WO2004100514A1

WO2004100514A1 - Method and arrangement in a communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2004100514A1
Application number: PCT/SE2004/000640
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tim Hansen; Gerry Askefalk
Original assignee: Icepeak Ab
Priority date: 2003-05-05
Filing date: 2004-04-27
Publication date: 2004-11-18
Also published as: SE525858C2; EP1621002A1; SE0301309L; SE0301309D0

Abstract

A method and arrangement for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party. A contact request is received from the caller designating the called party, whereby contact data associated with the called party is retrieved from a database comprising information of contacts. Contact with the called party based on the contact data is initiated. A message is prepared while waiting for the connection to be established. If the called party is unavailable, the prepared message is left at a message receiving service associated with the retrieved contact data.

Description

Method and arrangement in a communication system

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates to automated call processing systems and, more particularly to an automated call processing system allowing for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party as well as a method for such reduced time consumption.

Description of the Related Art

[0002] Establishing dialogues and leaving messages constitutes a major part of a workday for many professionals. Normally, only one in five attempts succeeds. It is common to try to call one person on multiple numbers, such as at home, at work, the mobile and maybe additional numbers. Usually, messages having basically the same content is left to both multiple destinations and multiple medias. This is very time-consuming, tiresome and ineffective.

[0003] An attempt for making a call takes approximately 100 seconds: finding the number of the called party 20s; dial the number 7s, waiting for five signals to go through 33s, listening to the voicemail of the called party; and, finally leaving a message. There would be a lot of time to save if a plurality of numbers belonging to the called party could be dialed simultaneously.

[0004] One prior art approach is disclosed in US 5.475.748, in which an automated search service in a telephone system dials a plurality of telephone numbers simultaneously to reach an individual as quickly as possible. When a set of one or more telephone numbers have been unsuccessful, the caller is given the opportunity to continue with the next set, if any, or take other actions, such as leaving a message on voice mail, sending a facsimile or e-mail.

[0005] This prior art approach requires that the caller waits for an unsuccessful call completion message before he is connected to the called party's voice mail to leave a message. [0006] Another prior art approach is disclosed in US 6.442.241, which suggests an automated parallel and redundant subscriber contact. The system enables automated simultaneous contact of one or more persons over a plurality of telephonic and electronic communication channels and provides parallel event-specific notification via voice, pager, voice mail, fax and e-mail to the recipient(s) that are identified by electronic or speech recognized entry of a personal identification number (PIN) and then provides them with a detailed message including the date and time of a specific event which has occurred with respect to a monitored sensor.

[0007] However, in this prior art approach the subscriber instructs the system of where to call who in case of a specific event, such as a fire alarm etc., whereby the subscriber needs to enter a PIN in order to receive the message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement allowing for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party.

[0009] This object is achieved through providing means for preparing a message while waiting for a connection to be established.

[0010] Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party.

[0011] This object is achieved through a method of preparing a message while waiting for a connection to be established.

[0012] Still other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In the drawings, wherein like reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:

[0014] Fig. 1 discloses two parallel calls according to the present invention;

[0015] Fig. 2 discloses two parallel calls where a message is created while waiting for a connection;

[0016] Fig. 3 discloses two semi-parallel calls where a message is created while waiting for a connection;

[0017] Fig. 4 discloses a general embodiment of an inventive autocall server;

[0018] Fig. 5 discloses an autocall server according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Fig. 6 discloses a block diagram of a basic traffic system;

[0020] Fig. 7 discloses a block diagram of an autocall server setup at a customer site;

[0021] Fig. 8 discloses a block diagram of autocall as a hosted service;

[0022] Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the inventive automated call process;

[0023] Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the inventive autocall process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] In this context, the caller is the person who wishes to establish contact, the called party is the person or service (such as a hairdresser or a dentist) the caller whishes to establish contact with and, the catalogue is a database holding information on called parties. [0025] The basic idea of the present invention is to call all known numbers or a subset of all known numbers of the called party simultaneously. Figure 1 shows an illustrative example of a konceptual inventive calling process, where a called party is being called at his work 10 and on his mobile phone 15 simultaneously on two separate channels. The caller picks up his phone, i.e. initiates the call, when time (t) equals zero and says the name of the called party into the telephone, if a voice recognition system is used. Other ways to initiate contact if of course possible, such as dialing a number etc. The automated call processing system simultaneously calls 11 the called party's work number 10 and mobile number 15 at ti. The system has to wait approximately five signals 12 if there is no answer ending at t₂, listen 13 to the voicemail of the called party and, simultaneously leave a message 14 at t₃. Then the caller can make a new call 16 to another person at t₄.

