Voice-responsive mobile status unit

• US 4,525,793 A
• Filed: 07/17/1984
• Issued: 06/25/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1982
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Stackhouse, Bill L.
• Primary Examiner(s): KEMENY, EMANUEL
• Application Number:
  US06/631,017
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• Field of Search: 364/513.5, 381/36, 381/41, 381/43, 381/51
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 at least one of which is mobile

Abstract

A voice-responsive mobile status unit for operation in a communication system having at least one mobile transceiver and at least one base transceiver is disclosed. A speech recognition circuit is provided for receiving and converting predetermined spoken phrases into corresponding coded outgoing digital data signals if a predetermined spoken message occurs within a predetermined time interval after the occurrence of a predetermined spoken keyword. The digital data signals are transmitted to the base transceiver by the mobile transceiver. The mobile status unit further has a speech synthesizer for receiving coded incoming digital data signals being transmitted by the base transceiver and received by the mobile transceiver. The speech synthesizer converts the incoming, coded, digital data signals into electrical signals representative of speech.

Claims

1. A voice responsive mobile status unit for use in an r.f. communication system having r.f. communication links between mobile and fixed base stations, said mobile status unit being associated with at least one of said mobile stations and comprising:

(A) a mobile r.f. transceiver capable of sending and receiving digitized data signals via an r.f. communication link;

(B) speech recognition means capable (1) of receiving analog speech signals, (2) of recognizing any one of a predetermined set of speech phrases from analysis of said analog speech signals, and (3) of producing a corresponding one of a predetermined set of digital data signals in response to such recognition; and

(C) control means connected to said mobile r.f. transceiver and to said speech recognition means for causing transmission of a predetermined digital data message signal over said r.f. communication link in response to the digital outputs of said speech recognition means;

said control means including;

(i) keyword recognition means for recognizing one of a predetermined subset of said digital data signals as an acceptable keyword and for initiating a valid message phrase time window in response to such recognition; and

(ii) valid message recognition means, which is operative during said valid message phrase time window, (1) to recognize one of a predetermined subset of said digital data signals as a valid message for the particular just-recognized keyboard which initiated the current time window and (2) to permit transmission of said digital data message signal only in the event such a valid message phrase is recognized as having occurred within said time window.

2. A voice responsive mobile status unit as in claim 1 further comprising:

(D) speech synthesizer means also connected to said control means and to said mobile r.f. transceiver for (1) accepting received digital data message signals from said r.f. communication link, for comparing such received digital message signals to a predetermined set of possibly valid such signals and, if a valid received digital data message signal is thus detected, (3) for converting same to a corresponding predetermined phrase of audible speech.

3. A voice-controlled mobile status unit for operation in an r.f. communication system having at least one mobile r.f. communication unit and a fixed base r.f. communication unit, said mobile status unit comprising:

(A) a mobile r.f. transceiver;

(B) speech recognition means for receiving and converting a predetermined spoken phrase, which phrase corresponds to one of a predetermined prestored set of spoken phrases including predetermined keywords, into a corresponding one of a predetermined set of coded digital data, said digital data

(i) being representative of a corresponding one of a predetermined set of messages prestored in the base r.f. communication unit, and also

(ii) being input to said mobile r.f. transceiver and digitally transmitted over the communication channel to said base r.f. communication unit only in the event a proper keyword-phrase has first been recognized within a predetermined prior time period; and

(C) speech synthesizer means connected to said mobile r.f. transceiver for

(i) receiving predetermined coded digital data transmitted over the communication channel by said base r.f. communication unit;

(ii) matching said predetermined coded digital data to one of a predetermined set of prestored phrase data in said mobile status unit;

(iii) converting said prestored phrase data into analog electrical signals which are transduced to corresponding acoustically audible speech.

4. The voice controlled mobile status unit of claim 3 including a common data processing means for controlling the operation of both the speech recognition means and the speech synthesizer means.

5. A method for voice controlled operation of a mobile status unit in a communication system having at least one mobile r.f. communication unit and a base r.f. communication unit, said method comprising:

(A) receiving and converting a predetermined spoken phrase, which phrase corresponds one of a predetermined prestored set of spoken phrases, into a corresponding one of a predetermined set of coded digital data, said digital data

(i) being representative of a corresponding one of a predetermined set of messages prestored in the base r.f. communication unit, and also

(ii) being input to said mobile r.f. transceiver and digitally transmitted over the communciation channel to said base r.f. communication unit;

(B) receiving predetermined coded digital data transmitted over the communication channel by said base R.F. communication unit;

(C) matching said predetermined coded digital data to one of a predetermined set of prestored phrase data in said mobile status unit;

(D) converting said matched prestored phrase data into analog electrical signals which are transduced to corresponding acoustically audible speech; and

wherein the predetermined spoken phrases received and converted include both a key word and a message phrase and wherein the transmission of message phrase data occurs only in the event a proper key word phrase has first been recoginized within a predetermined prior time period.