ISSUING ALERTS TO CONTENTS OF INTEREST OF A CONFERENCE

• US 20110060591A1
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chanvez, Timothy R., Reichert, Willen R., Eisinger, Jacob D., King, Jennifer E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,731,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for issuing an alert in response to detecting a content of interest in a conference. A listening logic comprising multiple conference engines monitors speakers, topics, and words spoken during a conference. A speech-to-text engine monitors the conference and records a transcription. A word emphasis engine monitors the transcription for key words. A voice identification engine monitors the live conversation and the recorded transcript, in real time, for a particular individual to begin speaking. An outline engine may create an outline of transcription. The listening device may issue an alert upon detecting a content of interest in the conference. The listening device may additionally display an outline or a selected portion of the transcript regarding a particular content of interest to inform a user of the listening device of a portion of content of the conference that may have been missed.

Claims

1. A method for issuing an alert in response to detecting a content of interest in a conference, the method comprising:

reading a plurality of monitoring preferences for a conference;

determining one or more target contents of interest of the conference;

monitoring, via a listening device, verbal utterances exchanged during the conference for an occurrence of one or more contents of interest; and

in response to detecting a content of interest, issuing one or more alerts, wherein an alert is an issued notification alerting of the occurrence of an identified content of interest of the conference.

2. The method of claim 1, the monitoring preferences further comprising:

preferences for monitoring and recording the verbal utterances exchanged during the conference,

preferences for issuing alerts, and

preferences for determining contents of interest of the conference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring further comprises, recording a transcript of the conference, wherein the transcript identifies a name of each specific speaker of the conference within portions of the transcript recited by each specific speaker.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a portion of the transcript related to the detected content of interest; and

displaying the selected portion of transcript in response to issuing an alert for the detected content of interest.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is a visual alert, the visual alert further comprising at least one of:

providing an on-screen flash on a display,

displaying an alert window on the display, and

presenting a text message on the display.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is an audible alert.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the audible alert comprises, raising a volume level of the conference.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is a vibration pulse alert.

9. A listening device comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

processing logic executing on the processor performing the steps of;

reading a plurality of monitoring preferences for a conference;

determining one or more target contents of interest of the conference;

monitoring, via a listening device, verbal utterances exchanged during the conference for an occurrence of one or more contents of interest; and

in response to detecting a content of interest, issuing one or more alerts, wherein an alert is an issued notification alerting of the occurrence of an identified content of interest of the conference.

10. The listening device of claim 9, the monitoring preferences farther comprising:

preferences for monitoring and recording the verbal utterances exchanged during the conference,

preferences for issuing alerts, and

preferences for determining contents of interest of the conference.

11. The listening device of claim 9, wherein the monitoring further comprises, recording a transcript of the conference, wherein the transcript identifies a name of each specific speaker of the conference within portions of the transcript recited by each specific speaker.

12. The listening device of claim 9, further comprising:

selecting a portion of the transcript related to the detected content of interest; and

displaying the selected portion of transcript in response to issuing an alert for the detected content of interest.

13. The listening device of claim 9, wherein the alert is a visual alert, the visual alert further comprising at least one of:

providing an on-screen flash on a display,

displaying an alert window on the display, and

presenting a text message on the display.

14. The listening device of claim 9, wherein the alert is an audible alert.

15. The listening device of claim 14, wherein the audible alert comprises, raising a volume level of the conference.

16. The listening device of claim 9, wherein the alert is a vibration pulse alert.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions embodied therein, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed by a processing device, allows a machine to:

read a plurality of monitoring preferences for a conference, the monitoring preferences farther comprising;

preferences for monitoring and recording the verbal utterances exchanged during the conference,

preferences for issuing alerts, and

preferences for determining contents of interest of the conference;

determine one or more target contents of interest of the conference;

monitor, via a listening device, verbal utterances exchanged during the conference for an occurrence of one or more contents of interest, wherein the monitoring further comprises recording a transcript of the conference, wherein the transcript identifies a name of each specific speaker of the conference within portions of the transcript recited by each specific speaker.; and

in response to detecting a content of interest;

issue one or more alerts, wherein an alert is an issued notification alerting of the occurrence of an identified content of interest of the conference,

select a portion of the transcript related to the detected content of interest, and

display the selected portion of transcript in response to issuing an alert for the detected content of interest.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the alerts further comprise one or more of a video, audio, and vibration pulse alert.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the alert is a visual alert, the visual alert further comprising at least one of:

provide an on-screen flash on a display,

display an alert window on the display, and

present a text message on the display.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the alert is an audible alert, raise a volume level of the conference.