Voice-interactive marketplace providing time and money saving benefits and real-time promotion publishing and feedback
First Claim
1. An operating model for a telephone-based voice-interactive goods and services information and referral service having merchant self-promotion features, comprising:
- an information database provider storing merchant information, said information including a name, a telephone number, an address, and a promotional information item;
a merchant interface for inputting merchant information into said database and for retrieving and editing said information, at least a component of said merchant interface comprising a voice-recognition interface and an internet interface; and
a consumer interface for inputting voice commands and data having a voice recognition component and for receiving merchant information and processed information from said database in response to said input voice commands and data.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a system, method, and business model for an information system and service having business self-promotion, audio coupon, ratings, and other features. A business or organization in which consumers call into a service using an ordinary telephone, PC, PDA, or other information appliance, and make requests in plain speech for information on goods and/or services, and the service provides responses to the request in plain speech in real-time. Provides an operating model for a telephone-based audio-interfaced goods and services information and referral service having merchant self-promotion features, including database provider storing merchant information; an interface for inputting merchant information into the database and for retrieving and editing the information; and an interface for inputting voice commands and data and for receiving merchant information and processed information from the database in response to the input voice commands and data. The invention provides a system including: a speech-to-text conversion engine converting speech-based input commands and data received from an external device over a communication link into text-based commands and data; a data base storing a plurality of data items; a search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to the text-based command and data; a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based representation of the particular data item identified in the database search; and a speech server for communicating the speech-based representation of the particular data item to the external device.
577 Citations
100 Claims
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1. An operating model for a telephone-based voice-interactive goods and services information and referral service having merchant self-promotion features, comprising:
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an information database provider storing merchant information, said information including a name, a telephone number, an address, and a promotional information item;
a merchant interface for inputting merchant information into said database and for retrieving and editing said information, at least a component of said merchant interface comprising a voice-recognition interface and an internet interface; and
a consumer interface for inputting voice commands and data having a voice recognition component and for receiving merchant information and processed information from said database in response to said input voice commands and data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A data-base access system comprising:
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a voice recognition engine receiving voice input data and commands from an external device over a communication link and converting the voice input into digitally represented character-based commands and data;
a data base storing a plurality of data items, said data items including a name, a telephone number associated with said name, an address associated with said name, a category associated with said name, and at least one promotional data item;
a search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to said converted command and data;
a speech engine providing a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search, said speech-based representation being selected from the set consisting of a text-to-speech conversion engine, a prerecorded live voice, and combinations thereof; and
a speech server for communicating said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said external device. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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- 42. A business model for a business in which consumers call into a service using an ordinary telephone and make requests in plain speech for information and positive referrals on goods and/or services, and the service provides responses to the request in plain speech in real-time over the same telephone.
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60. A data-base access method comprising:
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receiving a speech utterance from a user from a communication device;
converting the speech utterance to a digital symbol representation understandable by a computer and extracting commands and optional data from said converted digital symbol representation;
searching a database for a particular data item in response to said extracted command and data;
generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search; and
serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said communication device. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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95. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer system including a processor and memory associated with said processor for executing instructions, said computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism providing a voice-recognition based data matching and retreival capability, the computer program mechanism comprising:
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a program module that directs the computer system, to function in a specified manner, the program module including instructions for;
receiving a speech utterance from a user from a communication device;
converting the speech utterance to a digital symbol representation understandable by a computer and extracting commands and optional data from said converted digital symbol representation;
searching a database for a particular data item in response to said extracted command and data;
generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search; and
serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said communication device. - View Dependent Claims (96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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Specification