Service platform
First Claim
1. A service platform for the provision of automated speech based services over a telephone network, said platform comprising:
- a plurality of general purpose speech processors, each including associated memory and being selectively programmable to provide a specific speech based service defined by a control program loaded into its associated memory;
a common program memory holding plural control programs for respectively different speech based services and coupled to each of said general purpose speech processors to permit a selected one of said control programs to be downloaded to the associated memory of a particular one of said speech processors; and
means operable in a first mode in which a speech processor resource and a control program are provided during a particular incoming telephony call only as and when needed, so that speech processor resources and control programs required to handle an earlier part of the particular incoming telephony call are made available to service other telephony calls during a subsequent ongoing part of said particularly incoming call.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A service platform provides automated speech based services over a telephone network. It includes a speech processor with associated memory, to provide services such as speech recognition, speaker recognition, speaker verification and speech synthesis. A line interface terminates a number of telephony channels of the network while a speech bus carries speech signals between the line interface and the speech processor. A control processor controls routing of speech signals over the speech bus and a control bus connects the control processor with the speech processor and the line interface. A separate memory holds speech processing software and a data link connects the memory with the speech processor to load programs into the speech processor during run time in the event that appropriate software does not exist on the speech processor in a free state.
66 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A service platform for the provision of automated speech based services over a telephone network, said platform comprising:
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a plurality of general purpose speech processors, each including associated memory and being selectively programmable to provide a specific speech based service defined by a control program loaded into its associated memory; a common program memory holding plural control programs for respectively different speech based services and coupled to each of said general purpose speech processors to permit a selected one of said control programs to be downloaded to the associated memory of a particular one of said speech processors; and means operable in a first mode in which a speech processor resource and a control program are provided during a particular incoming telephony call only as and when needed, so that speech processor resources and control programs required to handle an earlier part of the particular incoming telephony call are made available to service other telephony calls during a subsequent ongoing part of said particularly incoming call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A service platform for the provision of automated speed based services over a telephone network, said platform comprising:
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a plurality of general purpose speech processors, each including associated memory and being selectively programmable to provide a specific speech based service defined by a control program loaded into its associated memory; a common program memory holding plural control programs for respectively different speech based services and coupled to each of said general purpose speech processors to permit a selected one of said control programs to be downloaded to the associated memory of a particular one of said speech processors; and wherein the platform includes an expert which determines the initial configuration in which control programs are loaded into the speech processors during initialization of the platform. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A service platform for the selective provision of one of a plurality of different automated speech-based services over a telephone network, said platform comprising:
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a plurality of general purpose speech processors, each being selectively programmable to provide a specific one of said plural speech-based services defined by a respectively corresponding one of plural control programs when loaded thereinto; a common program source containing said plural control programs and coupled to each of said general purpose speech processors to download a selected one of said control programs to a particular one of said speech processors; and a controller connected to the telephone network so as to selectively route voice signals between a selected active telephone line and a selected one of said general purpose speech processors while also substantially simultaneously, in real-time, selectively downloading one of said control programs to that some selected one of the general purpose speech processor so as to substantially immediately, in real-time therein, begin to perform the respectively corresponding selected specific speech-based service with respect to voice signals on a then connected active telephone line. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for the selective real-time provision of successive different automated speech-based services to an incoming telephone call over a telephone network during said telephony call, said method comprising:
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(i) selectively routing voice signals between a selected active telephone line and a selected one of plural general purpose speech processors; (ii) substantially simultaneously, in real-time, selectively downloading one of plural control programs to that same selected one of the general purpose speech processors so as to substantially immediately, in real-time therein, begin to perform the respectively corresponding selected specific speech-based service with respect to voided signals on a then connected active telephone line; and (iii) repeating step (ii) during an ongoing active telephone line connection so as to successively provide different specific speech-based services over said ongoing active telephone line connection. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification