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US006845098B1
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,845,098 Bi
Strahs (45) Date of Patent: Jan. 18,2005
(54) INTERNET-ENABLED VOICE-RESPONSE SERVICE
(75) Inventor: Lee B. Strahs, Colts Neck, NJ (US)
(73) Assignee: AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 11 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 10/338,119
(22) Filed: Jan. 7, 2003
Related U.S. Application Data
(63) Continuation of application No. 08/886,136, filed on Jun. 30, 1997, now Pat. No. 6,519,246.
(51) Int. CI.7 H04L 12/66
(52) U.S. CI 370/352; 379/100.15
(58) Field of Search 370/259, 352,
370/353, 354, 355, 356, 410, 522, 525, 526, 271, 357, 401, 463; 379/100.13, 100.15, 100.17; 709/217, 218, 219, 227, 230, 231,
249
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,604,737 A * 2/1997 Iwami et al 370/352
5,608,786 A * 3/1997 Gordon 370/352
5,838,682 A * 11/1998 Dekelbaum et al 370/401
5,884,262 A * 3/1999 Wise et al 704/270.1
5,889,774 A * 3/1999 Mirashrafi et al 370/352
A method and system of providing a remote user with access to a voice response unit, which allows Internet users to access voice response units using a web graphical interface. In one aspect, the present invention includes an Internet telephone services node, which includes a web server communicatively coupled to a client computer system of the remote user, a voice switch initiating a call to a voice response unit, responsive to a signal from the web server, a touch-tone generator generating a touch-tone signal, responsive to a signal from the web server, and transmitting the touch-tone signal to the voice response unit through the voice switch and an audio streaming server receiving an audio signal from the voice response unit through the voice switch, digitizing the audio signal and transmitting the digitized audio signal to the client computer system through the web server. In another aspect, in order to provide a remote user with access to a voice response unit, the Internet telephone services node receives a request for access to the voice response unit from the remote user. Communications with the voice response unit are established. An audio signal is received from the voice response unit and information to be displayed to the remote user, which corresponds to the received audio message, is transmitted to the remote user.
17 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets
