Voice-to-text reduction for real time IM/chat/SMS

• US 20040267527A1
• Filed: 06/25/2003
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas E., Jaiswal, Peeyush, Pavlovski, Christopher J.
• Application Number:
  US10/603,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20040267527A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/0018 Speech coding using phonetic or linguistical decoding of the source; Reconstruction using text-to-speech synthesis

Abstract

A method or system (40 or 50) for voice-to-text reduction for real-time messaging can use a microphone (12 or 52) for receiving a calling party'"'"'s speech input, a text-to-speech converter (22 or 54) for converting the calling party'"'"'s speech input to a text message, a transmitter for transmitting the text message as a text stream (23 or 60) to a called party, a receiver for receiving another text message as a text stream (31 or 70) from the called party, and a rendering device such as a speaker (36) or a display (68) for rendering text messages substantially in real-time. If a speaker is used, the system can further include a text-to-speech synthesizer or converter (24). A system (80) can further include a translator (82) for translating the text message into another language.

Claims

1. A method of voice-to-text reduction for real-time messaging, comprising the steps of:

receiving a speech input at a calling party;

transcribing the speech input to a text message;

transmitting the text message as a text stream to a called party;

receiving a text message from the called party as a text stream; and

rendering the text stream at the called party and the calling party substantially in real-time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of sending a voice signature of the calling party to the called party.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of maintaining a voice signature repository of the calling party for access by a called party of a voice signature of the calling party when receiving a call from the calling party.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of rendering comprises the step of converting the text message at the called party to a speech output by using text-to-speech conversion.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of rendering comprises the step of converting the text message at the called party to a speech output by using text-to-speech conversion in conjunction with the voice signature of the calling party.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of translating the text message to another language to provide a translated text message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of transmitting comprises the step of transmitting the translated text message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of translating the text message occurs in at least one location selected among the calling party, the called party, and a server on a network coupled between the calling party and the called party.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of rendering comprises the step of converting the text message at the called party to a speech output by using text-to-speech synthesis in conjunction with the voice signature of the calling party.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of rendering comprises the step of displaying the text message in at least one location selected among the called party and the calling party.

11. A system for voice-to-text reduction for real-time messaging, comprising:

a microphone for receiving a calling party'"'"'s speech input;

a text-to-speech converter for converting the calling party'"'"'s speech input to a text message;

a transmitter for transmitting the text message as a text stream to a called party;

a receiver for receiving another text message from the called party; and

a rendering device for rendering text messages substantially in real-time.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a translator for translating the text message into another language.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a text-to speech synthesizer and the rendering device comprises a speaker for providing an audible output of the received text message from the called party.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the text-to-speech synthesizer uses a voice signature of the called party in producing the audible output.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the rendering device comprises a display for displaying at least one among the text message from the calling party and the text message from the called party.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the text streams are received and transmitted over an instant messaging/chat system.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the text streams are received and transmitted over a messaging system using data transmission protocols.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a voice profile for converting text messages into alternate text messages as defined by a user such as the calling party or called party.

19. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a speech input at a calling party;

transcribing the speech input to a text message;

transmitting the text message as a text stream to a called party;

receiving a text message from the called party as a text stream; and

rendering the text stream at the called party and the calling party substantially in real-time.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 19, wherein the machine-readable storage is further programmed to, in the step of rendering, to convert the text message at the called party to a speech output by using text-to-speech conversion in conjunction with a voice signature of the calling party.