Rich media interactive voice response

Abstract

The systems and methods are directed towards embodiments for implementing an interactive voice response (IVR) system with the voicemail system. The combination of the two systems would allow the recipient to listen to a recorded voicemail message and receive associated IVR commands that can be provided by the sender. The IVR commands allow the sender to generate customized IVR commands that provides different types of rich media based information (e.g., hyperlinks, video files, audio files) based on the sender input. Other systems and methods are also directed towards embedding active content (i.e. rich media based content) into documents.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for accessing voice mail messages that include interactive voice response commands, the method comprising:
 accessing a voice mail message stored in memory, wherein the stored voice mail message is associated with a sender, and wherein the voice mail message includes one or more interactive voice response commands selected by the sender to be associated with the voice mail message;   displaying the interactive voice response commands associated with the voice mail message for a recipient to view while accessing the voice mail message, wherein the interactive voice response commands are displayed as a menu on a user device;   receiving a selection of one of the interactive voice respond commands displayed on the user device by the recipient; and   performing a corresponding action for the recipient based on the selected interactive voice response command, the selected interactive voice response command processed by interactive voice response software stored on the user device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interactive voice response commands include standard commands. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interactive voice response commands include custom commands generated by the sender. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include retrieving sender-provided content associated with the selected interactive voice response command. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the sender-provided content includes hyperlinks, audio files, video files, text-based documents, spreadsheets and PDFs. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include setting a reminder for the recipient to call back the sender. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a new text message used by the recipient to follow up the voice mail message associated with the sender. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a new e-mail message used by the recipient to follow up the voice mail message associated with the sender. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a calendar event associated with the voice mail message. 
     
     
         10 . A computer readable non-transitory storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for accessing voice mail messages that include interactive voice response commands, the method comprising:
 accessing a voice mail message stored in memory, wherein the stored voice mail message is associated with a sender, and wherein the voice mail message includes one or more interactive voice response commands selected by the sender to be associated with the voice mail message;   displaying the interactive voice response commands associated with the voice mail message for a recipient to view while accessing the voice mail message, wherein the interactive voice response commands are displayed as a menu on a user device;   receiving a selection of one of the interactive voice respond commands displayed on the user device by the recipient; and   performing a corresponding action for the recipient based on the selected interactive voice response command, the selected interactive voice response command processed by interactive voice response software stored on the user device.   
     
     
         11 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the interactive voice response commands include standard commands. 
     
     
         12 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the interactive voice response commands include custom commands generated by the sender. 
     
     
         13 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include retrieving sender-provided content associated with the selected interactive voice response command. 
     
     
         14 . The storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the sender-provided content includes hyperlinks, audio files, video files, text-based documents, spreadsheets and PDFs. 
     
     
         15 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include setting a reminder for the recipient to call back the sender. 
     
     
         16 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a new text message used by the recipient to follow up the voice mail message associated with the sender. 
     
     
         17 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a new e-mail message used by the recipient to follow up the voice mail message associated with the sender. 
     
     
         18 . The storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the performed corresponding actions associated with the selected interactive voice response commands include generating a calendar event associated with the voice mail message. 
     
     
         19 . A system for accessing voice mail messages that include interactive voice response commands, the system comprising:
 a user device that:
 access a voice mail message, wherein the voice mail message is associated with a sender, and wherein the voice mail message includes one or more interactive voice response commands selected by the sender to be associated with the voice mail message; 
 displays the interactive voice response commands associated with the voice mail message for a recipient to view, wherein the interactive voice response commands are displayed as a menu, and 
 receives a selection of one of the displayed interactive voice response commands from the recipient; and 
   a processor that has instructions stored in memory, the instructions executed by the processor to:
 process the selected interactive voice response command, and 
 perform a corresponding action for the recipient based on the processed interactive voice response command.