Abstract: A method for more effectively accessing message attachments that is particularly applicable in a telephone voicemail or e-mail system. The system provides users with the ability to selectively process attachments to a main or originating message and to designate messages as able to be forwarded only once and/or be reviewed only once. Among other benefits, the time required for handling attachments and/or for listening to attachments is reduced. Various embodiments of the invention include the use of telephone keypad input control, push-button, voice recognition and computer control.

Abstract: A method for fault tolerance and fault recovery in multiprocessor systems that concurrently manage queues is disclosed. The illustrative embodiment comprises a plurality of servers, a queue of jobs to be assigned to the servers, and two queue managers—a primary unit and a secondary unit—such that the secondary fills in for the primary unit while the primary unit is down. The illustrative embodiment provides for smooth transitions from the normal state into the failure state and back into the normal state without losing jobs or violating the queue discipline of the system.

Abstract: A contact center is provided that includes a plurality of agents for servicing incoming contacts and a target behavior identification module operable to (i) process a set of events to yield a corresponding measure; (ii) compare the measure to a plurality of rule sets, each of the rule sets corresponding to a different type of target behavior; and (iii) when the measure is defined by the a selected rule set, associate the measure with a type of target behavior corresponding to the selected rule set.

Abstract: An apparatus that intelligently determines how to alert a user to the arrival of an incoming message at a telecommunications terminal, and what information is imparted to the user via the alert, is disclosed. In the illustrative embodiments, the terminal has a processor that makes this determination based on one or more of the following: properties of the incoming message (e.g., who sent the message, a priority level associated with the message, the semantic content of the message, the length of the message, etc.), the time and date (i.e., the “calendrical time”), environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, ambient luminosity, etc.), the user's physiological parameters (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, etc.), the location of the user, the proximity of other wireless terminals in the vicinity, whether the user is currently receiving another message, and the delivery mechanism of the other message (e.g., voice, text chat, etc.).

Abstract: An apparatus and methods are disclosed that enable a first user of a telecommunications terminal to receive, upon placing a call to a second user, a ringback signal that is based on one or more geo-locations (e.g., the geo-location of the first user, the geo-location of the second user, etc.), and optionally on one or more of the following: the identity of the first user; the identity of the second user; the first user's telecommunications terminal (e.g., whether it is a cell phone, wireline telephone, payphone, soft phone, etc.); and the second user's telecommunications terminal.

Abstract: A visual interface to an IVR system is provided to allow an interaction between a user and an interactive voice response (IVR) system to be visually monitored. A visual representation of an audio communication with an agent is generated based on the IVR script. The commands in the IVR scripts can be mapped to a visual representation. One or more fields in the visual representation can be populated with utterances of the caller. The agent can optionally review or update a field in the visual representation that has been populated with an utterance. An agent can optionally alter a flow of the IVR script or intervene in the audio communication.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed that enable the synchronization of user profile information for M users who are sharing K telecommunications terminals, wherein M and K are not necessarily equal to each other. The disclosed technique addresses the problem that occurs when multiple users share multiple terminals, in which a user that selects a particular terminal to use has to contend with the contact lists, user preferences, and call log entries that are left over from the previous user or users of the selected terminal. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the user profile information is associated with and stored for each user in a group of users, in contrast to being associated with and stored for the telecommunications terminal. The user profile information comprises (i) contact information, (ii) call or message activity, and (iii) user terminal preferences.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for improved efficiency and accuracy in voice dialing and directory lookup applications. A voice dialing module receives an input from a user and examines a directory to identify recognition results matching the voice input. A list of recognition results matching the voice input is constructed, the entries being ranked by confidence. A called party cache for each user includes entries for parties the user is likely to call. Once the result list has been constructed, the voice dialing module compares the list with the called party cache in order to determine if entries in the list appear in the cache. If an entry in the result list appears in the cache, the result list is reordered in order to take into account the increased likelihood that an entry appearing in the called party cache will be an entry the user wishes to call.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a telecommunication device 174 or 180 including (a) an input operable to receive from an endpoint, as part of a live voice communication, a text message and an audio message, the audio message being a voiced version of the text message; (b) a character display; (c) at least one activator; and (d) a graphical display agent 184 operable to (i) display the text message on an associated character display 300 and (ii) audibly play the audio message.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed that changes one or more properties of a user interface at a telecommunications terminal based on an incoming call. When a first caller calls the telephone number of the terminal directly and the terminal answers the call, the terminal presents the direct call to the user through a first user interface. When a second caller calls a telephone number that is associated with a data-processing system and the call is then redirected to the terminal, the terminal presents the redirected call to the user through a second user interface. The telecommunications terminal can be a cell phone that belongs to a user, and the data-processing system can be a private branch exchange that serves an office enterprise network that the user belongs to, wherein the private branch exchange extends the call to the user's cell phone when the user is out of the office.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed that enable a private branch exchange to determine that a voice mail system has answered a call, without some of the disadvantages in the prior art. The private branch exchange—or, generally-speaking, a data-processing system—infers that the voice mail system has answered a call by timing key events or by noting some of indications that are received from another system, or both. Subsequently, the private branch exchange drops the voice mail system from the call, thereby minimizing the non-enterprise voice mail system's handling of calls that are originated to an on-premises terminal.

