User interface selectable real time information delivery system and method

• US 20030040912A1
• Filed: 10/21/2002
• Published: 02/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TD Ameritrade IP Company Incorporated (Charles Schwab Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TD Ameritrade IP Company Incorporated (Charles Schwab Corporation)
• Inventors: Arbeeny, Steele, Gilde, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 7,020,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An information delivery system including a client device and server interconnected by a network passes data files in accordance with a well known protocol. The server creates an audio version of a displayed page associated with a first data file. The audio version includes information from the first data file and other items, so that the information is presented in the form of conversation-like natural speech. The server merges the audio version and the data file to produce a second data file and delivers the second data file to the client device. Advantageously, the client device includes a speech synthesizer engine and a display so that the data file can be viewed using the first data file and/or heard by a user using the audio version, both included in the second data file.

Claims

1. A method for delivering information from a server across a network in an audible format of a displayed page, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a template for the displayed page, the template including fixed and variable items;

filling the variable items in the template using data at least from the displayed page; and

delivering data in the template with the filled variable items to a client device of a user using a network communication protocol.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving a request form the user before the filling step.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving a request from the user before the delivering step.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable items includes user preferences saved in a database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the filling step includes the step of retrieving the user preferences from the database for filling the variable items.

6. A method for displaying a page and playing an audio version of the page in a client device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the audio version, wherein the audio version is created from a template having fixed and variable items, and the variable items are filled with data at least from the page;

converting the audio version into text; and

playing the text using a text-to-speech converter.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the playing step is performed by a speech engine in the client device and the audio version includes control settings for the speech engine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the settings specifies a playing speed in the unit of words per second.

9. A server for delivering information across a network in an audible format of a displayed page, the server comprising:

a first data base for storing a template for the displayed page, the template including fixed and variable items; and

a rendering engine for filling the variable items in the template using data at least from the displayed page and delivering data in the template to a client device of a user using a network communication protocol.

10. The server of claim 9 further comprising a second database for storing user preferences.

11. The server of claim 10 wherein the rendering machine retrieves one of the user preferences for filling one of the variable items in the template.

12. A client device for displaying a page and playing an audio version of the page in a client device, the client device comprising:

a remote client for receiving the audio version, wherein the audio version is created from a template having fixed and variable items, and the variable items are filled with data at least from the page; and

a speech engine playing the audio version using a text-to-speech converter.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the speech engine is configured by control settings included in the audio version.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein one of the settings specifies a playing speed in the unit of words per second.

15. A method for providing natural speech rendering of acontextual data, the method comprising:

in a structure comprising natural speech phrases and variable items, filling the variable items with corresponding acontextual data from a database having time associated updates, wherein the natural speech phrases provide context to the acontextual data;

rendering a combination of the natural speech phrases and acontextual data.