WO2009118501A1 - Appareil et procédé pour services de télécommunication - Google Patents

Appareil et procédé pour services de télécommunication Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2009118501A1
WO2009118501A1 PCT/GB2009/000395 GB2009000395W WO2009118501A1 WO 2009118501 A1 WO2009118501 A1 WO 2009118501A1 GB 2009000395 W GB2009000395 W GB 2009000395W WO 2009118501 A1 WO2009118501 A1 WO 2009118501A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
user
service
primary
communications link
secondary service
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/GB2009/000395
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Jeffrey Wilson
John Sinden
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Telsis Holdings Ltd
Original Assignee
Telsis Holdings Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Telsis Holdings Ltd filed Critical Telsis Holdings Ltd
Publication of WO2009118501A1 publication Critical patent/WO2009118501A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H04M3/4872—Non-interactive information services
    • H04M3/4878—Advertisement messages
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H04M3/493—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
    • H04M3/53—Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages, i.e. mailbox systems
    • H04M3/533—Voice mail systems

Definitions

  • the invention relates to telecommunications services apparatus and methods for use in telecommunications systems / networks, such as fixed or mobile telephone systems. More particularly, the invention relates to facilitating the establishment of communications between a user of a service provided by the telecommunications system and a third party.
  • Such services may be referred to as automated services, and may range from relatively simple services, such as a "speaking clock” service which tells callers the current time, to a whole raft of more complex audio / audio-visual services, e.g. for providing sport commentary, weather information, train timetables, dating services, and so on. Some of these services are sometimes called "premium rate" services to reflect the relatively high call charges often associated with accessing the service. However, some of the services may not attract a premium tariff, or may be free, for example automated bill-paying or hotel reservation services.
  • One common class of audio service available in many telecommunications networks is a message recording application known generically as voice-mail.
  • GB 2 388 273 [1] describes a scheme for presenting users of a voice-mail service with an opportunity to switch to another service during their interaction with the voice-mail service.
  • a user calling the service to retrieve their voice- mail may be greeted with a message such as "press 1 to hear latest weather news". If the user wishes to hear the weather news, they press the "1" button on their telephone handset.
  • the server providing the voice-mail service e.g. using conventional dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) type signalling or equivalent
  • DTMF dual-tone multi-frequency
  • a button on a viewer's remote control handset may be used by a viewer to indicate a desire to interact in response to broadcast content, for example in response to advertising content inviting the viewer to "press the red button now for more information”.
  • a method for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network comprising: establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service; providing a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service; detecting a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; providing the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and initiating a facilitating communication from the control unit to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.
  • a mechanism for facilitating a user of the primary service in accessing a secondary service is provided in a manner that does not interrupt the user's access to the primary service.
  • the facilitating communication may be at least one of a text message, an email, a facsimile, a voice call, and / or an audio-visual call.
  • the facilitating communication may sent after the primary communications link is terminated, or while the primary communications link is still established.
  • the facilitating communication may be directed to the user, or to a provider of the secondary service, or to both.
  • the facilitating communication may contain contact information for accessing the secondary service so that the user is able to subsequently access the secondary service based on the contact information.
  • the facilitating communication may contain contact information for the user so that the provider of the secondary service is able to subsequently contact the user based on the contact information.
  • the facilitating communication may comprise an out- dialled call to one or other of the user and the provider of the secondary service, and the secondary communications link may then be established by initiating a second out- dialled call to the other of the user and the provider of the secondary service, and connecting the two out-dialled calls.
  • the primary service may comprise an audio and / or audio-visual service.
  • the stimulus may comprise an audio and / or audio-visual service, e.g. an advertisement for the secondary service.
  • the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service may comprise a press of one or more keys of apparatus used by the user to access the primary service, or alternately may comprise a spoken response.
  • the facilitating communication may be such that it is not made over the primary communications link. For example, a text message may be sent to a calling line number associated received as part of the a primary audio (voice) or audio-visual (video) call.
  • a communications services apparatus for facilitating access by a user of a primary service to a secondary service in a telecommunications network, the apparatus comprising: a control unit associated with the primary service, wherein the control unit is operable to communicate with the user via a primary communications link between the user and the control unit, to provide a stimulus to the user via the primary communications link inviting the user to indicate an interest in the secondary service, to detect a response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service, to provide the user with access, or continued access, to the primary service via the primary communications link after detecting the response from the user indicating an interest in the secondary service; and to initiate a facilitating communication to assist in establishing a secondary communications link between the user and the secondary service after the primary communications link is terminated.
  • a telecommunications network comprising a communications services apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention.
  • FIG. 1 schematically shows a telecommunications system / network 8 according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • the network comprises a conventional telephone network infrastructure 20 for routing communications variously between users 10, 11, 12 of the network, a third party 26, and an audio (and / or audio-visual) server 21 for providing a service to the users in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
  • the audio / audio-visual server 21 is a voice-mail server which operates in a largely conventional manner except as described further below.
  • the telecommunications network 8 further comprises a service control unit 22 for controlling the operation of the audio server 21, and, in this example, a conventional Short Message Service (SMS) Router 23.
  • the control unit 22 is coupled to a storage unit 24 which provides for at least temporary storage of information as described further below.
  • the storage unit 24, control unit 22 and the SMS Router 23 are schematically shown in Figure 1 as discrete elements primarily for ease of explanation. In a practical implementation, the functionality of the storage unit 24 and the control unit 22 might be subsumed into the audio server 21, and the SMS Router 23 could be an existing element within the conventional telephone network infrastructure 20.
  • users of the telecommunications network may access the voice-mail service using any conventional apparatus, e.g. a mobile telephone handset 10, a fixed-line telephone 12 (landline), or other fixed terminal 11.
  • the third party 26 in this example is a party wishing to advertise a product or service to users of the voice-mail service.
  • the third party comprises a weather news server for providing a weather news service.
  • the control unit 22 which controls the operation of the voice-mail server 21 is configured such that before providing the voice-mail service to the user (i.e. the service allowing the user to interact with his voice mailbox), the voice-mail server first presents the user with an advert for the weather news service provided by the weather news server 26. Furthermore, the user is offered a mechanism for responding to the advert to indicate further interest. For example, when a user first connects to the voice-mail service he may be presented with an audio recording (welcome message) such as:
  • the recorded message may be retrieved from the storage unit 24, and may, for example be randomly selected from a range of other messages associated with other services, such as a sports news service, or with products, such as new product provided by a company. For example, if the user were to call the audio server 21 at another time, he might be presented with a different audio recording, such as:
  • an audio recording such as:
  • the control unit 21 is operable to receive, and sense, a signal indicative of the user pressing the 1 button of his hand set, e.g., in accordance with the principles of conventional DTMF-type signalling, or equivalent. In this example, it is assumed the user is interested in hearing the latest weather news and pressed one accordingly in response to the stimulus provided in the welcome message. This positive response is detected by the control unit 22 and the control unit 22 is configured to store information relating to the positive response in the storage unit 24. In this example, the information stored is a record of the user's telephone number (e.g., as derived from a conventional calling line identity (CLI) associated with the user's call), and a flag indicating that the user has expressed interest in hearing the weather news.