Abstract: Maintaining a count of the number of samples below a predefined energy level that are in the sample queue. This count is then utilized by a circuit that is removing samples from the sample queue to determine which samples to delete in order to maintain a synchronous flow of data to a synchronous physical interface. The samples in the queue are being received from a packet switched network via a voice coder. A low energy detector is utilized to determine the energy level of samples before the samples are placed within the sample queue. This information is then utilized to maintain a counter for the circuit that is removing samples from the sample queue. Utilizing the contents of this counter, the circuit removing samples can determine which samples should be deleted of the ones that have a low energy.

Abstract: When it is determined that a sample queue exceeds a first predefined level, samples being received from a IP switched network are modified such that samples are removed within the voiced region of the samples by removing whole pitch periods of samples. If the sample queue is below a second predefined number, additional samples are placed into the queue by analyzing voiced samples from the IP switched network and generating additional pitch periods of samples.

Abstract: An enterprise network includes at least one communication device 208-1, an Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Layer 2 switch 206, and a corresponding enterprise switch 208. The communication device 208-1 is connected to at least one of an access point 904-1 and a respective port 207-1 of the Layer 2 switch 206. The enterprise network includes a plurality of Emergency Location Information Numbers (ELINs) corresponding to differing segments of the enterprise network. The Layer 2 switch 206 serves at least one of the differing segments. The communication device 208-1 includes a discovery agent 252 operable, when a predetermined first event occurs, to obtain from the Layer 2 switch 206 at least one of an access point identifier, a switch identifier from the Layer 2 switch 206, and a port identifier identifying the respective port 207-1.

Abstract: The present invention assists a user in locating an intended address even where an address entered by the user is incorrect. In particular, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an address structure entered by a user containing an existing domain name is considered as a vine of interconnected elements. This vine is then compared to the tree structure of the correctly named domain. A possible match or matches within the domain for the address entered by the user are returned to the user. The possible match or matches may be assigned an accuracy score to assist the user in locating the desired address. The present invention is applicable to any system utilizing addresses that can be considered as a series of elements, such as universal resource locators.

Abstract: Producing a textual transcription of a communication conference call. A participant who is going to be absent from the conference can indicate to a conference bridge key words defining topics of interest, and the conference bridge will identify these topics based on the textual transcript that is being done in real time. When the participant returns to the conference call, they can then search the portion of an audio recording that they missed utilizing index marks defining the topics of interest that are based on the entered key words.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for license distribution are disclosed. An endpoint requests information from a server related to information required for the server to grant a license. The server provides the required information to the endpoint. The endpoint obtains the required information, and forwards the information to the server. The server, upon receiving the information, determines if a license may be granted to the endpoint, and transmits a license authorization to the endpoint, which includes the number of licenses which are granted.

Abstract: A telecommunication system comprises a computational component operating in a first licensing mode. The system includes a license manager 113 that identifies the occurrence of a predetermined licensing event and a mode setting agent 124 that notifies a user of the predetermined licensing event and determines whether or not the user acknowledges receipt of the notice within a selected time period. When the user fails to acknowledge receipt of the notice within the selected time period, the mode setting agent causes the computational component to operate in a second licensing mode, and, when the user acknowledges receipt of the notice within the selected time period, causes the computational component to operate in a third licensing mode. The first, second, and third licensing modes provide for a first, second, and third sets of operations, respectively. Each of the first and third sets of operations differ from the second set of operations.

Abstract: A system for providing emergency location information to an emergency service provider is provided. The system includes (a) an input 118 and 122 operable to receive, from a registered communication device 112 and 114, an emergency contact and (b) an agent 146 operable to (i) determine whether the communication device 112 and 114 has a corresponding assigned extension; (ii) when the communication device 112 and 114 has no corresponding assigned extension, assign, from a set 150 of unassigned extensions, an extension to the communication device 112 and 114; and (iii) forward at least one of the assigned extension and an extension different from the assigned extension to emergency personnel.