Telephone call handling center where operators utilize synthesized voices generated or modified to exhibit or omit prescribed speech characteristics
First Claim
1. A method for conducting voice communications, comprising operations of:
- a human operator receiving telephone calls from a variety of remote callers over time;
for each particular call from a caller, performing operations comprising;
selecting an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics appropriate to that particular call;
the human operator listening to voice utterances of the caller;
instead of the operator speaking to the caller, performing operations comprising;
the operator selecting target speech content to be conveyed to the caller;
the operator directing a representation of the selected target speech content to a speech processing facility;
the speech processing facility producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice;
transmitting the signal to the caller.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A human operator'"'"'s voice is artificially varied prior to transmission to a remote caller. In one example, the operator indicates target speech content (e.g., actual speech, pre-prepared text, manually entered text) to a speech processing facility, which enunciates the target speech content with an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics (e.g., accent, dialect, speed, vocabulary, word choice, male/female, timbre, speaker age, fictional character, speech particular to people of a particular geographic region or socioeconomic status or other grouping). Another example is an automated call processing system, where an output voice is selected for each incoming call and information is interactively presented to callers using the output voice selected for their respective calls. In another example, a speech processing facility intercepts the operator'"'"'s speech, manipulates the waveform representing the operator'"'"'s intercepted speech to add or remove prescribed characteristics, and transmits an enunciated output of the manipulated waveform to the caller.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method for conducting voice communications, comprising operations of:
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a human operator receiving telephone calls from a variety of remote callers over time; for each particular call from a caller, performing operations comprising; selecting an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics appropriate to that particular call; the human operator listening to voice utterances of the caller; instead of the operator speaking to the caller, performing operations comprising; the operator selecting target speech content to be conveyed to the caller; the operator directing a representation of the selected target speech content to a speech processing facility; the speech processing facility producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice; transmitting the signal to the caller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations for conducting a call between an operator and a remote caller, the operations comprising:
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receiving designation of an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics; receiving from the operator a representation of target speech content to be conveyed to the caller; producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the designated output voice for transmission to the caller instead of the operator'"'"'s own voice. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. Circuitry comprising multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations for conducting a call between an operator and a remote caller, the operations comprising:
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receiving designation of an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics; receiving from the operator a representation of target speech content to be conveyed to the caller; producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the designated output voice; transmitting the signal to the caller instead of the operator'"'"'s own voice.
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25. A call processing center for processing telephone calls between an operator and a variety of remote callers over time, comprising:
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a call handler configured to select an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics appropriate to each call; a user interface configured to convey voice utterances of the caller to an operator and, instead of conveying speech of the operator to the caller, receiving selection by the operator of target speech content to be conveyed to the caller and directing a representation of the selected target speech content to a speech processing facility; a speech processing facility configured to produce a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice for transmission to the caller.
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26. A call processing center for processing telephone calls between an operator and a variety of remote callers over time, comprising:
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a call handling means for selecting an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics appropriate to each call; user interface means for conveying voice utterances of the caller to an operator and, instead of conveying speech of the operator to the caller, receiving selection by the operator of target speech content to be conveyed to the caller and directing a representation of the selected target speech content to a speech processing facility; speech processing means for producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice for transmission to the caller.
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27. A method for conducting voice communications, comprising operations of:
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a human operator listening to voice utterances of a remote caller; instead of speaking directly to the caller, performing operations comprising; a speech processing facility intercepting speech of the operator; the speech processing facility manipulating a waveform representing the operator'"'"'s intercepted speech to change features of the waveform that correspond to prescribed characteristics of the intercepted speech; transmitting a signal representative of the manipulated waveform to the caller. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine readable instructions executable by a digital data processing apparatus to perform operations for conducting voice communications between an operator and a remote caller, the operations comprising:
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intercepting speech of the operator; manipulating a waveform representing the operator'"'"'s intercepted speech to change features of the waveform that correspond to prescribed characteristics of the intercepted speech; transmitting a signal representative of the manipulated waveform to the caller instead of the operator'"'"'s speech. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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33. Circuitry comprising multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations for conducting voice communications between an operator and a remote caller, the operations comprising:
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intercepting speech of the operator; manipulating a waveform representing the operator'"'"'s intercepted speech to change features of the waveform that correspond to prescribed characteristics of the intercepted speech; transmitting a signal representative of the manipulated waveform to the caller instead of the operator'"'"'s speech.
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34. A speech processing facility, comprising:
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data storage; a digital data processor coupled to the storage and programmed to perform operations to produce output speech to a remote caller under direction of an operator, the operations comprising; receiving input selecting an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics; receiving a representation of operator-selected target speech content in at least one of the following forms;
output text selected via manual character entry, pre-prepared output text selected from a display pallet, operator utterance of the target speech content;producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice by performing at least one of the following;
(1) applying a speech-to-text process to the operator'"'"'s utterances to yield output text and then applying a text-to-speech process to the output text in order to enunciate speech in the output voice, (2) manipulating a waveform representing the operator'"'"'s utterances to change features of the waveform that correspond to prescribed characteristics of the intercepted speech, (3) applying a text-to-speech process to output text indicated by the operator in order to enunciate speech in the output voice;transmitting the produced signal to the caller in lieu of the operator'"'"'s own voice.
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35. A speech processing facility, comprising:
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means for data storage; digital data processing means for producing output speech to a remote caller under direction of an operator, by; receiving input selecting an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics; receiving a representation of operator-selected target speech content in at least one of the following forms;
output text selected via manual character entry, pre-prepared output text selected by selection from a display pallet, operator utterance of the target speech content;producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the selected output voice by performing at least one of the following;
(1) applying a speech-to-text process to the operator'"'"'s utterances to yield output text and then applying a text-to-speech process to the output text in order to enunciate speech in the output voice, (2) manipulating a waveform representing the operator'"'"'s utterances to change features of the waveform that correspond to prescribed characteristics of the intercepted speech, (3) applying a text-to-speech process to output text indicated by the operator in order to enunciate speech in the output voice;transmitting the produced signal to the caller in lieu of the operator'"'"'s own voice.
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36. A method of conducting a call between an operator and a remote caller, the operations comprising:
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receiving designation of an output voice that exhibits prescribed speech characteristics; receiving from the operator a representation of target speech content to be conveyed to the caller; producing a signal representing an enunciation of the target speech content utilizing the designated output voice for transmission to the caller instead of the operator'"'"'s own voice.
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37. A call processing method, comprising:
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providing an automated call processing system; the call processing system receiving incoming calls and, for each incoming call from a caller, performing operations comprising; selecting an output voice by indexing predetermined characteristics associated with the call in a pre-prepared database; responsive to input from the caller, interactively outputting information to the caller by enunciating the information utilizing the output voice selected for that caller. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. An automated call processing system for processing telephone calls received from remote callers, comprising:
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a call handler responsive to each incoming call from a caller to select an output voice by indexing predetermined characteristics associated with the call in a pre-prepared database; a voice menu system, responsive to input from each caller during a call, to interactively output information to that caller by enunciating the information utilizing the output voice selected for that call. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification