Scott A. Jones

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Scott A. Jones (born in 1960) is an American inventor and serial entrepreneur. He is most widely known for inventing voicemail systems.

[edit] Early life

After graduating from North Central High School in Indianapolis in 1978 with nearly two years worth of college credits, Jones first entered Indiana University in 1978. His coursework varied across a range of disciplines until he ultimately graduated with honors from Indiana University in 1984, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in computer science.

During his tenure at Indiana University, Jones worked in the computer science department at IU, where he was a research assistant to Dr. Douglas Hofstadter .

After graduation, Jones went to the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT as a research scientist from 1984 to 1986, where he worked on a variety of projects, including an Internet-based weather station atop the building, a high-resolution printer network, vision applications, an optical storage archival system, the Utah/MIT dexterous hand, and Rod Brooks' mobile robots.

[edit] Business

In 1986, at age 25, he co-founded his first company, Boston Technology, Inc., where he created a voicemail system. Amid deregulation and the divestiture of AT&T, Bell Atlantic and other "Baby Bells" approached potential voicemail developers, asking them to provide a sophisticated system. Already having prepared patent applications for voicemail technology that could handle entire metropolitan areas, Jones was able to finish ahead of the competition. Voicemail systems are in service across the world and are a ubiquitous feature of both personal and business telephone systems.^[1]

After leaving Boston Technology, Jones returned to Indiana and, in 1996, co-founded Escient, LLC, which later became Escient Technologies, LLC, which in turn became Gracenote. Gracenote was one of the first companies to develop the music recognition software that is now at the heart of several Internet music products, such as Apple's iPod and iTunes, the music services of AOL and Yahoo, and Sony's VAIO computer line.

Jones started another company in 2004 now known as Precise Path Robotics, which created Indiana's Robotic Vehicle (IRV), a self-driving vehicle that competed in the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge. His latest venture is ChaCha Search, Inc., a human-assisted search engine.

Jones's business leadership roles today include serving as Chairman of Gracenote, Chairman of Gazelle TechVentures, Chairman and CEO of Precise Path Robotics, Chairman of Grow Indiana Media Ventures, and co-founder, Chairman and CEO of ChaCha Search.

Jones has received multiple honorary degrees and industry awards as a result of his career achievements and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 1990 along with his Boston Technology co-founder Greg Carr.

[edit] Patents

Scott A. Jones is an inventor on 11 patents. Nine relate to voicemail; one to using electronic devices aboard aircraft; and one to a "playback device" for music. Currently Jones has 27 patents pending for the new search engine ChaCha.^{[citation needed]}

Patent 6,522,727 - System for archiving voicemail messages: An archival system for voicemail messages includes recording devices, such as cassette recorders, compact disc recorders and DAT recorders.

Patent 6,304,523 - Playback device having text display and communication with remote database: A low-cost library management solution for consumer music selection systems. Also included is a communication device that communicates with a remote database to obtain the textual information.

Patent 5,670,742 - EMI Protected Aircraft: A device for shielding aircraft avionics and other electronic equipment from electromagnetic radiation generated by electronic devices used aboard the aircraft.

Patent 5,524,139 - System for automatic access to automated telephonic information services: An information services system accessed via telephones by subscribers stores lists of codes for accessing automated telephonic information services, such as telephone banking, airline reservations, stock quotes, etc.

Patent 5,519,766 - Message length reporting system for telephone communication system: A voicemail message system detects the length of each message and provides an indication of the length to a user together with other message information when messages are requested.

Patent 5,515,422 - Automated attendant for any combination of PBX, centrex and single-line telephone: An automated attendant service supports any combination of single-line telephones, CENTREX telephones and one or more PBX in a single logical configuration.

Patent 5,475,748 - Automatic telephone system with function for multiple out-dialed calls per caller: Equipment providing information services includes a search service for generating a number of outdialing operations in an effort to reach a subscriber of the search service for a caller.

Patent 5,402,472 - Automated attendant for any combination of PBX, centrex, single-line telephones: An automated attendant service supports any combination of single-line telephones, CENTREX telephones and one or more PBXs in a single logical configuration.

Patent 5,263,080 - Telephone message storage system with out-of-band signalling: A pay telephone message system is disclosed that includes a voice message system storing and forwarding to a destination telephone a voice message left by a user.

Patent 5,193,110 - Integrated services platform for telephone communication system: An integrated services platform for a telephone communication system includes a plurality of application processing ports for providing different types of information services through the telephone communication system.

Patent 5,029,199 - Distributed control and storage for a large capacity messaging system: The present invention provides a distributed architecture that includes multiple voice processing units each designated as a home unit for a subscriber's messages.

[edit] Personal life

Jones serves on numerous boards, including the Indianapolis Zoo and the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

In 1994 he established a philanthropic foundation dedicated to helping children from all walks of life to reach their full academic potential through involvement in educational and cultural activities. A secondary focus is the advancement of technology, which enhances the quality of life. His Foundation has supported educational organizations and research institutions seeking to advance technology in the areas of information technology, communications, transportation, and the medical and life sciences.

Scott A. Jones is divorced, but has three sons with his Korean ex-wife. The eldest is aged 16.