  • CLI calling line identity
  • the service control unit 22 controls the voice-mail server 21 to act in a largely conventional manner in allowing the user to interact with his voice mailbox, i.e. allowing a user to retrieve his stored messages, delete old messages, change settings, etc..
  • the service control unit 22 senses completion of the call and in response initiates delivery of a message to the user regarding the service / product in respect of which the user expressed interest.
  • the message is an SMS text message delivered via the SMS router 23.
  • the SMS text message contains information relating to the original stimulus (i.e. the nature of the service or product advert that prompted the positive response from the user) and providing information allowing the user, for example, to contact the service.
  • the message might be an SMS message containing the text:
  • XXXXX is a conventional dialling telephone number (e.g. a short code number) for the weather news server 26.
  • the user may then contact the weather service at a time which is convenient to them, and without having had to interrupt the original purpose of their call to the voice-mail server 21.
  • control unit 22 would time-out of waiting for an expression of interest after a given time, say five seconds, and would control the voice-mail server 21 to proceed with providing the voice mail service as normal.
  • the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish an outgoing audio (or video) return call to the user to deliver appropriate information relating to the service or product that prompted the positive response from the user, and providing contact information for the service or product provider. This again provides the user with the ability to contact the provider of the service or product at a time which is convenient to them, and without disrupting their initial call.
  • the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish an outgoing audio (or video) return call to the user, and as this call is established (e.g. when the user "picks-up"), the service control unit 22 may be configured to establish a parallel outgoing audio (or video) call to the third party service provider, and to bridge the two calls so that the user is automatically connected on answer through to the vendor.
  • the manner in which appropriate charging is maintained will depend on the nature of the service provided by the third party. If the third party is associated with a value service, such as the provision of weather news, 9 000395
  • the user may be charged for any subsequently established communication with the third party.
  • the XXXXX dialling telephone number for the third party might be a premium rate number, or in the case of an automatic call completion, charging records may be maintained by the control unit 22.
  • the third party might be keen to encourage communications, e.g. because they are trying to promote a new product, and so the third party may bear any network charges associated with the subsequently established communication between the user and the third party.
  • an advantage of the present invention is that a user is provided with an opportunity to communicate with a third party at some time in the future. His response to a stimulus received during a voice or video call initially established for a first purpose (e.g. to retrieve voice-mail messages) does not commit him to curtailing that call and immediately commencing an alternative call. Instead he is encouraged to respond to the stimulus by accepting the opportunity to receive a text message or other communication that will allow him to make contact with the third party, or receive other information relating to the stimulus, that he can deal with at some point in the future.
  • a first purpose e.g. to retrieve voice-mail messages
  • a positive response to a stimulus such as an advertisement during a call may be indicated by the user pressing a key, possibly as instructed by the advertisement itself.
  • Other means of responding positively to a stimulus are possible.
  • the control unit 22 controlling the audio / audio-visual server 21 which is providing the media being played to the user detects the user's acceptance of the stimulus, e.g. by detecting a DTMF tone or otherwise-signalled key press, and triggers the sending of a corresponding message or other communication to the user.
  • a text message is used to fulfil the acceptance. The acceptance is stored and the sending of the message to the user is deferred until after the end of a current (in-progress) call.
  • a message may be sent to a user while the initial call is still in progress. The user can still deal with it later, however this may be slightly more intrusive to the user. Furthermore, since alert tones on a mobile handset are typically muted during a call, arrival of the message may not be noticed. Also by the time the present call has finished the user may have forgotten that a text message had been previously received. In either case, multiple stimulus-responses can be stored as appropriate, and a message or messages sent in response to each after the end of the call.
  • a facilitating communication may be sent instead, or also, to a third party. This then allows further communication to be initiated by the third party, who may have more incentive to do so than the user.
  • the communication enabling message sent to the third party might contain at least contact details for the user, preferably comprising a calling number derived from the original call, e.g. from a CLI.
  • the facilitating communication may contain information identifying the particular stimulus to which the user responded.
  • response rates to advertising material may be increased by the provision of an indirect means of connecting a user to a third party / vendor, such as a deferred text message or voice/video call. It can be arranged that the message or call is received by the user at a time when he is more likely to be free and so more likely disposed to engage in a call to the third party, such as at the end of the present call.
  • the scheme does not require any pre-registration by the user. However, in some examples pre-registration may optionally be provided for so -that users can specify further information and details, e.g. an email address, to be stored in association with their calling line identity.
  • pre-registration may optionally be provided for so -that users can specify further information and details, e.g. an email address, to be stored in association with their calling line identity.
  • the email can be retrieved based on the user's calling line identity such that communication enabling messages can be sent to the user's email account.
  • the voice-mail server provides the service of primary interest to the user (i.e. it is the service the user initially calls) and may be referred to as a primary service.
  • the weather news is not associated with the primary purpose of the call and may be referred to as a secondary service.
  • the voice-mail server 21 of Figure 1 providing the primary service could equally be replaced with a different service platform providing a different primary service.
  • the primary service could equally be a speaking clock service, a directory enquiries service, a sports commentary service and so on.
  • the secondary service provided by the third party 26 in Figure 1 need not be a weather news service and could equally provide a different service service.
  • the secondary service could also equally be a speaking clock service, a directory enquiries service, a sports commentary service and so on.
  • the primary and secondary service need not be automated services but could be any form of service conventionally provided in telecommunications networks.
  • the primary service could equally be a normal call routing service.
  • a user might be provided with reduced call charges if they first route their calls through a call routing service that presents a welcome message and a stimulus (e.g.
  • the secondary service provided by the third party may equally be a straight-forward voice, e.g. to the marketing department of a company associated with the advert / stimulus presented to the user in association with the primary service.
  • a network might include multiple primary and secondary service (and indeed some services could be both a primary service in their own right, and also a secondary services associated with another primary service(s)).
  • the above described functionality may be provided using appropriately programmed elements of the kind commonly used in telecommunication networks, for example, the audio / audio-visual server 21, service control unit 22, and storage unit 24 shown in Figure 1 may be provided by an appropriately configured programmable computer of the kind normally used in telecommunication systems. It will also be appreciated that while the above example is based on a user intending to access a primary service being invited to indicate an interest in a secondary service by pressing a button before accessing the primary service, other techniques could be employed. For example a welcome message might invite a user to press a button at any time during access to a primary service as an indication of interest in the secondary service.
  • buttons associated with normal interaction of users with the primary service need not be made by key presses, but could, for example, be based on speech recognition techniques.
  • a welcome message could invite a user to say "weather", either initially, or at any time during access to a primary service, to express interest in accessing a secondary weather news service.
  • the method comprises establishing a primary communications link between the user and a control unit associated with the primary service, providing a stimulus (e.g.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
  • Development Economics (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • Finance (AREA)
  • Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
  • Economics (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Abstract

L’invention concerne un appareil et des procédés pour faciliter l’accès par un utilisateur d’un service primaire à un service secondaire dans un réseau de télécommunication, par exemple pour aider un utilisateur d’un service de messagerie vocale à accéder à un autre service à supplément de tarif dont la promotion a été faite pendant l’interaction de l’utilisateur avec le service primaire. Le procédé comprend l’établissement d’une liaison de communication primaire entre l’utilisateur et l’unité de commande associée au service primaire, la délivrance d’un encouragement (par exemple une publicité) à l’utilisateur par le biais de la liaison de communication primaire invitant l’utilisateur à signaler son intérêt pour le service secondaire, la détection d’une réponse de la part de l’utilisateur indiquant un intérêt pour le service secondaire, la fourniture à l’utilisateur d’un accès ou d’un accès continu au service primaire par le biais de la liaison de communication primaire après avoir détecté la réponse de l’utilisateur indiquant un intérêt pour le service secondaire et l’initiation d’une communication de facilitation par l’unité de commande pour assister dans l’établissement d’une liaison de communication secondaire entre l’utilisateur et le service secondaire après avoir mis fin à la liaison de communication primaire. Par conséquent, un utilisateur du service primaire bénéficie d’une assistance lors de l’accès au service secondaire d’une manière qui ne provoque pas d’interruption de l’accès au service primaire.
PCT/GB2009/000395 2008-03-27 2009-02-13 Appareil et procédé pour services de télécommunication Ceased WO2009118501A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0805593A GB2458682A (en) 2008-03-27 2008-03-27 Facilitating a user of a primary service (e.g. voicemail) to access a secondary service (e.g. advert) without interruption of the primary service.
GB0805593.1 2008-03-27

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2009118501A1 true WO2009118501A1 (fr) 2009-10-01

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ID=39386866

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/GB2009/000395 Ceased WO2009118501A1 (fr) 2008-03-27 2009-02-13 Appareil et procédé pour services de télécommunication

Country Status (2)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2458682A (fr)
WO (1) WO2009118501A1 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1999043141A2 (fr) * 1998-02-19 1999-08-26 Telia Ab (Publ) Processus de transmission d'information a un repondeur telephonique
WO2005107221A1 (fr) * 2004-04-20 2005-11-10 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab Mise a jour d'un repertoire d'adresses basee sur un service de renseignements
US20060109969A1 (en) * 2002-12-17 2006-05-25 Hyun-Seung Oh System and method for providing an advertisement service using the call-connecting signal

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB0210100D0 (en) * 2002-05-02 2002-06-12 Intellprop Ltd Telecommunications services apparatus
US7496858B2 (en) * 2003-05-19 2009-02-24 Jambo Acquisition, Llc Telephone call initiation through an on-line search
US7079629B1 (en) * 2004-02-18 2006-07-18 At&T Corp. Method and apparatus for selective post-call audio logo/message
US20070244752A1 (en) * 2006-04-17 2007-10-18 Anthony Jeremiah Bayne System and method for the integrated distribution of advertising via the internet and mobile terminals
US7970608B2 (en) * 2006-08-18 2011-06-28 Nuance Communications, Inc. Providing contextual information for spoken information

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1999043141A2 (fr) * 1998-02-19 1999-08-26 Telia Ab (Publ) Processus de transmission d'information a un repondeur telephonique
US20060109969A1 (en) * 2002-12-17 2006-05-25 Hyun-Seung Oh System and method for providing an advertisement service using the call-connecting signal
WO2005107221A1 (fr) * 2004-04-20 2005-11-10 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab Mise a jour d'un repertoire d'adresses basee sur un service de renseignements

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2458682A (en) 2009-09-30
GB0805593D0 (en) 2008-04-30

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