriber switch for voice interactive services;

routing the call to a network component for voice interactive services;

receiving a request at the network component for a voice menu of available telecommunications services;

at the network component, querying a subscriber customer profile for a list of telecommunications services available to a subscriber based on telecommunications services subscribed to by the subscriber wherein querying the subscriber customer profile includes passing a calling line identification associated with a calling line from which the subscriber is calling to a customer profile database wherein the subscriber customer profile is located without subscriber input based on the calling line identification;

returning the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber from the customer profile to the network component wherein the customer profile is matched to the subscriber based on the calling line identification;

at the network component, constructing a voice prompt for providing the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber; and

providing the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber;

wherein the list telecommunications of services available to the subscriber varies solely based on the telecommunications services subscribed to by the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying the subscriber customer profile for the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber includes querying the subscriber customer profile via a database query to the customer profile database.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein querying the subscriber customer profile via the customer profile database includes passing a user identification via a database query to the customer profile database.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein querying the subscriber customer profile via the customer profile database includes passing a subscriber personal identification number via a database query to the customer profile database.

5. The method of claim 1 , after querying the subscriber customer profile for the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber, parsing the subscriber customer profile for the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein returning the list of telecommunications services to the subscriber from the customer profile to the network component includes returning the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber in response to the database query from the network component to the customer profile database.

7. The method of claim 1 , prior to querying the subscriber customer profile for the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber, validating the subscriber for access to the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein constructing the voice prompt for providing the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber includes converting the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber from text-to-speech for playing to the subscriber as an audio-formatted message.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising providing the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber telephonically from the network component to the subscriber via the subscriber's switch.

10. The method of claim 1 , after providing the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber:

receiving a subscriber selection of one or more available services from the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber; and

providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes routing the subscribers call to a directory assistance service to allow the subscriber to receive directory assistance services.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes routing the subscribers calls to a called party designated by the subscriber.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein routing the subscriber's call to a called party includes providing a called party directory number to the network component from subscriber.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes routing the subscriber's call to another network component for provision of the selected telecommunications service.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein routing the subscriber's call to another network component for provision of the selected telecommunications service includes routing the subscriber's call to a voice mail service system to allow the subscriber to review voice mail messages to the subscriber.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes providing an electronic mail reader service via a Voice over Internet Protocol connection through the network component to the subscriber.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes providing message delivery from the subscriber to a wireless message receiving device.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein providing the selected telecommunications service to the subscriber includes providing subscriber designated information services to the subscriber via the network component.

19. The method of claim 1 , after\querying the subscriber customer profile for the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber, prompting the subscriber from the network component to establish a customer profile if no customer profile is located for the subscriber in the customer profile database.

20. The method of claim 1 , prior to placing the call at the subscriber switch for voice interactive services, accessing the subscriber's customer profile in the customer profile database to update the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber.

21. The method of claim 20 , after accessing the subscriber's customer profile in the customer profile database to update the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber, populating the subscriber's customer profile with a list of updated telecommunications services available to the subscriber.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein accessing the subscribers customer profile in the customer profile database to update the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber includes accessing the subscriber's customer profile telephonically via the network component.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein accessing the subscriber's customer profile in the customer profile database to update the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber includes accessing the subscriber's customer profile via a distributed computing environment.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein accessing the subscriber's customer profile via a distributed computing environment includes accessing the subscriber's customer profile via the Internet.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein accessing the subscribers customer profile via the Internet includes accessing the subscriber's customer profile via a TCP/IP protocol connection from a subscriber's computing device to the customer profile database.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the list of telecommunications services available comprises providing a menu of all telecommunications-based services available to the subscriber via a single voice interactive session between the subscriber and a telecommunications services provider of the subscriber.

27. The method of claim 1 , further comprising parsing a personal address book associated with the subscriber wherein parsing the personal address book includes utilizing a calling line identification associated with a calling line from which the subscriber is calling to match the subscriber to the personal address book associated with the subscriber wherein the personal address book associated with the subscriber is located without subscriber input based on the calling line identification.

28. A method of providing a telecommunications services menu accessible via a voice interactive system, comprising:

receiving a request at a telecommunications system voice services node from a subscriber for a voice menu of available telecommunications services;

at the voice services node, querying a subscriber customer profile database for a list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber based on telecommunications services subscribed to by the subscriber wherein querying the subscriber customer profile database includes passing a calling line identification associated with a calling line from which the subscriber is requesting to the customer profile database wherein the subscriber customer profile is located without subscriber input based on the calling line identification;

receiving the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber from the customer profile wherein the customer profile is matched to the subscriber based on the calling line identification;

at the voice services node, creating a voice menu of available telecommunications services from the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber;

providing the voice menu of available telecommunications services to the subscriber;

receiving a subscriber selection of one or more available services from the menu of available telecommunications services; and

providing the selected service to the subscriber;

wherein telecommunications services available vary solely based on the telecommunications services subscribed to by the subscriber.

29. A system for providing a telecommunications services menu accessible via a voice interactive system, comprising:

a telecommunications system voice services node operative to:

receive a request for a voice menu of available telecommunications services from a subscriber;

query a subscriber customer profile database for a list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber wherein querying the subscriber customer profile database includes passing a calling line identification associated with a calling line from which the subscriber is requesting to the customer profile database wherein the subscriber customer profile is located without subscriber input based on the calling line identification;

receive the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber from the customer profile wherein the customer profile is matched to the subscriber based on the calling line identification;

to create a voice menu of available telecommunications services from the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber; and

to provide the voice menu of available telecommunications services to the subscriber;

wherein the list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber varies solely based on the telecommunications services subscribed to by the subscriber.

30. The system of claim 29 , wherein the voice services node is further operative to:

receive a subscriber selection of one or more available services from the menu of available telecommunications services; and

provide the selected service to the subscriber.

31. The system of claim 29 , wherein the voice services node operative to query is operative to prepare and submit a database query to the customer profile database to obtain information as to the telecommunications services available to the subscriber.

Assignments (7)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 26, 2017
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
To: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 041498/0113 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 6, 2016
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
To: AT&T BLS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
Reel/Frame 039265/0674 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 6, 2016
From: AT&T BLS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
To: AT&T DELAWARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
Reel/Frame 039266/0078 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNOR NAME & EXECUTION DATE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 019599 FRAME 0830. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNOR NAME SHOULD BE: BELLSOUTH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION. EXEC DATE SHOULD BE 4/27/2007. SEE OFFICIAL DOCUMENT. Recorded Jul 6, 2016
From: BELLSOUTH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
Reel/Frame 039267/0051 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 26, 2008
From: AT&T DELAWARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
Reel/Frame 021594/0001 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 27, 2007
From: BELLSOUTH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
Reel/Frame 019599/0830 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 20, 2003
From: STILLMAN, SCOTT T.; CROWE, JENNIFER A.
To: BELLSOUTH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 013898/0719 →