Selectable Audio and Mixed Background Sound for Voice Messaging System
First Claim
1. A system for improving telephone conversations, comprising:
- a computer comprising a processor;
instructions which execute, using the processor, to perform functions comprising;
selecting, by a caller, a background sound to be incorporated into a telephone conversation between the caller and a called party;
enabling the called party to choose whether the selected background sound will be suppressed instead of incorporated; and
incorporating the selected background sound into the telephone conversation only if the called party does not choose to suppress it.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business by selectably mixing one or more sound files with a telephone caller'"'"'s voice message, either as background for that message or embedded within the message. Or, the mixing may occur within a telephone conversation between parties. The disclosed techniques enable alleviating some of the problems that result from distance communication (as contrasted to face-to-face communication). In particular, context information (such as emotional context) can be provided through appropriate use of background sound and/or embedded audio files. The disclosed techniques may also make communication through voice mail exchange more enjoyable and/or increase its productivity.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system for improving telephone conversations, comprising:
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a computer comprising a processor; instructions which execute, using the processor, to perform functions comprising; selecting, by a caller, a background sound to be incorporated into a telephone conversation between the caller and a called party; enabling the called party to choose whether the selected background sound will be suppressed instead of incorporated; and incorporating the selected background sound into the telephone conversation only if the called party does not choose to suppress it. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer program product for improving telephone conversations, the computer program product embodied on at least one computer-usable storage medium and comprising computer-usable program code for:
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selecting, by a caller, a background sound to be incorporated into a telephone conversation between the caller and a called party; enabling the called party to choose whether the selected background sound will be suppressed instead of incorporated; and incorporating the selected background sound into the telephone conversation only if the called party does not choose to suppress it. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification