TELEPHONE VOICE PERSONAL ASSISTANT

• US 20140297288A1
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Orange S.A.
• Original Assignee: Orange S.A.
• Inventors: Benko, John, Nahon, Georges, Yu, Dachuan, Jain, Akshay
• Application Number:
  US14/229,126
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297288A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/32 Multiple recognisers used in sequence or in parallel; Score combination systems therefor, e.g. voting systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones

Abstract

A system and associated method are provided for using a voice activated voice personal assistant (VPA) for a first user equipment, comprising: detecting establishment of a voice communication with a second user equipment; monitoring the voice communications using the VPA for commands relevant to the VPA; identifying, by the VPA, the commands within the voice communication; and implementing an action related to the commands during the ongoing voice communication.

Claims

1. A method of using a voice activated voice personal assistant (VPA) for a first user equipment, the method comprising:

detecting establishment of a voice communication with a second user equipment;

monitoring the voice communications using the VPA for commands relevant to the VPA;

identifying, by the VPA, the commands within the voice communication; and

implementing an action related to the commands during the ongoing voice communication.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the commands comprise a local command in which the local command is interpreted and executed by the VPA.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the local command is a wake-up command that the VPA always monitors for when not in an active mode that instructs the VPA to enter into an active mode in which the VPA is:

actively monitoring the voice communication for remote commands that are not interpreted by the VPA; and

streaming the remote commands to a remote speech server connected to the first user equipment via a network for interpretation.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

sending an interpretation of the remote command from the remote speech server to the first user equipment;

receiving the interpretation by the first user equipment; and

implementing a further action related to the received interpretation by the VPA.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

operating in a whisper mode in which local commands and remote commands are not communicated to the second user equipment.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

obtaining further information from a non-audio user interface element of the first user equipment in a multi-modal operation to provide clarification on missing information.

7. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

interacting with an integrated third party application by the VPA.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the third party application is selected from the group consisting of:

web searching, social network updating, calendar scheduling, and a media server.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the action or further action is selected from the group consisting of:

alerting a user of calendar conflicts, pushing content to the second user equipment, pulling content from the second user equipment, recording the voice communications, transcribing the voice communications, activating a to-do list, adding a user to a conference call, responding to a further incoming call, call screening, contact management, adding a reminder, and saving feedback.

10. The method according to claim 3, wherein the local and remote commands are identified only from the voice communications originating from the first user equipment.

11. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

transitioning to a sleep mode when a user interface element has been engaged.

12. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

transitioning to a sleep mode when a predetermined time of silence has elapsed.

13. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

implementing a further local command that is a sleep command that instructs the VPA to enter into a sleep mode in which the VPA is not actively monitoring voice communications for remote commands.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing a device setup or account management with the VPA.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

operating a user element that instructs the VPA to enter into an active mode in which the VPA is;

actively monitoring the voice communication for remote commands that are not interpreted by the VPA; and

streaming the remote commands to a remote speech server connected to the first user equipment via a network for interpretation.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the VPA, information related to a call prior to the call.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the information related to a call is selected from the group consisting of:

cost, network status, callee status, callee contact information, account information, and device status.

19. A non-transitory computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement the method according to claim 1.

18. A voice activated voice personal assistant (VPA) for a first user equipment, comprising:

a detector that detects establishment of a voice communication with a second user equipment;

a monitoring unit that monitors the voice communications using the VPA for commands relevant to the VPA;

an identification unit that identifies the commands within the voice communication; and

a controller that implements an action related to the commands during the ongoing voice communication.