WO2008034555A1

WO2008034555A1 - Voice mail platform and method of changing the voice mail settings of such a voice mail platform

Info

Publication number: WO2008034555A1
Application number: PCT/EP2007/007981
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alexander Johannes Roest
Original assignee: Koninklijke Kpn N.V.
Priority date: 2006-09-22
Filing date: 2007-09-13
Publication date: 2008-03-27

Abstract

The invention relates to a voice mail platform (VM), being associated with a plurality of associated telephones (T4 - T7). The voice mail platform (VM) comprising a processor unit (PU) that has access to a memory (ME) comprising voice mail settings of the plurality of associated telephones (T4 - T7), the voice mail settings comprising a welcome message. The voice mail platform (VM) further comprising an input output device (I/O) arranged to communicate with telephones (Tl - T7) via a network (NW). The voice mail platform (VM) is arranged to receive a voice mail update (VMU) to change the voice mail settings of a group of the associated telephones (T4 - T7) and to change the voice mail settings in the memory (ME) of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7).

Description

Voice mail platform and method of changing the voice mail settings of such a voice mail platform

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates a voice mail platform and method of changing the voice mail settings of such a voice mail platform. The invention further relates to a computer program, and a data carrier, comprising such a computer program.

STATE OF THE ART

Companies consider a welcome message on their answering machines (voice mail services) part of their corporate image. Companies prefer to radiate uniformity and professionalism with their welcome messages. Especially in situations that an employee receives a call which is put forward to his/her voice mail service.

Prior art methods to provide welcome messages lack uniformity and professional appearance. Therefore, companies are looking for a way to ensure that voice mail services are switched on and employees are reachable by (mobile or 'fixed') telephone provided to them by the company. Companies also demand a uniform voice mail welcome message to strengthen their corporate image.

It is an object of the invention to provide a possibility to uniformize and professionalize voice mail services of employees.

SHORT DESCRIPTION According to an aspect there is provided a voice mail platform, being associated with a plurality of associated telephones, the voice mail platform comprising a processor unit that has access to a memory comprising voice mail settings of the plurality of associated telephones, the voice mail settings comprising a welcome message, the voice mail platform further comprising an input output device arranged to communicate with telephones via a network, characterized in, that the voice mail platform is arranged to receive a voice mail update to change the voice mail settings of a group of the associated telephones and to change the voice mail settings in the memory of the group of associated telephones. The group of associated telephones may for instance be at least two associated telephones. The group of telephones may for instance all be associated with a same company. This allows changing and controlling the voice mail settings of a group of telephones in an efficient way and thereby uniformizing the voice mail settings of a number of telephones at the same time. According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises disabling a possibility for the group of associated telephones to change the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones. This ensures that the voice mail settings of the group of telephones is and remains uniform. According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with telephones via a first communication link, and wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to receive the voice mail update via a second communication link. This allows efficient loading of the voice mail update into the voice mail platform. According to this embodiment, the voice mail settings may be changed via a different communication link than provided in the prior art.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with the telephones via the first communication link by providing an interactive voice response technique, so information can be recorded at the voice mail platform, such as the name of the user of the respective telephone. This allows a user to provide the voice mail platform with information about the correct pronunciation of his/her name so a mispronounced name can be corrected.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein the voice mail update comprises at least telephone numbers of the group of associated telephones. This helps the voice mail update change the voice mail settings of the correct telephone.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein the voice mail update comprises at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the welcome messages in the voice mail platform.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein the at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform comprises the name of a user associated with the respective telephone. By providing a welcome message it can be ensured that all of the respective telephones have a similar welcome message, except of course for details that are specific for the associated user, such as name or telephone number.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises generating welcome messages out of the at least one sound file.

According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises replacing possible previously stored welcome messages with the at least one sound file. According to an embodiment there is provided a voice mail platform wherein the voice mail update further comprises an update message that may be stored in the memory as message for each telephone of the group of associated telephones and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the update message in the memory.

