US6404884B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Personalized assistance system and method
Assignee: Grape Technology Group Inc
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Filing: 1999-11-24
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Granted: 2002-06-11
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Expires: 2019-11-24
Abstract
Abstract A system and method for a personalized directory assistance system are provided. The system allows a user to speak with a Cutter service representative (CSR) by dialing an easy to remember telephone number on their phone. Specialized telephony equipment routes the call to the customer service representative and the user's personal contact list made available to the (CSR). The CSR searches the user's personal contact list in accordance with the user's request. The CSR's terminal generates a call completion string and sends it to the telephony equipment using an out-of-band signaling network for release link transfer switching. The user's personal contact list can be populated by the user via a web browser, by interacting with the CSR, by synchronizing a personal information manager or personal digital assistant database or by sending a facsimile or electronic mail request to the service provider.
Inventors
- 👤 Evan Marwell
- 👤 Robert Pines
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 14:14
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/432; H04M3/487; H04M3/493; H04M3/4931; H04M3/50; H04M3/51; H04M3/5108; H04M2203/00; H04M2203/10; H04M2203/105; H04M2203/1058; H04M2207/00; H04M2207/18; H04M2242/00; H04M2242/22; H04M3/08; H04M3/12; H04M3/42025; H04M3/42034; H04M3/42059; H04M3/42136; H04M3/42153; H04M3/42161; H04M3/44; H04M3/4933; H04M3/4935; H04M7/00; H04M7/06; H04M7/12; H04Q; H04Q3/00; H04Q3/72; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S379/00; Y10S379/90; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 59
Claim 1
Independent Claim
161 words
A personalized assistance system for a user of a telephone, the personalized assistance system comprising: a first database, the first database having a contact list for the user, the contact list including at least one contact name and a corresponding contact number; telephony hardware, the telephony hardware coupling the telephone to the database; a telephone identification code uniquely associated with the telephone said identification code being electronically transmitted to said personalized assistance system, when said user calls the system; a customer service representative terminal coupled to the database and the telephone hardware, the telephone identification code prompting automatic retrieval of the contact list to the customer service representative terminal in response to processing of said telephone identification code, the customer service representative terminal searching said contact list in response to a user query to locate a designated contact from the user's contact list and causing the telephony hardware to connect the telephone with the contact number corresponding to the designated contact.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
161 words
A personalized assistance system for a user of a telephone, the personalized assistance system comprising: a first database, the first database having a contact list for the user, the contact list including at least one contact name and a corresponding contact number; telephony hardware, the telephony hardware coupling the telephone to the database; a telephone identification code uniquely associated with the telephone said identification code being electronically transmitted to said personalized assistance system, when said user calls the system; a customer service representative terminal coupled to the database and the telephone hardware, the telephone identification code prompting automatic retrieval of the contact list to the customer service representative terminal in response to processing of said telephone identification code, the customer service representative terminal searching said contact list in response to a user query to locate a designated contact from the user's contact list and causing the telephony hardware to connect the telephone with the contact number corresponding to the designated contact.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein said telephone is a mobile telephone.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
46 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 2 , further comprising a mobile switching center, the mobile switching center coupling the mobile telephone to the telephone hardware; and a public switched telephone network, the public switched network coupling the mobile switching center to the designated contact.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
45 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the telephony hardware is comprised of: a tandem switch coupled to the user telephone; and a network coupling the tandem switch to at least one of the customer service representative terminal and the first database.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 4 , wherein the telephony hardware is further comprised of an automatic call distributor coupled to the tandem switch and the customer service representative terminal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 4 , wherein the network is an out-of-band network, the out-of-band network transporting signaling data.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 6 , wherein the signaling data includes call completion data.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the contact list includes electronic commerce information.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 8 , wherein the electronic commerce information includes bank account information and bill payee data for the user.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
19 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the contact list includes data relating to special occasions.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
69 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 6 , further comprising: at least one user terminal; a web server coupled to the at least one user terminal though a data communication network and receiving personal contact update data from the at least one user terminal, the web server being coupled to the first database; the user's contact list being updated in accordance with the received personal contact update data.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
45 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 11 , further comprising a second database coupled to the web server, the web server directly updating the second database in accordance with the received personal contact update data, the first database being synchronized with the second database.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 12 , further comprising a synchronization server, the synchronization server synchronizing the second database and the first database.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
51 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the first database further comprises a branded audio message, and wherein the telephony hardware identifies an originating service provider for the telephone, the branded audio message being selected and transmitted to the telephone in accordance with the identified originating service provider.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
49 words
The personalized assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the first database further comprises a branded audio message, and wherein the telephony hardware identifies an identification number for the telephone, the branded audio message being selected and transmitted to the telephone in accordance with the identified identification number.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
180 words
A system for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of the system, the system comprising: at least one user terminal; a web server coupled to at least one user teal through a communication network, the web server receiving a personal contact update data from the at least one user terminal; a first database coupled to the web server, the first database storing information corresponding to a customer representative assistance service, said first database also storing the list of personal contact data; a computer terminal coupled to said first database configured to retrieve said list of personal contact data in response to a received call associated with said personal contact data so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a desired listing from said personal contact data; and said user terminal having access only to said portion of said database storing said list of personal contact data, such that, the list of personal contact data stored in the first database being updated with the personal contact update data received by the web server.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
