WO2001074041A2

WO2001074041A2 - Unified messaging system

Info

Publication number: WO2001074041A2
Application number: PCT/US2001/010400
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert P. POCHÉ; Robert D. Bybee
Original assignee: Satellink Communications, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-03-29
Filing date: 2001-03-29
Publication date: 2001-10-04
Also published as: WO2001074041A3; AU2001249702A1; WO2001074041A8

Abstract

An improved message processing system for processing personal communications messages is provided. The improved message processing system provides integrated messaging systems which are located to allow callers to access the integrated messaging systems using local telephone calls and to otherwise provide decentralized services and an enhanced service platform (730) located remotely from the integrated messaging systems to provide centralized services. The improved message processing system provides centralized conference call, facsimile service, text-to-speech conversion, and other services centrally at a reduced cost to the subscriber. The integrated messaging systems and the enhanced service platform (730) communicate over temporary dial-up connections (732) and also low speed data networks (721). In addition, the integrated messaging system also enables a subscriber to selectively block messages before they are received in order to avoid costs associated with unwanted messages or calls. The unwanted messages are selectively blocked based on the location of the caller, the type of equipment that the caller is using, or the location of the caller and the type of equipment used by the caller. The selective blocking feature may be overridden by the subscriber as well as dynamically altered by the subscriber.

Description

SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR IMPROVED PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to personal communications, and more particularly, to an improved personal communications and message processing system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Personal communications messages are created by one or more callers (also referred to as originators), carried by one or more carriers, and delivered to one or more recipients. The originator of a message may use a telephone or other device (e.g. modem, fax machine, or personal computer) to compose and transmit the message. The message is transmitted by dialing a telephone number known to be associated with the intended recipient. The message is routed over the facilities of one or more carriers and delivered to a message processing system (MPS) such as a voice mail system, paging terminal, electronic mail system or enhanced services platform. The MPS may connect the originator directly and immediately with the intended recipient if a voice communication is requested, or more commonly the MPS will accept and store the message which is then delivered to the recipient at the request of, and at the convenience of, the recipient.

Independent Message Processing Systems The different message processing systems (e.g., voice mail, e-mail, etc.) generally have remained independent from the different types of communications systems (e.g., telephone networks, pagers, etc.). In addition, the different types of message processing systems have remained independent of each other. As a result, autonomous systems transfer voice messages, radio pager messages, and data messages.

One reason for the independence of message processing systems may be that the technology for managing the newer electronic messaging systems such as voice mail and paging systems was not available until recently. However, with the advancement of messaging technology, society has become increasingly dependent on information and messaging. Being able to receive, process, and forward messages efficiently is increasingly important in an information rich and dependent world. This is true regardless as to whether the messages are transmitted using telephone systems, paging systems or electronic mail systems.

Problems, however, exist due to the independent nature of the systems for processing and managing messages. It may be necessary for a person to subscribe to different service providers in order to receive and process messages in the different systems. For example, in order to receive and process messages using a paging system, it may be necessary for a subscriber to subscribe to a paging system service provider. In addition, the paging system service provider may be a different entity from the entity that acts as a service provider enabling the transmission, receipt and processing of messages over a telephone network or an electronic mail system.

In addition, problems also may arise when attempts are made to process and manage different types of messages (e.g., voice or electronic mail) using only a single system such as the telephone network or when attempts are made to integrate different systems. For instance, a person that is retrieving electronic mail messages over a telephone network may not be able to receive telephone calls or retrieve voice mail messages while using their telephone line to access electronic mail messages. Moreover, it may be necessary for a customer to deal with different billing and technical support systems. Still further, it may not be possible to forward or otherwise process messages received from one system such as an electronic mail system within or to a different type of system such as a paging system. For instance, it may be difficult to forward a voice message from a voice mail system to another person connected by way of an electronic mail messaging system.

Still other problems may exist as a result of the different messaging systems being mutually exclusive. For example, some services required by a subscriber may be duplicated needlessly by the different messaging service providers. A reminder for the same appointment may be delivered by paging system, electronic mail, and voice mail. Problems also may arise as different messaging service providers introduce new services. These new services may become available at different times from service providers using different types of messaging systems to provide services. A person may experience difficulty in determining which services are provided by which messaging system, and when these services are provided or have been withdrawn. Time and effort must be spent merely to keep abreast of all these varied services. As a result, service duplication and confusion may occur among customers subscribing to different messaging systems.

Yet other problems may result from the separate processing of messages in different messaging systems. Time critical messages may not be received when required, since the facilities for accessing messages in different systems tend to be mutually exclusive. For example, if a voice mail subscriber uses their telephone line to access voice mail messages, the subscriber may be unaware of an urgent electronic mail message transmitted to the subscriber's e-mail account. By way of further example, if a subscriber is logged onto his electronic mail account by telephone and that person receives an urgent page message, he may not be able to respond to the paging message in time since the telephone line presently is dedicated to another messaging system.

Specialized Communications and Message Processing Services Using Local Long Distance or Toll Free Number Access

Specialized telecommunications services, such as, for example, voice mail, conference calling, and fax (facsimile) store-and-forward services, have been available in major cities for some time. These services are typically purchased on a monthly basis by a subscriber who has a contractual arrangement with a service provider. The subscriber, who is assigned a telephone number, dials the assigned telephone number to access the services, enters a series of commands using the push buttons on the telephone to select various services. In this manner, the subscriber can hear his voice messages, retrieve his fax messages (have them sent to a particular fax machine), place a conference call, or perform similar actions from among the services to which he subscribes. Callers or originators who wish to send a message to the subscriber would typically dial the same telephone number and be instructed on the steps to leave a voice message, send a fax message, or perform similar actions.

The telephone number involved in all these actions is thus an extremely important commodity. It is used by the subscriber of the services to gain access to the services. It is used by callers wishing to deliver a message to this subscriber. It may be printed in advertisements, directories, business cards, and on company letterhead. The subscriber relies heavily on this telephone number even though it is owned not by the subscriber, but by the telecommunications service provider company, which may reassign it to a different subscriber at some future time.

The telephone number may be a local number, long-distance number, or toll-free number. The use of a local number is attractive since it can be dialed from the subscriber's primary geographic area without incurring any per-minute charges. In many areas, a local number can be dialed using only 7 digits, which saves time over the 10 or 11 digits which must be dialed for a long-distance or toll-free number.

In order to provide the same type of enhanced services using local telephone numbers in multiple cities, a service provider may choose one of the following methods: (1) install FX (Foreign eXchange) telephone facilities to carry the voice calls back to a central facility; (2) install voice-over-IP (internet Protocol) or similar facilities to transmit the messages over a private data network or the Internet; or (3) install separate facilities in each local area served, which can provide the complete set of telecommunications services offered. Each of these options for providing local number access, however, also has resulted in problems for the service provider. FX lines are very expensive. Thus, they are not usually considered except for very short distances (such as a geographically adjacent city). Similar to FX facilities, the hardware for voice-over-IP is expensive. It requires a high-speed data connection to a private network or to the Internet, either of which can represent a substantial monthly cost. In addition, at this time the sound quality of voice-over-IP (especially on the public Internet) presently is not consistent and is often unacceptable for business communications use. Finally, separate facilities in each local area results in high initial costs in connection with the installation of the facilities due to the hardware and infrastructure required in each local area. This high initial cost is a barrier to entry and has prevented such services from being offered locally in smaller cities. As a result, this approach is typically used only in larger cities where the large number of potential customers justifies the cost.

The use of a long-distance number is extremely unattractive due to its cost and to the "image" it presents, of dealing with a company which does not have a local presence in this particular geographic area, and thus may not be as responsive to the customer's needs as would be a locally based service provider.

The third alternative is to provide these telecommunications services through the use of so-called "toll free" telephone numbers (which typically begin with the digits 800, 888, or 877); however, there are disadvantages to this alternative as well. For example, a per-minute charge for the use of such numbers is incurred and typically passed on to the recipient of the call (and eventually to the subscriber). In addition, similar to the use of a long-distance number, the lack of a local telephone number may indicate to the potential customer that the subscriber or the service provider does not have a local presence in the geographic area, and so is not as responsive to the local customer's needs and wishes.

The use of toll-free numbers does have a significant advantage for the telecommunications service provider: the provider needs to have only one set of hardware, located in one city, to provide services for the entire country. Since this hardware and the infrastructure it requires (office space, power, telephone lines) represent a large installation cost and monthly recurring cost, many service providers elect to use only toll-free numbers, despite the added per-minute cost which is usually passed on to the subscribers.

Additional Subscriber Expenses Associated With Message Processing Systems

The carrier providing the interconnection services between the originator and the MPS may be one or more of the well-known common telephone carriers of voice and data services such as AT&T, Sprint, or MCI or the well-known common local carriers such as GTE or BellSouth. The facilities over which the messages are carried may be one or more of a variety of voice or data circuits, such as analog or digital telephone lines. Some examples of digital telephone lines capable of carrying voice messages include T-l service and ISDN service.

The persons or companies who are allowed to receive messages over a given message processing system are known to that system in advance, and are entered into a database or file in that system. Such persons or companies are potential recipients of messages through that system, and may be referred to as subscribers to the services provided by that system. It is well known to those skilled in the art of designing such messaging systems, that such systems can support a large number of subscribers with a relatively small number of inbound facilities. For example, a digital T-l line which can transmit only 24 simultaneous voice messages, would allow an MPS to receive only 24 messages at any one time; yet this same MPS might support 10,000 to 20,000 subscribers. The large numerical discrepancy is due to the fact that messages arrive at random times, and not all subscribers can be expected to receive messages at the same time. In fact, even during a peak hour, only a small number (typically 5% to 10%) of the subscribers are normally expected to receive messages.

Given that a MPS may have, for example, 10,000 subscribers, and yet this same MPS may have only 24 channels of inbound facilities, it is necessary to have a method for identifying the intended recipient for each incoming message. This identification is generally performed using Direct Inward Dialing (DID) digits. When an originator dials a telephone number to deliver a message to a recipient, some or all of the digits of that telephone number are delivered to the MPS in order to identify the intended recipient. For example, if the originator dials the number 800-555-1234, the DID digits delivered to the MPS maybe 1234, 5551234, 8005551234, or any other subset of digits. The number of DID digits delivered to the MPS is established in advance, by mutual agreement between the carrier and the operator of the MPS. These digits must be sufficient to uniquely identify the intended recipient of a message. It is also possible (though less common) for the DID digits to be some other sequence of digits which identify the intended recipient but are not a subset of the digits dialed by the originator.

The protocol for delivery of the DID digits allows for such digits to be transmitted to the MPS prior to the MPS accepting delivery of the message. This ensures that the digits can be checked against the MPS's database of subscribers prior to accepting a message (and incurring the carrier's charges for delivery of the message). If a message arrives for an unknown, invalid, or inactive subscriber number, the MPS may refuse to accept the message and no charges will apply. This is guaranteed because by convention, the billable portion of the call does not begin until the MPS goes into an "off hook" status to accept delivery of the message. In addition to transmitting DID digits, the carrier may optionally provide additional information concerning each call. This information is typically in the form of ANI (automatic number identification) or INFO (informational) digits. ANI provides the 10-digit telephone number from which the message originated. INFO digits provide an indication of the type of equipment which originated the call. Typically two INFO digits are used, and are encoded in a method known as "feature group D info digits." This encoding method will be known to those skilled in the art of telephony system design. As an example, a call which originates from a normal home or office telephone will be associated with INFO digits 00, and a call which originates from a pay telephone will be associated with INFO digits 27 or 70. Other INFO digit values are possible and may be mutually agreed upon by the carrier and the MPS. Beginning in 1997, the Federal Communications Commission mandated that the owners and operators of pay telephones must be compensated by the carriers, when pay telephones are used to dial a toll-free number. The carriers passed these charges (a "pay phone surcharge") on to their customers, who in many cases were the MPS owners and MP operators described herein. Typically these charges were on the order of 24 to 28 cents per call, which in some cases caused a dramatic increase in the communications costs associated with operating such systems.

Many MPS operators decided simply to bill their subscribers a fixed monthly fee to recover this cost. The subscribers had no way to avoid the cost even if they did not expect or desire to receive calls from pay telephones. Other MPS operators decided to refuse all such calls, and if their selected carriers permitted this choice, it would prevent all calls originated from pay telephones, from entering the MPS. This seriously reduces the usefulness of such systems since a pay telephone is sometimes the only available or convenient means of originating a message.

In addition to the pay phone surcharges, there are other reasons why a higher-than-normal charge might be associated with certain messages. One such reason is that the call originated from an area outside the carrier's normal or preferred area of operation. For example, a call placed from within the United States to a toll-free number within the United States might cost 10 cents per minute, but a call placed from Canada to that same toll-free number might cost 50 cents or more per minute. These costs are typically passed on to the subscriber who receives the messages. There also are occasions when a single ANI number, or a group of ANI numbers, may present a problem and should be blocked from delivering messages to a selected subscriber or to a group of subscribers. This would occur, for example, if it were determined that a particular ANI number or group of ANI numbers was repeatedly placing unwanted or unsolicited calls to the MPS, for telemarketing or other purposes. When such calls are received by the MPS using a toll-free telephone number, the cost of the call must typically be passed on to the subscriber, even though the call was unwanted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide systems, methods and computer program products which provide improved personal communications.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide systems, methods and computer program products which provide improved personal communications systems in multiple locations of varying sizes in a more cost-effective manner. It is another object of the present invention to provide systems, methods and computer program products which reduce the cost and bandwidth of managing and operating the personal communications system.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system, method and computer program product for accurately billing pay phone and other unusual charges.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a system, method and computer program product for reducing the receipt of messages which are not wanted by a subscriber. These and other objects are provided according to the present invention by systems, methods and computer program products for integrating various communications messaging systems. The improved message processing system according to the present invention provides centralized services as well as decentralized services in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs in processing of messages. The improved message processing system has a first integrated messaging system and a second integrated messaging system as well as an enhanced service platform. The first integrated messaging system and the second integrated messaging system are preferably located remotely from each other. Each integrated messaging system has a decentralized voice platform having telephone company termination equipment and a storage device for storing at least a call detail record and a voice mail platform, and is accessible by a caller or a recipient via local telephone calls. The enhanced service platform, which is located remotely from at least one of the integrated messaging systems provides centralized services including conference calling, facsimile services, text-to-speech conversion services, voice recording and storage as well as voice-to-WAV file conversion used to reply to e-mails over the internet, as well as access to the Internet. These services, which are located remotely from the integrated messaging systems, interact with the integrated messaging systems through a low speed data network and also a temporary dial-up connection. Communications through the temporary dial-up connection permits high quality, flexible communications while at a reduced cost since the dial-up connections are only temporary.

In addition, the integrated messaging server according to the present invention also provides for selective blocking by subscribers of unwanted messages. This blocking of unwanted messages permits a subscriber to avoid costs associated with the receipt of unwanted messages. An indication is received by the integrated messaging server that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server. The integrated messaging server receives an indication from the caller (but not the actual message) that the caller is transmitting a message. The integrated messaging server, using the indication data, determines the location of the caller as well as the type of equipment (e.g., pay telephone) used by the caller to transmit the message. The server then selectively blocks the messages prior to receipt of the actual messages based on the location of the caller and the type of equipment. The subscriber can dynamically set and change the settings for the locations as well as the type of equipment from which the subscriber wants to block messages. Alternatively, the subscriber can override the blocking of the message even after the integrated messaging server has blocked the message.

The inte rated messaging system according to the present invention also processes messages represented in various formats in a unified manner. A message can be transmitted by a caller in one format from one communications system and received by the intended recipient in a different format in a different communications system. Thus, messages can be synergistically processed in a single unified messaging environment. As a result of the present invention, the loss of urgent messages may be avoided since the messages are processed by a single system. In addition, urgent messages requiring an immediate response can be escalated to increase the probability of getting a timely response from the intended recipient or a representative of the intended recipient. Alternatively, attempts can be made to contact the intended recipient at various terminals at alternate locations or terminals.

In addition, the integrated messaging system according to the present invention also enables customization of services for a single user, while eliminating duplication of services and multiple billing statements, subscribers can receive all the services they require, without being forced to purchase messaging services they do not need. New services could be developed to leverage the benefits of integrating formerly disparate messaging formats.

The present invention provides the additional advantages of delivering messaging services in a more cost effective manner, since operating a single facility for all messaging may be more economical than needless duplication of resources. More reliable message delivery and processing can be provided because an integrated system may be inherently less complicated. Messages may be processed in a generic manner regardless of the communications system from which they originated or the format in which they are represented.

Finally, the integrated messaging system according to the present invention provides the additional advantage of a true one telephone number concept. A single telephone number may be the gateway providing unified telephony, voice, paging, and electronic messaging access. Total message processing and management may finally be realized.

The integrated messaging system according to the present invention has a first terminal located in a first communications system for transmitting a first message and a second terminal located in a second communications system for receiving a second message. A unified message processing means receives the first message from the first terminal, and analyzes the first message to identify the format of the first message. The unified messaging processor converts the first message into a second format, the second format being compatible with the second terminal, and routes to the second terminal either the second converted message or a message receipt notification signal indicating that a message has been received. As a result, the second terminal will receive the second message in a compatible format without having knowledge of the format of the first message which originated from the first terminal.

The unified message processing means also provides other functions. The unified message processing means can monitor message traffic to or from the first terminal. In addition, the unified message processing means also tracks message traffic to or from the second terminal. From the traffic information collected, billing information may be created and presented to the first terminal, the second terminal, or both. The unified message processing means also provides switched toll free call management services. Calls made to a toll free telephone number may be rerouted to a telephone number locally accessible by the second terminal without incurring long distance charges.

In an alternative embodiment, the integrated messaging system provides unified message routing means. The unified message routing means receives, from a caller terminal, a message transmitted by the caller terminal to a subscriber terminal. The unified message routing means analyzes a message to identify the first subscriber terminal, and transmits either a notification signal or the actual message to the first subscriber terminal. If no response is received by the unified message routing means from the first subscriber terminal, a second subscriber terminal associated with a second subscriber is identified by the unified message routing means. Either a notification signal or the message is then transmitted to the second subscriber terminal, attempting to obtain a real time response for the caller terminal which originated the message. The second subscriber may be a person who can represent the first subscriber, such as, for instance, a manager or supervisor who is authorized to respond on behalf of the first subscriber. Alternatively, the second subscriber terminal may be another terminal at which the first subscriber may be located. The unified message routing means can continue to attempt to obtain a real time response for the caller until a real time response is received by successively transmitting either a notification signal or the actual message to additional terminals. In other words, the present invention can continue to "escalate" the actual message until a real time response is received for the caller.

In addition, the unified routing means can continue to attempt to reach a particular recipient at different terminals or may combine this find feature with the escalation feature. The integrated messaging system also combines the unified processing means with the unified routing means. Additional features are also provided by the present invention, such as, for example, technical support, time of day management, remote management, assigning multiple telephone numbers to a mailbox, mapping toll free telephone numbers to multiple mailboxes, and long distance access to mailboxes.

The single integrated messaging system may be managed more effectively than multiple autonomous, diverse communications systems. The integrated messaging system according to the present invention may be remotely backed up, administered, and serviced more easily than multiple, diverse communications systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a high level block diagram illustrating the improved message processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram of the improved message processing system according to the present invention illustrating the integrated messaging system, and the communications environment in which the integrated messaging system operates according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the pager service network interface with the integrated messaging system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the messaging interface between callers and subscribers in different communications systems and the integrated messaging system according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the integrated messaging server according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating exemplary CDR data record fields and exemplary SDR data record fields according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the message escalation routing feature according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates message recipient "find" feature according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the time of day management facilities according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating technical support operations according to the present invention for the communications systems integrated by the integrated messaging system according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating remote management according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the toll free call rerouting, assigning multiple telephone numbers to a message mailbox, mapping a toll free telephone number to multiple message mailboxes, and message mailbox long distance calling access features according to the present invention. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a service platform.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the service platform of FIG. 13 deployed in multiple locations.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating the decentralized and centralized services according to the present invention. FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary data flow in establishing a conference call according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary data flow in converting an e-mail to speech according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary data flow in replying to a speech converted e-mail according to the present invention. FIG. 19 illustrates exemplary formats for voice files used by Centralized Services 730 according to the present invention and industry standard WAV files.

FIG. 20 illustrates an exemplary facsimile summary page generated according to the present invention. FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary data flow for creating a facsimile summary page according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 illustrates the flow control of selective blocking according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention now will be described more fully herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

ENVIRONMENT: THE IMPROVED MESSAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM The present invention operates in an information intensive environment in which people are constantly using a variety of different messaging systems for generating, transmitting and receiving messages. As a result, messages are represented in a variety of formats. Portable laptop computers and high speed wired and wireless communication devices permit mobility in the work environment. Modern electronic mail and messaging systems serve to interconnect the "mobile" workers so as to provide an integrated virtual office. The mobile person generates, transmits and receives real time and stored voice messages, electronic documents and data, e-mail messages, facsimile messages, and radio page messages among other messages. As a result, a person oftentimes must interface with separate communications systems and messaging systems in order to generate, transmit, receive, and process these diverse messages. The present invention provides a single integrated environment for cost effectively processing messages, including generating, transmitting, and receiving messages, represented in a variety of different formats. Independent communication messaging systems can also be integrated by the present invention.

OVERVIEW: THE IMPROVED MESSAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM

Referring now to Figure 1, an overview of the messaging processing system according to the present invention will now be described. The improved message processing system contains one or more integrated messaging servers 400. One or more integrated messaging servers 400 may be located in each city or town or other region. An originator or caller initiates a message intended for a recipient via cloud 1. Cloud 1, which is more fully illustrated in Figure 2, contains the various carrier networks including wired and wireless telephony networks, pager service networks and the Internet. The improved message processing system also contains a system control server 2 which provides centralized services for the entire improved messaging system. Finally, the improved message processing system also has an enhanced service platform 700' located in each city, town or region. It will be understood that multiple enhanced service platforms 700' may be located in a given city, town or region.

The system control server, the enhanced service platform and the integrated messaging servers which interface with a variety of different communications systems through which messages may be transmitted or received. These servers, which may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software, process messages in various different message formats. The message formats, which are implemented in either analog or digital representation, may be voice, voice mail, electronic mail, facsimile, electronic documents or data, numeric page, voice page or another format.

Callers, Subscribers and Messages The caller or originator that transmits the message may be a person, a processor, a device, or a network that intends to transmit a message to a subscriber of the messaging services provided by the system. In addition, a caller may be, but is not required to be, a subscriber to one of the messaging systems. A subscriber may be a person, a processor, a device, or a network that receives messaging services according to the present invention. In the preferred embodiment, the messaging server provides separate messaging interfaces for callers and subscribers. In any event, at least one of the originator and the intended recipient must be a subscriber.

A message may include, among other things, telephone calls, teleconference calls, voice mail, page messages (numeric and non-numeric), radio messages, electronic mail, facsimile, electronic data, text, image, and video data, and other voice or data communications information.

Unified Message Processing In one embodiment of the present invention, the integrated messaging system provides a unified message processing means which receives a message represented in any of a variety of message formats from any of a variety of communications systems and analyzes the message to identify its format and the intended recipient of the message. If the intended recipient operates within a different communications system or with a different messaging format, the unified message processing means converts the message from the format in which it is received to the format of the recipient's messaging system. In addition, either the converted message or a notification signal indicating that a message has arrived will be routed to the correct recipient. Alternatively, both the converted message and the notification signal may be routed to the recipient. The message is received by the recipient in the format of the recipient's messaging system without the recipient or the recipient's messaging system having knowledge of the format in which the message was originally transmitted.

The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides multi-format message routing. Messages received in one message format can be converted to the format of the receiving messaging system (if it is different than the transmitting messaging system) and routed and delivered to the intended recipient. Once the message has been received by the intended recipient, the message can be forwarded on to another recipient in yet another voice or data format. In addition, new messages can be created in any voice or data message format. For instance, if a telephone caller transmits a voice mail message to an intended recipient, the unified message processing means will convert the voice mail message into an e-mail message (if the format of the receiving messaging system is e-mail) before the message is forwarded to the intended recipient. The intended recipient may then forward the message to yet another recipient as a radio page message. As a result, various voice and data messaging formats are made interchangeable by the integrated messaging server.

Unified Messaging Routing In another embodiment of the present invention, the integrated messaging system provides a unified message routing means which attempts to locate the intended recipient, and when the intended recipient cannot be located, will either "escalate" the message such that an attempt is made to locate a representative of the intended recipient, such as the intended recipient's employment supervisor, or attempt to "find" the intended recipient by sequentially attempting to locate the intended recipient at one of alternate locations or terminals (e.g., telephone numbers). Thus, the unified message routing means first attempts to locate the intended recipient of the message. If unsuccessful, the unified message routing means will repeatedly attempt to obtain an immediate response to the message or to a message notification signal. One unified message routing feature, the "escalation" feature, will reroute the message or a message notification signal to alternative contacts having some association with the intended recipient of the message. In this case, attempts are made to locate backup contacts in order to receive a timely response for the originator of the message. Rerouting using the escalation feature may occur through a preselected list of alternative contacts. The alternative contacts may include, for example, associates, representatives, supervisors, or others having some relationship with the intended message recipient. The unified message routing means also provides a "find" feature which attempts to obtain a response from the intended recipient by rerouting the message or a message notification signal according to a list of probable locations or addresses where the intended recipient might be contacted. The unified message routing means also may invoke both the "escalation" feature and the "find" feature in combination. For example, if the intended recipient cannot be located through the "find" feature, the unified messaging means may invoke the "escalation" feature. By way of an additional example, if no recipients can be located using the escalation feature, attempts can then be made using the "find" feature with respect to each recipient in the "escalation" list.

Data Storage The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides data storage for storing the incoming message, the converted message, and/or data relative to one or both the incoming and the converted messages. Data relating to the subscriber is stored in a subscriber Data Record (SDR) and data relating to a call itself is stored in a Call Detail Record (CDR).

Time Management The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides intelligent management of the time of day. Periodically, the integrated messaging system accesses a precise time of day reference, and synchronizes its ■ internal clocks to the exact time of day in accordance with the reference. In this manner, the messaging server can maintain very accurate time of day without requiring expensive hardware clocks and timers. In addition, the integrated messaging system intelligently adapts to periodic time of day adjustments such as, for example, the start and end of Daylight Savings Time.

Time Zone Adjustment Further, the integrated messaging system performs time zone adjustments on received messages. When messages are transmitted by a caller who is located in a different time zone than the recipient, the integrated messaging system converts the reported time that the message was received to reflect the time zone of the recipient. In this way, when a caller from California leaves a message for a recipient in New York, the time the message was received will be adjusted to reflect the time in New York. This prevents confusion because the only relevant time zone is the time zone in which the recipient will actually retrieve the message.

Remote Support The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides advantageous remote support features. The integrated messaging system interfaces with a remote technician when technical support intervention is necessary. This may occur by sending a message to the technician in any message format. Once the technician has been notified, the technician can interact with the integrated messaging system by depressing keys on a DTMF (Dual Tone, Multi- Frequency) telephone. The integrated messaging system provides a technical support interface which includes menus activated by DTMF tones. Real time status information is conveyed verbally by the integrated messaging system to the technician. The technician can modify the operation of the integrated messaging system through the DTMF menu interface, and can audibly determine when the integrated messaging system no longer requires technical assistance. Alternatively, technical assistance may be provided through personal computers or other messaging terminals.

In addition, the present invention also provides the benefits of centralized control. Multiple integrated messaging systems may be connected to a central office through a communications link such as a Wide Area Network (WAN) interface. In addition, the integrated messaging systems are scalable and may be interconnected into clustered integrated messaging systems. Through the WAN interface or some other high speed link, the central office can control and manage clustered or individual integrated messaging systems. Thus, programming changes in the nature of, for example, adding, deleting or modifying subscribers to add, delete, or modify subscribers or services delivered to subscribers can be made from the central office without disrupting service or requiring local intervention. In this manner, messaging services can be setup and customized on an individual subscriber basis.

Message Monitoring During operation, the integrated messaging system continuously creates numerous call detail records required for billing purposes. The central office can collect these records remotely, prepare billing statements, and present them to subscribers. Other message traffic information can also be monitored remotely. In addition, the central office automatically creates and maintains a backup copy of the environment and data stored within each integrated messaging system. If a given messaging server experiences a catastrophic hardware or software problem, the environment can be downloaded and quickly restored through this mechanism.

Call Remapping Various telephone call remapping features are also provided by the present invention. Switched toll free calling services allow a toll free telephone number and a local or long distance telephone number to be associated with each other. When a telephone call is made to the toll free number, the integrated messaging system will automatically redirect the call through an outside telephone line to a local or long distance telephone number. In addition, multiple telephone numbers may be associated with a given message mailbox. For instance, a message mailbox can be mapped to a toll free number and a local number. The toll free number could be used to retrieve messages while traveling, instead of incurring long distance charges to call the local message mailbox telephone number.

Long Distance Calling The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides long distance trunk access through the message mailbox. A subscriber calling in to retrieve messages from his mailbox can return the call directly from the message mailbox. If the call is a long distance call, the message mailbox provides long distance calling access. The subscriber can elect to pay for calls made through the mailbox in several ways. In addition, special message mailboxes can be setup exclusively to provide long distance calling, conference calling, or other customized services. In essence, a subscriber can use the integrated messaging system to access all messages and services provided by the integrated messaging system, such that the diverse messaging formats and messaging communications systems are integrated into a single system from the viewpoint of the subscriber. For example, a call made to a message mailbox could contact the recipient, send a page message, leave a voice message, or send an e-mail message. A call made to retrieve a voice message could also retrieve e-mail, send a page message, and make a long distance call. Those skilled in the art appreciate that many combinations of services can be accessed by interfacing with a message mailbox. Message mailboxes also can be configured to provide only predefined subsets of the available messaging services. For instance, a special mailbox can be setup exclusively to send page messages or only to retrieve voice and e-mail messages. A message mailbox also may be set up to provide telephone conference calling services, either exclusively or in combination with other messaging services provided by the integrated messaging server of the present invention.

DETAILED OPERATION:

THE INTEGRATED MESSAGING SYSTEM Referring now to Figures 2, 3, and 4, the components and interfaces provided by the integrated messaging system and the different messaging systems integrated by the present invention will now be described. A caller 200 (also referred to as the originator of the message) can originate messages to be delivered to a recipient 290 of messaging services via integrated messaging server 400. At least one of the caller and the recipient must be a subscriber to the message processing system. Caller 200 can transmit messages via the telephony network 110 using a wired or wireless telephone, to the internet network 120 via the telephony network 110 using a personal computer or other processor, or to the pager service network 300 using a wired or wireless telephone or personal computer or other processor. Transmission device 205 refers generally to a wired or wireless telephone, or a personal computer or other processor. Similarly, subscriber 290 can receive messages via the telephony network 110 using a wired or wireless telephone, the internet network 120 via the telephony network 110 using a personal computer or other processor, or the pager service network 300 using a radio numeric or alphanumeric pager. Receiving/transmission device 295 refers generally to a wired or wireless telephone, a personal computer or other processor, or a radio pager. The receiving/transmission device 295 also may be used by the subscriber to transmit messages to other recipients and to otherwise access the integrated messaging server 400 for purposes such as, for example, retrieving messages from a voice mail account.

The integrated messaging server 400 provides a computer processor executing a computer program which provides integrated messaging features. The integrated messaging server 400 interfaces with a number of different communications systems including wired and wireless telephony network 110, internet network 120 and pager service network 300. A remote management facility 140 is provided in order to configure, administer, monitor, and service the messaging server 400 from a remote location. Various communications interfaces 420, 430, 440, 450 and 480 are provided to the pager service network 300, the telephony network 110, the internet 120, a remote management facility 140, callers 200, and subscribers 290.

Detailed Operation: The Interfaces The messaging server 400 includes at least one messaging interface 410 which provides access to the server for transmitting and receiving messages. Messaging interface 410 preferably comprises a direct inward dial or DID interface 420 which provides access to messaging server 400 for a caller delivering a message to at least one subscriber. A second DID interface 430 also may be provided. The DID interfaces may be referred to as a subscriber dial interface or SDL The DID interface may support analog telephony lines, digital telephony lines including, for example, Tl, ISDN, or T3 lines), or a combination of both. The DID interfaces allow subscribers to receive, process, or transmit messages in any supported voice or data communications format. The messaging server 400 may also provide a TAP (Telocator Alphanumeric Paging) interface 480 to receive incoming TAP page messages to be forwarded to alphanumeric, numeric, 1.5-way, 2-way and any other wireless paging devices. As a result, voice, telephony, analog data, electronic mail, and digital or electronic data access for a messaging services subscriber are supported by the present invention. In operation, caller 200 generates a message to be transmitted to subscriber

290. As previously indicated, caller 200 need not be a subscriber capable of receiving messages from the integrated messaging server 400 in order to transmit a message to a subscriber 290 by way of the integrated messaging server 400. On the other hand subscriber 290 can receive messages from the integrated messaging server 400, and can create and transmit new messages or forward existing messages to other subscribers.

The present invention presumes that a caller 200 has access to a transmission device 205 operable in a first communications system that is used to transmit a message intended for at least one subscriber 290. The transmitted message can contain information in various voice or data communications formats. The caller 200 can use the telephony network 110 to transmit a message to a subscriber. Alternatively, a caller could transmit a message through the telephony network to the Internet network 120, which in turn relays a message to a subscriber. In all cases, messages from the caller 200 to subscriber 290 are received and processed by the integrated messaging server 400 before being routed and delivered to the intended subscriber over one of the communications networks. Messages from callers are received by the messaging interface 410. If the caller originating and transmitting a message is not a subscriber, the message preferably is processed through DID interface 420. If the caller originating and transmitting a message is also a subscriber, the message may be processed through the DID interface 420 or 430 included therein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the messaging interface can comprise either integrated or separate DID interfaces. For example, one printed circuit logic card may provide both the DID interfaces, or separate printed circuit logic cards may be used to provide the DID interfaces.

The format of the incoming message is determined by the source of the message. For example, voice messages will be received in audible format over the DID interface. Voice messages are received via an analog or digital interface and are stored in non-volatile storage such as a disk after being compressed using a standard audio file format. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many such file formats, however the messaging server preferably uses an ADPCM (adaptive digital pulse code modulation) audio file format. Preferably, the messaging server obtains 6000 four bit samples per second when processing a voice message. E-mail messages are received via the e-mail gateway in a standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) format. Alphanumeric messages are received via the TAP interface in conventional alphanumeric text formats. Messages consistent with various other protocol formats, such as WAP, SMPP and TMPP, also may be received.

An interface for delivering a received message to a subscriber must be selected. As mentioned, messages may be received in a variety of formats, for instance alphanumeric, numeric, or e-mail. Messages are delivered to the subscriber via a pager terminal if the SDR (subscriber data record) contains information defining a pager terminal for that subscriber. In addition, messages are delivered in voice format, if the SDR specifies that the subscriber has a voice mailbox on the messaging server. Messages may be delivered via e-mail if the SDR specifies an e-mail address for the subscriber.

Once the proper interface for delivering the received message to a subscriber is selected, a determination is made as to whether the received message must be converted to a different format or interface before it is transmitted to a subscriber. This may be accomplished simply by comparing the interface over which the message was received and the information in the SDR as to the type of service to which the subscriber has subscribed. If the subscriber has subscribed to more than one type of service, a determination is made as to whether the subscriber has identified a preference as to which service over which the message should be transmitted. Alternatively, the received message may designate the type of service to which the message should be transmitted or the integrated messaging server may pre-define the order or randomly define the order of preference. If it is determined that the received^'message must be converted to a different format (e.g. from voice to e-mail or from data to voice), the received message is converted. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any generally accepted method for converting a message from one format to another format may be used.

Whether a message is converted or not, the integrated messaging server must decide where the intended recipient is located, and how to route a message to the intended subscriber recipients of a message. Once the proper routing for a message has been determined, the integrated messaging server 400 relays the message to at least one intended subscriber recipient. The message may be stored for later delivery to the intended subscriber recipient. Alternatively, the message can be delivered to the intended recipient. Depending on the format of the message received, the location of the intended recipient subscriber, and the terminals available to the intended recipient subscriber for receiving the message, the integrated messaging server 400 decides which interface will be used to transmit the message to the intended recipient. The DID 420-430, or the pager network interface (PNI) 450 may be used for this purpose. The administrative interface (Al) 440 may be used for administering the downloading of files among other tasks. The interfaces 430 and 450 may be used to access the network over which the message or message notification signal is transmitted. Thus, the message or notification signal may be transmitted directly to the subscriber over the telephony network 110, may be transmitted to the subscriber over the internet network 120, which relays the message to the subscriber, or may be relayed to the subscriber over the pager service network 300, which transmits the message or notification signal to the subscriber as a radio broadcast message. The message from caller 200 is transmitted to the messaging server 400 via DID port 420. Unified message processor 550 of the messaging server 400 analyzes the message to, among other things, identify the intended recipient and determine whether the format of the message transmitted by the caller 200 needs to be converted to another format to be received by the subscriber 290. If the transmitted message needs to be converted, unified messaging processor converts the message to the format which is compatible with that of the particular communications system subscribed to by recipient subscriber 290, and passes the converted message to unified routing processor 560 for routing to the subscriber. If conversion of the message is not required, unified messaging processor 550 simply passes the message to unified routing processor 560 for routing to the subscriber 290. Whether or not the message is converted to a different format, the message processing feature 550 routes and transfers the incoming message to the intended recipient subscriber. The message is routed by unified routing processor 560 by transmitting the message via SDI 430 of the messaging server to the subscriber 290. As noted, the SDI interface is provided for subscribers to receive, transmit, and process their messages.

The subscriber or message recipient 290 may be any person, subscriber, processor, device, or network subscribed to the messaging server 400 that receives a transmitted message from the messaging server 400. The messaging server 400 ensures that receiving/transmission device 295 operating in the subscriber's communication system receives the message in a compatible format. Receiving/ transmission device 295 may be, among other things, a wired or wireless telephone, a processor, a pager, a speaker, a radio receiver, or any other device capable of receiving a message in any voice or data communications format. It also may be a receive-only device, or a device which can transmit and receive messages. The communications system in which the receiving/transmission device 295 operates may be the same as or different from the communications system in which the message originated. As such, transmission device 205 and receiving/transmission device 295 may each process the message in different formats as a result of the messaging server 400. Message format conversions and routing are enabled by unified message processor 550 and unified message router 560 in order to process messages generically to provide true unified messaging.

All incoming messages, regardless of format, are converted into a standard digital format. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any generally accepted method for performing this conversion may be used. The digital format allows the message to be stored as a file in RAM (random access memory) or nonvolatile storage within the messaging server. The contents and format of the file will vary according to the incoming message type. Typically, an incoming voice message will be stored in ADPCM format as described previously. Alternatively, an incoming message may be stored as a text message in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) format or some other suitable format. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various formats may be used to digitally store data within the present invention.

Thereafter, the stored message may be converted to the required format for transmission to the intended recipient. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any generally accepted method for converting the standard digital format in which the received message is stored to the format in which the message is to be transmitted may be used.

Paging Service Network Interface Still referring to Figures 2, 3 and 4, the interfaces to the pager service network 300 will now be described generally. The messaging server 400 provides at least one interface to the pager service network referred to as PNI 450. This interface is used by the messaging server 400 to route, transmit, and deliver messages formatted as radio page messages from the messaging server 400 to subscribers 290 of radio paging services, hi addition, PNI 450 also may be used to originate messages from pagers having message transmitting capability. This interface supports numeric, alphanumeric, voice, and data message transmissions to and from a variety of radio pagers. Various paging protocols and services such as, for example, FLEX, POCSAG, GOLAY, MBS, RDS and RBDS paging and other wireless protocols may be supported. The PNI interface 450 optionally supports the TNPP (Telocator Network Paging Protocol) over either dedicated data circuit or switched dial telephone lines. TAP messages from a messaging server can be transmitted using TNPP to the paging service network for delivery to the intended recipient. Referring now to Figure 5, the paging service network 300 will now be described in more detail. The pager service network 300 interfaces with the integrated messaging server via PNI 450. The paging network 300 preferably has at least one paging hub 310 which interfaces with messaging servers 400. Paging hub 310 also may interface with other facilities for receiving messages or transmitting messages. For a given message received, the hub can route the message on a given subscriber service link SSL 320 according to the format of the message, the level of messaging services to be delivered, or the geographical location of the recipient of the message.

The SSL link 320 optionally might require the use of the wired or wireless telephony network 110 in order to relay the message to the subscriber. In this case, at least two telecommunications network interfaces TNI 330 are provided for the SSL 320 and PCE 340. The SSL link 320 relays the message independent of the telephony network 110. In operation, the SSL link 320 directs the message to a paging signal transmitter PST 350 for transmitting the message directly to the subscriber 290. In a preferred embodiment, PST 350 is a paging signal radio transmitter. PCE 340 encodes the message prior to transmission from the PST. For example, PCE 340 may be an FM subcarrier generator required for FM radio paging broadcasts.

Administrative Interface Referring again to Figure 2, the administrative interface Al 440 of the messaging server 400 will now be described. The Al 440 provides high speed remote access to the integrated messaging server 400, using some high speed communications link into the Al port 440. This link could comprise an analog modem connection, a digital ISDN or T1/T3 connection, or some other high speed interface link for interacting with the messaging server. Preferably, analog dial up modems 130 and 135 are used to interface with the Al port 440 and TAP port 480, respectively. Technical support personnel and/or computer processors located at the remote management facility 140 can access the messaging server through the Al interface. The remote support features according to the present invention will be described with reference to Figure 10. Through the Al port 440, the messaging server can be setup, configured, or serviced. The Al 440 also may be used as dial backup link if the messaging interface or the TNPP modem link fail. Thus, when the Al 440 link is not being used, it serves a useful purpose by backing up the dedicated TNPP data link.

Detailed Design: Integrated Messaging Server

The integrated messaging server 400 processes messages in any voice or data communication format. The integrated messaging server 400 may be referred to as a "star." Multiple "stars" 400 may be present in the communications system. Regardless of the format, messages can be converted from analog to digital representation or from digital to analog representation before or after processing by the unified message processor 550 or the unified routing processor 560.

Referring now to Figure 4, the design of the integrated messaging server 400 will now be described. Those skilled in the art appreciate that the precise features of the computer platform used to implement the present invention are not critical. Any computer platform capable of executing a computer program that implements the unified message process may be used. The computer platform comprises at least one computer processor or microprocessor unit, MPU 485. The MPU 485 is operationally connected by control, data, and address busses to random access read-write RAM memory 490, nonvolatile computer read- write storage such as Disk or CDROM 500, and to the DLD 420, DID 430, Al 440, PNI 450 and TAP 480 external interfaces.

As noted previously, the DID interface 420 allows server access for transmitting messages to a subscriber. In addition, the DID interface 430 provides messaging server access to subscribers for receiving, processing, or transmitting messages. The Al interface 440 allows administrative access to the messaging server, while also serving as a TNPP dial backup link. The PNI interface 450 provides access to the paging service network so that radio page messages can be relayed to subscribers. Additional details regarding these interfaces are found in the Detailed Description of the Integrated Messaging System section. Lastly, in order to provide highly available personal communications messaging services, the messaging server 400 further comprises a power interface 460 that can support a U.P.S. 470 (Uninterruptible Power Supply). The U.P.S. serves as a backup source of electrical power, allowing the continued delivery of messaging services to subscribers despite a temporary loss of electrical power.

Detailed Design: Call Detail Record

Referring now to Figure 6a, the CDR (or Call Detail Record) structure will now be described. One of the primary purposes of the CDR is to bill the subscriber for the services provided to, and the services used by the subscriber. As illustrated in Figure 6a, the CDR may include a number of fields, including, for example, fields for Date, Time, Line, DID, Result Code, Pager Data, Digits and Duration. The Call Detail Record (CDR) provides details of the call to the server. The Date and Time refer to the date and time that the call was placed. Line refers to the line that was called. DID identifies the subscriber. Result Code indicates as to whether or not the caller hung up or left a message. Pager Data identifies the number of the pager, subscriber features (e.g., voicemail and custom greeting), and whether the subscriber pager can display alphabetic characters. Digits refers to the digital, alphanumeric, or text message which was transmitted to the subscriber pager. Finally, Duration refers to the length of the telephone call.

The subscriber Data Record or subscriber Detail Record (SDR) is illustrated in Figure 6b. The SDR has a number of fields but essentially contains three pieces of data, including a "cap code," the destination address (i.e., which carrier does the integrated messaging server 400 send the page message to), and information relating to the pager. More particularly, the SDR has a number of fields including DID, Message Length, Rate and Feature 1... Feature n. DID uniquely identifies the subscriber and serves as the key to searching the SDR. Message length refers to the maximum length of a message that maybe displayed on this subscriber pager. Rate refers to a rate code which serves to identify the rate at which the subscriber will be billed. Finally, Feature 1... Feature n are flags in the SDR which selectively enable or disable individual messaging services and features that the messaging server may offer to the subscriber. By providing separate flags for each service or feature, the messaging server may offer any combination of messaging services and features to a subscriber. Thus, services and features can be customized for an individual subscriber, and need not necessarily match the services offered to any other subscriber. Any fields in the CDR which are also present in the SDR may be copied from the SDR to the CDR when each CDR record is created. Thus, the CDR acts as a "snapshot" of the subscriber's feature set at the time a particular message was received or a particular page was transmitted.

Detailed Operation: Unified Message Processing The detailed operation of the unified messaging server will now be described. Typically, a message is created by a caller 200 using a transmission device 205. The created message is in a first voice or data communication format, and is intended for at least one subscriber or recipient 290. As illustrated in Figure 3, the transmitted first message may be represented in any voice or data communications format. For instance, the transmitted message (also referred to as the first message) may be electronic data, a telephone call or teleconference call, electronic mail, voice messages, or page messages. The first message is conveyed through a data link or network to the messaging server. This data link or network may be a telephony network 110, the internet 120, or a pager service network 300. (See Figure 2)

Once conveyed to the messaging server 400, the transmitted message is preferably received by the messaging interface 410 (see Figure 2). Alternatively, the transmitted message may be received by the pager network interface 450 or the administrative interface 440. When received at the messaging interface, the transmitted message is converted into a digital data representation, unless it is already in digital form. The messaging interface includes analog to digital (A/D) signal processing capability so that incoming analog messages can be converted into digital messages. Once the first message is received by the messaging server 400, it is stored in RAM 490 as shown in Figure 4. Alternatively, the message may be stored in storage device 500.

Unified messaging processor 550 then processes the transmitted message. According to the present invention, the first message is analyzed to determine its voice or data format, and to identify all intended recipients.

Once converted, the transmitted message is stored in a digital format in nonvolatile storage 500 and/or random access memory 490. Storage may occur before or after the message has been delivered to the intended recipient. Once stored, the message could again be converted into still another different voice or data format prior to delivery. For example, if the transmitted message was received as an electronic mail message and converted into a voice message, the present invention also can convert the stored digital voice message into a page message and transmit the reformatted message.

Whether converted or not, the transmitted message is routed to the subscriber 290 as a received message. Optionally, either a signal or message notification indicating that a new message has been received also can be routed to the subscriber 290. In addition, both the second message (also referred to as the received message) and the message notification may be routed to the subscriber. As a result, the second message of the message notification is transmitted to the intended subscriber through the messaging interface 410 or the page network interface 450. (See Figure 2). The interfaces that transmit the converted message provide digital to analog (D/A) signal processing capability. This allows generic, digitally represented messages to be converted into outbound analog messages, if required, prior to transmission.

Once the second message and/or the new message indication have been introduced into the communications system of the subscriber, the message can be delivered. The intended subscriber can access the converted message through the receiving/transmission device 295 operating within the second communications system. In this manner, the second message and/or the new message indication are delivered to the intended subscriber. The converted message is received in a format compatible with the second communications system and the device 295. In addition, the content of the second message is representative of the content of the first message as originally transmitted. For example, the second message could be a voice message representing the text content of the transmitted message which was transmitted by electronic mail.

Detailed Operation: Unified Routing Processing The integrated messaging server 400 provides two enhanced message routing capabilities which are implemented by unified routing processor 560.

These features increase the likelihood that the originator of a message can receive an immediate response. Typically this occurs when the message is urgent, the originator requires a timely reply, or the originator wishes to contact someone without delay. Both enhanced message routing features according to the present invention operate without regard to the format of the message to be delivered, or the respective communications systems of the caller 200 and recipient or subscriber 290 of the message. For instance, an urgent e-mail message may be converted into an urgent voice message and delivered, or an urgent telephone call can be delivered as an urgent radio page message. Also, these enhanced message routing features can operate in combination with the unified message processing features. For example, an e-mail message requiring an immediate response can be processed by the unified routing processor 560 after being converted into a page message by unified message processor. The unified routing processes according to the present invention are referred to as message escalation and message recipient finder.

Detailed Operation: Message Escalation Referring now to Figure 7, message escalation will now be described. If a caller 200 transmits a message to a particular subscriber, the message may be received by the subscriber in a timely manner so as to permit a timely response. However, sometimes the particular subscriber for whom the message is intended cannot be immediately located. In this situation, typically the caller 200 will receive some indication that the subscriber 290 cannot be located. For example, if the message is a telephone call, the messaging server 400 may connect the caller to the subscriber's message mailbox after a predetermined number of rings or may give the caller the option of being connected to the subscriber's mailbox. Examples of message mail boxes are illustrated generally at 510. Alternatively, if the transmitted message is an electronic mail message, then the caller may receive a return message indicating that the intended subscriber is on vacation for two weeks and not available.

Message escalation provides other options to the caller for obtaining a timely or immediate response. Using message escalation, the caller can attempt to get a timely response from alternative contacts related to the intended subscriber recipient. The list of alternative contacts for a particular subscriber is maintained by the messaging server 400 in SDR 492 (see Figure 4).

Referring to Figure 7, the list of alternative contacts for the subscriber which owns message mailbox 1 are shown by message mailboxes 3, 4, and 5. If the caller requires an immediate response and the intended subscriber cannot be contacted, the caller can request that the message be routed to an alternative subscriber. The branches labeled b, c, and d which will be stored in SDR 492 (see Figure 4) show the relative order in which alternative subscribers will be attempted after failing to reach the subscriber corresponding to message mailbox 1. Upon failing to contact the subscriber assigned to message mailbox 1, the caller, for example, can have his message rerouted to the subscriber assigned to message mailbox 3, for example. The routing of the message is illustrated by the arrow labeled b. Once the caller's message is routed to a message mailbox, an attempt is made to contact the subscriber owner of that mailbox. For instance, Figure 7 shows that a page message could be sent to subscriber 3 293 using the pager service network 300 when the caller's message is routed to message mailbox 3. The expectation is that one of the alternative subscribers is associated with, or represents, the intended subscriber recipient. By contacting an alternative subscriber, the caller can receive a timely and acceptable response from the alternative contact. The message escalation feature works without regard to the messaging formats or communication systems involved, through the message mailbox interface. In this manner, frustrating rounds of "telephone tag" can be avoided for messages of all types and formats.

The messaging server can be flexibly configured to support this message escalation capability. Not only can a list of alternative contacts be customized, the messaging server can also be configured to attempt to reach the intended subscriber or their alternative contacts a predetermined number of times. In addition, a preselected time delay can be set up between attempts to contact the subscriber or the alternative contact. Repeated attempts can be made to contact the intended subscriber or a particular alternative contact until the predetermined number of additional attempts has been exhausted or a response has been received. Rerouting among alternative subscribers can continue until the caller receives a timely response, the list of alternative subscribers is exhausted, or the caller decides to transmit a message without obtaining an immediate response. For example, after failing to contact the subscribers assigned to message mailboxes 3 (subscriber-293), 4 (subscriber-294), and 5 (subscriber 295), the caller may decide to send a page or leave a voice message for the intended subscriber or any alternative subscriber.

Detailed Operation: Recipient Finder Referring to Figure 8, the message recipient finder feature of the present invention will now be described, recipient finder is implemented by unified routing processor 560. (See Figure 4) Similar to message escalation, recipient finder seeks to obtain a timely response for the caller, recipient finder also operates without regard to the format of the messages to be delivered, or the communications systems associated with the messages. Also, the number of contact attempts and the delay between attempts can be adjusted. However, unlike the message escalation feature which reroutes messages to alternate subscribers seeking a timely response to a message, recipient finder reroutes messages in order to locate the specific subscriber or recipient of the message when a timely response to the message is required by the caller.

Figure 8 illustrates the application of recipient finder to a telephone message, but this feature is by no means limited only to this message format. For example, electronic mail or page messages also can be processed by recipient finder.

If a caller 200 attempts to contact a particular subscriber recipient, such as subscriber 1 291, and the caller succeeds, an immediate response to the message may be received. However, sometimes the particular subscriber for whom the message is intended might not be located immediately by the caller. Typically, there will be a first address or location at which the intended subscriber is initially contacted by the caller intending to deliver a message. For example, this may be a telephone number or an e-mail address at which the intended recipient is first contacted. If the caller is unable to contact the intended recipient of the message at the first address or location, the caller can access an alternative message mailbox specifically for that intended recipient.

An example message mailbox for subscriber 1 is illustrated at Mailbox 1 511 in Figure 8. This message mailbox resides within the structure of message mailboxes 510 as shown in Figure 7. Note that although Figure 8 describes recipient finder with respect to a telephone message, other message formats can be processed by recipient finder. If the caller accesses the message mailbox 511, the caller can leave a message in some format for the intended subscriber recipient. However, a timely response cannot be guaranteed by simply leaving a message. As a result, recipient finder can use the messaging mailbox to attempt to contact the intended recipient of the message at a different location. The messaging server 400 maintains a list of alternative messaging addresses or locations at which that particular intended recipient might be located. The list is stored in SDR 492 (see Figure 4) and is accessed using the DID of the subscriber. A subscriber can change the list of alternative locations at any time. The entries in this list can be ordered in any manner and can reflect the use of various messaging formats for contacting the recipient. The messaging server will proceed through the list, attempting to contact the intended recipient according to the list.

To illustrate, the first entry in list 540 may represent a second address for locating the intended recipient, which may be an office telephone number, i.e., "Phone No. 2". The second entry in list 540 may be a cellular phone number of the intended recipient. The third entry may be an after-hours or home phone number and the fourth entry may be a pager address or an e-mail address for sending an urgent electronic message. The unified routing processor 560 (see Figure 4) proceeds through the list stored in SDR 492 attempting to locate the intended recipient for the caller. If not successful, the caller originating the message can access the message mailbox and its other features. The caller also can try to obtain a timely response through the message escalation feature, or can decide ultimately to leave a message in some format.

In the example shown in Figure 8, the first backup contact for the intended recipient is Phone No. 1. If the intended subscriber cannot be located at Phone No. 1, unified routing processor will attempt to contact the intended recipient at Phone No. 2 and 3, respectively. Thereafter, a page message will be sent. Finally, if the caller still cannot contact the subscriber (i.e., the subscriber does not return the page) the message will be transmitted as an electronic mail message. Of course, if the intended recipient is successfully contacted at any entry in the list and a timely response is received, the unified routing processor does not track the intended recipient any further.

The finder feature according to the present invention also can be set so that a caller automatically bypasses the voice mail without requiring the caller to press a "0" or some other key to implement the bypass. The subscriber can set the finder feature to an automatic mode by setting a data element in the SDR at the subscriber's DID. Unlike call forwarding, the automatic finder feature does not transfer the caller to voice mail but rather immediately and automatically starts searching to locate the subscriber at one of the locations in the list stored in the SDR. Detailed Operation: Time Management Features The messaging server 400 provides intelligent management of time of day and of message "time stamping". Figure 9 illustrates these features. The time and date are kept by the Time of Day timer 530, and managed by the TOD (Time of Day) Management Facility 520. A message is time stamped when it is received by the messaging server. In this way, the date and time when the message was received or when it was retrieved can be kept by the messaging system. This information can be queried by subscribers or messaging system administrators. In essence, managing the time stamp of a message signifies modifying the time zone associated with a particular message.

Referring to Figure 9, time management will now be described. Assume that the caller is subscriber 2 292 in California, subscriber 2 292 calls subscriber 1 291 in New York at 7 a.m. Pacific time, and leaves a message for subscriber 1 291 after not being able to locate subscriber 1 291. subscriber 1 291 arrives at the office at 11 a.m. Eastern time, and retrieves the message. Messaging server 400 converts the time associated with the message so that it reflects the time zone of the message recipient and thus reports the message as being received at 10 a.m. Eastern time, not 7 a.m. Pacific time.

A single messaging server may serve subscribers residing in different time zones. Thus, messaging server 400 adjusts the time associated with a message to reflect the time zone of the message recipient, since that time is the most relevant. Moreover, this feature operates even when the message recipient retrieves messages from a different time zone.

In addition, the messaging server 400 provides intelligent time of day management. The messaging server 400 maintains a local timer 530 set to the time of day, as shown in Figure 9. This is used as the time reference for operations within the server. In addition, messages are time stamped with the date and time in a given time zone. The messaging server 400 also can communicate with a precision source of the correct time of day, for example, the National Institute of Standards and Technology time 650. In the example illustrated in Figure 9, the messaging server 400 accesses the precision NIST time of day resource through the administrative interface (Al) 440 and modem 130. By accessing this very accurate source, the messaging server 400 can synchronize its local time reference to the precise time of day. This allows the messaging server to maintain highly accurate time, without requiring expensive hardware clocks and timers. The messaging server 400 also automatically adapts for seasonally related time of day changes. This is also accomplished by the TOD (Time of Day) management facility 520. Twice a year, the time of day is modified to compensate for large seasonal changes in the number of hours of daylight. In the spring, the time is modified to reflect Daylight Savings Time (DST). In the fall, the time is changed back to Standard Time. The server 400 intelligently and automatically compensates for seasonal time of day changes, without requiring any outside intervention.

Detailed Operation: Remote Management and Support Referring again to Figure 2, integrated messaging server 400 is operationally connected to remote management facility 140. The remote management facility 140 according to the present invention may be a single technician, a computer processor, a staffed remote control center, or combinations thereof. Technical support, system management, and other services can be provided through the remote management facility. Preferably, the interface through which the messaging server 400 is accessed should be a higher performance interface such as a WAN (Wide Area Network) communications link. Alternatively, the telephony network 110 or some other communications network can be used by the remote management facility 140 to access the messaging server 400. Referring to Figure 10, the operation of the remote management facility

140 now will be described. Remote management facility 140 can remotely manage and control a single message server 400 or a cluster of message servers. As illustrated in Figure 10, the remote management facility 140 can use the Al interface 440 of message server 400 to communicate with the message server 400. Although the telephony network 110 preferably is used to establish the communications link between the remote management facility 140 and message server 400, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other interfaces and other networks may be used to communicate with the remote management facility. Customer support, billing, and system administration are among the services provided from the remote facility. In addition, various operations can be carried out by the remote management facility including, for example, programming changes as indicated at 140b to add, delete, or modify subscribers or the services rendered to a subscriber can be made remotely. Services as indicated at 140c also can be customized by remote management facility 140 on a per- subscriber basis without local server intervention.

In addition, the remote facility 140 can create and maintain backup copies as indicated at 140f of the programming environment and operating data stored within each messaging server. These backups can occur automatically without human technical intervention. If serious hardware or software problems occur at a server, the remote facility 140 can quickly restore a server to full operation by using stored backup data. Whether a new replacement server is installed or an existing server is merely reloaded, the stored backup information is a valuable resource for providing highly available integrated messaging services.

Remote management also facilitates monitoring and billing for messaging traffic through a messaging server as indicated at 140g. Further, as messages flow through a given messaging server 400, Call Detail Records are kept by the messaging server as indicated at 140e. Over time a large number of these data records accumulate, yet they must be collected to properly bill subscribers. Message traffic can also be monitored by analyzing collected messaging data. The remote facility 140 regularly retrieves Call Detail Records and other messaging data from each messaging server. This allows minimizing the data storage cost at each server, and allows prompt and detail billing records to be created. The risk of losing information is also minimized since the data is collected and stored in the remote facility 140. Further, since identical sets of data are stored at different sites, this provides the additional advantage of data and file backup. Various types of reports and detailed billing statements can be created by using this regularly collected data. The server also can relay system status as indicated at 140d to the remote management facility. Finally, when the messaging server 400 requires service, it can transmit periodic messages as indicated at 140a to alert technical support resources at the remote facility 140 that intervention is necessary. Referring to Figure 11, remote technical support will be described.

Technical support resources can be located at a remote management facility 140, or alternatively, at almost any other location. As illustrated in Figure 11, a remote support technician 600 can be located almost anywhere and access the messaging server over the telephony network 110 or any other network. Messaging server 400 can send a message to technician 600 indicating it requires support, or, alternatively, a subscriber can request that a particular server be serviced. Similar to any subscriber, the remote support technician 600 can be prompted to service the messaging server by the transmission of a message in any voice or data communications format. For example, as illustrated in Figure 11, a radio page message can be delivered to the technician via a pager service network 300 and pager 610. The technician can then communicate with the messaging server in a conventional manner - by using a dial up terminal 620 through a telephony network 110 into one of the messaging server's interfaces. System information from the server 400 may then be retrieved and analyzed in order to diagnose and resolve the problem.

As illustrated in Figure 11, the messaging server 400 also provides access for a technician via a DTMF tone telephone 630. Using a DTMF tone telephone 630, the technician can interact with the server 400 using DTMF tones. Access to technical support menus and options is possible by depressing buttons on DTMF tone telephone 630. The messaging server 400 can "tell" the technician about the problems and environment it is experiencing via voice messages as illustrated by the voice information relayed to the technician 600. The messaging server stores all the information regarding system parameters and status as digital information. The integrated messaging features previously described can convert this information into messages of any voice or data communications format. These messages can then be relayed to a remote technician in whatever format is most appropriate. Although Figure 11 illustrates voice and DTMF interaction with the server, it will be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art that any interface and any messaging format can be used to remotely support messaging server 400.

Detailed Operation: Telephony Service Features The message server 400 also provides various telephony services.

Referring to Figure 12, these telephony features will be described. A variety of telephone call remapping features are provided. First, the messaging server 400 allows a toll free telephone number and a local or long distance telephone number to be associated with each other. When a telephone call is made to a given toll free number, the messaging server can automatically redirect the call through an outside telephone line to a local or long distance telephone number. For example, as illustrated in Figure 12, caller 1 200 makes a toll free call to 1-800-123-4567. This call is intercepted by the messaging server 400, and "front ended" or redirected to local number 777-6666. Thus, any toll free telephone number can be front-ended to provide toll free access to any local or long distance telephone number. The toll free number can be redirected to a local or long distance telephone number through a telephone number remapping table in the messaging server 400 or any other method for using a toll free number to "front end" a local or long distance number. In addition, more than one telephone number may be associated with a particular message mailbox. For example, subscriber 2 292 can access a message mailbox by calling either 1-800-456-7890 or local number 677-2900. If a message mailbox is mapped to a local number and a toll free number, a traveling subscriber can access the messaging server without incurring long distance charges. Therefore, subscriber 2 292 can access message mailbox 2 from any telephone. If the toll free number issued, the subscriber will be charged at a later time so the service provider can recoup the cost of the toll free service. This feature allows the subscriber to use a local number when he is calling his mailbox from within the local calling area of the messaging server, and a toll-free number when travelling outside that area. He also may elect to give the toll-free number to his associates who are outside the local calling area so that they may contact him without paying for a long-distance call.

Long distance trunk access also is provided by the messaging server 400 permitting subscribers to the messaging server 400 to access outbound long distance calling services from their message mailboxes. For example, if subscriber 1 291 calls into the messaging server 400 to retrieve a message, subscriber 1 291 will access mailbox 1 to retrieve the message. After retrieving the message, subscriber 1 291 can make a long distance telephone call directly from message mailbox 1. subscriber 1 also will be provided with several payment options, such as paying for the call in advance or at the time the call is placed. In addition, a separate message mailbox may be configured to deliver messaging services. For instance, a message mailbox can be set up to provide long distance calling or conference calling telephone services. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that this feature is not limited to telephony services or message format, but can be used to provide other messaging services.

Through the features and services detailed above, the present invention allows message mailboxes 510 to be used to access all services provided by the integrated messaging server. For example, a call made to a single message mailbox could be used to retrieve a voice message left by a telephone call, retrieve an e-mail message in a human voice format, send a page message which forwards the e-mail message, or make a long distance call to return the voice message. The possibilities are by no means limited to those described herein. The message mailbox is the common interface used to receive, process, or transmit messages in all voice and data communications formats. It is through this interface that subscribers can benefit from the true integration and unification of all messaging formats and communications systems from which messages originate.

Detailed Operation: Security The integrated messaging system according to the present invention also provides security features to protect the privacy and integrity of messaging data. In standard messaging systems, the passwords used by a subscriber to access their messages are usually stored in data records associated with the subscriber. The subscriber's password can be easily read by technical support personnel or others with read access to these data records. As a result, the integrity of a subscriber's password and the security of messaging data can be compromised. However, the integrated messaging system according to the present invention encrypts passwords stored for subscribers so that security and data integrity can be preserved.

Further, the integrated messaging server according to the present invention provides improved password security. In all password protected systems, security is enhanced by encouraging subscribers to change their passwords periodically. Allowing subscribers to select trivial or predictable passwords defeats the added security benefit obtained from changing passwords. In order to provide better security, the integrated messaging server according to the present invention rejects trivial or predictable passwords such as those composed from repeated or sequentially related alphanumeric characters are rejected. For instance, passwords such as 111111, 456789, or 876543 are rejected by the integrated messaging server of the present invention. In addition, passwords containing any relationship to the telephone number used to access a message mailbox are also disallowed. By rejecting relatively insecure passwords, and forcing subscribers to select random or less predictable passwords, the integrated messaging system of the present invention further enhances the security of messages and services provided to subscribers. ^~

Detailed Operation: Enhanced Communications Services Referring now to Figures 13 through 21, the enhanced communications services provided according to the improved messaging processing system of the present invention will now be described. Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating the components of the service platform 700. The service platform 700 connects to telephone lines or trunks 710, which are terminated by appropriate Telco Termination Equipment 711. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a variety of telephone facilities could be used for this type of system, however some commonly used facilities are those known as DID trunks, carried over analog lines or T-l digital lines. The various services provided by platform 700 are shown here as the Voicemail Platform 712, Fax Services 713, and the Conference Calling Bridge 714. Other services and features are possible and are indicated here as Other Enhanced Services 715. This single block 715 is not intended to limit the design to only one such service, but to illustrate that a variety of other services, such as, for example, "Find Me" and calling card services, might be offered through the same platform by the inclusion of various hardware and software modules.

Each of the modules shown in Figure 13 typically consists of hardware and/or software. For example, the Voicemail Platform 712 might consist of a hard disk drive for the storage of digitized voice messages, combined with software which allows the recording and playback of such messages. It is known to those skilled in the art that a variety of implementation methods could be used for each such module. The complete set of modules shown in Figure 13 will be referred to as a

Service Platform 700. In order to provide such services in a multitude of local calling areas, the platform needs to be duplicated in its entirety in each area. This is illustrated in Figure 14, where the cities used for illustration are Atlanta, Albany, and Savannah, Georgia. These will be referred to as the "locally served cities" and any number of such cities might be installed in a tme deployment of this type of service. In each locally served city, a complete enhanced service platform would be installed. A low-speed data network 721 is required to interconnect the systems for command and control purposes, so that a central billing and provisioning interface 722 can be used to manage the various systems. The low speed data network 721 is typically located in cloud 1 (see Figure 1). It is known to those skilled in the art that any available data network might be used to implement the low-speed Data Network 721, however some examples of such data networks include: 9600 bps analog circuits, 56K bps digital circuits, and frame relay data circuits. The location of the billing and provisioning interface 722 is not specified since it may be in one of the cities containing a Service Platform 700, or may be in an entirely different location.

As discussed earlier, the architecture shown in Figure 14 is technically feasible but not economical unless each locally served city has sufficient number of customers to support the installation of the equipment described. It is typically not economical to install such equipment in smaller cities such as (in this example) Augusta and Savannah.

Now referring to Figure 15, the design of decentralized services according to the present invention will now be described. The present invention provides an Enhanced Service Platform 700' in such a manner that certain services are centralized and other services are decentralized and thus only a minimum of hardware is installed in each locally served city. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the determination of what is "a minimum" can be defined in a variety of ways, depending on the costs of various subsystems at any given time. However, the hardware in each locally served city must include at least the Telco (telephone company) Termination Equipment 711. In the preferred embodiment, due to the low cost of disk storage space, the Voicemail Platform 712' also has been included at each location. We refer to this minimal set of hardware (the Telco Termination Equipment and the Voice Mail Platform 712') in each locally served city as the basic Decentralized Voice Platform (DVP) 729.

The present invention as shown in Figure 15 provides certain services in a central location. The services which are moved to a central location are those services which are typically used less often then the basic Voicemail Platform features, yet these same services are associated with especially high installation costs, such as the Fax Services 713' and the Conference Calling Bridge 714'. The services which are provided by centrally located equipment are depicted in Figure 15 as Centralized Services (CS) 730.

The physical location of the Centralized Services 730 may be the same as the location of one of the locally served cities, or it may be in a completely different location. Thus a city name is not shown next to this equipment. It may also be desirable that all such services may not be located in the same city, yet the key is that the services provided by this equipment may be equally used by the plurality of DVP 729 in all locally served cities. This also shares the cost of the Centralized Services equipment 730 among all locally served cities, making the present invention more economical as additional cities are deployed.

In Figure 15, the same low-speed Data Network 721 which is used to interconnect the locally served cities, is connected to the Centralized Services 730. In previous attempts to solve the problem at hand, one approach has been simply to increase the bandwidth (and cost) of the data network so that voice calls may be carried to a central facility. In particular, the data network might be enhanced to include full T-l or fractional T-l services, where a full T-l is capable of transporting 24 simultaneous voice calls, and a fractional T-l may carry from 1 to 23 such calls. The cost of this approach presently has made it unattractive for large scale deployments. According to the present invention, LD (long distance) trunks 731 are attached to the Centralized Services 730. These trunks are capable of placing and/or accepting voice calls from each of the DVP 729. Such calls are placed over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 732 and are therefore capable of transporting voice, fax, or modem signals with the high quality which has come to be expected of the PSTN. Such calls are also charged at a low per-minute rate, which (for low call volumes) is significantly less expensive than the cost of the high-speed data network alternative described above.

The use of the PSTN in the current implementation is driven by the state of the art and by the costs currently associated with various types of networks, including the PSTN, the internet, and various private data networks including ATM and Frame Relay. It is known that as technology advances, the pricing models of these and other types of networks will change, and so the functionality provided by the PSTN in the current implementation might be replaced by a different type of network in the future, without changing the basic concept of centralized versus decentralized services. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the majority of calls can be handled locally, by the DVP 729 in the locally served city. Only when an enhanced service is required, such as placing a conference call, is a connection needed from the DVP 729 to the Centralized Services 730. In this case, a temporary dial-up connection 732 is established and used only for the duration of that service.

The present invention eliminates a fixed cost (a permanent, high-speed network) and replaces it with a variable cost (the cost of dial-up PSTN calls). Those skilled in the art of designing and administering such systems will recognize that there is a tradeoff between these two costs, and a point at which the per-minute cost of PSTN calling will be come unattractive versus the cost of a dedicated network. At the point where the present invention becomes uneconomical, equipment which is functionally identical to the Centralized Services 730 can be installed locally at one of the locally served cities. The protocol used for establishing a connection between the DVP 729 and the Centralized Services 730 may include a variety of steps, but in the present embodiment is performed as follows:

1. The subscriber indicates to the DVP 729, using his pushbutton telephone, that he wishes to utilize one of the enhanced services. The DVP 729 recognizes that this particular service is provided from the Centralized Services 730 and places a call over the PSTN 732.

2. The Centralized Services 730 answers the call. The DVP 729 identifies itself to the Centralized Services 730 by transmitting the subscriber's identification number. Typically this will be the same telephone number which was used by the subscriber to access the DVP 729, a 10-digit local telephone number. The number is transmitted using DTMF digits which can be carried over the voice channel provided by the dial-up PSTN connection.

3. The DVP 729 transmits additional information needed to identify the service required. In the case of a conference call, the additional information contains the other telephone numbers to be included as parties to the conference. In the case of fax services, the additional information contains the telephone number of the fax machine to which the subscriber's fax messages should be transmitted. Other enhanced services will include other additional information such as non-numeric data, which will be discussed below, for the data to be exchanged between the DVP 729 and the Centralized Services 730. An exemplary implementation of (2) and (3) above is illustrated in Figure 16.

4. The dial-up connection remains established as long as needed to provide the required services. At any time during the connection, the line may transmit either voice or data as required. For example, the line may be used to carry the audio portion of a conference call, but switched into "data mode" at any time in order to convey to the Centralized Services 730 that a new party should be added to the conference call. After communicating the data, the call would resume carrying voice information. Voice communication is not possible during the data portion of the call; however the DVP 729 produces voice prompts which give instructions to the subscriber during this time, so the subscriber perceives that he is in contact with the system at all times.

5. At the end of the call, information relating to the duration of the call and the type of information carried by the call is relayed to the Billing and Provisioning Interface 722', in order to record the transaction and bill the subscriber for the features used. This billing information is obtained in part from the DVP 729 and in part from the Centralized Services 730, since each has some knowledge about the activity which occurred during this session. This billing information may be carried over either the dial-up PSTN 732 connection or the low-speed Data Network 721. In the preferred embodiment, the Data Network 721 is used, since it is desirable to terminate the PSTN connection 732 as quickly as possible to avoid additional usage charges.

As described above, the dial-up PSTN 732 call directly supports the transmission and reception of numeric digits since the DTMF standard allows any telephone or audio channel to communicate the symbols 0 through 9, and the * and # symbols (all found on a normal telephone). There are some enhanced services where numbers alone are insufficient, and a full alphabet is required in order to identify the service requested. One example of this would be in the case where the system wishes to transmit an e-mail message. An internet e-mail address might appear as: john.smith@company.com. In order to transmit this data using DTMF digits, a coding scheme is used wherein each letter and symbol is encoded by one or more DTMF digits. Each symbol is encoded as two DTMF digits, according to the following table:

symbol digits space 00 j 01

02

@ 32

A 33

B 34

C 35 a 64 b 65 c 66

Those skilled in the art will recognize that this encoding method uses symbols in the order in which they appear in the standard ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) table, and that other translation schemes could also be used. Regardless as to what encoding method is used, arbitrary printable information can be transferred over a dial-up PSTN connection 732 using only DTMF digits.

Support for Centralized Billing A necessary and critical step is to provide complete and accurate billing for all services provided, whether those services were provided through the centralized or decentralized portions of the system. The low-speed Data Network 721 is a cost-effective means whereby Call Detail Records (CDRs) may be collected from the various servers (e.g. 729 and 730) and combined into a single "bundled billing" invoice for the subscriber. Since the subscriber's telephone number is used as a unique identifying key for all services, regardless of the location from which the service is provided, that key can be used to sort and merge the various CDRs into a single detailed invoice.

An example of a Call Detail Record is shown below (an alternative CDR is illustrated in Figure 6a). This record contains fields which are used to provide detailed information about the call. This information is suitable for billing the services to the subscriber, tracking the system's usage for administrative and maintenance purposes, and determining the level of usage received by the system. Information regarding level of usage is used to determine whether additional resources of this type are needed, or whether it is more economical to further centralize or decentralize this particular type of service due to the level of demand.

Call Detail Record (CDR fields subscriber ID or telephone number message originator's telephone number destination telephone number resource(s) used trunk number or resource number used in the centralized system duration of the call, in minutes and seconds quantity of information (bytes or characters) conveyed during the call type of message conveyed (fax, voice, etc.) type of notification device (pager etc.) used to notify the subscriber of a message cost factor due to long-distance or international calling surcharges due to pay telephone usage or other reasons

Unified Messaging - Text To Speech and Reply To E-mail The integration of various types of messages, which may be referred to as "unified messaging," requires services which can be economically deployed through the present invention. For example, an electronic mail ("e-mail") message may be converted to a spoken, or voicemail message, using a technology called Text-To-Speech (TTS). TTS technology uses specialized hardware and complex signal processing algorithms (programs) to convert a written message into a spoken message. Thus, the inclusion of TTS features on each of the DVP 729 platforms, at present, is expensive.

The present invention supports Text-to-Speech (TTS) through a centralized module, Text-To-Speech Services 727. When an e-mail message arrives and the subscriber has indicated that such messages should be transformed into voicemail messages, the following steps occur:

1. The e-mail message is received by the Web, Internet and E-mail Services 725 module of the centralized services 730. Those skilled in the art will recognize that e-mail messages are delivered using one of several industry- standard protocols, an example of which is the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) used by most internet-capable electronic mail systems.

2. The Web, Internet and E-mail Services 725 delivers the message as plain text to the Text-To-Speech Services module 727. In the preferred embodiment, any message attachments such as binary files, spreadsheet files, or other attachments are stripped from the message at this time since that cannot be efficiently or accurately converted into speech.

3. The TTS module 727 uses the LD Trunks 731, and places a call over the temporary connection (PSTN) 732 into the DVP 729 which contains the subscriber's voice mailbox. The subscriber's telephone number is the only information needed in order for the TTS module 727 to place the call.

4. After the DVP 729 answers the call, the DVP 729 and the TTS 727 exchange information using the DTMF coding scheme described earlier. The information that is exchanged includes at least the following: (a) the fact that an e- mail message is arriving; and (b) the message sender's e-mail address which can be used to transmit a reply. The exchange of data for converting an e-mail to speech is illustrated in Figure 17.

5. Finally, the TTS module 727 uses specialized TTS hardware to convert the message from text into a spoken message, which hardware will be known to those of ordinary skill in the art. This message is recorded by the DVP

729 in the same manner it records any ordinary inbound voicemail message, except that the data received earlier indicates that the message actually came from an e- mail. 6. The subscriber is notified of a new e-mail message in his "in box."

Since the sender's e-mail address was transmitted from the TTS 727 to the DVP 729, the subscriber, without using a computer, can reply to this message and have the reply delivered to the sender of the original e-mail: 7. The subscriber listens to the e-mail message (which has been converted to speech) and decides to create a reply to this message.

8. The subscriber speaks his reply, which is recorded as an ordinary digital voice recording on the DVP 729. Those skilled in the art will understand that a variety of digital recording methods are possible. In the preferred embodiment, the method chosen is ADPCM (adaptive delta pulse code modulation) using 4-bit samples and 6000 samples per second. This method uses relatively little disk storage space and produces a sound quality which is acceptable for telephone and voice messages.

9. The DVP 729 establishes a temporary dial-up connection 732 to the Centralized Services 730 and transmits the commands which indicate that this connection will carry an e-mail message reply. Using the DTMF/ASCII encoding previously described with respect to Figure 5, the DVP 729 transmits the e-mail address of the original message's sender (who will be the recipient of this reply).

10. The Centralized Services contains voice recording and storage facilities 728, which receive the voice recording over the dial-up connection 732 and store the recording as an ordinary digital voice recording. This recording is then converted to a standard audio file format by the Voice to WAV Conversion 726, and sent to the Web, E-mail and Internet Services 725, to be transmitted over the internet as an e-mail with an audio file attachment. The exchange of data for replying to a speech converted e-mail is illustrated in Figure 18.

11. Those skilled in the art will understand that Internet e-mail supports the ability to attach and send arbitrary data files, and that one of the commonly available audio file formats is the WAV file. The WAV file can be played back by a majority of e-mail programs and Web browser programs. Thus, the sender of the original e-mail message can receive back an e-mail containing a reply which has been recorded into a WAV file, and by listening to that file he can hear the reply. Formats for the voice files used internally by the Centralized Services 730 as well as the industry-standard WAV file are illustrated in Figure 19.

Unified Messaging - Fax Summary Page According to the Unified Messaging system of the present invention, all of the subscriber's messages are accessible from a single "unified in-box" whether the message originated as a voice message, fax, or e-mail. Retrieving messages by way of a telephone becomes less than practical when the subscriber discovers that he has received a large number of e-mail messages, such as, for example, a hundred or more e-mail messages. It is theoretically possible to listen to all of these e-mails as voice messages; however, it would be very time-consuming.

According to the present invention, a subscriber may obtain an option for a "summary page" of all his current e-mail messages. Since the subscriber will be requesting this summary from a remote location where it is assumed that he has no computer available, the summary page is transmitted via fax to a fax number of his choosing (e.g. the hotel fax machine). The summary page will contain a one-line, or multiple-line, summary of each e-mail message currently available in the subscriber's in-box.

Each message also is marked with a sequence number. In the present embodiment, sequence numbers range from 000 to 999, then return to 000. This allows any single subscriber to have at most 1000 e-mail messages available for retrieval through this method. After receiving the summary page, the subscriber can determine which e-mails he wishes to read in their entirety, and can request those particular e-mails (using their sequence numbers) to be converted to speech using text-to-speech, or delivered to a fax machine for printing. Referring again to Figure 15, the operation of this feature will now be described:

1. The subscriber dials his telephone number, which is answered by the DVP 729. He hears the quantity of e-mail messages available for retrieval and elects to receive a summary page. He specifies the telephone number of the target fax machine by keying it in on his telephone. 2. The DVP 729 passes the summary page request and the target fax number, to the centralized Fax Services module 713' over the Data Network 721. The Fax Services module 713' creates and transmits the summary page to that fax number. An exemplary fax summary page is illustrated in Figure 20. As illustrated, the summary page may show messages other than email messages. In particular, the example illustrates one FAX message and two WIRELESS messages (also referred to as "paging messages" or "pages"), all such messages being stored within the same "unified in-box" and all capable of being retrieved or redirected using the features and capabilities of the system. The exchange of data between the DVP 729 and the Fax Services 713' for purposes of creating the fax summary page is illustrated in Figure 21.

3. The subscriber examines the summary page and determines which (if any) messages require his attention. Using the sequence numbers printed next to each message header, he specifies to the DVP 729 which messages he would like to receive in full. He also specifies whether he would like to receive these messages via fax, or via text-to-speech (TTS) conversion.

4. If fax was requested, the selected messages are passed to the Fax Services module 713' and transmitted in full to the desired fax number. If TTS was requested, the messages are passed to the TTS Services module 727, and delivered to the DVP 729 as described earlier in this document.

Centralized Voice Storage and the World Wide Web hi the preferred embodiment, voice messages are stored in a distributed fashion on the separate DVP systems 729. This separation is not compatible with Unified Messaging when it is desired to retrieve such messages over the World Wide Web (part of the Internet). Therefore, the present invention copies all received voice messages from the local DVP systems 729, to the centralized Voice Recording and Storage module 728, over the low-speed Data Network 721. Alternatively, this copying operation could be accomplished differently; however, the Data Network 721 was chosen in the present embodiment since it accomplishes the task with adequate speed, and does not incur the cost of using a PSTN dial-up connection 732 for this operation. Copying of voice files provides the following benefits:

1. Voice messages are immediately accessible over the World Wide Web through the Web, Internet and Email Services module 725, part of the Centralized Services 730.

2. The Voice Recording and Storage module 728 provides backup copies of all voice messages in the event of a disk failure at one of the local DVP sites 729.

Using a standard Web browser program on a computer which is connected to the Internet, the subscriber may access a web page via Internet access 723 which displays his available messages. This web page is presented to the subscriber using the facilities included in the Web, Email and Internet Services 725. From this page, the subscriber may elect to listen to messages, delete messages, forward messages, or perform other message management activities commonly associated with voice and text messaging systems. When the subscriber requests that a message be deleted, the message copy is first deleted in the Voice Recording and Storage module 728. Thereafter, that request is propagated back to the DVP 729 containing the original voice message, where the original voice message is deleted.

Detailed Operation: Selective Blocking Referring again to Figure 2, selective blocking according to the present invention will now be described. Despite the fact that that higher charges may be associated with pay phone calls or Canadian calls, a subscriber might prefer to receive all such calls. Or a subscriber might prefer to reject all such calls to avoid the obligation of the higher per-minute prices or the pay-phone surcharges. A third option would be for the subscriber to reject all such calls unless the subscriber himself happened to be the originator of the call. This would occur, for example, if the subscriber were away from his office, and needed to use a pay phone to retrieve his messages or to utilize other enhanced features of the Message processing system. The originator 200 of a message uses a telephone, computer, or other device 205 to create a message which is to be delivered. The device 205 delivers the message by dialing a telephone number on the public telephone network's facilities 110 which is operated by one or more carriers. This telephone number identifies the destination of the call as one or more analog or digital telephone lines which connect to the integrated messaging server 400.

Referring to Figure 22, the steps according to the present invention for implementing selective blocking which are followed by the originator, carrier, and the integrated messaging server will now be described. For explaining the details of the protocol, the remainder of this discussion will assume the use of a particular type of telephone facilities known as "wink-start T-l". Those skilled in the art will understand that other means and facilities could be used for the same purposes so long as a means is provided for delivering the necessary informational digits prior to the start of the message. When a call terminates into the integrated messaging server, the carrier presents an indication that a call is ready to be delivered. This indication is carried on a signal known as the "A bit", whose presence indicates that an incoming call has arrived. The integrated messaging server observes the A bit and responds to the carrier with a signal known as a "wink." The wink indicates that the integrated messaging server is ready to receive all informational digits.

After observing the wink, the carrier transmits all informational digits, including the DID, ANI, and INFO digits. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any of several means may be used for transmitting the digits. One such means is known as Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency or DTMF. Using DTMF, digits are transmitted one at a time as a series of audible tones, in the same fashion as that used by pushbutton telephones. Another well-known means for conveying the informational digits is the MF (Multi Frequency) standard.

The integrated messaging server receives and decodes the digits and symbols transmitted by the carrier. Since the DTMF code is the same as that used by a pushbutton telephone, it is widely known that codes exist for transmitting the digits 0 through 9, and also the symbols * and #. These additional symbols are commonly used to separate or delimit the various portions of the informational digits. For example, the digits might be transmitted as

* INFO ANI * DID *

In other words, the carrier would transmit the * symbol, followed by two TNFO digits, then 10 ANI digits, another *, all DID digits, and a final * symbol.

Depending on the configuration of the carrier's equipment, these fields may be transmitted in any order, and may or may not include delimiting * or # symbols.

The integrated messaging server decodes these digits and symbols into the separate INFO, ANI, and DID fields. Then it checks its internal database of subscribers to determine if the DID represents a valid subscriber. If not, the integrated messaging server plays a pre-recorded audio message to the effect of "this is not a valid number" and terminates the call.

An audio path exists from the integrated messaging server back to the originator even before the integrated messaging server "answers" the call, therefore this message can be played to the originator immediately and without the integrated messaging server ever "answering" the call. By doing so, the integrated messaging server ensures that no carrier charges will be billed to the integrated messaging server operator for that call.

Assuming that the DID represents a valid subscriber, the integrated messaging server proceeds to check the ANI digits against those which are known to be unacceptable. The ANI is checked against an ANI Blocking Table which represents certain areas of the United States or Canada from which calls should be blocked. Each entry in this table may contain any number of digits, but typically will contain at least three digits, and may contain as many as 10 digits. For example, a call originating in Canada might cause the following ANI digits to be received by the integrated messaging server: 604-663-1234. To block calls from Canada, the ANI Blocking Table would include the following prefixes (also known as area codes). The invention provides a means for altering this table to add other prefixes in the future as necessary, since the assignment of area codes does change from time to time.