According to an aspect there is provided a voice mail platform, the voice mail platform being associated with a plurality of associated telephones, the voice mail settings comprising a welcome message, the method comprising:

- receiving a voice mail update to change the voice mail settings of a group of the associated telephones and

- changing the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones in the voice mail platform.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises disabling a possibility for the group of associated telephones to change the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with telephones via a first communication link, and wherein receiving the voice mail update is done using via a second communication link.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with the telephones via the first communication link by providing an interactive voice response technique, so information can be recorded at the voice mail platform, such as the name of the user of the respective telephone. According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the voice mail update comprises at least telephone numbers of the group of associated telephones.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the voice mail update comprises at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the welcome message in the voice mail platform.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform comprises the name of a user associated with the respective telephone. According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the method further comprises generating a welcome message out of the at least one sound file.

According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises replacing possible previously stored welcome messages with the at least one sound file. According to an embodiment there is provided a method, wherein the voice mail update further comprises an update message that may be stored in the memory as message for each telephone of the group of associated telephones and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the update message in the memory.

According to an aspect there is provided a computer program, when loaded on a computer arrangement, is arranged to perform any one of the methods described above.

According to an aspect there is provided a data carrier, comprising a computer program according to the above.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings in which corresponding reference symbols indicate corresponding parts, and in which:

Figure 1 schematically depicts a telephone network according to the prior art, Figure 2 schematically depicts a telephone network according to an embodiment, and,

Figure 3 schematically depicts a telephone network according to a further embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 schematically depicts a telephone network NW. The telephone network is depicted as a single network NW, but it will be understood that it may also be formed by a plurality of interconnectable telephone networks, such as for instance the GMS- network, PSTN-network, VoIP-network, etc.

The network NW may be used to set up telephone calls between different telephones Tl - T7, each having a unique telephone number associated with it. The telephones may be mobile telephone Tl - T5 and 'fixed' telephones T6, T7. So, a user of telephone Tl may try to set up a call with telephone T6 via network NW by sending a request from telephone Tl via telephone network NW to telephone T6.

The network NW may further comprise a voice mail platform VM. It will be understood that instead of the single voice mail platform VM shown, a plurality of voice mail platforms may be present, each being associated with its own sub-set of telephones. In case the request from telephone Tl to telephone T6 is not accepted by telephone T6, the request may be forwarded to the voice mail platform VM associated with telephone T6. The voice mail platform VM may be arranged to accept the request from telephone Tl, play a welcome message to telephone Tl and possibly receive a spoken message from telephone Tl . This spoken message is stored in the voice mail platform VM to be played at a later time to a user of telephone T6 upon request.

Voice mail platform

Next, a detailed description of a voice mail platform VM is provided. The voice mail platform VM may be formed as a computer, such as a personal computer, a server, a laptop and other dedicated devices. All these devices are different kind of computer systems. Figure 1 shows a schematic example of a voice mail platform VM.

Figure 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a voice mail platform VM, comprising a processor unit PU for performing arithmetical operations. The processor unit PU may be connected to a memory ME that may store instructions and data, such as a tape unit, hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and a Random Access Memory (RAM). The memory ME may comprise instructions (programming lines) that are readable and executable by the processor unit PU to provide the voice mail platform VM with the functionality described in the embodiments.

The processor unit PU may also be connected to one or more input devices, such as a keyboard and a mouse, one or more output devices, such as a display and a printer, and one or, more reading units to read for instance floppy disks or CD ROM's.

Also the voice mail platform VM may comprise a database stored in said memory ME comprising information about telephone numbers, associated welcome messages and possibly received spoken messages.

The voice mail platform VM shown in Fig. 1 may also comprise an input output device I/O that may be arranged to communicate with telephones via telephone network NW.

However, it will be understood that there may be provided more and/or other memory units, input devices and read devices known to persons skilled in the art. Moreover, one or more of them may be physically located remote from the processor unit PU, if required. The processor unit PU is shown as one box, however, it may comprise several processor units functioning in parallel or controlled by one main processor unit that may be located remote from one another, as is known to persons skilled in the art.

