Telecommunications infrastructure for generating conversation utterances to a remote listener in response to a quiet selection

• US 7,286,649 B1
• Filed: 09/08/2000
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.), Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.), Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Nelson, Lester D., Sokoler, Tomas, Swinehart, Daniel C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, HEMANT SHANTILAL
• Application Number:
  US09/658,245
• Time in Patent Office: 2,601 Days
• Field of Search: 379 8811- 8818, 379/88.22, 379/88.23, 379/88.25, 379/93.01, 379/93.17, 379/93.18, 379/93.21, 379/93.26, 379/202.1, 379/203.01, 379/204.01, 379/205.01, 379/352, 379/353, 379/351, 379/230, 379/52, 379 71- 72, 704/258, 704/260, 345/700, 345/763, 345/758, 455/414.3, 455/414.4, 455/412.1
• US Class Current: 379/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2474 Telephone terminals specially adapted for disabled people user interfaces for cordless or mobile telephones specially adapted for disabled users H04M1/72475; network based special services or facilities for hearing-impaired persons H04M3/42391; devices for conversing with the deaf-blind G09B21/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/645 with speech synthesis
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42391 where the subscribers are hearing-impaired persons, e.g. telephone devices for the deaf
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A user to conducts a telephone conversation without speaking. It does this by moving the participant in the public situation to a quiet mode of communication (e.g., keyboard, buttons, touchscreen). All the other participants are allowed to continue using their usual audible technology (e.g., telephones) over the existing telecommunications infrastructure. The quiet user interface transforms the user'"'"'s silent input selections into equivalent audible signals that may be directly transmitted to the other parties in the conversation.

Claims

1. A telecommunication infrastructure, comprising:

(a) a first electronic device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure;

(b) a second electronic device, coupled to the infrastructure, for providing input for a conversation representation;

(c) a processing device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure and remote to the first device for storing

     1) a conversation element associated with the conversation representation and

     2) a software program for providing an audible utterance to the first electronic device in response to a selected conversation representation, wherein the processing device can be invoked by a user of the stored conversation elements for dynamic interactive use with a second user, and for text-to-speech conversion for real-time dynamic input with the second user and wherein said conversation representation of the second electronic device is used by said user for transitioning between a plurality of different call states such that said audible utterance is provided to the first electronic device upon transitioning and such that said input is associated with different conversation representations at different call states; and

(d) a recording device coupled to the second electronic device for audio recording into an utterance data store;

(e) a switchable audio input adapted to allow a user to voice directly into the second electronic device in addition to said input for the conversation representation; and

(f) a telephone-to-user connector that is connected to said second electronic device and that enables the user of the stored conversation elements to hear both conversation generated by the processing device and at least the second user.

2. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device generates an in-band signal in response to a conversation representation selection.

3. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device generates an out-of-band signal in response to a conversation representation selection.

4. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 2, wherein the signal is a Dual-Tone Multi Frequency (“

DTMF”

) signal.

5. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the first electronic device and second electronic device are mobile telephones.

6. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the processing device is a computer coupled to the internet.

7. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the processing device is a relay between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

8. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the processing device provides the audible utterance in a conference call.

9. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the telecommunication infrastructure includes a wireless telephony application.

10. A telecommunication infrastructure, comprising:

(a) a first electronic device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure;

(b) a second electronic device, coupled to the infrastructure and remote to the first device for providing input for a conversation representation, and for storing

     1) a conversation element associated with the conversation representation and

     2) a software program for providing an audible utterance to the first electronic device in response to a selected conversation representation;

wherein a processing device can be invoked by a user of the stored conversation elements for dynamic interactive use with a second user, and for text-to-speech conversion for real-time dynamic input with the second user and wherein said conversation representation of the second electronic device is used by said user for transitioning between a plurality of different call states such that said audible utterance is provided to the first electronic device upon transitioning and such that said input is associated with different conversation representations at different call states;

(c) a recording device coupled to the second electronic device for audio recording into an utterance data store;

(d) a switchable audio input adapted to allow a user to voice directly into the second electronic device in addition to said input for the conversation representation; and

(e) a telephone-to-user connector that is connected to said second electronic device and that enables the user of the stored conversation elements to hear both conversation generated by the processing device and at least the second user.