Remote access to a media device

• US 8,973,071 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Cherifi, Tanya D., Sharma, Rajesh
• Primary Examiner(s): SHANG, ANNAN Q
• Application Number:
  US12/644,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20110154418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 725 86-118, 709217-232
• US Class Current: 725/106
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6187 involving transmission via a telephone network, e.g. POTS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A voice telephone call may be received, from a telephony device, in a server configured to provide interactive voice response. A spoken command may be received from the telephony device. In the server, the spoken command may be converted to a format appropriate for the media storage unit. The converted command may be sent from the server to the media storage unit.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call in a server configured to provide interactive voice response and establish a connection with the telephony device;

generating a script that includes a menu of spoken commands based on data elements in the script;

receiving a spoken command from the telephony device over the connection after generating the script, the spoken command being one of the spoken commands included in the menu;

converting, in the server, the spoken command to a format for a media storage unit to produce a converted command; and

sending the converted command to the media storage unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the menu of spoken commands is provided to the telephony device according to the script.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the script is formatted according to voice extensible markup language (VXML) format.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing at least some of the data to the telephony device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notification is provided to a user via at least one of the e-mail and the text message and indicates that the spoken command was completed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, to the telephony device, the menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the media storage unit is a digital video recorder.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a shell script that includes the data elements, the data elements including data elements that are playable by the server over the connection to the telephony device; and

populating the shell script with a grammar implementation to generate the script.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer-executable instructions including instructions for:

receiving, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call in a server configured to provide interactive voice response and establish a connection with the telephony device;

generating a script that includes a menu of spoken commands based on data elements in the script;

receiving a spoken command from the telephony device over the connection after generating the script, the spoken command being one of the spoken commands included in the menu;

converting the spoken command to a format for a media storage unit to produce a converted command; and

sending the converted command to the media storage unit.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein the menu of spoken commands being provided to the telephony device according to the script.

14. The medium of claim 12, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that a server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing at least some of the data to the telephony device.

15. The medium of claim 12, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

receiving, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

converting the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that a server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

providing a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

16. The medium of claim 12, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

17. The medium of claim 12, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

18. The medium of claim 12, the instructions further comprising instructions for providing, to the telephony device, the menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.

19. A system, comprising an interactive voice response server configured to:

receive, from a telephony device, a voice telephone call in the interactive voice response server configured to provide interactive voice response and establish a connection with the telephony device;

generate a script that includes a menu of spoken commands based on data elements in the script;

receive a spoken command from the telephony device over the connection, the spoken command being one of the spoken commands included in the menu;

convert the spoken command to a format for a media storage unit to produce a converted command; and

send the converted command to the media storage unit.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the menu of spoken commands is provided to the telephony device according to the script.

21. The system of claim 19, the interactive voice response server further configured to:

receive, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

convert the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

provide at least some of the data to the telephony device.

22. The system of claim 19, the interactive voice response server further configured to:

receive, from the media storage unit, one or more pieces of data responsive to the command;

convert the data from a format provided by the media storage unit to a format that the server is configured to interpret to provide information to the telephony device; and

provide a notification relating to at least some of the data via at least one of e-mail and a text message.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit is a query for information from the media storage unit.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the converted command sent to the media storage unit includes at least one of a command to delete a program, a command to record a program, a command to list programs scheduled to be recorded, and a command to list programs available to be viewed.

25. The system of claim 19, the interactive voice response server further configured to provide, to the telephony device, the menu of spoken commands related to a remote media storage unit.