Having Electronic Mail Patents (Class 379/93.24)
  • Patent number: 8855273
    Abstract: An email-to-facsimile (fax) processing system efficiently services requests issued by customers of the system in a fair and impartial manner. The system illustratively includes a plurality of components configured to provide email-to-fax processing services over a network. The components of the email-to-fax system include computer nodes executing software processes and/or services embodied as one or more FaxEmail routers, FaxEmail pollers, Rendering servers and Fax assemblers. The email-to-fax processing services provided by the components illustratively include email storage and retrieval services, email-to-fax conversion services and fax organizational transmission services. One or more of these services may be performed by the components in a randomized fashion to ensure that the customer requests, such as email-to-fax requests, may be fairly and impartially processed by the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: Advanced Messaging Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Vlad Vendrow
  • Patent number: 8817959
    Abstract: System for handling messages and distributing information between subscribers and their customers and contact. Each system subscriber can generate customized landing and flyer web pages called flyer pages for each of the subscriber's products, services, and/or listings. Landing and flyer pages can contain multiple links to other flyer pages. When a subscriber's customer or contact views a landing or flyer page and clicks on a link presented on that page, the system provides subscriber's information to a customer or contact immediately after the information is requested. The system can also make a lead, including a record of that event, and present the record to the subscriber who owns the landing or flyer page, allowing a subscriber to view a report with a history of who has viewed which page for all leads generated for their pages. Leads are tracked through a process that includes steps of lead generation and lead propagation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: O'Harlan Ltd
    Inventor: Kenneth P. O'Hanlon
  • Patent number: 8817308
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus of this invention converts image data into a predetermined transmitting format in turn from a read page before images are read from all pages of originals. Upon completion of reading operations of all the pages of the originals, the image processing apparatus controls a transmitting unit to transmit image data in association with the image data of a page, which has already been converted into the transmitting format, and controls to convert image data into the transmitting format and then controls the transmitting unit to transmit the image data, in association with the image data of a page, which has not been converted into the transmitting format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuyuki Tonegawa
  • Patent number: 8768296
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for allowing a telephone service subscriber to receive an email notification, e.g., a SMS notification, at an endpoint device that a new voice mail message has been received. The SMS notification comprises a voice mailbox access phone number, selected from a pool of unassigned access phone numbers, which can be used to provide direct access to the new voice mail message in the telephone service subscriber's voice mailbox. Thus, a different voice mailbox access phone number is sent in each SMS notification to the telephone service subscriber for each new voice mail message, thereby providing direct access to specific voice mail messages via different voice mailbox access phone numbers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
    Inventor: Gerald Karam
  • Patent number: 8762469
    Abstract: An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Aram M. Lindahl
  • Patent number: 8713119
    Abstract: An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Aram M. Lindahl
  • Patent number: 8687774
    Abstract: A method and system is provided for receiving a fax message and forwarding the fax message to an email destination and/or sending an email message to notify of the receipt of the fax message. The system has a plurality of access devices which are coupled to each other over a network such as the Internet. These access devices may include computers, workstations, and the like. Upon receipt of a fax message, the message may be forwarded to an e-mail box. Alternatively, a notification of the message is sent to a recipient in the form of an email message. The system may be configured based on the specifications of the caller or the recipient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Stage Innovations, Inc.
