Interactive telephone communication system for hearing-impaired person
First Claim
1. An interactive telephone communication system for connection to a two-way telephone subscriber network for automated processing of communication signals from a hearing-impaired person communicating therewith over the telephone subscriber network with a TDD coupled to said network, said system comprising:
- means for receiving communication signals from said hearing-impaired caller;
a computer database containing a plurality of separately addressed digitally encoded TDD displayable messages;
means for processing a received communication signal according to a predefined control matrix, said processing means including means for retrieving one of said separately addressed TDD displayable messages for transmission to said caller'"'"'s TDD; and
means for transmitting said retrieved TDD displayable message to said caller'"'"'s TDD for display, wherein a first transmitted message includes an initial control option, said hearing-impaired caller selecting in response a particular option by transmitting a predefined communication signal to said system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A novel interactive telephone communication system and method are provided which allow a hearing-impaired person, using a TDD, to send and receive information over a conventional two-way telephone subscriber network without communicating directly with another person. The hearing impaired person communicates over the subscriber network with a TDD coupled directly or indirectly to the network. The automated processing system includes a receiving circuit coupled to the network to receive communication signals from the hearing-impaired caller and processing means for processing a received communication signal according to a predefined control matrix. The processing means includes retrieval means for selectively retrieving one of a plurality of separately addressed TDD displayable messages stored in an associated computer database. Transmitting means are also provided for sending a retrieved TDD displayable message to the callers TDD for display. Depending upon the embodiment, the communication signal received by the system can comprise either a conventional touch-tone type telephone signal, a rotary type telephone signal or a TDD (e.g., Baudot) coded signal. A related processing method is also disclosed.
108 Citations
30 Claims
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1. An interactive telephone communication system for connection to a two-way telephone subscriber network for automated processing of communication signals from a hearing-impaired person communicating therewith over the telephone subscriber network with a TDD coupled to said network, said system comprising:
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means for receiving communication signals from said hearing-impaired caller; a computer database containing a plurality of separately addressed digitally encoded TDD displayable messages; means for processing a received communication signal according to a predefined control matrix, said processing means including means for retrieving one of said separately addressed TDD displayable messages for transmission to said caller'"'"'s TDD; and means for transmitting said retrieved TDD displayable message to said caller'"'"'s TDD for display, wherein a first transmitted message includes an initial control option, said hearing-impaired caller selecting in response a particular option by transmitting a predefined communication signal to said system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An automated method at a central location connected to a two-way telephone subscriber network for interactively responding to a telephone call from a hearing-impaired person communicating therewith over said telephone subscriber network using a TDD coupled to said network, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving at said central location a communication signal from said hearing-impaired caller; initially transmitting over said network a TDD displayable message to said caller'"'"'s TDD as an acknowledgement of connection to said central location; transmitting over said network a first TDD displayable control option to said caller'"'"'s TDD, said hearing-impaired caller selecting a desired control option by generating a predefined communication signal for transmission over said network to said central location; automatically processing a received communication signal representative of a selected control option according to a predefined control matrix, said processing of said selected option including retrieving from an associated database one of a plurality of separately addressed digitally encoded TDD displayable signals for transmission to the caller'"'"'s TDD over said network, said retrieved signal comprising one of a TDD displayable message and a second TDD displayable control option; and transmitting said retrieved TDD displayable signal over said telephone subscriber network to said caller'"'"'s TDD. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification