Markup language to allow for billing of interactive services and methods thereof

(54) MARKUP LANGUAGE TO ALLOW FOR

BILLING OF INTERACTIVE SERVICES AND
METHODS THEREOF

(75) Inventors: David Ladd, Downers Grove, IL (US);

Gregory Johnson, Carol Stream, IL
(US)

(73) Assignee: Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 67 days.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/644,618

(22) Filed: Aug. 23, 2000

Related U.S. Application Data

(63) Continuation of application No. 09/165,487, filed on Oct. 2, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,269,336.

(51) Int. CI.7 G10L 21/00; G06F 15/00

(52) U.S. CI 704/275; 704/270.1; 704/270;

379/88.01

(58) Field of Search 704/270, 260,

704/275, 770.1; 379/88.13, 88.01, 88.22;

709/227, 228

5,860,073 A 1/1999 Ferrel et al 707/522

5,877,766 A 3/1999 Bates et al 345/357

5,899,975 A 5/1999 Nielsen 704/260

5,915,001 A 6/1999 Uppalura 379/88.22

5,953,392 A 9/1999 Rhie et al 379/88.13

6,269,336 Bl * 7/2001 Ladd et al 704/270

6,349,132 Bl * 2/2002 Wesemann et al 379/88.17

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Wong, W., Dialing into Computer telephony, Network VAR,
Mar. 1998, vol. 6, pp. 34-39, see p. 36.
Nava Air Federal Credit Union Call 24 Voice Response
Brochure, May 1994, pp. 1-2, see p. 2.

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Susan McFadden

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—-James E. Gauger; Hisashi

D. Watanabe

(57) ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a markup language document stored on a computer-readable medium to provide interactive services and methods thereof. The markup language comprises a dialog element and a step element. The dialog element includes markup language elements in which each markup language element is identifiable by one or more markup tags. The step element is contained within the dialog element and defines a state within the dialog element. The step element includes a prompt element, an input element, and a first attribute. The prompt element includes an announcement to be read to the user, and the input element includes at least one input that corresponds to a user input. The first attribute allows for billing of the interactive services.

42 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets