Providing missed call and message information
View Patent ↗Information associated with messages and/or missed calls is provided to a subscriber. Calls received but not answered by the subscriber may be monitored. Each monitored call is classified as one of a missed call and a message. The monitored calls may be summarized based on a customizable rule set to create a summary. The summary is provided to the subscriber via, for example, a voice notification.
1. A system for providing information associated with messages or missed calls to a subscriber at a user device, the system comprising:
means for, detecting missed calls from received calls which are received at the user device but not answered;
means for, determining whether each missed call is associated with a message;
means for, generating a summary of the missed calls and messages;
means for, searching the messages for a word or phrase;
means for, grouping a set of messages from the messages having the word or phrase in a common thread;
wherein, the word or phrase is user-defined;
means for, presenting, in a message center at the user device, the set of messages having the word or phrase in a message center as being in the common thread,
the message center functionality being distributed across the user device and a service provider and accessible by a user at the user device.
2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the summary includes one or more identifiers summarizing the missed calls.
3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein there are no more than a predetermined number of identifiers.
4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein at least one identifier is a caller identity associated with a missed call.
5. The system according to claim 4 , further comprising, means for, performing a reverse lookup in a personal address book related to the subscriber, so as to retrieve the caller identity.
6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the caller identity is one of a name and a nickname of a caller associated with the missed call.
7. The system according to claim 4 , further comprising, means for, using caller ID to identify the caller identity.
8. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the caller identity is associated with a plurality of monitored calls from at least two different phone numbers.
9. The system according to claim 4 , further comprising, means for, providing a plurality of caller identities in an order based on when the monitored calls associated with the caller identities were received.
10. The system according to claim 4 , wherein one of the identifiers is a general identifier indicating a number of callers not associated with a caller identity provided in the summary.
11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the general identifier is provided when the phone number of a calling party associated with a monitored call is blocked or private.
12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the general identifier is provided when a calling party does not have an associated contact in the personal address book of the subscriber.
13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the summary is provided based on an event.
14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the event is detecting that the subscriber has gone off-hook.
15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the event is detecting that the subscriber has gone on-line.
16. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the event is detecting that the subscriber has pressed a button on a phone.
17. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the event is detecting that the subscriber has opened a phone.
18. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the message is at least one of a voice message, a video message, an email message, a text message, a multimedia message, an instant message, and a voice instant message.
19. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising, means for, generating a review of the missed calls and messages based on a customizable rule set; wherein a customizable rule set is defined by at least one of the subscriber and a service provider.
20. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising means for, providing to the subscriber a command option, the command option including at least one of a drill down command, a return call command, and an add to personal address book command.
21. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the summary includes a voice notification.
22. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the voice notification includes providing a pre-recorded name from an audio library.
23. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the prerecorded name includes the subscriber's voice.
24. The system according to claim 22 , further comprising, means for, converting text to speech.
25. A machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method of providing information associated with messages or missed calls to a subscriber at a user device, the method comprising:
detecting missed calls from received calls which are received at the user device but not answered;
generating a review of the missed calls and messages based on a customizable rule set;
providing the review by grouping the received calls into multiple threads;
wherein providing the review includes providing to the subscriber random access to one of the groups;
wherein grouping the received calls into the multiple threads includes:
searching the text for at least one word;
grouping the received calls based on whether the text was found;
wherein, the text is user-defined;
presenting, in a message center via the user device, the set of messages having the text as being in a common thread,
providing in the message center, a command option;
wherein, the command option includes at least one of a drill down command, a return call command, and an add to personal address book command;
the message center functionality being distributed across the user device and a service provider.
26. The method according to claim 25 , further comprising:
determining whether each of the monitored calls is from a caller identity associated with a personal address book related to the subscriber,
wherein grouping the monitored calls includes grouping the monitored calls by caller identity.
27. The method according to claim 25 , wherein grouping the monitored calls is a function of whether the caller identity is one of a user-defined group.
28. The method according to claim 25 , wherein generating the review includes: sorting calls in each group of callers in an order.
29. The method according to claim 28 , wherein the order is based on at least one of time, urgency, a number of calls made by a caller identity, and whether the monitored call is associated with a personal address book of the subscriber.
30. The method according to claim 25 , where generating the review includes providing a time of at least one of the monitored calls.
31. The method according to claim 30 , wherein the time is an elapsed time since the monitored call.
32. The method according to claim 30 , wherein the time is an approximate time of call.
33. The method according to claim 25 , wherein providing the review further includes providing the subscriber with command options.
34. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the command options include at least one of a return call command and an add to personal address book command.
35. The method according to claim 25 , wherein providing the review includes providing a voice response.
36. The method according to claim 35 , wherein providing the voice response includes providing a pre-recorded name from an audio library.
37. The method according to claim 36 , wherein the pre-recorded name includes the subscriber's voice.
38. The method according to claim 35 , wherein providing the voice response includes converting text to speech.
39. A system for providing information associated with messages or missed calls from received calls to a phone, the system comprising:
means for detecting missed calls which are received at the phone but not answered;
means for determining whether each missed call is associated with a message;
means for generating a summary of the missed calls or messages;
means for searching the messages for a word or phrase and grouping a set of messages from the messages having the word or phrase in a common thread;
wherein, the word or phrase is user-defined;
means for providing the summary to the subscriber at the phone;
wherein, the set of messages having the word or phrase are presented in a message center via the phone as being in the common thread,
wherein, a command option is provided in the message center;
wherein, the command option includes at least one of a drill down command, a return call command, and an add to personal address book command.
40. The system according to claim 39 , further comprising, means for, the review to the subscriber upon the subscriber accessing a message center.
41. The system according to claim 39 , further comprising, means for dividing the monitored calls into two or more groups.
42. The system according to claim 41 , further comprising, providing to the subscriber random access to one of the groups.
43. The system according to claim 41 , wherein at least one of the monitored calls is from a caller identity associated with at least one of a personal address book related to the subscriber and a caller ID associated with the monitored call.
44. The system according to claim 43 , wherein at least one group of calls is from a single caller identity associated with a plurality of monitored calls from at least two different phone numbers.
45. The system according to claim 41 , wherein the groups are a function of whether the caller identity is one of a user-defined group.
46. The system according to claim 41 , wherein the calls in each group are sorted in an order.
47. The system according to claim 46 , wherein the order is based on at least one of time, or urgency.
48. The system according to claim 39 , where the review includes a time of at least one of the monitored calls.
49. The system according to claim 48 , wherein the time is an elapsed time since the monitored call.
50. The system according to claim 48 , wherein the time is an approximate time of call.
51. The system according to claim 39 , wherein the review orders the monitored calls by missed calls or messages associated with a contact in the personal address book, missed calls or messages not associated with a contact in the personal address book other than from blocked numbers, and missed calls or messages from blocked numbers.
52. The system according to claim 39 , further comprising, means for, providing the review to the subscriber by speech.
53. The system according to claim 25 , further comprising, means for, providing the subscriber with command options.
54. The system according to claim 53 , wherein the command options include at least one of a return call command and an add to personal address book command.
55. The system according to claim 46 , wherein the order is based on a number of calls made by a caller identity.
56. The system according to claim 46 , wherein the order is based on whether the monitored call is associated with a personal address book of the subscriber.