Personalized voice applications in an information assistance service
First Claim
1. A method for providing a service for delivering information over a communications network, comprising:
- maintaining a record identifiable by data representing a user, the record containing user defined voice preferences for delivering information in one of a plurality of automated voices, each of said user defined voice preferences being associated with one or more different services, aspects of a service or combination of services and aspects of a service respectively;
receiving a call from the user, along with the data representing said user, through the communications network, the call including a request for the service for delivering selected information;
determining the selected information in response to the request;
retrieving the record based at least on the received data representing said user;
determining from the record an automated voice preference associated with the requested service; and
generating an automated voice in accordance with the voice preference assigned by said use to deliver the selected information from said service.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To personalize a voice information delivery service, e.g., directory assistance, a voice email service, stock quotation service and other information assistance services, a user is afforded an option to customize automated voices/speeches to deliver information to him/her. The automated voices/speeches may be customized for different services and functions, and/or in terms of urgency, context, etc. of the information to be voice-delivered. In an illustrative embodiment, the user'"'"'s voice preferences for voice information deliveries are recorded in a user profile, which are represented by sets of speech characterizing parameters, respectively, based on which a text-to-speech (TTS) engine reads given text information to the user in the corresponding preferred voices/speeches.
24 Citations
55 Claims
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1. A method for providing a service for delivering information over a communications network, comprising:
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maintaining a record identifiable by data representing a user, the record containing user defined voice preferences for delivering information in one of a plurality of automated voices, each of said user defined voice preferences being associated with one or more different services, aspects of a service or combination of services and aspects of a service respectively; receiving a call from the user, along with the data representing said user, through the communications network, the call including a request for the service for delivering selected information; determining the selected information in response to the request; retrieving the record based at least on the received data representing said user; determining from the record an automated voice preference associated with the requested service; and generating an automated voice in accordance with the voice preference assigned by said use to deliver the selected information from said service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for providing a service for delivering information via voice media, comprising:
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allowing a user to select a plurality of sets of parameters for assigning automated voices to be used to deliver information associated with respective portions of the service; storing the plurality of sets of parameters which are identifiable by data representing the user; receiving a communication from the user, the communication including a request involving delivery of information by said service; obtaining the data representing the user during the communication; identifying the plurality of sets of parameters based at least on the data; and in response to the request, delivering selected information to the user in one of a plurality of automated voices as identified by one of the plurality of user selected sets of parameters which is associated with the delivery of information from said respective portions of said service. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for providing a service for delivering information over a communications network, comprising:
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storage for maintaining a record identifiable by data representing a user, the record containing user defined voice preferences for delivering information in one of a plurality of automated voices, said user defined voice preferences being associated with one or more different services, aspects of a service or combination of services and aspects of a service, respectively; an interface for receiving a call from the user, along with the data, through the communications network, the call including a request for the service for delivering selected information, the selected information being determined in response to the request, the record being retrieved based at least on the received data; a processor programmed to determine from the record an automated voice preference associated with the characteristics of the information being delivered; and a server for generating an automated voice in accordance with the user defined voice preference to deliver the selected information from said requested service. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for providing a service for delivering information via voice media, comprising:
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a mechanism for allowing a user to select a plurality of sets of parameters for assigning automated voices to be used to deliver information associated with respective characteristics of the service; storage for storing the plurality of sets of parameters which are identifiable by data representing the user; an interface for receiving a communication from the user, the communication including a request involving delivery of information by said service, the data representing the user being obtained during the communication; a processor programmed to identify the plurality of sets of parameters based at least on the data; and a server responsive to the request for delivering selected information to the user in one of a plurality of automated voices as identified by one of the plurality of user selected sets of parameters which is associated with the delivery of information from said respective portions of said service. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification