Telelogue Secures Directory Assistance Patent

ISELIN, NJ - Telelogue Inc. announced it has received a U.S. patent relating to its method to preprocess database listings (such as directory assistance databases of names, addresses and telephone numbers) used by a voice automated system by cross correlating the entries in the primary database with information from another database. "The quality of Telelogue's listing data has always been the highest available for a speech automated product in the industry," said Robert W. Burke, Telelogue's chief executive officer. "The extension of Telelogue's intellectual property dominance in the area of directory assistance automation through this patent and our other DA patents will allow us to forge the most strategically valuable industry relationships in directory assistance as well as generate additional high margin revenue streams." This patent further extends Telelogue's directory assistance automation patent thicket by adding another overlapping set of patent rights that require a license from Telelogue for those seeking to commercialize directory assistance automation. Telelogue has filed patents broadly covering several independent areas each of which is essential to the automation of directory assistance, including among others (1) the methodology by which the listing database is searched, (2) the methodology of preprocessing directory assistance listings to make them suitable for use in a speech automated system, and (3) the methodology for updating the directory assistance database on a nightly basis. Telelogue expects additional directory assistance patent awards during 2004.