REMOTE ACCESS TO A MEDIA DEVICE

• US 20110154418A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sharma, Rajesh, Cherifi, Tanya D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,973,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/106
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6187 involving transmission via a telephone network, e.g. POTS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A voice telephone call may be received, from a telephony device, in a server configured to provide interactive voice response. A spoken command may be received from the telephony device. In the server, the spoken command may be converted to a format appropriate for the media storage unit. The converted command may be sent from the server to the media storage unit.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call in a server configured to provide interactive voice response;

receiving a spoken command from the telephony device;

converting, in the server, the spoken command to a format appropriate for the media storage unit; and

sending the converted command to the media storage unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a script that includes the menu of spoken commands, the menu of spoken commands being provided to the telephony device according to the script.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the script is formatted according to voice extensible markup language (VXML) format.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing at least some of the data to the telephony device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the command to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the command to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, to the telephony device, a menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.

9. A computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions including instructions for:

receiving, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call;

receiving a spoken command from the telephony device;

converting the spoken command to a format appropriate for the media storage unit; and

sending the converted command to the media storage unit.

10. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions for generating a script that includes the menu of spoken commands, the menu of spoken commands being provided to the telephony device according to the script.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the script is formatted according to voice extensible markup language (VXML) format.

12. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that a server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing at least some of the data to the telephony device.

13. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that a server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

14. The medium of claim 9, wherein the command to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

15. The medium of claim 9, wherein the command to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

16. The medium of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions for providing, to the telephony device, a menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.

17. A system, comprising an interactive voice response server configured to:

receive, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call;

receive a spoken command from the telephony device;

convert the spoken command to a format appropriate for the media storage unit; and

send the converted command to the media storage unit.

18. The system of claim 17, the server further configured to generate a script that includes the menu of spoken commands, the menu of spoken commands being provided to the telephony device according to the script.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the script is formatted according to voice extensible markup language (VXML) format.

20. The system of claim 17, the interactive voice response server further configured to:

receive, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

convert the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

provide at least some of the data to the telephony device.

21. The system of claim 17, the interactive voice response server further configured to:

receive, from the media storage unit, one or more data responsive to the command;

convert the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

provide a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the command to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the command to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

24. The system of claim 17, the interactive voice response server further configured to provide, to the telephony device, a menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.