Communications involving devices having different communication modes

• US 20070116194A1
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Agapi, Ciprian, Sadowski, Wallace, Michelini, Vanessa
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0045 where the text-based messaging service is an instant messaging service

Abstract

The present invention includes a telecommunication method. The method can include the step of a sending device operating in a first communication mode initializing a communication to a receiving device operating in a second communication mode. The receiving device can be queried to automatically determine that the receiving device is operating in the second communication mode. In one embodiment, the first and second communication modes can include a speech mode and a text mode. The communication can be established between the sending and receiving devices, where the sending device communicates in the first communication mode, and where the receiving device communicates in the second communication mode. During the communication, a format of messages conveyed between the sending device and the receiving device can be automatically changed in accordance with the first communication mode and the second communication mode.

Claims

1. A telecommunication method comprising:

a sending device operating in a first communication mode initializing a communication to a receiving device operating in a second communication mode;

querying the receiving device to automatically determine that the receiving device is operating in the second communication mode;

responsive to said querying step, establishing said communication, wherein said sending device communicates in said first communication mode, and wherein said receiving device communicates in said second communication mode; and

.

during said communication, automatically changing a format of messages conveyed between the sending device and the receiving device in accordance with the first communication mode and the second communication mode.

2. The method of claim 1, said querying step further comprising the steps of:

attempting to establish said communication with said receiving device using the first communication mode; and

automatically ascertaining that said receiving device is unable to communicate in said first communication mode but is able to communicate in said second communication mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first communication mode is a speech mode, and wherein said second communication mode is a text mode, and wherein the step of changing the format includes speech-to-text converting a portion of the messages and text-to-speech converting a portion of the messages.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of:

automatically activating a speech-to-text conversion processor and automatically activating a text-to-speech conversion processor, wherein said speech-to-text conversion processor and said text-to-speech conversion processor are processors remotely located from said sending device and said receiving device.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of:

automatically activating a speech-to-text conversion processor and automatically activating a text-to-speech conversion processor, wherein said speech-to-text conversion processor and said text-to-speech conversion processor are included within at least one of said sending device and said receiving device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based communication.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein VoIP based communication is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based communication.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein SIP based communication is a SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) based communication.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said communication is a Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) based communication.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sending device and the receiving device is a device having a plurality of communication modes and also having a user configurable preferred communication mode, wherein a communication in which the device having a plurality of communication modes operates is determined by the preferred communication mode.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the sending device and the receiving device comprises both the sending device and the receiving device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the device having a plurality of communication modes is a mobile phone having a screen for displaying text, wherein said plurality of communication modes comprise at least one speech mode and at least one text mode.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

during said communication, said device having a plurality of communication modes changing the preferred communication mode from an original communication mode to a different communication mode; and

responsive to said step of changing the preferred communication mode and without terminating said communication, altering said communication so that said device having a plurality of communication modes communicates in said different communication mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said original communication mode is a speech mode, and wherein said different communication mode is a text mode, said altering step further comprising:

automatically toggling an activation state of a text-to-speech conversion processor; and

automatically toggling an activation state of a speech-to-text conversion processor.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine.

16. A telecommunication method comprising:

a caller, using a sending device operating in a speech mode, dialing a callee to initialize a telecommunication session;

automatically determining a receiving device of the callee is set to operate in a text mode;

automatically enabling a speech-to-text application to convert speech provided by the caller into text;

converting speech of said caller into text using the speech-to-text application; and

conveying the converted text to the callee.

17. The telecommunication method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a text message from the callee;

automatically converting the text message to speech using a text-to-speech application; and

audibly presenting said converted speech to said caller.

18. The telecommunication method of claim 16 wherein the receiving device is a communication device having both a text mode and a speech mode, said method further comprising:

establishing a communication session between the caller and the callee;

the callee selecting an option to continue the communication session using a speech communication mode;

responsive to the selecting step, automatically disabling the speech-to-text application; and

modifying the communication session so that the caller and the callee communicate with each other via speech without terminating said established communication session.

19. A telecommunication system comprising:

a receiving device having a plurality of communication modes including a speech communication mode and a text communication mode, wherein said receiving device includes a user configurable setting for selecting a preferred communication mode; and

a speech-to-text processor configured to convert speech transmitted from a sending device into text, which is displayed upon the receiving device, wherein said speech-to-text processor is automatically allocated when

(a) the user configurable setting is set to the text mode,

(b) the sending device operates in a speech mode, and

(c) the sending device is communicatively linked to the receiving device, and wherein the speech-to-text processor is either not allocated or automatically deallocated when the user configurable setting is set to the speech mode and when the sending device operates in a speech mode.

20. The telecommunications system of claim 19, said receiving device further comprises a user selectable option to change a communication mode of an existing communication session, wherein selection of said option automatically toggles an activation state of said speech-to-text processor.