The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 22, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 13, 1995
Paul M Dunn, Bainbridge Island, WA (US);
Robert C Greco, Seattle, WA (US);
Active Voice Corporation, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A telephone system with extension telephones and voice mail features allows an extension owner to monitor a message as it is being left in voice mail. The monitoring method may be implemented in a system with a simple extension telephone or with an extension including a second channel of communication to a display screen. If the monitoring begins later than the time when the caller began leaving the message, monitoring may commence at a midpoint of the message or, with a delay, from the beginning of the message, playing back at a rate faster than real time to catch up with real time. For extensions with a display screen, each call received by the system for the extension creates an entry in a call log for the extension and, for each such entry where a message was left, the called party may play back the message by selecting on the screen the call log entry for that call.