Method and apparatus for tagtoe reminders

• US 7,873,520 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2007
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Oon-Gil Paik
• Original Assignee: Oon-Gil Paik
• Inventors: Paik, Oon-Gil
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US11/856,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20090076820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: 704/258, 704/260, 379/88.12
• US Class Current: 704/258
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

A network-based text-to-speech (TTS) TagToe alert system is configured to take a user'"'"'s textual and/or multimedia input to a TagToe user interface to schedule delivery of text-to-speech-converted TagToe information to one or more telephone call recipients. The text-to-speech converted TagToe information optionally includes e-commerce specific, location-specific, and/or product-specific information which may be presented to the one or more call recipients as additional voice information or interactive voice response (IVR) information. The TagToe alert system can be configured to provide an advanced level of integration between IP telephony and electronic transactions and online services for optimized efficiency and improved revenue to e-commerce.

Claims

1. A network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system configured to remind a user scheduled TagToe information at a specific time slot, the network based text-to-speech alert system comprising:

an application software with a TagToe program installed, wherein the application software is configured to open a TagToe user interface;

a group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user, wherein the group of information specifies the specific time slot and a product or a service, which is tagged (“

TagToe-ed”

) by the user for a user-self-scheduled purchase reminder;

a computer system configured to store some or all portion of the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user;

a text-to-speech conversion program configured to produce a voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder from some or all portion of the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user, wherein the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder becomes some or all portion of the scheduled TagToe information and wherein the scheduled TagToe information also integrates e-commerce specific and product-specific information from an e-commerce infrastructure and an electronic transaction system to enable an interactive voice response (IVR)-based telephonic purchase of the product or the service previously tagged by the user; and

a TagToe alert scheduler configured to initiate a telephone call to the user at the specific time slot, wherein the telephone call triggered by the TagToe alert scheduler delivers the scheduled TagToe information, and wherein the scheduled TagToe information includes the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder of the product or the service previously tagged by the user.

2. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the application software is triggered by a TagToe-initiating button, a hot-key, or a user command to open the TagToe user interface.

3. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user further includes contact information for at least one telephone call recipient.

4. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the TagToe alert system is configured to accommodate a conference call among the user and other telephone call recipients after delivering the scheduled TagToe information to the user.

5. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user further includes user-defined textual and/or multimedia information.

6. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the application software with the TagToe program installed is an Internet web browser.

7. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the scheduled TagToe information further comprises a text message, interactive voice response (IVR) information, and/or multimedia information.

8. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the scheduled TagToe information further includes location-specific information which is in addition to the group of information originally entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user.

9. The network-based text-to-speech TagToe alert system of claim 1, wherein the TagToe alert scheduler is directly or indirectly connected to a public-switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or a mobile-phone service network.

10. A method of transmitting scheduled TagToe information to a user, the method comprising:

opening up a TagToe user interface from a software application;

entering and/or selecting desired reminder information using the TagToe user interface, wherein the desired reminder information includes a specific TagToe delivery time slot and a product or a service, which is tagged (“

TagToe-ed”

) by the user for a user-self-scheduled purchase reminder;

converting some portions of the desired reminder information entered and/or selected in the TagToe user interface from text to voice to create a voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder using a text-to-speech conversion program;

formulating the scheduled TagToe information by integrating the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder and/or other relevant information to the software application, wherein the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder integrates e-commerce specific and product-specific information from an e-commerce infrastructure and an electronic transaction system to enable an interactive voice response (IVR)-based telephonic purchase of the product or the service previously tagged by the user;

scheduling a telephone call delivery of the scheduled TagToe information by using the specific TagToe delivery time slot; and

triggering the telephone call delivery of the scheduled TagToe information on the specific TagToe delivery time slot to the user, wherein the scheduled TagToe information is delivered as voice.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising a step of sending a text message and/or a multimedia message to the user, wherein the text message and/or the multimedia message contains at least some portion of the desired reminder information.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of entering and/or selecting desired reminder information using the TagToe user interface further includes specifying one or more recipient phone numbers.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the software application is an online calendar or a scheduling program.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of formulating the scheduled TagToe information also includes incorporating location-specific information which is in addition to the desired reminder information originally entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user.

15. A TagToe-enabled online calendar system configured to remind a user scheduled TagToe information at a specific time slot by a voice telephone call, the TagToe-enabled online calendar system comprising:

an online calendar interface for scheduling meetings, appointments, and reminders, wherein the online calendar interface is TagToe-enabled and is configured to open a TagToe user interface;

a group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by a user, wherein the group of information includes the specific time slot and a product or a service, which is tagged (“

TagToe-ed”

) by the user for a user-self scheduled purchase reminder;

a computer system configured to store some or all portion of the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user;

a text-to-speech conversion program configured to produce a voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder from some or all portion of the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user, wherein the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder becomes some or all portion of the scheduled TagToe information and wherein the scheduled TagToe information also integrates e-commerce specific and product-specific information from an e-commerce infrastructure and an electronic transaction system to enable an interactive voice response (IVR)-based telephonic purchase of the product or the service previously tagged by the user; and

a TagToe alert scheduler configured to initiate a telephone call to the user at the specific time slot, wherein the telephone call triggered by the TagToe alert scheduler delivers the scheduled TagToe information, and wherein the scheduled TagToe information includes the voice-version of the user-self-scheduled purchase reminder of the product or the service previously tagged by the user.

16. The TagToe-enabled online calendar system of claim 15, wherein the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user further includes contact information for at least one telephone call recipient.

17. The TagToe-enabled online calendar system of claim 15, wherein the group of information entered into the TagToe user interface and/or selected by the user further includes user-defined textual and/or multimedia information.

18. The TagToe-enabled online calendar system of claim 15, wherein the TagToe alert system is configured to accommodate a conference call among the user and other telephone call recipients after delivering the scheduled TagToe information to the user.

19. The TagToe-enabled online calendar system of claim 15, wherein the scheduled TagToe information further comprises a text message, interactive voice response (IVR) information, and/or multimedia information.

20. The TagToe-enabled online calendar system of claim 15, wherein the TagToe alert scheduler is directly or indirectly connected to a public-switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or a mobile-phone service network.