Digital secretary
First Claim
1. A telephone answering machine characterized by:
- a speech generator for prompting a caller for an identifying name;
a speech recognizer for converting the name received to a digital representation that may be compared to a stored list of names;
a stored list of names that are to be accepted;
a comparator for comparing the digital representation of the name received to the stored list of names;
an indicator to provide an indication to a called party that a given name received is on the stored list of names;
a speech generator for playing a message to said calling party after said indication is provided; and
a recorder for recording a message from the calling party in response to said message.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephone answering machine and method of use utilizes speech recognition to identify a caller from a pre-defined list of possible callers. The list may be generated by various input techniques, including a spoken voice at the called party'"'"'s location, and keyboard or graphical input techniques. If the caller is identified as being on the list, the machine allows the call to progress along a first sequence, which includes ringing the called phone. If the called phone does not answer, the first sequence may provide for responding with a customized message for the calling party. If the caller is not identified as being on the list, the machine allows the call to progress along a second sequence, which includes responding with a standard recorded message. In either case, the caller is typically allowed to record a message for the called party. Additional pre-defined lists may be provided, as for determining the context of a call.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A telephone answering machine characterized by:
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a speech generator for prompting a caller for an identifying name; a speech recognizer for converting the name received to a digital representation that may be compared to a stored list of names; a stored list of names that are to be accepted; a comparator for comparing the digital representation of the name received to the stored list of names; an indicator to provide an indication to a called party that a given name received is on the stored list of names; a speech generator for playing a message to said calling party after said indication is provided; and a recorder for recording a message from the calling party in response to said message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A telephone answering machine characterized by:
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a speech generator for prompting for an identifying name of a caller; a speech recognizer for converting the name received to a digital representation that may be compared to a stored list of names; a stored list of names that are to be accepted; a comparator for comparing the digital representation of the name received to the stored list of names; a ringing device to indicate to a called party that a given name received is on the stored list of names; and a recorder for recording a message from the calling party. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification