Establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application

• US 7,957,976 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2006
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Pike, Hilary A., Cross, Charles W. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): YEN, ERIC L
• Application Number:
  US11/530,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20080065389A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 704270-275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence

Abstract

Establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, including associating one or more vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application and presenting a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor using at least one of the vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, the method comprising:

associating, using a server, a set of vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application, the set of vocal demeanors comprising at least two distinct vocal demeanors;

establishing a right, wherein the right is a right to exclude from use within at least a portion of the multimodal application vocal demeanors not within the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content; and

providing to a multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor and/or an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising purchasing by the sponsor from an owner of the multimodal application exclusive use of at least one vocal demeanor within the multimodal application.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing exclusive use of the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content of the sponsor within the multimodal application.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting, by the multimodal application from among the set of vocal demeanors, a vocal demeanor for presentation of a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor in dependence upon sponsor-provided rules.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating one or more visual demeanors with the sponsor of the multimodal application; and

providing to the multimodal device an indication of the one or more visual demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising establishing exclusive use of one or more visual demeanors within the multimodal application for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the multimodal application is accessed via an advertisement of the sponsor within a different portion of the multimodal application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.

10. A system for establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer recordable medium operatively coupled to the processor, the computer recordable medium storing computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

associating a set of vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application, the set of vocal demeanors comprising at least two distinct vocal demeanors;

establishing a right, wherein the right is a right to exclude from use within at least a portion of the multimodal application vocal demeanors not within the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content; and

providing to a multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor and/or an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer recordable medium further stores computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, effect a purchase by the sponsor from an owner of the multimodal application of exclusive use of at least one vocal demeanor within the multimodal application.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer recordable medium further stores computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, establish exclusive use of the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content of the sponsor within the multimodal application.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer recordable medium further stores computer program instructions which, when executed, effect selection by the multimodal application from among the set of vocal demeanors of a vocal demeanor for presentation of a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor in dependence upon sponsor-provided rules.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer recordable medium further stores computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

associate one or more visual demeanors with the sponsor of the multimodal application; and

provide to the multimodal device an indication of the one or more visual demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer recordable medium further stores computer program instructions which, when executed, establish exclusive use of one or more visual demeanors within the multimodal application for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least a portion of the multimodal application is accessed via an advertisement of the sponsor within a different portion of the multimodal application.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.

19. A non-transitory computer readable recordable medium comprising computer program instructions which, when executed, cause performance of a method comprising:

associating a set of vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application, the set of vocal demeanors comprising at least two distinct vocal demeanors;

establishing a right, wherein the right is a right to exclude from use within at least a portion of the multimodal application vocal demeanors not within the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content; and

providing to a multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor and/or an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.

20. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises effecting a purchase by the sponsor from an owner of the multimodal application of exclusive use of at least one vocal demeanor within the multimodal application.

21. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises establishing exclusive use of the set of vocal demeanors for presentation of audio content of the sponsor within the multimodal application.

22. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises selecting, by the multimodal application from among the set of vocal demeanors, a vocal demeanor for presentation of a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor in dependence upon sponsor-provided rules.

23. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

associating one or more visual demeanors with the sponsor of the multimodal application; and

providing to the multimodal device an indication of the one or more visual demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

24. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises establishing exclusive use of one or more visual demeanors within the multimodal application for presentation of visual content of the sponsor.

25. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the at least a portion of the multimodal application is accessed via an advertisement of the sponsor within a different portion of the multimodal application.

26. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the set of vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor for presentation of audio content of the sponsor.

27. The non-transitory computer readable recordable medium of claim 19, wherein the method comprises providing to the multimodal device an indication of the vocal demeanors covered by the right to exclude.