[0026] While calling (or before calling) the caller can decide and prepare what message to leave for the called party. This can be recorded on the fly, be automatically generated using information about the called party and the caller or a combination of the two.

[0027] The automatic creation and leaving of messages is an important part of the inventive automated call processing system, and can as an illustrative example be seen in figure 2. The calling process is done in the same way as in figure 1. A called party is being called at his work 10 and on his mobile phone 15 simultaneously on two separate channels. The caller initiates the call, when time (t) equals zero. The automated call processing system simultaneously calls 11 the called party's work number 10 and mobile number 15 at t].. The system has to wait approximately five signals 12 if there is no answer ending at t₂. The difference is that the content of the message to be left is prepared 17 while waiting for connection. Therefore, the caller can make a new call 16 to another person while the message is left at t₂ and, thus, save time. There is a variety of ways to create a message for a specific call.

[0028] In figure 3 is shown two semi-parallel calls, where a called party is being called at his work 10 and on his mobile phone 15 on two separate channels. The first call 11 is initiated when time equals zero and is made, in this example, to the called party's work 10 at ti. While waiting to be connected 12, the second call 18 is initiated at t_a and is made to the called party's mobile phone 15 at t₂. Just as in the example shown in figure 2, the message to be left is prepared 17 while waiting for connection 12 and 19, whereby the prepared message is left on both channels at t₂ and t_b respectively. The caller can, thereafter, make a new call 16 to another person.

[0029] Messages can be of a variety of types, such as: Voicemails SMS/MMS/Paging

E-mails with or without voice attachments Fax Video mail

[0030] The message to be left to an individual may be created by input from the catalogue, the reason for the call and user additions made on the fly. Template messages may be stored and used by a simple user interface.

[0031] All text messages are made by standard methods. The message may be shown to the caller so that changes can be made while waiting for connection.

[0032] Voicemail messages can be selected from a library of pre recorded standard messages like"This is Eric Anderson at Icepeak, I'd like to talk to you, please call me at 555 123 4567 or

Mobile 555 666 7777, thank you".

[0033] Or, can have on the fly recorded voice additions added to a template. For example a template like "This is Eric Anderson at Icepeak, I'd like to talk to you, regarding "...the adding i.e. " the order..." then continue by adding the trailing part of the template "please call me at

555 123 4567 or Mobile 555 666 7777, thank you"

[0034] Text to speech (TTS) may be used to transform a text message to a voice message automatically.

[0035] The automated call processing system leaves the different messages automatically, the voicemails are left when either a voicemail system has been detected or a person has accepted to take a message. The text-based messages are submitted when an autocall request has failed or when a person has accepted to take a message.

[0036] The automated call processing system handles automatically multiple messages which together form an announcement, such as "Icepeak, a Swedish company, has developed a product called Icepeak Attendant, which is an automatic operator". The first time the caller seeks a new contact, the message " Hello, this is Eric Anderson working at Icepeak which is a Swedish company" is delivered. The second time the caller seeks the contact, the message "Hello, this is Eric Anderson from Icepeak, we have developed an automatic operator which we call Icepeak Attendant" is delivered.

[0037] An important part of the present invention is to handle the call after someone (the called party or somebody else) has picked up the call. The aim is to identify whether it is the called party that picks up the phone or not, as fast as possible. During an autocall process when the autocall has been initiated, the caller may monitor and/or listen to the call progress on each separate channel. This makes it possible for the caller to perform different kinds of commands, such as a manual pick up, a manual abort or an automatic completion. Manual pick up means that the caller picks up the call, whereby a connection is established between the caller and the called party and they may start a dialogue. Manual abort means that the caller disconnects the call on all or some channels. An automatic completion (or auto complete) means that automail, i.e. leaving a message, is initiated or terminated automatically.

[0038] Many of the call attempts will be answered. The answers are almost always made by human beings or answering machines, but the answers may also be made by fax machines or modems. This is handled under a call progress analysis described below and in connection with figure 9. After a call has been answered, the first objective is to establish if the answerer is a human being or a machine.

[0039] When persons normally answers the phone, they do that by making a relatively short utterance (1-2 s), like "Bob Johnson" or "Clara fielding, how may I help you" then they wait for responses. The outgoing message on an answering machine or voicemail will normally be longer (5-10 s) "You've reached the voicemail of Bob Johnsson, please leave a message after the beep" This is considerably longer than a live answer. The call processing system according to the present invention uses this fact to detect if it is connected to a person or to a machine. If the system has made an incorrect assumption that will be detected in the dialogue that follows.

[0040] When initial detection returns the assumption that the answer has been made by an answering machine, a message will be left but, first the system needs to do a confirmation. This will be accomplished by listening for an utterance while leaving the message. If such an utterance is received, the system has made a mistake and is not connected to an answering machine but to a human being and will therefore switch the dialogue to human answer (also called barge in). The confirmation can also be done by listening for the beep that most voicemail and automatic answering machines emits to alert the caller that it is time to start leaving the message.

[0041] If the initial detection, however, returns the assumption that the answer has been made by a human being, the system needs to find out if the connected person is the called party or someone else, such as an operator. This is done by means of a control question "Eric Andersson calling for Bob Johnson. Are you Bob Johnson?". The answer can now be yes or no with an explanation. The system uses speech recognition to detect the answer and fuzzy logic, large number of synonyms to yield a high hit ratio. If the system has reached the called party, the operation is successful and the call will be connected. If the answer is no, the system will initiate a dialogue with the person. The goal of the dialogue is to establish if the called party can be connected or not. If not, the system leaves a message, otherwise the system is transferred to the called party. When the transfer is done, the dialogue is started from the top.

[0042] Depending on the application and the need of the user, the inventive call processing system may also have a multicall management tool. This tool handles callbacks, reconnects when the line is busy and such. When calls are made to more than one called party, a management list of the called parties is established. Great time consumption may be saved if the calls or callbacks are scheduled after what time to call the called party.

[0043] Before the call has been initiated, there are some opportunities, within the internal organization and outside the internal organization, to find out what time to call a called party.

[0044] Within the internal organization any planning tool may be used, such as voicemail, reference record system or time record system, where the called party might have left a message when available again and/or the reason why he is unavailable.

[0045] Outside the internal organization a system which in this context is called "internet references" may be used, which is a service provided by a service provider. In the Internet references system, the called party publish information of his availability on the Internet. This information may include what time he is back, the reason for unavailability, if the line is busy, where to reach him, etc. The information is taken from any planning tool that may be used at the called party's organization or company, such as voicemail, reference record system or time record system, where the called party might have left a message when available again and/or the reason why he is unavailable. Even the audio track from the voicemail system may be published. [0046] An implemented software publishes the information, enabling for an external company or organization to via the Internet see why a called party is unavailable and the estimated time for his return. These publications could either be made locally on each company or organization or be sent to a center where the publications is made for several companies or organizations.

[0047] To identify a called party may be made through creating an internet address based e.g. on the called party's phone number, such as "www.icepeak.se/15556667777" for the example of Eric Anderson at Icepeak AB.

[0048] The Internet references system function will not only save time but also save money, since it is not necessary to initiate a call over the telephone network.

