Techniques for marking and manipulating voice message segments through a telephone user interface

• US 20070263793A1
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jain, Mukul, Kumar, Sanjeev, Patel, Labhesh, Shaffer, Shmuel, Khouri, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,000,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/67.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/303 Marking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4554 Sender-side editing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53383 Message registering commands or announcements; Greetings

Abstract

In one embodiment, techniques for manipulating a voice message using a telephone user interface are provided. The telephone user interface receives a mark begin segment command from a telephonic device through a voice modality. The mark begin segment command indicates a beginning point for a voice message segment in the voice message. The telephone user interface then receives a mark end segment command from the telephonic device through the voice modality. The mark segment command indicates an ending point for the voice message segment in the voice message. An action command from the telephonic device is received and an action based on the action command for the voice message segment is performed. The voice message segment is a portion of the voice message determined based on the indicated beginning point of the voice message segment and the indicated ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating a voice message using a telephone user interface, the method comprising:

receiving a mark begin segment command from a telephonic device through a voice modality, the mark begin segment command indicating a beginning point for a voice message segment in the voice message;

receiving a mark end segment command from the telephonic device through the voice modality, the mark segment command indicating an ending point for the voice message segment in the voice message;

receiving an action command from the telephonic device; and

performing an action based on the action command for the voice message segment, the voice message segment being a portion of the voice message determined based on the indicated beginning point of the voice message segment and the indicated ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark begin segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice command and the mark end segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice command.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises saving the voice message segment, replaying the voice message segment, forwarding the voice message segment, deleting the voice message segment from the voice message, or sending the voice message segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark begin segment command and the mark end segment command are received while the voice message is being rendered by the telephone user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark begin segment command comprises a first spoken word and the mark end segment command comprises a second spoken word, the method further comprising:

using speech recognition to determine a first point where the first spoken word is in the voice message, the first point being the beginning point of the voice message segment; and

using speech recognition to determine a second point where the second spoken word is in the voice message, the second point being the ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving a segment begin index when the mark segment begin command is received;

saving a segment end index when the mark segment end command is received; and

determining the voice message segment using the segment begin index and the segment end index.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a prompt to the telephonic device for an action to take for the voice message segment.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second action to take for a second voice message formed from the voice message with the voice message segment deleted from it; and

performing the second action for the second voice message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying a recipient of the voice message segment that an edited version of the voice message is being provided.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice message comprises a voicemail message, an email message translated into voice, or an instant message translated into voice.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice modality comprises a POTS, cellular, VOIP, or instant messaging modality.

12. A method for manipulating a voice message using a telephone user interface, the method comprising:

receiving a mark segment set command indicating that a set of segments for a voice message are desired through a voice modality;

receiving a plurality of mark begin segment commands and mark end segment commands from a telephonic device through the voice modality to form a plurality of voice message segments, wherein a mark begin segment command indicates a beginning point for a voice message segment in the voice message and a mark segment command indicates an ending point for the voice message segment in the voice message;

receiving a mark end segment set command through the voice modality;

receiving an action command from the telephonic device;

performing an action based on the action command for the plurality of voice message segments.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of voice message segments are combined to form a single voice message segment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the action is performed for the single voice message segment.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the mark begin segment set command, mark begin segment commands, mark end segment commands, and mark end segment set command are received while the voice message is being rendered by the telephone user interface.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the mark begin segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice modality command and the mark end segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice modality command.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the action comprises saving the voice message segment, replaying the voice message segment, deleting the voice message segment from the voice message, forwarding the voice message segment, or sending the voice message segment.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the voice message comprises a voicemail message, an email message translated into voice, or an instant message translated into voice.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the voice modality comprises a POTS, cellular, VOIP, or instant messaging modality.

20. An apparatus for manipulating a voice message, the apparatus comprising:

logic configured to receive a mark begin segment command from a telephonic device through a voice modality, the mark begin segment command indicating a beginning point for a voice message segment in the voice message;

logic configured to receive a mark end segment command from the telephonic device through the voice modality, the mark segment command indicating an ending point for the voice message segment in the voice message;

logic configured to receive an action command from the telephonic device; and

logic configured to perform an action based on the action command for the voice message segment, the voice message segment being a portion of the voice message determined based on the indicated beginning point of the voice message segment and the indicated ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the mark begin segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice command and the mark end segment command comprises a DTMF command or a voice command.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the logic configured to perform the action comprises logic configured to save the voice message segment, logic configured to replay the voice message segment, logic configured to forward the voice message segment, logic configured to delete the voice message segment from the voice message, or logic configured to send the voice message segment.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the mark begin segment command and the mark end segment command are received while the voice message is being rendered by the telephone user interface.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

logic configured to save a segment begin index when the mark segment begin command is received;

logic configured to save a segment end index when the mark segment end command is received; and

logic configured to determine the voice message segment using the segment begin index and the segment end index.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the mark begin segment command comprises a first spoken word and the mark end segment command comprises a second spoken word, the telephone user interface further comprising:

logic configured to use speech recognition to determine a first point where the first spoken word is in the voice message, the first point being the beginning point of the voice message segment; and

logic configured to use speech recognition to determine a second point where the second spoken word is in the voice message, the second point being the ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

logic configured to send a prompt to the telephonic device for an action to take for the voice message segment.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising logic configured to notify a recipient of the voice message segment that an edited version of the voice message is being provided.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a second action to take for a second voice message formed from the voice message with the voice message segment deleted from it;

an action performer configured to perform the second action for the second voice message.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the voice message comprises a voicemail message, an email message translated into voice, or an instant message translated into voice.

30. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the voice modality comprises a POTS, cellular, VOIP, or instant messaging modality.

31. A system comprising:

one or more telephonic devices; and

a telephonic user interface comprising;

logic configured to receive a mark begin segment command from a telephonic device through a voice modality, the mark begin segment command indicating a beginning point for a voice message segment in the voice message;

logic configured to receive a mark end segment command from the telephonic device through the voice modality, the mark segment command indicating an ending point for the voice message segment in the voice message;

logic configured to receive an action command from the telephonic device; and

logic configured to perform an action based on the action command for the voice message segment, the voice message segment being a portion of the voice message determined based on the indicated beginning point of the voice message segment and the indicated ending point of the voice message segment in the voice message.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the telephonic device comprises a POTS telephone, cellular telephone, or a voice client on a computing device.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the telephone user interface is part of a unified messaging system or voice messaging system.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the voice modality comprises a POTS, cellular, VOIP, or instant messaging modality.