180 words
A system for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of the system, the system comprising: at least one user terminal; a web server coupled to at least one user teal through a communication network, the web server receiving a personal contact update data from the at least one user terminal; a first database coupled to the web server, the first database storing information corresponding to a customer representative assistance service, said first database also storing the list of personal contact data; a computer terminal coupled to said first database configured to retrieve said list of personal contact data in response to a received call associated with said personal contact data so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a desired listing from said personal contact data; and said user terminal having access only to said portion of said database storing said list of personal contact data, such that, the list of personal contact data stored in the first database being updated with the personal contact update data received by the web server.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
66 words
The system according to claim 16 , further comprising a second database coupled to the web server and a synchronization server coupled to the first and second databases, the second database also storing the list of personal contact data and being directly updated by the web server, the synchronization server synchronizing the first database with the second database in accordance with the received contact update data.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
20 words
The system according to claim 16 , wherein the web server also receives user registration data from the user terminal.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
54 words
The system according to claim 16 , further comprising at least one of a hand-held server and a personal information manager server, the least one of the hand-held server and the personal information manager communicating with the at least one user terminal through the communication network to receive personal contact list coordination data therefrom.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
33 words
The system according to claim 19 , wherein the personal contact list coordination data is transferred to the second database for subsequent synchronization with the personal contact data stored in the first database.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system according to claim 19 , wherein the synchronization server synchronizes the personal contact list coordination data with the personal contact data stored in the second database.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
42 words
The system according to claim 16 , further comprising a customer service representative terminal coupled to the first database, wherein the personal contact data in the first database is updated in accordance with revision data received from the customer service representative terminal.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
23 words
The system according to claim 17 , wherein at least one of the first database and the second database is an SQL database.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
39 words
The system according to claim 23 , wherein the first database is further comprised of at least one of: a user database table; an updated contact list table; a rejected updated contact list table; and a listing arbitration table.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system according to claim 16 , wherein the stored personal contact data includes electronic commerce information.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
33 words
The system according to claim 16 , wherein the stored personal contact data includes at least one of: an address; job title; company name; facsimile telephone number; home web page address; and birthday.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
22 words
The system according to claim 16 , wherein the stored personal contact data includes contact data common to a group of users.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
172 words
A signaling method for a personal assistance system, the method comprising the steps of: translating a first dial string sent from a telephone to a second dial sting, the second dial string identifying an originating switch for at least one of the originating service and originating service provider for the telephone, wherein said originating service corresponds to retrieval of a personal contact list stored by said personal assistance system; transmitting a telephone identification code uniquely associated with said telephone to a computer terminal remotely located from said telephone so as to prompt the computer terminal to automatically generate a search query in response to identification of said service to retrieve said personal contact list in said database so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a destination contact number; searching the database to identify a network address of the originating switch, the network address being identified in accordance with the second dial string; and sending the destination number to the network address of the originating switch using an out-of-band network.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
172 words
A signaling method for a personal assistance system, the method comprising the steps of: translating a first dial string sent from a telephone to a second dial sting, the second dial string identifying an originating switch for at least one of the originating service and originating service provider for the telephone, wherein said originating service corresponds to retrieval of a personal contact list stored by said personal assistance system; transmitting a telephone identification code uniquely associated with said telephone to a computer terminal remotely located from said telephone so as to prompt the computer terminal to automatically generate a search query in response to identification of said service to retrieve said personal contact list in said database so as to allow a customer service representative to identify a destination contact number; searching the database to identify a network address of the originating switch, the network address being identified in accordance with the second dial string; and sending the destination number to the network address of the originating switch using an out-of-band network.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
15 words
The signaling method according to claim 28 , wherein the network is an out-of-band network.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
21 words
The signaling method according to claim 29 , wherein an identification number of the telephone is transmitted to the computer terminal.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
22 words
The signaling method according to claim 29 , wherein the network address is comprised of a UDP address and a UDP port.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
171 words
A method for using a telephone to contact a service for searching a database of contact numbers for a desired contact number and connecting a calling telephone to the desired contact number, the method comprising the steps of: calling a telephone number associated with the service; routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including a first data sting associated with the service and a second data string associated with a telephone identification number of said telephone used to contact the service; generating a database lookup query in response to said first and second data strings for searching the database for a contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone; retrieving the contact list for search by a customer service representative; searching the contact list for the desired contact number; sending call completion data to a switch, the call completion data corresponding to the desired contact number, and connecting the call to the desired contact number.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
171 words
A method for using a telephone to contact a service for searching a database of contact numbers for a desired contact number and connecting a calling telephone to the desired contact number, the method comprising the steps of: calling a telephone number associated with the service; routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including a first data sting associated with the service and a second data string associated with a telephone identification number of said telephone used to contact the service; generating a database lookup query in response to said first and second data strings for searching the database for a contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone; retrieving the contact list for search by a customer service representative; searching the contact list for the desired contact number; sending call completion data to a switch, the call completion data corresponding to the desired contact number, and connecting the call to the desired contact number.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 32 , wherein the data corresponding to the call includes a DID number for the switch.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 32 , wherein the call completion data is sent to the switch on an out-of-band network.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 32 , further comprising the step of updating the contact list using a web browser.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 32 , further comprising the step of harmonizing a personal information manager database with the contact list.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method according to claim 32 , further comprising the step of harmonizing a hand-held computer database with the contact list.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of a personalized assistance system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the personal contact update data from a user terminal; storing a list of personal contact data in a first database, said database also storing data corresponding to information for a customer representative assistance service such that only data corresponding to said personal contact data is subject to update via said user terminal; retrieving from a computer terminal coupled to said first database said list of personal contact data in response to a received telephone call associated with said personal contact list, said personal contact list being available for search by a customer service representative; and periodically synchronizing the list of personal contact data stored in the first database with the received personal contact update data.
Claim 43
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for populating and maintaining a list of personal contact data for a user of a personalized assistance system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the personal contact update data from a user terminal; storing a list of personal contact data in a first database, said database also storing data corresponding to information for a customer representative assistance service such that only data corresponding to said personal contact data is subject to update via said user terminal; retrieving from a computer terminal coupled to said first database said list of personal contact data in response to a received telephone call associated with said personal contact list, said personal contact list being available for search by a customer service representative; and periodically synchronizing the list of personal contact data stored in the first database with the received personal contact update data.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of receiving user registration data from the user terminal.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method according to claim 38 , wherein the received personal contact update data comprises personal contact list coordination data and is received by at least one of a hand-held server and a personal information manager server.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 40 , further comprising the step of transferring the personal contact list coordination data to a second database for subsequent synchronization with the personal contact data stored in the first database.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method according to claim 40 , wherein the synchronization step synchronizes the personal contact list coordination data with the personal contact data stored in the first database.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of updating the personal contact data in the first database in accordance with revision data received from a customer service representative terminal.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method according to claim 38 , wherein the first database is an SQL database.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method according to claim 44 , wherein the first database is further comprised of at least one of: a user database table; an updated contact list table; a rejected updated contact list table; and a listing arbitration table.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of verifying a requested database update.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of arranging for payment of the user's bills in accordance with the stored personal contact data.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of reminding the user of a special occasion in accordance with the stored personal contact data.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method according to claim 38 , further comprising the step of performing an electronic commerce transaction in accordance with the stored personal contact data.
Claim 55
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for using a telephone to contact a service for scarching a database for a desired information and performing an operation requested by a user, the method comprising the steps of: calling a telephone number associated with the service, said service including storage and retrieval of personal contact lists each personal contact list corresponding to a user; routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including an identification number of the calling telephone; searching the database for a contact list among a plurality of personal contact lists, said contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone; retrieving the contact list from the database and providing said retrieved contact list to a customer service representative; receiving a requested operation from the user; and performing the requested operation.
Claim 56
Independent Claim
142 words
A method for using a telephone to contact a service for scarching a database for a desired information and performing an operation requested by a user, the method comprising the steps of: calling a telephone number associated with the service, said service including storage and retrieval of personal contact lists each personal contact list corresponding to a user; routing data corresponding to the call to a computer terminal operated by said service for searching a database said data including an identification number of the calling telephone; searching the database for a contact list among a plurality of personal contact lists, said contact list corresponding to said identification number of the calling telephone; retrieving the contact list from the database and providing said retrieved contact list to a customer service representative; receiving a requested operation from the user; and performing the requested operation.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method according to claim 50 , wherein the requested operation is an electronic commerce operation.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method according to claim 51 , wherein the electronic commerce operation is a bill paying operation.
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
51 words
The method according to claim 51 , wherein the requested operation is a purchase operation and the performing step includes the steps of: locating the item to be purchased by searching a network; purchasing the item; and arranging for delivery of the item to one of the user and a contact.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-06-10 | 2005-12-10 | 2006-06-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-06-10 | 2009-12-10 | 2010-06-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-06-10 | 2013-12-10 | 2014-06-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |