Telecommunication system tester with voice recognition capability
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of testing a telecommunication system, connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating, in a data processing device, test signals simulating at least one of voice and non-voice signals transmissible by a telecommunication network;
(b) transmitting the test signals to the telecommunication system;
(c) detecting response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals, said response signals including initial voice response signals generated automatically by the telecommunication system;
(d) recording at least one sampler script including representations of only the test signals generated in step (a);
(e) recording at least one recognizer script including representations of booth the test signals generated in step (a) and the response signals detected in step (c);
(f) repeatedly reproducing the test signals using the at least one sampler script recorded in step (d);
(g) reproducing the test signals using the at least one recognizer script recorded in step (e);
(h) detecting subsequent voice response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals reproduced in step (f);
(i) recording the subsequent voice response signals, wherein said recording in step (i) is repeated to obtain a plurality of voice response files, at least one of the voice response files obtained for each repetition of the test signals reproduced in step (f);
(j) building a vocabulary file, wherein said building of the vocabulary file in step (j) uses the voice responses files recorded in step (i);
(k) detecting subsequent voice response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals reproduced in step (g); and
(l) performing automatic voice recognition on the subsequent voice response signals detected in step (k) using the vocabulary file built in step (j), wherein said detecting in step (k) and the automatic voice recognition in step (l) are performed.
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Abstract
Connection is made directly or via a switched telephone network between a tester and a telecommunication system to be tested. User data, such as voice signals, and signalling data, such as DTMF signals are generated by the tester to cause the telecommunication system to respond. The user and signalling data may be generated interactively to test the telecommunication system in real time, or by executing prerecorded scripts. When the tester is used interactively, the representations of the signals transmitted to and from the tester are recorded in at least one script file. Voice recognition is preferably used to determine whether the response received from the telecommunication system is the expected response, particularly when a script is executed. The vocabulary used for voice recognition may be created by repeatedly executing a script file (recorded during interactive operation of the tester or created manually) which causes the telecommunication system to generate the desired prompt(s) and message(s). Alternatively, the vocabulary may be obtained in other ways, such as by reproducing voice signals at the telecommunication system.
121 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of testing a telecommunication system, connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating, in a data processing device, test signals simulating at least one of voice and non-voice signals transmissible by a telecommunication network; (b) transmitting the test signals to the telecommunication system; (c) detecting response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals, said response signals including initial voice response signals generated automatically by the telecommunication system; (d) recording at least one sampler script including representations of only the test signals generated in step (a); (e) recording at least one recognizer script including representations of booth the test signals generated in step (a) and the response signals detected in step (c); (f) repeatedly reproducing the test signals using the at least one sampler script recorded in step (d); (g) reproducing the test signals using the at least one recognizer script recorded in step (e); (h) detecting subsequent voice response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals reproduced in step (f); (i) recording the subsequent voice response signals, wherein said recording in step (i) is repeated to obtain a plurality of voice response files, at least one of the voice response files obtained for each repetition of the test signals reproduced in step (f); (j) building a vocabulary file, wherein said building of the vocabulary file in step (j) uses the voice responses files recorded in step (i); (k) detecting subsequent voice response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals reproduced in step (g); and (l) performing automatic voice recognition on the subsequent voice response signals detected in step (k) using the vocabulary file built in step (j), wherein said detecting in step (k) and the automatic voice recognition in step (l) are performed. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of testing a telecommunication system, connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating, in a data processing device, test signals simulating at least one of voice and non-voice signals transmissible by a telecommunication network; (b) transmitting the test signals to the telecommunication system; (c) detecting response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals; (d) recording at least one sampler script including representations of only the test signals generated in step (a); (e) recording at least one recognizer script including representations of both the test signals generated in step (a) and the response signals detected in step (c); (f) executing the at least one sampler script to control the substeps of (f1) reproducing the test signals recorded in step (d), and (f2) recording initial voice response signals generated in response to the test signals reproduced in step (f1); and (g) executing the at least one recognizer script to control the substeps of (g1) reproducing the test signals recorded in step (e), (g2) detecting subsequent voice response signals generated in response to the test signals reproduced in step (g1), and (g3) automatically performing voice recognition on the subsequent voice response signals detected in step (g2) based on the initial voice response signals recorded in step (f2).
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4. A tester for a telecommunication system connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising:
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at least one processor controlling generation of test signals simulating at least one of voice and non-voice signals transmissible by the telecommunication network; at least one interface, coupling said processor to the telecommunication system, to transmit the test signals and to receive response signals generated by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals, said response signals including voice response signals; at least one storage device, coupled to at least said processor, storing the test and response signals; and at least one speech recognition device, coupled to at least said processor, for analyzing the voice response signals. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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5. A method of testing a telecommunication system including a voice response unit using a data processing device, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving commands from a human operator of the data processing device to test the telecommunication system in real-time; (b) generating, in the data processing device, test signals simulating user data and signaling data; (c) transmitting the test signals to the telecommunication system; (d) recording representations of the test signals in a sampler and recognizer scripts in temporary storage on the data processing device; (e) storing representations of response signals produced by the telecommunication system in the recognizer script, including machine produced voice signals from the voice response unit and instructions to perform speech recognition on the machine produced voice signals; (f) repeating steps (a)-(e) until a command is received from the human operator to step; (g) prompting the human operator to save the sampler and recognizer scripts; (h) storing each of the sampler and recognizer scripts in separate permanent files when instructed by the human operator in response to said prompting in step (g); (i) repeatedly reproducing the sampler script to obtain a plurality of vocabulary samples of the machine produce voice signals from the voice response unit; (j) automatically building a vocabulary of words from the samples obtained during said reproducing in step (i); and (k) reproducing the recognizer script to obtain at least one test sample of the machine produced voice signals from the voice response unit and to automatically perform speech recognition on the test sample using the vocabulary built in step (j). - View Dependent Claims (6)
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8. A method of testing a telecommunication system, the system having a speech interface and being connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving voice signals produced by the telecommunication system; (b) transmitting test signals to the telecommunication system; and (c) evaluating voice response signals using the voice signals received in step (a), said voice response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals transmitted in step (b), thereby determining whether the telecommunication system is operating properly. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of testing a telecommunication system, the system being connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
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(a) interactively transmitting test signals to the telecommunication system and detecting initial response signals produced by the telecommunication system; (b) automatically recording representations of both the test signals transmitted and the initial response signals detected in step (a); (c) reproducing the test signals recorded in step (b); (d) evaluating subsequent response signals produced by the telecommunication system in response to the test signals reproduced in step (c) to determine whether the telecommunication system is operating properly. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of testing a telecommunication system using a data processing device, the system being connectable to a telecommunication network, comprising the steps of:
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(a) connecting the data processing device to the telecommunication system, without connection through a telecommunication network; (b) interactively transmitting test signals to the telecommunication system and detecting response signals produced by the telecommunication system, said test signals simulating user data and signaling data; and (c) evaluating the response signals to determine whether the telecommunication system is operating properly. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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Specification