    Inventor: Taka Migimatsu
  • Patent number: 8676904
    Abstract: An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Aram M. Lindahl
  • Patent number: 8670531
    Abstract: A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or tactical communications; (ii) review the messages of conversations in either a live mode or a time-shifted mode and to seamlessly transition back and forth between the two modes; (iii) participate in multiple conversations either concurrently or simultaneously; (iv) archive the messages of conversations for later review or processing; and (v) persistently store media either created or received on the communication devices of users. The latter feature enables users to generate or review media when either disconnected from the network or network conditions are poor and to optimize the delivery of media over the network based on network conditions and the intention of the users participating in conversations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Voxer IP LLC
    Inventors: Thomas E. Katis, James T. Panttaja, Mary G. Panttaja, Matthew J. Ranney
  • Patent number: 8666044
    Abstract: An Electronic Document Answering Machine is adapted to connect to remote information sources and to download digital documents including e-mail and WEB pages, and to store the documents for later review by a user. The Answering machine has an alert device for alerting a user that new documents are available for review, and an initializing device for a user to cause documents to be communicated for review one-at-a-time. In a preferred embodiment documents are communicated over a speaker via voice synthesis. In an alternative preferred embodiment a small display is provided wherein documents may be displayed in alphanumeric characters. The answering machine can be implemented as a stand-alone device or can be connected via a serial port to a host PC for transferring documents to the PC for processing and review. In other embodiments the Answering Machine is implemented as a system in a PC, with alert and selective input added as an interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Yuzalla Investments LLC
    Inventor: Dan Kikinis
  • Patent number: 8660242
    Abstract: A system includes an interface to receive a signal associated with a call from a first communication device to a second communication device. The system also includes a call suspension mechanism to suspend the call. The system further includes a call disposition engine to send an electronic mail message associated with the suspended call to a device identified by a subscriber address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: Yolius Diroo, Edward Walter, Paul R. McLaughlin, Russell W. White
  • Patent number: 8654944
    Abstract: A method of automating a telephone call to a contact with whom a text based electronic communication is exchanged. The method can include, via a processor, receiving from a first electronic messaging client a first identifier corresponding to a first text based electronic communication sent to a user or received by the user, and receiving from a second electronic messaging client a second identifier corresponding to a second text based electronic communication sent to the user or received by the user. Via the processor, a list that identifies at least the first identifier and the second identifier can be presented. Responsive to receiving a user selection of the first identifier or the second identifier, via the processor, a telephone call can be automatically initiated to a telephone number that corresponds to the selected identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kulvir S. Bhogal, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Mark William Talbot
  • Patent number: 8634522
    Abstract: The present publication discloses a method and system for sending messages in a telecommunications network (1, 2, 6, 11, 12), in which method digital messages (40) which contain information on the desired reply address (32) are mass sent (3), and messages, which are sent on the basis of the reply-address information (32) are received (10). According to the invention, the reply-address information of each mass-sent message (40) is converted (3) to correspond to a predefined dialogue, in which the stage of the dialogue defines unequivocally the reply-address information (32), so that the transmission and reception of the messages are implemented in different parts of the telecommunications system (1, 2, 6, 11, 12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Bookit Oy Ajanvarauspalvelu
    Inventor: Jukka Salonen
  • Patent number: 8631077
    Abstract: A Duplicate Content Storage and Access Program (DCSAP) identifies duplicate content, stores the duplicate content in one location, and provides a doclink to the stored duplicate content so that the doclink may be automatically replaced with the duplicate content. DCSAP examines email to determine whether the email contains a section identifier. A section identifier is a data element assigned by an algorithm in such a manner that no two section identifiers can be the same. If the email does not contain a section identifier, DCSAP embeds a section identifier into the email and forwards the email. If the email contains a section identifier, DCSAP extracts the section. DCSAP stores the extracted section in a repository and creates a doclink to the stored section. DCSAP then embeds a section identifier in the remainder of the email, and forwards the remainder and the doclink to the recipient. The doclink may be activated by the recipient, or it may be activated automatically.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Yen-Fu Chen, John Hans Handy-Bosma, Keith Raymond Walker
  • Patent number: 8624743
    Abstract: The present invention is a system for communicating a voice signal or audio message initiated over potentially great distances and deliverable to an unattended animal, and comprises a base unit and a wireless receiver. Voice signals or e-mail messages incorporating embedded audio files or commands for delivering an audio message are sent over a global communication via computer network to the base unit which includes a transmitter. The transmitter sends via wireless communication the voice signal or an audio message from the transmitter to a local receiver secured to a pet collar or the like. The system transmits live audio signals (converted from the audio files or stored audio messages) in real time over great distances. The receiver is preferably worn on the pet and includes a speaker and wireless receiver for converting the wireless signals sent by the transmitter into audio signals emitted by the speakers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Inventors: Shirley Langer, Richard Fujio
  • Patent number: 8620390
    Abstract: An in-vehicle hands-free apparatus transfers, from a cellular phone to the hands-free apparatus, information regarding all the e-mails received from a communication network and stored in the cellular phone, right after the connection of a Bluetooth (BT) communication channel between the cellular phone and the hands-free apparatus. Thus, received e-mails that are received by the cellular phone from the communication network during a BT communication channel disconnection time can be synchronized between the cellular phone and the in-vehicle hands-free apparatus, thereby allowing the user to handle, on the hands-free apparatus, the received e-mails that have been received by the cellular phone while the BT communication channel is absent between the cellular phone and the hands-free apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Hideaki Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8611512
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for integrating electronic mail, voice mail, and fax mail in a universal mailbox. Message receivers may access their messages with a telephone or a computer regardless of the communication medium used by the message sender. Using a telephone, message receivers may playback voice mail, redirect fax mail, and “listen” to e-mail through a text-to-speech conversion process. Using a computer and modem, message receivers may playback voice mail, view fax mail, and read e-mail by accessing the universal mailbox via connection software. Message senders and receivers may choose from a variety of filter and forward options that allow them to manage their communications via the universal mailbox. Forwarding and conversion of messages is performed automatically. The options are used to define a set of rules to be applied to inbound and outbound messages so that messages are sent and received in accordance with the preferences of the senders and receivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Cranberry Properties, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen J. Owens, Michael S. Finney, Michael L. Snider, Randall S. Wright, James W. Paynter, Robin R. Bard, James Arthur Kitchen, David Gregory Smith, Leonard A. DeNittis, Kyle S. Brown, Thomas Francis Johnson, III, Steve Feinstein
  • Patent number: 8594295
    Abstract: A method includes associating an e-mail address with a plurality of telephone numbers; associating one of the telephone numbers with a one number service (108); allowing telephone calls to the one of the telephone numbers by selecting the e-mail address. In some embodiments, the allowing telephone calls comprises calling a programmed caller number and calling to a called party number associated with the e-mail address. In some embodiments, a called party and a calling party are subscribers to a one-number service (108).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Victor Chan, William J. Beyda
  • Patent number: 8582733
    Abstract: A phone system with a methodology for call parking is described. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a user of a communications endpoint device can use a user interface at the communications endpoint device to select persons to notify of a parked call. Upon successfully parking the call, the phone system notifies the selected persons in the manner specified in their account profiles. Such manner can include sending an e-mail to the selected person or sending a text message to the selected person. Advantageously, the manner for notifying the selected persons of the parked call is determined by the selected persons themselves through configuration of their account profiles thereby alleviating the user parking the call from having to determine the manner for notifying the selected persons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: RingCentral, Inc.
    Inventor: Curt T. Larson
  • Patent number: 8577344
    Abstract: This invention provides a mechanism for enhancing safe use of wireless mobile terminals (smartphones) in a moving vehicle. The Invoke facility service's Boolean expression controls the conditions which invoke smartphone apps into execution. Smartphone apps, which are dangerous to execute in a moving vehicle, are prevented from invocation. Elimination of all smartphone apps in moving vehicles is inadvisable. An app, deploying an accelerometer to sense the impact of a serious collision to call “911” with a recorded message and provides the vehicle's GPS location, is an example. This invention allows an app builder to select invocation conditions for apps. Significant is the use manner of the operation “Not”. The contradiction of an event is also an event meaning that if an event is false, its contradictory event is true. Another important aspect is the conjunctive operation “And Then”. This operation implies an efficient algorithm to evaluate Boolean expressions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Inventor: Thaddeus John Kobylarz
  • Patent number: 8553857
    Abstract: A system establishes a telephone call between a calling party and a called party. The system receives a telephone call connection request, including identification of the called party, from the calling party and determines, based on the identification information, if the called party is currently connected to a data network. If the called party is currently connected to the data network, the system establishes the telephone call between the calling party and an instant messaging client of the called party.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC
    Inventors: Joel Hanson, Mark O'Brien, Tony Moey, Mike Kirchner, Tom Galvin, Donald J. Maurer, Don Fergus
  • Patent number: 8548142
    Abstract: A subscriber to a universal point of contact service designates a preferred point of contact at which a communication initiator, such as a telephone caller, can contact the subscriber. Such an initiator desiring to contact the subscriber uses the subscriber's email address to establish a communication session with a device associated with the subscriber's preferred point of contact. The subscriber's email address is input to an initiating device, preferably a telephone or facsimile machine, using an entry device capable of entering an email address. A requestor unit, receiving the email address, locates a repository of the subscriber's point of contact information, and requests that information. The repository sends the point of contact information the subscriber has designated as preferred, and the requester unit uses that information to control a telephone switch to establish a communication session between the initiating device and the subscriber's preferred point of contact device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Ayman, LLC
    Inventors: Ayman Hariri, Scott D. Birnbaum
  • Patent number: 8542606
    Abstract: A method and communications device is provided for determining a list of possible additional recipients to add to an electronic message that is composed by a user of the communications device for transmission to another communications device. Once the user indicates that there is an additional recipient for the distribution list of the electronic message, the device employs the method to create the list of possible additional recipients. The method may be implemented on a computer program product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: David Paul Yach, Harry Richmond Major, Ronald Scotte Zinn
  • Patent number: 8521834
    Abstract: A communication system exchanges electronic mail information. Communication devices are operable to input a telephone number that includes an identification number of a telephone telecommunication services operator and to transmit electronic mail information together with the telephone number. A storage device is operable to store a reference table in which the identification number of a telecommunication services operator is correlated with the domain name of the telecommunication services operator. A communication management device is operable to receive the transmitted electronic mail information and telephone number, to read the domain name of the telecommunication services operator from the reference table using the identification number of the telecommunication services operator, to merge the telephone number with the domain name read from the reference table to form an electronic mail address, and to forward the electronic mail information to the electronic mail address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuru Goto
  • Patent number: 8515029
    Abstract: A method for delivery of a voice mail message to a recipient. The method includes identifying the recipient of the voice mail message, receiving a notification indicative of one of the subscriber's availability, the subscriber's presence and the subscriber's location, recording the voice mail message, selectively converting the voice mail message to a text message based on the notification, and delivering either the text message or the voice mail message to a device of the recipient based on the notification. The method may further include receiving an alternative destination device for delivery of the text message or the voice message and delivering the text message or the voice message to the alternative destination device using internet protocol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventor: Venson M. Shaw
  • Patent number: 8503629
    Abstract: In one implementation a computer-implemented method includes generating a group of telephone contacts for a first user, wherein the generating includes identifying a second user as a contact of the first user based upon a determination that the second user has at least a threshold email-based association with the first user; and adding the identified second user to the group of telephone contacts for the first user. The method further includes receiving a first request to connect a first telephone device associated with the first user to a second telephone device associated with the second user. The method also includes identifying a contact identifier of the second telephone device using the generated group of telephone contacts for the first user, and initiating a connection between the first telephone device and the second telephone device using the identified contact identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Strope, Francoise Beaufays, Hy Murveit
  • Patent number: 8495706
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a television apparatus includes a receiving module, a display controller, a receiving controller, an obtaining module, a storage module, and a controller. The receiving module receives an operation for putting the television apparatus into a waiting state to connect to an external device. The display controller displays identification information identifying the television apparatus, security information generated randomly, and displays screen information received from the external device. The receiving controller receives the request for connection and the security information. The obtaining module obtains external-device identification information identifying the external device if communication with the external device is initiated. The storage module stores the external-device identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Tomohiro Kanda
  • Patent number: 8482769
    Abstract: This invention provides a first communication apparatus, which makes a facsimile communication via a packet communication network and can describe different contents image header information each including a date, time, source information, destination information, and the like in image data having a predetermined number of pixels upon sending the image data to a plurality of destinations, and a communication method. This invention also provides a second communication apparatus which makes a facsimile communication via a packet communication network and has a first mode in which image header information such as a date, time, source information, destination information, and the like can be described in image data having a predetermined number of pixels and can send the image data, and a second mode in which image data having one of various resolutions and an indefinite number of pixels can be sent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuyuki Tonegawa
  • Patent number: 8457299
    Abstract: To provide a personalized voice email service, data pertaining to one or more of a user's email accounts, e.g., email addresses and account access data, is maintained in a folder by an information assistance service, which is unaffiliated with the email service providers (e.g., AOL, Hotmail, etc.) maintaining the user's email accounts. When the user calls the information assistance service, the user's folder is retrieved. The user's email accounts may be accessed on behalf of the user based on the email addresses and account access data in the user's folder. An information assistance provider including, e.g., an operator and/or a voice server, may present information concerning the email messages received in the user's email accounts in different manners. For example, the information assistance provider may report to the user selected email messages that satisfy one or more predetermined criteria, e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Grape Technology Group, Inc.
    Inventors: John Miller, Timothy Timmins
  • Patent number: 8402499
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are inventions that integrate a home television set top box (“STB”) or home media center with a smart voicemail system of a telephone service provider. Smart voicemail features, such as email notification of voicemails, or online playback of voicemails, may be used to obtain digital voicemail audio files that are then stored and maintained in a home computer network. These files can be served over the network via a networked television STB or a media center computer, to a display monitor during normal usage. Embodiments cause new voicemail notifications to be displayed during typical operation of a television with the STB or media center computer and provide users with an interface for responding to new voicemail notifications, and reviewing, managing, and playing back voicemail. Messages received thus can be easily identified and reviewed through an interface with which subscribers are extremely comfortable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH
    Inventors: William E. Vallier, Joseph R. Schlesier, Andrew J. Bodart, Matthew J. Wylie
  • Patent number: 8379244
    Abstract: A network printing system, a network communication method to print information, and a host and an image forming device to perform network communications are provided. A mail server provides a mail transmitting/receiving service, a host transmits a mail including channel information established for data communications, and an image forming device accesses a mail account allocated to the mail server to receive the transmitted mail, and communicate the host by using the channel information included in the received mail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Woo-chang Kim
  • Patent number: 8369841
    Abstract: Invented is a facility service to be used as a component service for building compound wireless mobile communication services (CWSs). The name ascribed to this facility service is Invoke. The purpose of Invoke is to detect the events signifying that the CWS operation is to commence and then initiate (or invoke) the CWS execution. The events represent variables within a Boolean expression parameter of an Invoke service. The Boolean expression allows Invoke to be very versatile with respect to the possible combination of events for CWS invocation. Versatility is enhanced by the wide variety of events that are recognized; e.g., entering a geographical location, recognizing an audio signal, reaching a time of day, observing a specific caller ID. The Invoke facility service contains other parameters useful at CWS invocation; e.g., CWS password protection, CWS initialization of constants and variables, linkage to other CWSs to acquire data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Inventor: Thaddeus John Kobylarz
  • Publication number: 20130028402
    Abstract: A particular method includes initiating outbound calls associated with at least two recipients that are to receive a notification message. The outbound calls include a first call to a first telephone address associated with a first recipient of the at least two recipients. The method further includes, in response to a determination that the first call is unanswered, initiating a second call to a second telephone address associated with the first recipient and initiating generation of an email message to an electronic mail address associated with the first recipient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Applicant: AT&T Intellectual Property I. L.P.
    Inventors: Douglas F. Reynolds, Jeffrey Lewis Brandt, Aaron Bangor, Marc Andrew Sullivan
  • Patent number: 8358760
    Abstract: The invention comprises a method and apparatus for enabling a subscriber to establish a call to at least one destination phone number using an email address. Specifically, the method comprises receiving an incoming communication request from the subscriber for establishing the call (where the incoming communication request comprises an email address), determining at least one destination phone number associated with the email address, and processing the call using at least one of the at least one destination phone number associated with the email address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
    Inventors: Marian Croak, Hossein Eslambolchi
  • Patent number: 8352552
    Abstract: A user of a handheld communication device selects in a foreground process portions of an electronic document. In a background process a new document is prepared that comprises the selected portions. The user selects the address for forwarding the new document, and the new document gets sent in a background process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corp.
    Inventor: Leila Kaghazian
  • Patent number: 8306198
    Abstract: A private branch exchange (PBX) capable of transmitting and receiving an E-mail over a network is provided. The PBX includes an interface for communicating with the network, an E-mail server for receiving and storing the E-mail; an extension interface for exchanging a communication signal including an audio signal and control signal with an extension telephone, a database for storing a destination address of an E-mail and an extension number corresponding to the address, an examining unit for examining whether or not an mailing address contained in an E-mail received at the E-mail server from the network is registered in the database, and a controller for sending a notice of the reception of the E-mail the extension telephone of the extension number allocated to the mailing address of the E-mail when the examining unit judges that the mailing address of the E-mail is registered in the database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventor: Sadaka Mitsuo
  • Patent number: 8300800
    Abstract: A communication terminal apparatus capable of registering sender's e-mail addresses upon receiving e-mails including the e-mail address registration instruction information in the subject. The communication terminal apparatus relieves users from the cumbersome task of manually inputting the recipient's e-mail address to the e-mail address storage unit 17 and achieves simple e-mail address registration process in a shorter time. The communication terminal apparatus includes the subject determination unit 16 for detecting the e-mail address registration instruction information from a received e-mail, the e-mail parser 13 for acquiring the sender's e-mail address from the received e-mail, and the sender's e-mail address registration unit 18 for registering the sender's e-mail address of the received e-mail with the e-mail address storage unit 17 where the subject determination unit 16 detects the e-mail address registration instruction information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Noriyuki Eda
  • Patent number: 8296383
    Abstract: An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Aram M. Lindahl
  • Patent number: 8265930
    Abstract: The present invention relates to recording voice data using a voice communication device connected to a communication network and converting the voice data into a text file for delivery to a text communication device. In accordance with the present invention, the voice communication device may transfer the voice data in real-time or store the voice data on the device to be transmitted at a later time. Transcribing the voice data into a text file may be accomplished by automated computer software, either speaker-independent or speaker-dependent or by a human who transcribes the voice data into a text file. After transcribing the voice data into a text file, the text file may be delivered to a text communication device in a number of ways, such as email, file transfer protocol (FTP), or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Sprint Communications Company L.P.
    Inventors: Bryce A. Jones, Raymond Edward Dickensheets
  • Patent number: 8266664
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to provide messages to television users are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a request for a voicemail message from the television user, determining a voicemail mailbox associated with the television user, and sending at least one of a list of one or more voicemail messages or a voicemail message to a display device associated with the television user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, LP
    Inventors: Chaoxin Charles Qiu, Jeffrey Lee Scruggs, John E. Lemay, Jessie Tsae-Jiuan Lee, Diana Maria Cantu
  • Patent number: 8265660
    Abstract: Methods are described for handling an incoming call at a mobile switching center when the mobile station is currently in either an access state (in the process of making an outgoing call) or in a paging state (in the process of receiving an earlier incoming call). The mobile switching center waits until the mobile station transitions out of the access state or paging state into a traffic state. The mobile switching center sends an alert message to the mobile station alerting the user of the new incoming call. The mobile switching center handles the incoming call per a response to the alert message. One option would be to send the new incoming call to the user and drop the other incoming call (or the outgoing call). Another option would be to direct the incoming call to voice mail. In either case, the handling of the incoming call is per the user's direction, i.e., as dictated by the response message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Sprint Spectrum L.P.
    Inventors: Sachin Vargantwar, Kamal Doshi, Anoop Goyal, Manoj Shetty, Siddharth Oroskar
  • Patent number: 8254371
    Abstract: A server, upon receiving a request to complete a call over a packet-switched network, looks up an address on the packet-switched network on a local table. If the local table does not contain a matching address, the server asks a routing server to identify a receiving server address. The routing server identifies a suitable address and sends a message to the originating server containing the address. The routing server may consider such factors as the volume of calls currently being handled by various potential receiving servers in selecting a receiving server. The receiving server then receives, via the packet-switched network, a message requesting a telephone connection to a second telephone device. Before completing the connection to the second telephone device, information in the message representing the address of the device on the packet-switched network that originated the message is identified. The address information is compared to selected predetermined addresses for permitted origins of the message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Saswata Bhattacharya, Mahendra Pratap, Harvey S Schultz, Quan Li, Serafim Maroulis
  • Patent number: 8244813
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a communication unit which receives email through a communication line, the email having been sent by a user and including a first identifier and data. The apparatus further includes an accumulation unit which stores therein the data, a printout unit, an input unit which receives a second identifier entered by the user through direct operation thereof, and a control unit which controls the printout unit to print the data corresponding to the first identifier by reading the data from the accumulation unit if the second identifier matches the first identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Kasatani
  • Patent number: 8244540
    Abstract: A textual representation of a voice message is provided to a communication device, such as a mobile phone, for example, when the mobile phone is operating in a silent mode. The voice message is input by a caller and the voice message converted to phonemes. A text representation of the voice message is transmitted to the mobile phone. The representation includes characters based on the phonemes with well known words being represented in an easily understood shorthand format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Denys M. Proux, Eric H. Cheminot
  • Patent number: 8244285
    Abstract: A buddy-based, cross-carrier mobile phone based text messaging server, system and method is disclosed. A table of subscribers cross referenced against buddy subscribers who have opted in to receive text messages (SMS) is maintained. Where a recipient subscriber is not yet registered as a buddy subscriber, the server sends a message asking if the recipient subscriber wants to become a buddy subscriber of the sending subscriber. If the recipient subscriber opts-in, the recipient subscriber is added to the table as a buddy subscriber, and thereafter will be forwarded all messages through the service, sent from the particular sending subscriber, until the buddy subscriber opts-out. The invention ensures a near one to one correspondence of in/out SMS for participating mobile phone networks, and avoids any one network being overloaded with spam messaging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Chikka Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Dennis Mendiola, Chito Bustamante
  • Patent number: 8238531
    Abstract: In one implementation a computer-implemented method includes generating a group of telephone contacts for a first user, wherein the generating includes identifying a second user as a contact of the first user based upon a determination that the second user has at least a threshold email-based association with the first user; and adding the identified second user to the group of telephone contacts for the first user. The method further includes receiving a first request to connect a first telephone device associated with the first user to a second telephone device associated with the second user. The method also includes identifying a contact identifier of the second telephone device using the generated group of telephone contacts for the first user, and initiating a connection between the first telephone device and the second telephone device using the identified contact identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Strope, Francoise Beaufays, Hy Murveit
  • Patent number: 8223362
    Abstract: This invention provides a first communication apparatus, which makes a facsimile communication via a packet communication network and can describe different contents image header information each including a date, time, source information, destination information, and the like in image data having a predetermined number of pixels upon sending the image data to a plurality of destinations, and a communication method. This invention also provides a second communication apparatus which makes a facsimile communication via a packet communication network and has a first mode in which image header information such as a date, time, source information, destination information, and the like can be described in image data having a predetermined number of pixels and can send the image data, and a second mode in which image data having one of various resolutions and an indefinite number of pixels can be sent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuyuki Tonegawa
  • Patent number: 8203951
    Abstract: A system and method for forwarding voice messages is presented. One embodiment of the system comprises a voice message recorder configured to record a voice message, and a call controller configured to attach the recorded voice message to an electronic message and forward the electronic message to a predetermined forwarding address. One embodiment of the method can be broadly summarized as receiving a voice message from a caller in response to a pre-recorded voice prompt, recording the received voice message, and preparing and delivering an electronic message with the voice message attached to the electronic message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: Xiaofeng Gao, David Scott
  • Patent number: 8204748
    Abstract: A textual representation of a voice message is provided to a communication device, such as a mobile phone, for example, when the mobile phone is operating in a silent mode. The voice message is input by a caller and the voice message converted to phonemes. A text representation of the voice message is transmitted to the mobile phone. The representation includes characters based on the phonemes with well known words being represented in an easily understood shorthand format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Denys M. Proux, Eric H. Cheminot
  • Patent number: RE44742
    Abstract: A device and method provide a user with a template for a message having fields that can be pre-filled with data to reduce the manual entry of data into the message. The method includes, but is not limited to, executing an application at a device, wherein context data including context data items is associated with the executing application, selecting a messaging technology to send a message from the device, selecting a template for the message, wherein the template comprises one or more dynamic fields, selecting a context data item from the context data associated with the executing application, and inserting the selected context data item in the dynamic field to facilitate the creation of a message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Sulvanuss Capital L.L.C.
    Inventor: Kaj Mäkelä