Telecommunication systems and methods therefor

• US 20020118800A1
• Filed: 07/12/2001
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Asif Naseem, Gregory Johnson, Lawrence Keeley, Maria Martinez, May Pao, Richard Piepho
• Original Assignee: Asif Naseem, Gregory Johnson, Lawrence Keeley, Maria Martinez, May Pao, Richard Piepho
• Inventors: Martinez, Maria, Naseem, Asif, Piepho, Richard, Pao, May, Keeley, Lawrence, Johnson, Gregory
• Application Number:
  US09/904,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20020118800A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/20 hybrid systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42161 via computer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/46 Arrangements for calling a number of substations in a predetermined sequence until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/465 Arrangements for simultaneously calling a number of substations until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

The present invention relates to a telephone system including a telephone switch (36, 66) having at least one incoming line and at least one outgoing line. The telephone switch (36, 66) is responsive to control signals to switch a call received from a caller to an outgoing line directed to one of a plurality of numbers stored in a database for a first party. An audio processing unit (68) is connected to the telephone switch (36, 66) to receive incoming audio communications from the caller and to provide outgoing audio communications to the caller. A control unit (76) controls the telephone switch to transfer the call to the at least one outgoing line. A method of providing telephone communication service to a user is also provided. The method included the steps of receiving an incoming call from a user, connecting the incoming call to an audio processing unit, and obtaining a first audio request from the user. The method also includes the steps of determining whether the first audio request corresponds to one of a plurality of parties stored in a database, and placing an outgoing call directed to the one of the plurality of parties.

Claims

1. A telecommunication system comprising:

a telephone switch having at least one incoming line and at least one outgoing line, the telephone switch responsive to control signals to switch a call received from a caller to an outgoing line directed to one of a plurality of numbers stored in a database for a first party;

an audio processing unit connected to the telephone switch to receive incoming audio communications from the caller and to provide outgoing audio communications to the caller; and

a control unit to control the telephone switch to transfer the call to the at least one outgoing line.

2. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the audio processing unit continuously monitors the incoming audio communications from the caller for a selected audio communication from the caller.

3. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system establishes a connection with a communication device over the at least one incoming line.

4. The telecommunication system of claim 3, wherein the communication device comprises one of a network access apparatus, a mobile phone, a paging device, and a telephone.

5. The telecommunication system of claim 4 wherein the network access apparatus comprises one of a computer, a handheld device, a personal information management device, and a personal digital assistants.

6. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the database includes information supplied by the caller.

7. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the audio recognition unit performs independent speaker voice recognition.

8. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the incoming audio communications include one of voice communications and touch-tone signals.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the database includes an address book containing a list of parties supplied by the caller.

10. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the database is programmable by voice commands.

11. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the outgoing audio communications correspond to one of voice communications, content information, voice mail messages, paging information, and information stored in the database.

12. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication system is coupled to one of a carrier network, a local exchange network, a private branch office, a public switched telephone network, a content provider, an electronic network, a paging network, a voice mail system, and a short messaging system.

13. The telecommunication system of claim 1, further comprising a gateway server responsive to commands from the control unit, to route calls to an electronic network.

14. The telecommunication system of claim 1, further comprising an application server, responsive to commands from the control unit, to retrieve content information from a content provider.

15. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the audio processing unit comprises one of a voice recognition unit client and a voice recognition unit server.

16. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the audio processing unit server includes one of a key word spotting unit, a text-to-speech unit, an automatic speech recognition unit, and a speech-to-text unit.

17. The telecommunication system of claim 1 further comprising a local area network coupled to the audio processing unit.

18. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication switch includes a monitoring unit to continuously monitor incoming audio communications for a selected audio communication from a caller.

19. The telecommunication system of claim 17, further comprising an application server unit, coupled to the local area network, to retrieve one of traffic data, stock data, news data, restaurant data, bank data, and weather data from a content provider.

20. The telecommunication system of claim 17, further comprising an integrated message server unit coupled to the local area network.

21. The telecommunication system of claim 17, wherein the database is coupled to the local area network.

22. The telecommunication system of claim 17, further comprising a billing server unit coupled to the local area network.

23. The telecommunication system of claim 17, further comprising a message unit coupled to the local area network to deliver an audio message to the user.

24. The telecommunication system of claim 24, wherein the message server is coupled to one of a paging network, a voice mail system, and a short messaging system.

26. The telecommunication system of claim 25 further comprising a voice over internet protocol unit in communication with the telephone switch to convert audio communications from the call to a selected internet protocol.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising the steps of:

obtaining a second audio request from the user;

determining whether the second audio request corresponds to one of a plurality of destinations for the one of the plurality of parties; and

placing the outgoing call to a phone number associated with the one of the plurality of destinations.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the destinations include one of a mobile phone, a car phone, a home phone, a work phone, and a paging device of a party.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the outgoing call is directed to one of an electronic network, a telephone network, a paging network, a carrier network, a local exchange network, a private branch office, a public switched telephone network, a content provider, an external voice mail system, and a short messaging system.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the incoming call is received from one of an electronic network, a telephone network, a paging network, a carrier network, a local exchange network, a private branch office, a public switched telephone network, a content provider, an external voice mail system, and a short messaging system.

34. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of determining the identity of the user as the source of the incoming call.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of identifying includes the step of comparing a calling line identification associated with the incoming call with a stored calling line identification for the user.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of identifying includes the step of comparing a voice communication from the user to a prestored voice communication of the user.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising the steps of switching the received call to an outgoing line to a number other than that which the user original called.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of programming the database with inputs from the user.

39. The method of claim 29, wherein the audio commands are processed using a voice recognition unit.

40. The method of claim 29, wherein audio commands include DTMF signals.

41. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of programming data associated with a contact into the database.

42. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of providing a first message identifying the caller.

43. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of converting text data to a speech message and permitting the caller to hear the speech message.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the text data includes emails and content information.

45. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of connecting an announcement to the user.

46. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of accessing one of a plurality of dedicated memory locations having stored therein a phone number to be automatically dialed by the telecommunication system.

47. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of translating a voice message to a textual message and routing the textual message to a pager associated with a party.

48. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of simultaneously placing the outgoing call to plurality of phone numbers of a single party.

49. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of identifying the user by a speech pattern.

50. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of determining the caller line identification of a calling communication device used of the user.

51. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of playing a welcome greeting based upon one of the calling communication device, the caller line identification, and the user.

52. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of routing the outgoing call to a long distance carrier based upon a long distance calling number stored in the database.

53. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of notifying the user of new messages.

54. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of selecting one of a plurality of voice personalities to read prestored messages to the user.

55. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of routing the outgoing call to a long distance carrier in response to a command from the user.

56. The method of claim 29 further comprising the step of selecting a speech recognition model based upon one of a calling communication device, the caller line identification, and the user.

58. The method of claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

establishing a data connection between the call and a gateway server;

receiving the data associated with request at the gateway server;

transmitting a request onto an electronic network by the gateway server; and

receiving the content information from the electronic network by the gateway server.

25. A telecommunication system comprising:

a telephone switch having at least one incoming line;

an audio processing unit to receive incoming audio communications from a user and to provide outgoing audio communications to the user;

a gateway unit, coupled to the audio processing unit, having at least one line to communicate with an electronic network; and

a control unit, in communication with the audio processing unit, to switch a call received from the user to the at least one line directed to the electronic network.

27. A telecommunication system comprising:

a telephone switch having at least one incoming line and at least one outgoing line;

an audio recognition unit to receive incoming audio communications from a user and to provide outgoing audio communications to the user;

a local area network coupled to the audio processing unit; and

a control unit, coupled to the local area network, to switch a call received from a user to an outgoing line directed to number other than that which the user originally called.

28. A telecommunication system comprising:

a telephone switch having at least one incoming line and at least one outgoing line;

a response unit to receive incoming audio communications from a user and to provide outgoing audio communications to the user, the response unit including a text-to-speech unit to convert textual information into voice communications that are provided to the user; and

a gateway server to receive textual information from a destination of a content provider and to provide the textual information to the text-to-speech unit.

29. A method of providing telephone communication service to a user comprising the steps of:

receiving an incoming call from a user;

connecting the incoming call to an audio processing unit;

receiving audio commands from the user;

processing the audio commands received from the user;

providing audio messages to the user in response to the audio commands from the user;

obtaining a first audio request from the user;

determining whether the first audio request corresponds to one of a plurality of parties stored in a database; and

placing an outgoing call directed to the one of the plurality of parties.

57. A method of providing content information to a user comprising the steps of:

receiving an incoming call from a user;

connecting the incoming request to an audio processing unit;

obtaining a first audio request from the user;

comparing the first audio request to stored data to determine a destination for the content information;

retrieving the content information from the destination;

translating the content information to a voice communication; and

providing the voice communication to the user.