ORGANIZING CONFERENCE CALLS USING SPEAKER AND TOPIC HIERARCHIES

• US 20160286049A1
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rey, Rodrigo A., Saxena, Adarsh, Guo, Shang Q., Jones, Christopher P., Lenchner, Jonathan, Mazzella, Daniel A., Nelson, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,044,872 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• 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 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/16 Sequence circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/41 using speaker recognition speaker recognition per se G10L17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/566 relating to a participants right to speak arrangements for multi-party communication with floor control, e.g. for conferences, H04L65/4038, H04L65/4046, H04L65/4053
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

In an approach for creating a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics, a processor determines an identity of a first speaker from a group of participants on a conference call, wherein the group of participants are known. A processor determines a first conference call topic, wherein the first conference call topic is determined using a portion of the first speaker'"'"'s speech. A processor adds a second speaker'"'"'s identity to a queue of speakers while recording the first speaker'"'"'s voice. A processor determines a second conference call topic. A processor links the first conference call topic and the second conference call topic into a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics.

Claims

1. A method for creating a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics, the method comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, an identity of a first speaker from a group of participants on a conference call, wherein the group of participants are known;

determining, by one or more processors, a first conference call topic, wherein the first conference call topic is determined using a portion of the first speaker'"'"'s speech;

adding, by one or more processors, a second speaker'"'"'s identity to a queue of speakers while recording the first speaker'"'"'s voice;

determining, by one or more processors, a second conference call topic, wherein the second conference call topic is associated with words spoken close to a point in time during the recording of the first speaker'"'"'s voice when the second speaker'"'"'s identity is at front of the queue of speakers following a removal of the identity of the first speaker at the front of the queue of speakers; and

linking, by one or more processors, the first conference call topic and the second conference call topic into a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprises:

associating, by one or more processors, the first speaker and the second speaker with a phone used during the conference call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprises:

associating, by one or more processors, the first speaker and the second speaker with the first speaker'"'"'s voice and the second speaker'"'"'s voice through voice recognition capabilities.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by one or more processors, a complete hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics in a user interface after the conference call ends using recording analysis, wherein each conference call topic comprises a text summary of speech and a duration of time associated with each speaker.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second conference call topic comprises:

using, by one or more processors, a user interface to choose a new conference call topic, wherein the new conference call topic is different from the first conference call topic.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by one or more processors, the first conference call topic in a user interface in near real-time after the first speaker begins to speak.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second speaker in the queue of speakers is in a muted mode and the first speaker is in an unmuted mode while the first speaker is speaking.

8. A computer program product for creating a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to determine an identity of a first speaker from a group of participants on a conference call, wherein the group of participants are known;

program instructions to determine a first conference call topic, wherein the first conference call topic is determined using a portion of the first speaker'"'"'s speech;

program instructions to add a second speaker'"'"'s identity to a queue of speakers while recording the first speaker'"'"'s voice;

program instructions to determine a second conference call topic, wherein the second conference call topic is associated with words spoken close to a point in time during the recording of the first speaker'"'"'s voice when the second speaker'"'"'s identity is at front of the queue of speakers following a removal of the identity of the first speaker at the front of the queue of speakers; and

program instructions to link the first conference call topic and the second conference call topic into a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to determine the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprise:

program instructions to associate the first speaker and the second speaker with a phone used during the conference call.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to determine the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprise:

program instructions to associate the first speaker and the second speaker with the first speaker'"'"'s voice and the second speaker'"'"'s voice through voice recognition capabilities.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, to display a complete hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics in a user interface after the conference call ends using recording analysis, wherein each conference call topic comprises a text summary of speech and a duration of time associated with each speaker.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to determine the second conference call topic comprise:

program instructions to use a user interface to choose a new conference call topic, wherein the new conference call topic is different from the first conference call topic.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, to display the first conference call topic in a user interface in near real-time after the first speaker begins to speak.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the second speaker in the queue of speakers is in a muted mode and the first speaker is in an unmuted mode while the first speaker is speaking.

15. A computer system for creating a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors, one or more computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to determine an identity of a first speaker from a group of participants on a conference call, wherein the group of participants are known;

program instructions to determine a first conference call topic, wherein the first conference call topic is determined using a portion of the first speaker'"'"'s speech;

program instructions to add a second speaker'"'"'s identity to a queue of speakers while recording the first speaker'"'"'s voice;

program instructions to determine a second conference call topic, wherein the second conference call topic is associated with words spoken close to a point in time during the recording of the first speaker'"'"'s voice when the second speaker'"'"'s identity is at front of the queue of speakers following a removal of the identity of the first speaker at the front of the queue of speakers; and

program instructions to link the first conference call topic and the second conference call topic into a hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein program instructions to determine the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprise:

program instructions to associate the first speaker and the second speaker with a phone used during the conference call.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein program instructions to determine the identity of the first speaker and the second speaker comprise:

program instructions to associate the first speaker and the second speaker with the first speaker'"'"'s voice and the second speaker'"'"'s voice through voice recognition capabilities.

18. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to display a complete hierarchal organization of spoken conference call topics in a user interface after the conference call ends using recording analysis, wherein each conference call topic comprises a text summary of speech and a duration of time associated with each speaker.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein program instructions to determine the second conference call topic comprise:

program instructions to use a user interface to choose a new conference call topic, wherein the new conference call topic is different from the first conference call topic.

20. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, to display the first conference call topic in a user interface in near real-time after the first speaker begins to speak.