Voice dialing system

• US 6,018,568 A
• Filed: 09/25/1996
• Issued: 01/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lanning, Steven G., Stern, Benjamin J., Furman, Daniel Selig
• Primary Examiner(s): Loomis, Paul
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Application Number:
  US08/721,785
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67-68, 379/71, 379/80-83, 379/88-89, 379/93.01, 379/93.03, 379/93.15, 379/110.01, 379/355, 379/354, 379/93.23, 704/243
• US Class Current: 379/93.15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/04 for time-division multiplexing H04Q11/0001 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1307 Call setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13106 Microprocessor, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13299 Bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13378 Speech recognition, speech analysis

Abstract

A voice dialing system that includes a voice dialing device and a terminal. The voice dialing device is coupled to the terminal through a network. The voice dialing device stores a telephone directory that includes text-based and voice entries. The terminal is coupled to the voice dialing device through a network and sends to the voice dialing device text-based telephone directory information. The voice dialing device modifies the telephone directory based on the text-based telephone directory information sent by the terminal. At a later time, a subscriber calls and the voice dialing device selects an entry from the telephone directory based on a name spoken by the subscriber. The voice dialing device dials a telephone number retrieved from the selected entry of the telephone directory and connects the subscriber with a called party.

Claims

1. A voice dialing system usable with a text-based telephone directory and a voice-trained telephone directory, comprising:

a voice dialing device; and

a terminal coupled to the voice dialing device through a network, the terminal inputting information from the text-based telephone directory to the voice dialing device through the network, the voice dialing device generating a subscriber-specific telephone directory based on one of a voice entry from a telephone station and the information from the text-based telephone directory input to the voice dialing device, wherein generating the subscriber-specific telephone directory generates a label for each voice entry and each of the information from the text-based telephone directory so that all entries of the subscriber-specific telephone directory have a label based on a common representation, wherein, at a later time, the voice dialing device dials a telephone number of the subscriber-specific telephone directory in response to a name input from the telephone station or another telephone station, and wherein the terminal is a computer and the network is a communication network.

2. The voice dialing system of claim 1, wherein the terminal sends the information from the text-based telephone directory to the voice dialing device by either uploading the information from the text-based telephone directory to the voice dialing device or logging on to the voice dialing device and entering the information from the text-based telephone directory in the voice dialing device after logging on to the voice dialing device.

3. The voice dialing system of claim 2, wherein the voice dialing device comprises:

a network interface coupled to the network; and

a controller coupled to the network interface, wherein the controller receives the information from the text-based telephone directory from the terminal through the network interface.

4. The voice dialing system of claim 3, wherein the controller generates the subscriber-specific telephone directory by one of creating and modifying the subscriber-specific telephone directory based on an instruction in the information from the text-based telephone directory.

5. The voice dialing system of claim 4, wherein the instruction includes at least one of load data as the subscriber-specific telephone directory, add the data as a new entry to the subscriber-specific telephone directory, delete an entry in the subscriber-specific telephone directory and replace the entry in the subscriber-specific telephone directory with the data, the data being included in the information from the text-based telephone directory.

6. The voice dialing system of claim 3, wherein the voice dialing device further comprises:

a memory device coupled to the controller, the controller selecting a database in the memory device based on identification data included in the information from the text-based telephone directory, the controller either creating the subscriber-specific telephone directory and storing the subscriber-specific telephone directory in the database in the memory device or retrieving the subscriber-specific telephone directory from the memory, modifying the retrieved subscriber-specific telephone directory and storing the modified subscriber-specific telephone directory in the database in the memory process.

7. The voice dialing system of claim 6, wherein the controller one of creates and modifies the subscriber-specific telephone directory if a password included in the information from the text-based telephone directory is correct, the password being correct if the password matches a password in the database and incorrect otherwise, and wherein, when the terminal sends the information from the text-based telephone directory to the voice dialing device through the logon process, the controller ends the logon process.

8. The voice dialing system of claim 3, wherein the voice dialing device further comprises:

a voice recognition device coupled to the controller, the voice recognition device converting the name input from the telephone station into an index label from a list of labels input from the controller, the controller selecting an entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory based on at least one of a name entered through a keypad of the telephone station and the index and dialing the telephone number contained in the selected entry.

9. The voice dialing system of claim 8, wherein the voice dialing device further comprises:

a text-to-speech device coupled to the controller, if the selected entry contains a text representation of the selected entry, the text-to-speech device converting the text representation of the selected entry into speech and outputting the speech to a subscriber for confirmation that the selected entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory is a correct entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory.

10. The voice dialing system of claim 2, wherein if the terminal inputs the information from the text-based telephone directory by uploading, the information from the text-based telephone directory is prepared in the terminal and then uploaded to the voice dialing device.

11. The voice dialing system of claim 2, wherein the terminal logs on to the voice dialing device either directly or through a page of an internet.

12. The voice dialing system of claim 1, wherein the subscriber-specific telephone directory includes entries from at least one of a text-based telephone-directory entry and a voice-trained telephone directory entry.

13. The voice dialing system of claim 12, wherein each of the entries of the subscriber-specific telephone directory includes flags that correspond to each of the entries, one of the flags indicating the corresponding entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory is a voice-trained directory entry, another of the flags indicating the corresponding entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory is a text-based telephone directory entry.

14. The voice dialing system of claim 1, wherein a copy of the subscriber-specific telephone directory is maintained in the terminal.

15. A method for operation of a voice dialing system usable with a text-based telephone directory and a voice-trained telephone directory, comprising:

inputting information from the text-based telephone directory to a voice dialing device from a terminal through a network, wherein the terminal is a computer and the network is a communication network;

sending a voice entry to the voice dialing device from a telephone station;

generating a subscriber-specific telephone directory based on one of the voice entry and the information from the text-based telephone directory input to the voice dialing device, wherein generating the subscriber-specific telephone directory generates a label for each voice entry and each of the information from the text-based telephone directory so that all entries of the subscriber-specific telephone directory have a label based on a common representation; and

dialing a telephone number of the subscriber-specific telephone directory in response to a name input from the telephone station or another telephone station.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the inputting step comprises one of uploading the information from the text-based telephone directory to the voice dialing device and logging on to the voice dialing device, when logging on to the voice dialing device, the information from the text-based telephone directory being entered in the voice dialing device after logging on.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating step comprises one of creating and modifying the subscriber-specific telephone directory based on an instruction in the information from the text-based telephone directory, a controller of the voice dialing device receiving the information from the text-based telephone directory through a network interface and creating or modifying the subscriber-specific telephone directory based on the received information from the text-based telephone directory.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

selecting a database in the memory device based on identification data included in the subscriber-specific text-based telephone directory information, the controller either creating the subscriber-specific telephone directory and storing the subscriber-specific telephone directory in the database in the memory device or retrieving the subscriber-specific telephone directory from the memory device, modifying the retrieved subscriber-specific telephone directory and storing the modified subscriber-specific telephone directory in the database in the memory device.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

converting the name input from the telephone station using a voice recognition device into an index label from a subscriber'"'"'s list input from a controller of the voice dialing device, the controller selecting an entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory based on the name input through the telephone station and dialing the telephone number contained in the selected entry.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

converting a representation of the selected entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory into a voice print and outputting the voice print to a subscriber for confirmation that the selected entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory is a correct entry of the subscriber-specific telephone directory.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

maintaining a copy of the telephone directory in the terminal.