Structured voice interaction facilitated by data channel

• US 7,551,728 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2005
• Issued: 06/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Cohen, Alexander J., Levien, Royce A., Rinaldo, Jr., John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US11/113,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20060239246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379/93.17, 379/93.25, 379/88.13, 379/88.18, 707/104.1, 709/227, 704/270.1
• US Class Current: 379/88.18
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

A voice channel connection and a data channel connection are established with a structured voice interaction system. Navigation information for and provided by the structured voice interaction system is received over the data channel connection. The data channel navigation information is coordinated with navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a voice channel connection with a structured voice interaction system;

establishing a data channel connection with the structured voice interaction system; and

receiving over the data channel connection navigation information for the structured voice interaction system, the data channel connection navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system, the data channel connection navigation information coordinated with navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection, the data channel connection navigation information including levels of the structured voice interaction system other than or in addition to a level of the navigation information simultaneously provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data channel connection navigation information coordinated with navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection further comprises:

the data channel connection navigation information synchronized with navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a data channel connection with the structured voice interaction system comprises:

upon establishing the voice channel connection, automatically establishing a data channel connection with the structured voice interaction system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving over the data channel connection navigation information for the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

receiving navigation information for at least a level of the structured voice interaction system that results from providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving navigation information for at least a level of the structured voice interaction system that results from providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

receiving navigation information for the level of the structured voice interaction system that results from providing the one or more navigation commands, and for one or more sublevels of the level.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

providing at least one of one or more spoken words via the voice channel connection, one or more touch tones via the voice channel connection, or one or more selections communicated via the data channel connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing at least one of one or more spoken words via the voice channel connection, one or more touch tones via the voice channel connection, or one or more selections communicated via the data channel connection further comprises:

providing shortcuts to selections one or more levels removed from a current level of the structured voice interaction system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a data channel connection with the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

establishing at least one of a short message service connection, an enhanced message service connection, or a multimedia message service connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving over the data channel connection navigation information for the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

receiving over the data channel connection navigation information representing shortcuts of the structured voice interaction system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving over the data channel connection navigation information for the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

receiving at least one of text, one or more images, one or more icons, hypertext markup language information, or extensible markup language information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a voice channel connection with a structured voice interaction system further comprises:

establishing a voice channel connection with at least one of a call center, a consumer information service, a help line, a technical support line, information source, directory service, a gaming service, a gaming device, or a customer service center.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a voice channel connection with a structured voice interaction system further comprises:

establishing a voice channel connection with a personal device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein establishing a voice channel connection with a personal device further comprises:

establishing a voice channel connection with at least one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a hand-held device, a telephone, a telephone answering device, a recorded message device, a switchboard device, or a voice mail system.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system over either or both of the voice or data channels.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system over either or both of the voice or data channels further comprises:

providing spoken words corresponding to the navigation information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein providing one or more navigation commands to the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

providing at least one of one or more spoken words via the voice channel connection, one or more touch tones via the voice channel connection, or one or more selections communicated via the data channel connection.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein providing at least one of one or more spoken words via the voice channel connection, one or more touch tones via the voice channel connection, or one or more selections communicated via the data channel connection further comprises:

providing shortcuts to selections one or more levels removed from a current level of the structured voice interaction system.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving over the data channel connection related information for which there is no corresponding related information available over the voice channel connection, the data channel connection related information being related to the navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system.

19. A structured voice interaction system comprising:

logic to communicate one or more voice prompts to a caller via a voice channel connection;

logic to communicate navigation information for the structured voice interaction system to the caller via a data channel connection;

logic to coordinate the one or more voice prompts communicated to the caller via the voice channel connection with the navigation information communicated via the data channel connection; and

logic to provide to the caller the one or more voice prompts for a present level of the structured voice interaction system via the voice channel connection and to simultaneously provide navigation information for at least one sublevel of the present level of the structured voice interaction system via the data channel connection.

20. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, further comprising:

logic to establish the voice channel connection with the caller; and

logic to automatically establish the data channel connection with the caller upon establishing the voice channel connection with the caller.

21. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, wherein the logic to communicate navigation information for the structured voice interaction system to the caller via a data channel connection further comprises:

logic to communicate at least one of text, one or more images, one or more icons, hypertext markup language information, or extensible markup language information to the caller via the data channel connection.

22. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, wherein the logic to communicate navigation information for the structured voice interaction system to the caller via a data channel connection further comprises:

logic to communicate navigation information to the caller via at least one of a short message service connection, an enhanced message service connection, or a multimedia message service connection.

23. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, further comprising:

logic to adapt the one or more voice prompts communicated to the caller via the voice channel connection and the navigation information communicated to the caller via the data channel connection according to one or more navigation commands received from the caller via either or both of the voice and data channels.

24. The structured voice interaction system of claim 23, wherein the logic to adapt the one or more voice prompts communicated to the caller via the voice channel connection and the navigation information communicated to the caller via the data channel connection according to one or more navigation commands received from the caller via either or both of the voice and data channels further comprises:

logic to adapt the navigation information communicated to the caller to reflect a level of the structured voice interaction system that results from the one or more navigation commands received from the caller.

25. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, further comprising:

logic to recognize navigation commands received via the voice channel connection as spoken words corresponding to the navigation information.

26. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, further comprising:

logic to recognize navigation commands received via the voice or data channel as at least one of spoken words, tones, data channel commands, or a combination thereof corresponding to shortcuts of the structured voice interaction system.

27. The structured voice interaction system of claim 19, further comprising:

logic to provide to the caller over the data channel connection related information for which there is no corresponding related information available over the voice channel connection, the data channel connection related information being related to the navigation information for the structured voice interaction system.

28. A system comprising:

a structured voice interaction system;

a telephone;

logic to enable the telephone and the structured voice interaction system to exchange navigation information and commands via a data channel connection between the telephone and the structured voice interaction system, the navigation information coordinated with one or more voice prompts and navigation commands exchanged via a voice channel connection; and

logic to provide to the telephone a voice prompt for a present level of the structured voice interaction system via the voice channel connection and to simultaneously provide navigation information for at least one sublevel of the present level of the structured voice interaction system via the data channel connection.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the logic to enable the telephone and the structured voice interaction system to exchange navigation information and commands via a data channel connection between the telephone and the structured voice interaction system, the navigation information coordinated with one or more voice prompts and navigation commands exchanged via a voice channel connection further comprises:

logic to receive and process at least one of spoken words or touch tones via the voice channel connection, or navigation indications via the data channel connection, and to provide appropriate voice prompts and navigation information in response.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the logic to enable the telephone and the structured voice interaction system to exchange navigation information and commands via a data channel connection between the telephone and the structured voice interaction system further comprises:

logic to enable the telephone and the structured voice interaction system to employ shortcuts that when applied to the structured voice interaction system result in bypassing at least one level of the structured voice interaction system.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the telephone further comprises:

at least one of a cell phone, a wireless handset, a display phone or a personal digital assistant, laptop, or a handheld computer with telephony capability.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the telephone further comprises:

at least one of a cell phone, a wireless handset, a display phone or a personal digital assistant, a laptop, or a handheld computer with telephony capability.

33. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

logic to adapt the one or more voice prompts communicated to the telephone via the voice channel connection and the navigation information communicated to the telephone via the data channel connection according to one or more navigation commands received from the telephone via either or both of the voice and data channels.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the logic to adapt the one or more voice prompts communicated to the telephone via the voice channel connection and the navigation information communicated to the telephone via the data channel connection according to one or more navigation commands received from the telephone via either or both of the voice and data channels further comprises:

logic to adapt the navigation information communicated to the telephone to reflect a level of the structured voice interaction system that results from the one or more navigation commands received from the telephone.

35. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

logic to recognize navigation commands received via the voice channel connection as spoken words corresponding to the navigation information.

36. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

logic to recognize navigation commands received via the voice or data channel as one or more of spoken words, tones, data channel commands, or a combination thereof corresponding to shortcuts of the structured voice interaction system.

37. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

logic to establish the voice channel connection between the telephone and the structured voice interaction system; and

logic to automatically establish the data channel connection between the telephone and the structured voice interaction system upon establishing the voice channel connection.

38. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

logic to provide to the telephone over the data channel connection related information for which there is no corresponding related information available over the voice channel connection, the data channel connection related information being related to the navigation information for the structured voice interaction system.