It is observed that, although all connections in figure 1 are shown as physical connections, one or more of these connections can be made wireless. They are only intended to show that "connected" units are arranged to communicate with one another in someway.

The voice mail platform VM is shown as a computer system, but may be any signal processing system with analog and/or digital and/or software technology arranged to perform the functions discussed here.

According to the example provided here, telephones T4, T5, T6 and T7 are all associated with a certain company X and are all associated with the same voice mail platform VM. So, in memory ME, the voice mail platform VM has welcome messages stored for each telephone T4 - T7. The voice mail platform VM is further arranged to record messages received from a calling party and to store such messages in the memory ME.

The voice mail platform VM can receive calls from the associated telephones T4 - T7. A user calling the voice mail platform VM may be guided through a menu to change its own voice mail platform settings, for instance change the welcome message, or listen to possibly recorded messages.

Schematically, the memory ME of the voice mail platform VM may be arranged as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

As is shown in the table above, each of the associated telephones T4 — T7 has a welcome message associated with it (of course, this is not necessarily so, some telephones may not have welcome message and may for instance not have activated their voice mail). The welcome messages may be stored as *.wav files. It will be understood that the *.wav files may comprise a full welcome message or a may be played in combination with additional fixed elements (will be discussed below) such as "leave a message after the beep". According to the prior art, the user of the associated telephone T4 - T7 is able to change the settings of its voice mail, for instance to change the welcome message associated with his/her telephone.

Embodiment 1 According to the embodiments provided here, the voice mail platform VM is arranged to receive additional input that may be used to adjust the settings of the voice mail platform VM, such as changing the welcome message. This input is not controlled by the individual users of the telephones T4 - T7, but may for instance be controlled by company X. The voice mail platform VM may be arranged to receive a voice mail update VMU comprising one or a plurality of update files UF that may be transmitted to the voice mail platform VM by any suitable kind of technique, such as a file transfer protocol (ftp) and the like. It is to be noted that the communication link used to receive the voice mail update

VMU is different from the communication link used by the users of the telephone T4 - T7 to change the settings of their voice mail. According to an embodiment, the communication link used to receive the voice mail update VMU does not use the telephone network NW as shown in the Figures. Users were allowed to change the settings of their voice mail via the telephone communication link, i.e. by calling the voice mail platform VM. According to the embodiments provided here the settings of the voice mail platform VM can be changed via a different communication link, i.e. any communication link suitable for transferring the update files to the voice mail platform VM. This may for instance be done via the Internet, a file transfer protocol etc. Also, the voice mail update VMU may be comprised on a data carrier, such as a CD, a DVD or the like that may be received and read by reading devices of the voice mail platform VM. The voice mail update VMU may also be downloadable by the voice mail platform VM.

Each update file UF may comprise information about: - telephone number of one of the associated telephones T4 - T7,

- at least one sound file, for instance comprising the name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7.

The telephone numbers may for instance be stored in the update file UF, or may be stored simply by naming the update file UF according to the telephone number. So, an update file UF having the name 065555555. ext is associated with telephone T5 having telephone number 06 5555 5555 associated with it.

So, the update file UF may simply be a sound file, such as a *.wav-file, where the * is an indication of the associated telephone number, for instance 0655555555.wav.

Once the update file UF or set of update files UF is received, the voice mail platform VM may store the sound files as welcome messages in the memory ME, replacing possible previously stored welcome messages. The memory ME may also comprise a flag indicating if the user of the associated telephone T4 - T7 is allowed to change the settings of its voice mail, for instance if the user is allowed to change the welcome message associated with his/her telephone.

Also, the flag indicating if the user may adjust the settings of his/her voice mail may be changed such that the users are no longer able to change the settings of the voice mail platform VM for that particular telephone. Schematically, the memory ME of the voice mail platform VM may now be arranged as shown in table 2.

As is shown in the table above, each of the telephones T4 - T7 now has a standard welcome message associated with it.

Since the voice mail platform VM is arranged to receive update files UF that may be used to change the welcome messages, the company X may be able to uniformize its voice mail system as the company X is now able to control the settings of the voice mail platform for the telephones T4 - T7 associated with the company X. Also, since the employees are no longer able to change their welcome messages, a uniform voice mail system is guaranteed.

Embodiment 2 The welcome message (corporate greeting) of the corporate voice mail service is the message that is played to the calling party trying to reach an employee that is unreachable at the moment, for instance because his/her line is busy or he/she switched off the telephone or just did not answer the call. The welcome message may comprise the following voice mail elements:

The above welcome message comprises four fixed elements, one semi-fixed element and two variable elements, i.e. being specific for the employee (full name of the employee, first name of the employee and sex of the employee). Two variable elements (Jan Jansen and Jan) are fully variable and will most likely be different for each user. One semi-fixed element (he) is semi-fixed, as there are only a very limited amount of options, i.e. two: he or she.

The fixed elements and possibly the semi-fixed element may be stored in memory ME. The voice mail platform VM may compose the welcome message from these fixed elements and the variable elements received with the update file UF.

The (semi-)fixed elements may previously be stored in the memory ME but may also be received together with the voice mail update VMU in a separate fixed element file EF comprising these fixed and possibly semi-fixed elements. So, as shown in Fig. 3, the voice mail update VMU may comprise a plurality of update file UF and one fixed element file EF comprising fixed and/or semi-fixed elements to be stored in memory ME.

According to this embodiment, the update file UF does not need to comprise the full welcome message, but may simply comprise the variable elements of the welcome message. So, according to this embodiment, the update file UF of a particular telephone may comprise: - telephone number of one of the associated telephones T4 - T7,

- a first sound file, comprising the full name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7,

- a second sound file, comprising the first name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7, and

- a third sound file, comprising the "he" or "she".

According to an alternative, the update file UF of a particular telephone may comprise:

- telephone number of one of the associated telephones T4 - T7, - a first sound file, comprising the surname name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7,

- a third sound file, comprising the "he" or "she". According to this variant, the voice mail platform VM is arranged to deduce the full name from the first and second sound file, by playing the second and first sound file successively.

According to an alternative, the update file UF of a particular telephone may comprise: - telephone number of one of the associated telephones T4 - T7,

- the first sound file, comprising the full name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7, and

- the third sound file, comprising the "he" or "she".

According to this variant, the voice mail platform VM is arranged to deduce to first name from the first sound file comprising the full name, for instance by detecting a pause in the first sound in between the first name and surname.

- a second sound file, comprising the first name of the user associated with the respective telephone T4 - T7, and - an indication if the user associated with the telephone is a male or a female.

According to this alternative, the voice mail platform VM has two semi-fixed elements stored in memory ME and can select one of these based on the indication comprised in the update file UF. Of course, many more alternatives may be conceived. For instance, the welcome message may be one file that is recorded in one go comprising the complete message in one piece.

EMBODIMENT 3 The voice mail update VMU may further comprise an update message

(updatemessage.wav) that may be stored in the memory ME as message for each telephone T4 - T7 that is provided with a new welcome message by that same voice mail update VMU. For instance, when four telephones T4, T5, T6 and T7 are provided with a welcome message by the voice mail update VMU, the memory ME of the voice mail platform VM may now be arranged as shown in table 3.

The update messages may be played to the users when they call the voice mail platform VM to check their messages. Also, the voice mail platform VM may send a message to the respective telephones T4 - T7 informing the user that a new message is stored in memory ME to be played.

FURTHER REMARKS

The update files and the fixed element file EF may be generated in a studio, where all the elements of the welcome messages are recorded in a uniformized way, for instance by one and the same person. As described above, the voice mail update VMU may be transmitted from this studio to the voice mail platform VM using a suitable communication link.

The studio may for instance comprises a web/ftp server forming an interface with systems of the telecom operator with whom the telephone contracts are made and where the voice mail platform VM is located. Via this server the recorded audio (wav-) files (i.e. the voice mail update VMU or the update files UF) are supplied to the telecom operator or the voice mail platform VM.

The ftp-server may comprise an up-load and a down-load folder. The upload folder may be used to upload recorded messages to the operator (i.e. voice mail platform VM) and the download folder may be used to download information from for instance company X to the ftp-server of the studio based on which the recordings can be made (e.g. list of names).

According to a further embodiment, the user of the telephones T4 - T7 may also transmit information to the studio using interactive voice response techniques (IVR). A user may get in touch with an interactive voice response system where the user may record his name. This may be done in case the name of the user is mispronounced in the current standard welcome message.

According to an embodiment, there is provided a computer program, when loaded on a computer arrangement, is arranged to perform any one of the methods described. The computer program may comprise instructions that are readable and executable by a processor unit PU of a voice mail platform VM. The computer program may be stored on a memory ME to which the processor unit PU has access or on a data carrier, such as a CD, DVD etc. When the voice mail update VMU is received by the voice mail platform VM, the web server may send a trigger or registration message to a registration system which registers the corporate voice mail for the particular telephone number in the administrative systems of the operator and the voice mail platform VM indicates that a voice mail message is ready for transmission to the voice mail platform. When all went well, the registration system sends an acknowledgement message back to the web server such that the web server forwards the particular wav file to the voice mail platform where the welcome message is loaded.

When an employee listens to its own voice mail for the first time after corporate voice mail, a message will be played indicating that for him/her the corporate greeting is loaded and the interactive voice response system may be contacted for possible changes. For this, a sound file with this message is loaded on the voice mail platform VM.

The voice that is used to pronounce the welcome message may be chosen by the company. For installation of the corporate voice mail a complete list of all the names, sexes and mobile numbers of employees of the company needs to be composed. For each employee, the list may comprise:

- name of the employee (spelled),

- name of the employee (phonetic), - sex employee,

- telephone number.

This items may be checked in a studio in which the voice mail texts (welcome messages, first, second, third sound files) are recorded. It is in particular important to check the list of names. If there are any questions/obscurities, the studio may ask the provider of the list so that no obscurities remain. When everything is clear the recording may start and the studio takes care of recording of the correct texts with the correct variables associated with the correct telephone numbers. The studio subsequently provides audio-files comprising the recorded texts.

After the recorded text parts (welcome messages) are loaded on the voice mail platform VM, situations may occur in which certain names are recorded wrongly. Therefore, an IVR application may be present enabling employees (i.e. users of telephones T4 - T7) to record their name. The particular employees may call a special telephone number that allows them to get in contact with the interactive voice response system on which this IVR-application is running. The employees record their name, which is recorded in a sound files (e.g. a wav-file). The recorded sound file will then be forwarded to the studio by for instance a web server for new recording.

Subscribing and cancelling for the service corporate voice mail may for instance only be applied for by the company X of the employees. It is thus impossible for employees to subscribe or cancel for this service. With the subscription procedure, product registration takes place in the administrative system of the telecom operator from the web server and the registration system.

Subscribing

The company X may for instance hire a new employee and wants to provide this employee with corporate voice mail. This will take place in a way similar to the initial suppliance of corporate voice mail to company X. Thus, arrangements need to be made with the studio. Preferably, a number of employees are clustered and forwarded to the studio for recording.

Cancelling

When company X indicates that it no longer wants to use corporate voice mail, the product corporate voice mail can be removed from the administrative system for a large group of employees.

After that, the administrative system can trigger the voice mail platform VM that is used by the voice mail platform VM to provide the employee (i.e. telephone T4 - T7) with a standard welcome message with the recorded name and the personal welcome message to be recorded? In case the employee does not take action to record the personal welcome message, the corporate voice mail greeting will remain.

When a change occurs, for instance when an employee has taken over a telephone from his or her colleague, the following is possible:

- if it is only a change of name, the IVR can be used to transmit the name to the studio again; - if it is also a change from male to female or the other way around, the IVR may receive and record a piece of text that is transmitted to the studio (for instance: / am Mr or Mrs, followed by the name). In case it is a change in which the complete number is cancelled, the number including the corporate greeting is removed from the administrative system as well as from the voice mail platform VM.

The professional voice mail service may also be referred to as corporate voice mail.

The descriptions above are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Thus, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the invention as described without departing from the scope of the claims set out below.

Claims

1. Voice mail platform (VM), being associated with a plurality of associated telephones (T4 - T7), the voice mail platform (VM) comprising a processor unit (PU) that has access to a memory (ME) comprising voice mail settings of the plurality of associated telephones (T4 - T7), the voice mail settings comprising a welcome message, the voice mail platform (VM) further comprising an input output device (I/O) arranged to communicate with telephones (Tl - T7) via a network (NW), characterized in, that the voice mail platform (VM) is arranged to receive a voice mail update (VMU) to change the voice mail settings of a group of the associated telephones (T4 - T7) and to change the voice mail settings in the memory (ME) of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7).

2. Voice mail platform according to claim 1 , wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises disabling a possibility for the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7) to change the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7).

3. Voice mail platform according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the voice mail platform (VM) is arranged to communicate with telephones (T4 - T7) via a first communication link, and wherein the voice mail platform (VM) is arranged to receive the voice mail update (VMU) via a second communication link.

4. Voice mail platform according to claim 3, wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with the telephones (T4 - T7) via the first communication link by providing an interactive voice response technique (IVR), so information can be recorded at the voice mail platform, such as the name of the user of the respective telephone (T4 - TI).

5. Voice mail platform according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) comprises at least telephone numbers of the group of associated telephones (T4 - Tl).

6. Voice mail platform according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) comprises at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform (VM) and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the welcome messages in the voice mail platform (VM).

7. Voice mail platform according to claim 6, wherein the at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform (VM) comprises the name of a user associated with the respective telephone.

8. Voice mail platform according to any one of the claims 6 - 7, wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises generating welcome messages out of the at least one sound file.

9. Voice mail platform according to any one of the claims 6 - 8, wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises replacing possible previously stored welcome messages with the at least one sound file.

10. Voice mail platform according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) further comprises an update message that may be stored in the memory (ME) as message for each telephone (T4 - T7) of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7) and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the update message in the memory (ME).

11. Method of changing the voice mail settings of a voice mail platform (VM), the voice mail platform (VM) being associated with a plurality of associated telephones

(T4 - T7), the voice mail settings comprising a welcome message, the method comprising:

- receiving a voice mail update (VMU) to change the voice mail settings of a group of the associated telephones (T4 - T7) and - changing the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7) in the voice mail platform (VM).

12. Method according to claim 1 1 , wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises disabling a possibility for the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7) to change the voice mail settings of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7).

13. Method according to any one of the preceding claims 11 - 12, wherein the voice mail platform (VM) is arranged to communicate with telephones (T4 - T7) via a first communication link, and wherein receiving the voice mail update (VMU) is done using via a second communication link.

14. Method according to claim 13, wherein the voice mail platform is arranged to communicate with the telephones (T4 - T7) via the first communication link by providing an interactive voice response technique (IVR), so information can be recorded at the voice mail platform, such as the name of the user of the respective telephone (T4 - T7).

15. Method according to any one of the preceding claims 11 - 14, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) comprises at least telephone numbers of the group of associated telephones (T4 - Tl).

16. Method according to any one of the preceding claims 11 - 15, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) comprises at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform (VM) and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the welcome message in the voice mail platform (VM).

17. Method according to claim 16, wherein the at least one sound file to be stored as welcome message in the voice mail platform (VM) comprises the name of a user associated with the respective telephone.

18. Method according to any one of the preceding claims 16 - 17, wherein the method further comprises generating a welcome message out of the at least one sound file.

19. Method according to any one of the preceding 16 - 18, wherein changing the voice mail settings comprises replacing possible previously stored welcome messages with the at least one sound file.

20. Method according to any one of the preceding claims 11 - 19, wherein the voice mail update (VMU) further comprises an update message that may be stored in the memory (ME) as message for each telephone (T4 - T7) of the group of associated telephones (T4 - T7) and changing the voice mail settings comprises storing the update message in the memory (ME).

21. Computer program, when loaded on a computer arrangement, is arranged to perform any one of the methods according to claims 11 — 20.

22. Data carrier, comprising a computer program according to claim 21.