204

250 306

403

416

418

506 514

519

604 <- matches incoming ANI digits for this example

613

705 709

807

819

902

905 906

Thus, since the first three digits of the ANI match one of the entries in the ANI blocking table, the call would be rejected.

This table can be implemented on a per-subscriber basis so that any subscriber may elect to receive, or reject, calls from any desired ANI prefix; or the table could be implemented on a system-wide (global) basis to block all such incoming calls for all subscribers; or a combination of these strategies could be used, with both individual and global ANI Blocking Tables.

As another example, if it has been determined that a particular set of ANI numbers corresponds to an organization or group which the subscriber wishes to block, those numbers can also be entered into the ANI Blocking Table. In order to block only those numbers associated with the offending organization, typically 8, 9 or 10 digits would be used in the ANI Blocking Table for this purpose. For example, if the following entry existed in the ANI Blocking Table, it would reject calls from originator numbers 212-999-1500 through 212-999-1599:

21299915 That is, any originating number whose initial 8 digits matched 21299915 would be rejected with an appropriate audio message.

For the final test of acceptability of this message, the integrated messaging server according to this invention examines the received INFO digits. The integrated messaging server compares these digits against a predetermined list of INFO digit combinations known to represent added-cost services. In this implementation it is known that INFO digit combinations 27 and 70 represent calls from a pay telephone, however other implementations may regard other INFO digit combinations as being worthy of special processing as well. If the INFO digit combination represents that the originator of the message is using a pay telephone, the integrated messaging server checks a flag in the subscriber database to determine if this subscriber has agreed to accept calls from pay telephones. If the subscriber has so agreed, this means the added cost is acceptable to the subscriber, and the integrated messaging server answers the call in order to accept the message. If the subscriber has not agreed to the added cost, the call is rejected with an audio message to the effect of "this number does not accept calls from pay telephones."

Assuming now that the call did originate from a pay telephone, and that the integrated messaging server has rejected the call: if the subscriber himself, or an authorized agent of the subscriber, wishes to override the rejection and gain access to the integrated messaging server, this is possible under some conditions. First, the carrier's facilities must support audio in both directions prior to the integrated messaging server "answering" the call. One-way audio prior to "answering" is standard, but some carrier equipment allows audio to flow in both directions prior to billing for the call. If this two-way audio is provided, the subscriber (or his agent) may use an "override code" to gain access to the integrated messaging server despite having used a pay telephone to originate the call. This override code is currently implemented as a fixed string of digits: the subscriber merely presses "1 2 3" when he hears the rejection message. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art, that a variable override code can also be implemented and stored along with other information relating to this subscriber. This would increase the system's security and lessen the possibility that unauthorized callers would be able to override the pay phone rejection message.

After all of the above steps have been completed, and assuming the call has not yet been rejected, or that the rejection has been overridden using the "override code" described above, the integrated messaging server now accepts the call. On the wink-start T-l facilities being used for this example, the integrated messaging server accepts the call by setting its A and B bits to the "on" state. In the case of other carrier facilities, other means may be used to indicate acceptance of the call, but it is well known to those skilled in the art that any such means indicates to the carrier's equipment that the call has been completed; that audio must now be allowed to flow in both directions (to and from the originator); and that the carrier may now begin billing for the call by whatever billing means have been contractually agreed to or mandated by law. This may include a base charge for the call, a per-minute charge for the duration of the call, and/or any applicable surcharges.

If the integrated messaging server has accepted a call which includes a pay phone surcharge, Canadian origination number, or other added-cost item, the integrated messaging server will make an entry into its billing database to ensure that the appropriate cost is passed on to the subscriber who received the call. This allocates the cost for such calls fairly, without burdening the subscriber who has not received (or has rejected) any such added-cost calls.

In the preferred embodiment, all three sets of digits, ANI, INFO, and DID digits, are delivered to the integrated messaging server in their entirety, to identify all aspects of the incoming call with no ambiguity. In practice, however, some carrier facilities cannot deliver all digits due to design limitations in their equipment. In particular the Northern Telecom DMM250 switch is incapable of delivering the combination of two INFO digits, ten ANI digits, and ten DID digits. At present, this equipment can at best deliver eight DID digits with the other two fields intact. Since eight DID digits do not completely identify the subscriber number, the present invention performs DID digit translation when it receives eight DID digits. If the initial DID digit is 0, it is replaced with the three-digit combination 800. If the initial DID digit is 8, it is replaced with the three-digit combination 888. And if the initial DID digit is 7, it is replaced with the three- digit combination 877. This is illustrated by the following table:

0 becomes 800

1 through 6 no translation

7 becomes 877

8 becomes 888

9 no translation

Since there are only three toll-free area codes used in the United States today (800, 888, and 877) this single digit (0, 8, or 7) suffices to regenerate the missing digits. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that this table can be modified to accommodate additional digits and this embodiment will suffice until more than 10 different toll-free area codes are in use. It is not necessary that the third digit of the area code match the digit fed by the carrier; for example, if the next toll-free area code in the United States were to be 880, the carrier could feed this as a single digit 1, and the integrated messaging server could translate 1 to 880. To accommodate different carriers, whose equipment may elect to feed the DID, ANI, and INFO digits in different orders, with varying numbers of digits, and with or without delimiters, the integrated messaging server is adaptable to accept any combination of these fields in any order. This adaptability is achieved with a changeable parameter which can be altered to match the digits fed by any carrier. To reiterate the example shown earlier, assuming the carrier is configured to feed the following digits:

* INFO ANI * DID *

The matching parameter in the present invention would be

* 21 10A * 10D * Where the * symbols correspond to the * symbols fed by the carrier, 21 represents the command "accept two INFO digits," 10A represents the command "accept 10 ANI digits," 10D represents the command "accept 10 DID digits." In the case where only 8 DID digits are fed to the MPS due to limitations in the carrier's equipment, the parameter would be modified to * 2I 10A * 8D *

As a further illustration, if the carrier's equipment preferred to feed the DID digits first, the corresponding parameter might be * 8D * 2I 10A *

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, this parameter is set once for a group of incoming lines. For example, this parameter controls the operation and digit reception of a group of 24 voice lines on a single T-l facility. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that if required, this parameter can be adjusted to control only a single incoming voice line if, for example, two different carrier configurations were combined within a single T-l, such that 12 lines were able to feed 10 DID digits and 12 lines could only feed 8 digits.

The present invention also supports carrier configurations where ANI and/or INFO digits are not provided. In the case where only DID digits are provided, the corresponding parameter would be

10D

Or, if no * symbols were transmitted by the carrier, simply

10D

In the drawings and the specification, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, the terms are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.

Claims

THAT WHICH IS CLAIMED: 1. An improved message processing system for processing personal communications messages, said improved message processing system comprising: a first integrated messaging system, said first integrated messaging system comprising a decentralized voice platform having telephone company termination equipment and having a storage device for storing at least a call detail record, said first integrated messaging system being accessible via a local telephone call; a second integrated messaging system, said second integrated messaging system comprising a decentralized voice platform having telephone company termination equipment and a storage device for storing at least a call detail record, said second integrated messaging system being accessible via a local telephone call and being located remotely from the first integrated messaging system; and an enhanced service platform, said enhanced service platform located remotely from the first integrated messaging system; wherein the first integrated messaging system and the second integrated messaging system is decentralized and the enhanced service platform is centralized, and the first integrated messaging system and the first integrated messaging system are operationally connected to the enhanced service platform by at least one of a temporary dial up connection and a data network.

2. The improved message processing system according to Claim 1, wherein the enhanced service platform comprises at least one of a conference calling bridge for enabling conference calls between a caller and a recipient, a facsimile server and means for converting text to speech.

3. The improved message processing system according to Claim 2, wherein the temporary dial up connection enables a caller to set up and implement a conference call from the first integrated messaging system using the conference calling bridge in the enhanced service platform.

4. The improved message processing system according to Claim 2, wherein the enhanced service platform further comprises a voice recording and storage device and a device for converting voice to digital audio.

5. The improved message processing system according to Claim 2, wherein the enhanced service platform further comprises means for receiving and retrieving electronic mail messages.

6. The improved message processing system according to Claim 4, said processing system further comprising means for replying to electronic mail messages.

7. The improved message processing system according to Claim 4, wherein the enhanced service platform further comprises means for collecting data relating to use by a subscriber of the services provided by the processing system and generating a bill to subscriber for the use by the subscriber of services provided by the processing system.

8. The improved message processing system according to Claim 1, said improved system further comprising a carrier network across which messages can be transmitted.

9. The improved message processing system according to Claim 2, wherein the facsimile server in response to a request by a subscriber using the decentralized voice platform, generates a summary of electronic mail messages.

10. An improved method for processing personal communications messages, said method comprising the steps of: receiving at an integrated message server, a local telephone call requesting enhanced message processing services; determining at the integrated message server that the message processing service request requested one of conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary or e-mail reply services; initiating communications over a temporary dial up connection between the integrated message server and an enhanced service platform, wherein the enhance service platform is located remotely from the integrated message server; transferring control for the one of conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary and e-mail reply services to the enhanced service platform; and controlling the provision of the one of the conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary and e-mail services at the enhanced service platform.

11. A computer program product for integrating improved processing of personal communications messages, said computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code means embodied in said medium, said computer readable code means comprising: computer instruction means for receiving at an integrated message server, a local telephone call requesting enhanced message processing services; computer instruction means for determining at the integrated message server that the message processing service request requested one of conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary or e-mail reply services; computer instruction means for initiating communications over a temporary dial up connection between the integrated message server and an enhanced service platform, wherein the enhance service platform is located remotely from the integrated message server; computer instruction means for transferring control for the one of conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary and e-mail reply services to the enhanced service platform; and computer instruction means for controlling the provision of the one of the conference call, facsimile, voice to text conversion, facsimile summary and e-mail services at the enhanced service platform.

12. An integrated messaging server for a message processing system, said server comprising: means for receiving a message from a caller using a terminal over a carrier network; means for receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; means for determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; and means for selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message without interaction by the carrier network; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging system.

13. The integrated messaging system according to Claim 12, wherein the system further comprises means for determining the location of the caller transmitting the message, said location determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message, and the selectively blocking means blocks the message based on the type of terminal used and the location of the caller transmitting the message.

14. The integrated messaging system according to Claim 12, said system further comprising means for a subscriber to set a type of terminal from which messages placed by a caller are to be blocked.

15. The integrated messaging system according to Claim 14, said system further comprising means for a subscriber to set a location from which messages placed by a caller are to be blocked.

16. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 12, wherein the type of terminal is a pay telephone.

17. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 13, wherein the location of the caller is Canada.

18. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 12, the server further comprising means for determining that the caller is a subscriber to services enabled by the integrated messaging server and means for the subscriber to override the selectively blocking means such that the message transmitted by the subscriber is received by the integrated messaging server.

19. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 12, the server further comprising means for overriding the selectively blocking means subsequent to blocking of the message by the selectively blocking means.

20. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 12, the server further comprises means for determining an intended recipient of the message transmitted by the caller.

21. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 20, wherein the received indication comprises digits identifying the intended recipient of the message and the intended recipient determining means comprises means for processing the identifying digits to determine if the intended recipient is a subscriber of a service provided by the integrated messaging server.

22. A method for integrated processing of personal communications messages, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a message from a caller using a terminal over a carrier network; receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; and selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message without interaction by the carrier network; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging system.

23. A computer program product for providing integrated messaging, said computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code means embodied in said medium, said computer readable code means comprising: computer instruction means for receiving a message from a caller using a terminal over a carrier network; computer instruction means for receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; computer instruction means for determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; and computer instruction means for selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message without interaction by the carrier network; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging system.

24. An integrated messaging server for a message processing system, said server comprising: means for receiving a message from a caller using a terminal; means for receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; means for determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; means for selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the location of the caller and the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging server.

25. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 24, said server further comprising means for a subscriber to set at least one location for callers and at least one type of terminal from which messages placed by a caller are to be blocked.

26. The integrated messaging server according to Claim 25, wherein the at least one location is a country other than the United States and the type of terminal is a pay telephone.

27. A computer program product for providing integrated messaging, said computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code means embodied in said medium, said computer readable code means comprising: computer instruction means for receiving a message from a caller using a terminal; computer instruction means for receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; computer instruction means for determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; computer instruction means for selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the location of the caller and the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging server.

28. A method for providing integrated messaging, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a message from a caller using a terminal; receiving an indication that a caller is transmitting a message to the integrated messaging server before the message is received; determining the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message, said determination being based on the received indication that a caller is transmitting a message; selectively blocking the message transmitted based on the location of the caller and the type of terminal used by the caller to transmit the message; wherein the message from the caller is blocked before the message is received by the integrated messaging server.