[0049] After the call has been initiated, there are still opportunities to find out what time to call a called party that is busy or unavailable. If the line is busy or when there is no answer, the callback may be scheduled in the management list, as described above. If the call is answered by voicemail or a reference, the autocall process can interpret the answer via a speaker independent recognition (SIR) system and find out the best time for a callback and optionally where to reach the called party. Finally, if the answer is made by an operator or other human being, a dialogue is performed via SIR in order to find out the best time for a callback and optionally where to reach the called party. In this way, a voicemail may be delivered to the voicemail of the called party without using the telephone network.

[0050] The automated call processing system is implemented as a search service, henceforward called an autocall. An autocall is ordered by sending a request. The request will contain information of the called party, how messaging is to be done, parameters for interaction with voicemail, other persons etc. The concept that a request is sent for an autocall is of importance. It gives a great flexibility for use. The automated call processing system can reside at the customer site but can also be a hosted service.

[0051] A request can also be issued from other systems, like a speech recognition system. This means that autocall requests can be made while traveling from basically any phone or place using any type of device.

[0052] There are two basic steps to use the automated call processing system, build an autocall request and issue the autocall request. [0053] A user that has contact with the catalogue holding information on the called party, simply has a small piece of software installed that automatically builds an autocall request from the information in the database and any alterations to these made at the time of the request.

[0054] A user that not has contact with the catalogue needs to build a request with the aid of an other system, for instance an automated attendant. system, that can interact with the caller, access any catalogue and build a request.

[0055] When issuing the autocall request, the caller has a phone connection to the autocall server and is ready to be connected. During the wait, messages can be recorded and constructed.

[0056] As can be seen from figure 4, the telephony part of the autocall server 20 comprises in a general embodiment of the present invention three basic hardware types. These are extension cards 21, trunks 22 and interactive voice respons (IVR) resources 23. A non-blocking bus 24, such as an SC-bus, connects these parts.

[0057] The extension cards 21 are used to terminate the phones of the callers and can be of any suitable type, such as ISDN, ISDN User Part (ISUP) or ALOG. These are well-known to the person skilled in the art and is not further discussed herein. The trunks 22 are basically the same type of cards as the extensions and are the outgoing lines of the autocall server 20. In the IVR resources 23 are the calls connected and the IVR resources 23 holds e.g. a resource like a digital signal processor (DSP).

[0058] A preferred embodiment of an implementation of the automated call processing system according to the present invention is shown in figure 5. In figure 5 is shown the autocall server 20 comprising extension cards 21 and trunks 22. The trunks 22 are the outgoing lines. These are used to place the calls and in the preferred embodiment ISDN trunks are used. They can be dedicated lines for autocall or lines on a connected Private branch Exchanger (PBX). In the latter case analogue ports may also be used. The initiators are connected in the extension cards 21 and is preferably of the same type as trunks 22, i.e. ISDN or analogue in the preferred embodiment of the invention. They can be connected to a PBX or autocall trunks 22 may be used to have initiators connected remotely.

[0059] The autocall server 20 further comprises an IVR unit 23 where all the calls are connected. The IVR unit 23 is also used for monitoring call-progress, sample voice input and deliver voice output. A voice input that needs to be interpreted will be transferred to a speaker independent recognition (SIR) unit 25, which is a voice recognition engine that interprets the utterances in dialogues. A Text-to-speech (TTS) unit 26 is used to transform a text message to a voice message. A messaging unit 27 sends messages, such as text messages, pre-recorded voice messages or voice messages created from text (via the TTS unit 26). The messaging unit

27 supports different output devices. These are preferably e-mail 28, which obviously sends e- mails, SMS/MMS/paging 29, which sends short message services (SMS), multimedia message services and pager messages, and voicemail 30, which in reality is implemented in the IVR unit 23 and sends voicemails automatically either as a pre-recorded message or transformed from text to speech. Fax and other medias may easily be added as well, which the skilled person realizes.

[0060] Figure 7 shows a basic traffic case of the inventive automated call processing system. The normal traffic case is that the autocall server 20 is only connected while doing the autocall. When the called party 32 is located the call is setup only between the caller 31, the PBX 33 of the caller in most cases and the called party 32. The autocall server 20 and the PBX 33 of the caller 31 is preferably connected via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 34. The connection between the caller 31 and the autocall server 20 needs to be re-established when a new autocall request is being placed. This can be accomplished by some different means, such as using ECT on ISDN lines, ISUP lines directly or ISUP lines controlled by INAP.

[0061] There are a number of ways to setup autocall, as a server at the customer site or as a service. Figure 6 shows the autocall server 20 setup at the customer site, where the autocall server 20 is connected to a caller either via the PBX to a telephone 36 of any kind or over any computer network to a computer 37. The autocall server 20 is connected to the PBX 33 as extensions. Further, the autocall server 20 may either use the PBX trunks to access the PSTN 34 or have its own dedicated trunks to access the PSTN 35. Optionally, the autocall server 20 utilizes a computer telephony integration (CTI) link to the PBX 33, but does not require one to operate. In figure 7, the dotted lines represents optional lines, such as the WAN, the dedicated ISDN trunks and the CTI-link.

[0062] Figure 8 shows an example of when the autocall is run as a hosted service. The hosted service means that an organization, such as an operator, offers autocall as a service. No additional hardware needs to be installed at the customer site. When autocall is run as a service it will use dedicated lines and can transfer calls to the initiator 36 and 37 either by an external transfer to the initiators direct number or have the initiator remotely connected on one of the autocall trunks. This can be done either through the office PBX or any other phone, even a mobile. The initiator sends an autocall request package over the IP line to the autocall server 20. The package contains the autocall task, including any messaging info like text to be used as message, what message types to use, pointer to pre-recorded file and customer specific parameters. A phone connection is established with the autocall server 20 either from a mobile phone, a PBX connected phone or a regular POTS phone to the called party 32. The autocall request is sent over any suitable computer network, such as the internet or the extranet. The functionality of the autocall server 20 is the same as the customer placed.

[0063] Autocalls may be done by calling in to the system. This can be supported in both a hosted and a customer placed setup. There are two basic uses for a voice driven autocall, namely to call own personnel and to support external users.

[0064] To call own personnel is in conjunction with the attendant. A caller says to the attendant that he wished to be connected to John Doe. The tracking of John Doe can then be done by autocall. In this scenario a link to an absence management system is possible. This is really an example of follow-me technology described below.

[0065] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the caller is not dependent on that the called party has done any registration or other action. In the follow-me technology the called party sets up how he wants incoming calls to be rerouted according to different rules. Also, if the called party wants to make it easier for people to reach him, he can give out only one number and then let the autocall system do the management and connect the caller when call arrives.

[0066] To support external users means that an employee can access and use autocall from any phone, even a mobile phone. The interface differs from the office use in that SIR is used more extensively and there is less flexibility in creating outgoing messages. The initiator says whom he would like to call, and possibly also the name of the company. Autocall can then find information on the called party in the corporate database(s). When the data of the called party is found, an autocall request is created and a regular autocall is performed.

[0067] In order to implement an efficient autocall setup, there is a need to do some integration between the customer's catalogues and the automated call processing system. This is accomplished in the preferred embodiment of the invention by creating small pieces of software called autocall client. The purpose of the autocall client is to be a liaison between the autocall server and the customers catalogue application. The catalogue may be any system well-known, such as CRM, ERP, Exchange or any other system that holds data on persons and organizations.

[0068] The autocall server communicates preferably with the autocall client with a protocol, such as TCP/IP. This design makes it totally transparent for the client of the customer's system.

[0069] In another embodiment of the present invention, the called party is identified by dialing a phone number on the telephone. The autocall service monitors the telephone and will translate the dialed number into the called party and, thereafter, make an autocall. In this way, an intelligent telephone is created. For example, the phone number 555 123 4567 is dialed, which identifies Eric Anderson. The autocall server retrieves following contact data from the catalogue: mobile 555 666 7777 and eric.Anderson@icepeak.se, whereby an autocall is made based on the mobile phone number and the e-mail address of Eric Anderson.

[0070] One example of how this may be implemented, is by having a software which monitors the telephone and identifies the called party from the dialed number, after which an autocall request according to the present invention is sent. Another example of how this may be implemented is by connecting the call to the autocall server when the telephone has been picked up before the number has been dialed, whereby the dialed number will identify the called party.

[0071] In still another embodiment of the present invention, an autocall request is initiated via a computer telephony integration (CTI) system.

[0072] In a further embodiment of the present invention, an automail, prepared while waiting to be connected, may be composed of a standard message completed with additional data collected from a database, a calender etc. An example of such a message could be "call me today". Automail will translate the message into: "Hello, Eric Anderson from Icepeak has tried to reach you and I want you to call me today. I'm available before 11 am and after 4 pm and you can reach me at work on 555 123 4567 or on the mobile 555 666 7777." [0073] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, shown in figure 9, the general procedure for building an autocall request (pre-processing), the autocall request and postprocessing of the autocall request, is as follows: i) The caller selects the called party he wants to contact, collects and finds data of the called party in the catalogue (step 91);

ii) The caller selects parameters for messaging etc (step 92);

iii) The caller selects outgoing message (s) (step 93) and initiates the autocall process;

iv) The autocall server performs the autocall process (step 94), which is showed in greater detail in figure 10; and,

v) Optionally, data gathered from voicemail system or a dialogue is returned to the caller (step 95).

[0074] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the procedure for the autocall request, shown in figure 10, is as follows:

i) The caller places a call to the called party (step 101) and autocall detects if there is an answer (step 102). If there is no answer , the call is terminated (step 103); ii) If autocall gets an answer, it detects if the answer is made by a human being (step 104). If the answer is made by a machine, autocall delivers message, confirm that the answer was made by a machine and interprets messages on the called party's voicemail etc. (step 105). Optionally the results are returned to the called party (step 106);

iii) If the answer is made by a human being, next step is to detect if it is the right person (the called party) that answered (step 107). If it is the called party, the call is connected (step 108); iv) if the answer is made by another person, autocall asks if the other person can connect the called party or take a message (step 109). If yes, the call is either connected (step 110) or a message is left; v) If the other person can't connect or leave a message, optionally, the results are returned to the caller (step 111).

[0075] In the following will be described a method for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party, said method comprising the steps of: providing a database comprising information of contacts; receiving a contact request designating the called party; retrieving from said database at least one contact data associated with the called party; initiating contact with the called party based on the at least one contact data; waiting for the connection to be established; preparing a message while waiting for the connection to be established; and, leaving said message at a message receiving service associated with the retrieved contact data when the called party is unavailable.

[0076] In a further embodiment the method further comprises the steps of wherein at least two contact data associated with the called party is retrieved from said database,: simultaneously initiating contact with the called party based on the at least two contact data; and, simultaneously leaving said message at message receiving services associated with the retrieved at least two contact data when the called party is unavailable.

[0077] In a yet further embodiment the method further comprises the step of detecting if an answer of an initiated contact is made by a human being or an answering machine.

[0078] In a still further embodiment the method further comprises the steps of: detecting if the answer is made by the called party when the answer is made by a human being; initiating a dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party; and, leaving a message to the called party, when the called party is unavailable.

[0079] In an additional further embodiment the method comprises either of the steps of: leaving said message when the answer is made by an answering machine; confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine while leaving the message by listening for utterance; and, switching to human answer if such utterance is received, or confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine by listening for an alert signal from the answering machine.

[0080] In a still further embodiment the method further comprises the step of using voice recognition to detect if the answer is made by the called party and to initiate the dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party.

[0081] In a yet further embodiment the method further comprises the steps of: supervising the connect establishment; and, manually controlling the connection process.

[0082] In an additional further embodiment the method further comprises the steps of: before initiating contact with the called party, receiving from a planning tool published on a communication network, what time to initiate contact with the called party; and, scheduling the received time in a management tool.

[0083] Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A method for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party, said method comprising the steps of:

-providing a database comprising information of contacts;

-receiving a contact request designating the called party; -retrieving from said database at least one contact data associated with the called party;

-initiating contact with the called party based on the at least one contact data;

-waiting for the connection to be established;

-preparing a message while waiting for the connection to be established; and, -leaving said message at a message receiving service associated with the retrieved contact data when the called party is unavailable.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two contact data associated with the called party is retrieved from said database, further comprising the steps of: -simultaneously initiating contact with the called party based on the at least two contact data; and,

-simultaneously leaving said message at message receiving services associated with the retrieved at least two contact data when the called party is unavailable.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of detecting if an answer of an initiated contact is made by a human being or an answering machine.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

- detecting if the answer is made by the called party when the answer is made by a human being;

- initiating a dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party; and, -leaving a message to the called party, when the called party is unavailable.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

-leaving said message when the answer is made by an answering machine; -confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine while leaving the message by listening for utterance; and,

-switching to human answer if such utterance is received.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of: -leaving said message when the answer is made by an answering machine; and,

-confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine by listening for an alert signal from the answering machine.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of using voice recognition to detect if the answer is made by the called party and to initiate the dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: -supervising the connect establishment; and,

-manually controlling the connection process.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

-before initiating contact with the called party, receiving from a planning tool published on a communication network, what time to initiate contact with the called party; and,

-scheduling the received time in a management tool.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the contact request is made by speech.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the contact request is made by dialing a phone number.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the called party is responsible for the contact data stored in the database.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the caller is responsible for the contact data stored in the database.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the messages are at least one of the following: e-mail, voice mail, SMS, MMS, paging, fax or video mail.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message is at least one of the following: a pre-recorded message, on-the-fly recorded voice additions added to a template or a text message which is transformed to a voice message.

16. An arrangement for reducing time consumption while attempting to establish contact between a caller and a called party, said arrangement comprising:

-a database comprising information of contacts; -means for receiving a contact request designating the called party;

-means for retrieving from said database at least one contact data associated with the called party;

-means for initiating contact with the called party based on the at least one contact data; -means for preparing a message while waiting for the connection to be established; and,

-means for leaving said message at a message receiving service associated with the retrieved contact data when the called party is unavailable.

17. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein said means for initiating contact with the called party based on the at least one contact data, when at least two contact data is retrieved simultaneously initiates contact based on at least two contact data with the called party and where said means for leaving said message at a message receiving service associated with the retrieved contact data when the called party is unavailable simultaneously leaves said message at message receiving services associated with the retrieved at least two contact data.

18. The arrangement according to claim 16, further comprising means for detecting if an answer of an initiated contact is made by a human being or an answering machine.

19. The arrangement according to claim 18, further comprising:

- means for detecting if the answer is made by the called party when the answer is made by a human being; - means for initiating a dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party; and,

- means for leaving a message to the called party, when the called party is unavailable.

20. The arrangement according to claim 18, further comprising: -means for leaving said message when the answer is made by an answering machine;

-means for confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine while leaving the message by listening for utterance; and,

- means for switching to human answer if such utterance is received.

21. The arrangement according to claim 18, further comprising:

-means for leaving said message when the answer is made by an answering machine; and,

-means for confirming that the answer is made by the answering machine by listening for an alert signal from the answering machine.

22. The arrangement according to claim 19, wherein said means for detecting if the answer is made by the called party when the answer is made by a human being, and said means for initiating a dialogue with the answering human being when the answer is made by a person other than the called party is a voice recognition system.

23. The arrangement according to claim 16, further comprising: -means for supervising the connect establishment; and, -means for manually controlling the connection process.

24. The arrangement according to claim 16, further comprising:

-before initiating contact with the called party, means for receiving from a planning tool published on a communication network, what time to initiate contact with the called party; and,

-means for scheduling the received time in a management tool.

25. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein said contact request is made by speech.

26. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the contact request is made by dialing digits.

27. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the called party is responsible for the contact data stored in the database.

28. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the caller is responsible for the contact data stored in the database.

29. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the messages are sent on at least one of the following medias: e-mail, voice mail, SMS, MMS, paging, fax or video mail.

0. The arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the message is at least one of the following: a pre-recorded message, on-the-fly recorded voice additions added to a template or a text message which is transformed to a voice message.