In general, embodiments of the present invention involve attaching (e.g., pre-fixing) a Global Signaling Code (GSC) to a called party's telephone number thereby creating a modified Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). This modified URI is then sent in the TO: header of a SIP INVITE. The GSC will typically include a geographic indicator corresponding to a geographic location of a caller and a treatment indicator corresponding to a desired treatment of the call. The call will be routed based on the geographic indicator and treated according to the treatment indicator. Illustrative treatments for the call include (among others) voice mail avoidance, a preferred compression scheme for the call, etc.

Novel tools and techniques for providing enhanced services to telephone subscribers with multiple telephone lines, which can include one or more traditional telephone lines, wireless telephone lines, Internet protocol-based telephone lines, and/or the like. For example, certain tools can provide a subscriber with a unified voice mailbox for a plurality of the subscriber's telephone lines. In some cases, the subscriber does not need to check multiple voice mailboxes (each associated with one of the subscriber's telephone numbers) in order to ensure that the subscriber has received all messages intended for that subscriber. Instead, any incoming call on any of the subscriber's lines can be routed to a converged voice mailbox for easy retrieval by the subscriber of all messages from one location. Some tools employ a VoIP switch to handle routing of the incoming call to the correct voice mailbox.

Systems and methods for sender profile and/or recipient profile disambiguation and/or confirmation are disclosed. In instances where a sender profile is not indicated by a user sending a communication from a communal device, heuristic data may be utilized to infer the sender profile. Similar heuristic data may also be used when selection of the sender profile is associated with a low confidence level. Heuristic data may also be used to infer the recipient profile when the user does not indicate the recipient profile or when selection of the recipient profile is associated with a low confidence. Various confirmations may result from the sender and recipient profile disambiguation.

A method for managing visual voicemail messages includes displaying a list of voicemail messages on a telecommunications handset, receiving user commands for operating on the voicemail messages including a delete message command and in response to a delete message command, marking a voicemail message for deletion with a delete timestamp and moving the voicemail message to a Deleted Messages folder. A Deleted Message Age Indicator function processes to control permanent deletion of voicemail messages in the Deleted Messages folder based on delete timestamps and a global Delete Time value in cooperation with a visual voicemail platform.

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for selectively transcribing messages. Five general approaches are disclosed herein. The first approach is directed to checking for a transcription capable client, which transcribes messages when a client device is capable of receiving transcriptions. The second and third approaches are platform-controlled and user-controlled predefined selective transcription. One aspect of this approach is driven by transcription rules. The fourth approach is user-controlled on-demand selective transcription before the message is stored or deposited for transcription. An example of this is a user transferring an incoming caller to voicemail and indicating that the voicemail be transcribed. The fifth approach is user-controlled on-demand selective transcription after the message is stored. In one embodiment of this approach, a user must specifically request that a stored message be transcribed.

Methods, systems, and computer-readable and executable instructions for managing a voicemail system are described herein. One method for managing a voicemail system includes receiving a call log from a voicemail box subscribed to a voicemail management system, identifying metadata associated with the call log from the voicemail box, identifying one or more criteria within the metadata based on a request for a report, and generating a report using the one or more criteria within the metadata associated with the call log from the voicemail box to manage the voicemail system.

A communications device is disclosed. The communications device comprises a memory configured to store instructions and a processor configured to execute the instructions to receive data representing a message provided by a caller, determine at least an attribute of the message based on the received data, generate one or more options based on the attribute of the message, and present the one or more options to the caller to prompt the caller to take an additional action related to the message.

A system that transmits a request to initiate a communication session with a member device of a social network may include, for example, activating a speech capture element, maintaining activation of the speech capture element in accordance with a pattern of prior speech messages, detecting a speech message at the activated speech capture element, and transmitting the detected speech message, or a derivative thereof, to the member device of the social network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

This disclosure describes a method for voice calling, voice playing, and devices thereof, in the field of communication. The method for voice calling includes: detecting whether a sensed distance value of an on-site terminal is less than a preset threshold, entering a predetermined call mode if the sensed distance value is less than the preset threshold, auto-playing a voice signal of an opposite terminal in the predetermined call mode, and if a voice signal of the on-site terminal is detected in the predetermined call mode, collecting the voice signal of the on-site terminal, and transmitting the voice signal of the on-site terminal to the opposite terminal.

Systems and methods for providing an audio communication system include receiving from a first user, by a microphone of a first voice-controlled device of a plurality of voice-controlled devices in an audio communication system, a first audio message and an audio command to provide the audio message to a second user. An identity of the second user associated with a user profile based on the audio command is determined. The first audio message is provided to a second voice-controlled device of the plurality of voice-controlled devices to output the audio message at a speaker of the voice-controlled device to the second user that is proximity to the second voice-controlled device.