Lisa J. Stifelman

Abstract

Telephone keypad interfaces are commonly used for interacting with voice mail systems whether one is at home or in the office. Typically, after new messages are heard by the recipient, they are transferred to an archived voice mailbox. Management of messages inside the mailbox is difficult due to the limited interaction available from a 12 button interface. Users often need to recall seemingly arbitrary assignments of functions to keys. An enhanced interface for the management of voice messages would enable users to send and receive voice mail from a personal workstation, thereby integrating speech communication into the common "desktop" interface. The voice mail system developed by the Speech Research Group at the MIT Media Lab provides such alternative methods of access and notification. The system is composed of three services: QDVM, XVMAE, and PHONESHELL. QDVM is responsible for answering the telephone and for recording messages. Notification of new messages is accomplished graphically and by electronic mail. XVMAIL, an X Window System-based interface running on Sun SPARCstations, gives users the ability to play and record messages, as well as dial back the caller directly from the graphical workstation interface. Telephone access to voice mail is provided by PHONESHELL, a service that combines remote access to rolodex, calendar, and voice mail data.