COMBINING SELECTED AUDIO DATA WITH A VOIP STREAM FOR COMMUNICATION OVER A NETWORK

• US 20070280209A1
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramani, Ramkumar
• Application Number:
  US11/422,041
• Publication Number:
  US 20070280209A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0039 where the data service is provided by a stream of packets which are rendered in real time by the receiving terminal network streaming of media packets H04L65/60

Abstract

A system, method, and apparatus are directed towards combining playable data with other playable data and/or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) stream for communication over a network. A sender may select audio data through a customized user interface. The audio data may be converted to playable data. The playable data may be combined with the other playable data and/or the VOIP stream to generate a combined VOIP stream, for example, by utilizing digital audio mixing, or the like. The combined VOIP stream may be communicated over the network, to the at least one receiver. The at least one receiver of the VOIP stream may play the combined VOIP stream, thereby, enabling both the playable data and an original VOIP data to be played. Alternately, the sender may select to communicate the audio data out-of-band of the VOIP stream to the at least one receiver.

Claims

1. A method for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

converting the audio data into playable data;

combining the playable data with a VOIP stream;

communicating the combined VOIP stream over the network; and

enabling a playing of the combined VOIP stream by at least one receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if an input indicates that the audio data is to be communicated out-of-band, communicating the audio data out-of-band from the VOIP stream.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the combined VOIP stream further comprises at least one of uni-casting the combined VOIP stream, or multi-casting the combined VOIP stream over the network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the audio data into playable data further comprises employing a COmpression/DECompression (CODEC) to decode or to decompress the audio data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the playable data with a VOIP stream further comprises:

extracting data from the VOIP stream;

combing the extracted data with the playable data by digitally mixing the data; and

generating the combined VOIP stream by converting the digitally mixed data into VOIP data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

adjusting at least one characteristic of the playable data or the extracted data prior to combining the data, wherein the at least one characteristic further comprises at least one of the following;

pitch, tone, timbre, or volume.

7. A modulated data signal configured to include program instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising playing at least a portion of the playable data over an audio output device, at least partly while performing the combining step.

9. A network device for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

a transceiver for sending and receiving data;

a processing component arranged to perform actions, comprising;

combining at least a portion of a playable formatted data of the audio data with at least a portion of data within a VOIP stream;

formatting the combined data to a combined VOIP stream; and

sending the combined VOIP stream over the network.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein combining further comprises at least digital audio mixing of data within the VOIP stream with the playable formatted data.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the audio data further comprises data from a plurality of audio data sources.

12. The network device of claim 9, wherein combining the playable format of the audio data with the VOIP stream further comprises modifying a balance between a channel of the playable format of the audio data and a channel of data within the VOIP stream.

13. The network device of claim 9, wherein sending the combined VOIP stream further comprises:

sending the combined VOIP stream to another device, wherein the other device is configured to convert the combined VOIP stream into Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) data.

14. The network device of claim 9, wherein the actions further comprise playing the at least the portion of the playable formatted data of the audio data at least partly while performing the combining action.

15. A system for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

a receiver device operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving a combined Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) stream; and

enabling a playing of the combined VOIP stream; and

a client device operable to perform the actions comprising;

combining a playable format of the audio data with data within a VOIP stream to generate the combined VOIP stream; and

communicating the combined VOIP stream to the receiver device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the audio data is provided to the client device by a server.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein combining a playable format of the audio data with data within a VOIP stream further comprises:

extracting the data from the VOIP stream;

combing the extracted data with the playable data by audio mixing the data; and

generating the combined VOIP stream by converting the mixed data into VOIP data.

18. A computer processor readable medium for communicating audio data over a network, that includes instructions, wherein the execution of the instructions performs actions, comprising:

audio mixing a playable format of the audio data with data within a VOIP stream to generate a combined VOIP stream; and

communicating the combined VOIP stream over the network.

19. The computer processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the audio data is at least one of a Waveform audio format (WAV) file, a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) file, or a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Audio Layer 3 (MP3) file.

20. The computer processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the audio data is received within at least one of an email message, streaming media data over the network, or a search result list.

21. A network device for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

a transceiver for sending and receiving data;

means for selecting the audio data;

means for converting the audio data into playable data; and

means for combining the playable data with a VOIP stream to generate a combined VOIP stream.

22. The network device of claim 21, further comprising a means for communicating meta-data about the audio data over the network.

23. A computer system having a graphical user interface including a display, a user interface selection device, and a processor operable to perform actions comprising:

displaying a window on the display, the window providing a set of selectable audio data entries;

receiving a selection of at least one of the selectable audio data entries from the user interface selection device; and

if a user interface operation indicates an audio data associated with the selection is to be provided with a VOIP stream, combining a playable version of the audio data with the VOIP stream to generate a combined VOIP stream for communication over the network.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the user interface operation is at least one of dropping an identifier associated with the selection onto an area of the display associated with communicating within the VOIP stream or onto another area of the display associated with communicating out-of-band of the VOIP stream.

25. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the actions further comprise displaying a state of the audio data.

26. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the actions further comprise if a de-selection of the audio data is detected, interrupting combining of the playable format of the audio data with the VOIP stream.

27. A method for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

combining a playable format of the audio data with other playable data from an audio input device to generate a combined VOIP stream; and

communicating the combined VOIP stream over the network.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising extracting the other playable from another VOIP stream for combining with the playable format of the audio data.

29. A method for communicating audio data over a network, comprising:

combining playable data with data from an audio input device to generate a combined playable data;

packaging the combined playable data into a VOIP stream; and

communicating the VOIP stream over the network.