System and method for processing personal telephony recorder commands

• US 7,133,831 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2002
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Winters, Scott Lee, Moore, Victor S., Paolini, Michael A., Brown, Michael Wayne, McIntyre, Joseph Herbert
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US10/279,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20040081296A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,476 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• 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

Abstract

A system and method for receiving and processing specialized voice commands during a conference call. Users issue vocal commands to retrieve information during the live conference or during later playback. A user may issue these commands by voice or by sending data through the user'"'"'s device. A user may issue a command to find the latest spoken name in the conference or for determining which participant said something. The name may be replayed to the user or at the user'"'"'s request the name may be accompanied by additional information by searching particular databases. The users may also issue other commands requesting information such as the latest spoken word indicating location, the latest spoken word indicating time, the latest spoken word indicating method, etc. Information can also be retrieved from networks, such as the Internet, in response to the voice commands.

Claims

1. A method of processing vocal requests during a telephone call, said method comprising:

initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants;

receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice input from a first participant includes both voice data and a voice request;

identifying the voice request included in the voice input received from the first participant;

executing, during the telephone call, the identified voice request, wherein the executing includes;

converting the voice request to a textual form;

creating a search request based upon the textual form of the voice request;

searching a computer network for information responsive to the search request, the searching resulting in one or more search results; and

returning, during the telephone call, the search results to the first participant.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the identifying further comprises:

transmitting the voice data to the other participants without transmitting the voice request to the other participants.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

storing voice data received from one or more of the participants to a memory area;

converting the stored voice data to a textual form; and

wherein the searching further includes searching the textual form of the stored voice data for information responsive to the search request.

4. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the search results include a textual form, the returning the search results further comprising:

converting the textual form of the search results to an audible form; and

transmitting the audible form of the search results to the first participant without transmitting the audible form of the search results to the other participants.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the search results include a textual form, the returning further comprising:

transmitting the textual form of the search results to an electronic address corresponding to the first participant;

receiving the transmitted textual form of the search results at an information handling device adapted to receive electronic messages addressed to the electronic address; and

displaying the textual form of the search results on a display device accessible from the information handling device.

6. The method as described in claim 5 wherein the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.

7. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory area accessible by the processors for storing telephone call data;

a transmitter for transmitting voice input received over a data network;

a receiver for receiving voice data from the data network; and

a telephone request tool for processing vocal requests during a telephone call, the telephone request tool including;

means for initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants over the data network;

means for receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice input from a first participant includes both voice data and a voice request;

means for identifying the voice request included in the voice input received from the first participant;

means for executing, during the telephone call, the voice request, wherein the executing includes;

means for converting the voice request to a textual form;

means for creating a search request based upon the textual form of the voice request;

means for searching a computer network for information responsive to the search request, the searching resulting in one or more search results; and

means for returning, during the telephone call, the search results to the first participant.

8. The information handling system as described in claim 7 wherein the means for identifying further comprises:

means for transmitting the voice data to the other participants without transmitting the voice request to the other participants.

9. The information handling system as described in claim 7 further comprising:

means for storing voice data received from one or more of the participants to a memory area;

means for converting the stored voice data to a textual form; and

wherein the means for searching further includes means for searching the textual form of the stored voice data for information responsive to the search request.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 7 wherein the search results include a textual form, the means for returning the search results further comprising:

means for converting the textual form of the search results to an audible form; and

means for transmitting the audible form of the search results to the first participant, wherein the means for transmitting does not transmit the audible form of the search results to the other participants.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 7 wherein the search results include a textual form, the returning further comprising:

means for transmitting the textual form of the search results to an electronic address corresponding to the first;

means for receiving the transmitted textual form of the search results at an information handling device adapted to receive electronic messages addressed to the electronic address; and

means for displaying the textual form of the search results on a display device accessible from the information handling device.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 11 wherein the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.

13. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for processing vocal requests during a telephone call, said computer program product comprising:

means for initiating a telephone call between a plurality of participants;

means for receiving a plurality of voice inputs from the participants, wherein the voice input from a first participant includes both voice data and a voice request;

means for identifying the voice request included in the voice input received from the first participant;

means for executing, during the telephone call, the voice request, wherein the means for executing includes;

means for converting the voice request to a textual form;

means for creating a search request based upon the textual form of the voice request;

means for searching a computer network for information responsive to the search request, the searching resulting in one or more search results; and

means for returning, during the telephone call, the search results to the first participant.

14. The computer program product as described in claim 13 wherein the means for identifying further comprises:

means for transmitting the voice data to the other participants without transmitting the voice request to the other participants.

15. The computer program product as described in claim 13 further comprising:

means for storing voice data received from one or more of the participants to a memory area;

means for converting the stored voice data to a textual form; and

wherein the means for searching further includes means for searching the textual form of the stored voice data for information responsive to the search request.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 13 wherein the search results include a textual form, the means for returning the search results further comprising:

means for converting the textual form of the search results to an audible form; and

means for transmitting the audible form of the search results to the first participant, wherein the means for transmitting does not transmit the audible form of the search results to the other participants.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 13 wherein the search results include a textual form, the returning further comprising:

means for transmitting the textual form of the search results to an electronic address corresponding to the first participant;

means for receiving the transmitted textual form of the search results at an information handling device adapted to receive electronic messages addressed to the electronic address; and

means for displaying the textual form of the search results on a display device accessible from the information handling device.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the information handling device is selected from the group consisting of a computer system, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a digital pager, and a fax machine.