Dynamic configuration of unified messaging state changes

A configurable unified messaging system, comprising:na processor device; andat least one memory device, the memory device storing:na configuration file of the unified messaging system, wherein the configuration file defines multiple dialog command groups, the dialog command groups each identifying operations of a voice interface dialog session, wherein the operations are defined in the dialog command groups by prompt elements, activity elements, and transition elements in an extensible markup language, wherein the configuration file identifies a plurality of options to be presented to a user by the prompt elements during the voice dialog session, wherein each activity element identifies an activity to be performed during the voice dialog session, and wherein each transition element identifies a transition to be performed after one of the activities during the voice dialog session; andcomputer-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor device cause the processor device to generate a state controller and a Text-to-Speech engine upon receipt of one of the incoming telephone calls, the state controller using the dialog command groups of the configuration file to generate the voice interface dialog session with a user, wherein the voice interface dialog session performs operations including: presenting to the user an audible menu including a plurality of options defined by the configuration file, receiving an input from the user selecting an option from the audible menu, executing an activity with an activity element, the activity element being associated with the option in the configuration file, and performing a transition defined by a transition element identified in the configuration file after the activity, the Text-to-Speech engine converting information from a text form to an audible form, wherein at least one of the activity elements calls the text-to-speech engine to convert text from an electronic message into an audible form through the voice interface dialog session.

A method of operating a configurable unified messaging system, comprising:nreceiving a telephone call from a telephone network;reading a configuration file of the unified messaging system from memory with a processing device upon receipt of the telephone call, the configuration file defining multiple dialog command groups, the dialog command groups each identifying operations of a voice interface dialog session, wherein the operations are defined in the dialog command groups by a plurality of elements including prompt elements, activity elements, and transition elements in an extensible markup language, the prompt elements identifying options to be presented during the voice interface dialog session, the activity elements identifying activities to be performed during the voice interface dialog session, and transition elements identify transitions to be performed during the voice interface dialog session after the activities; andgenerating voice interface dialog session with a user with a computing device by:npresenting to the user an audible menu including the plurality of options defined by one of the prompt elements identified in the configuration file;receiving an input from the user selecting one of the options from the audible menu, the one of the options being associated with an electronic message including text information;executing the activity associated with the input and defined by one of the activity elements identified in the configuration file, wherein the activity retrieves the electronic message from an e-mail mailbox server and utilizes a Text-to-Speech engine to convert the text information from the electronic message to an audible form that is presented to the user through the voice interface dialog session; andperforming a transition defined by a transition element identified in the configuration file after the activity.

A method of operating a configurable unified messaging system, the method comprising:nreceiving with a network communication device of the configurable unified messaging system an incoming call from a user, the incoming call being received through an Internet Protocol network routed to the configurable unified messaging system by a gateway, wherein the configurable unified messaging system is also in data communication with an electronic mail server;reading a configuration file from memory with the configurable unified messaging system upon receipt of the incoming call, the configuration file defining multiple dialog command groups, the dialog command groups each identifying operations of a voice interface dialog session, wherein the operations are defined in the dialog command groups by a prompt element, an activity element, and a transition element in an extensible markup language, wherein the configuration file includes data conforming to an extensible markup language specification;determining with the configurable unified messaging system the prompt element identified in the configuration file;executing with the configurable unified messaging system the prompt element to present an audible menu to the user including a plurality of options;receiving with the configurable unified messaging system a dual-tone multi-frequency input to select one of the options associated with an electronic message stored in the electronic mail server, the electronic message including text information;determining with the configurable unified messaging system a first activity element associated with the option in the configuration file;executing the activity element to perform an activity, the activity converting with a Text-to-Speech engine the text information from the electronic message into an audible form that is presented to the user through the voice interface dialog session;determining with the configurable unified messaging system a transition element which the configuration file identifies as following the activity; andexecuting the transition element after the activity has completed.