Voice-controlled wireless communications system and method

• US 9,215,583 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2007
• Issued: 12/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vocera Communications, Inc. (Stryker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Vocera Communications, Inc. (Stryker Corporation)
• Inventors: Shostak, Robert E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vuong, Quochien B
• Application Number:
  US11/934,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20080057977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,964 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/90.3, 455/426.1, 455/456.1, 455/457, 455/550.1, 455/556.1, 455/563, 455/564, 455/566, 455/575.1, 455/575.6, 455/417
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6041 Portable telephones adapted for handsfree use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6058 involving the use of a headset accessory device connected to the portable telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/725 Cordless telephones user interfaces specially adapted therefor H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/387 using subscriber identification cards
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 : User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 : Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 : Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 : User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 : Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 : from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 : Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 : between terminal devices

Abstract

A wireless communication system has a central computer, one or more wireless access points and one or more personal badges that communicate wirelessly with the one or more wireless access points. The badges provide the user with a communications device that permits the user to initiate telephone calls and conferences, receive telephone calls, receive pages and be located within a particular environment.

Claims

1. A wireless communications system, comprising:

a computer having a voice recognition unit;

one or more access points connected to the computer by a network, each access point having a coverage area;

a device that is capable of communicating voice commands, using a wireless protocol with one of the access points adjacent the device, to the voice recognition unit; and

wherein the device further comprises an unassigned state and an assigned state such that the device is initially in the unassigned state when it has not been assigned to a user, the device enters the assigned state when the user first issues a voice command and the device returns to the unassigned state when the user has finished using the device so that the device is dynamically bound to the user while the user is using the device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the device is not assigned to any user of the system at all times and may be reused by any user of the system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer further comprises a user database having user profile data and messages for each user of the system, wherein the user profile data and messages for a particular user are downloaded to the device which has been assigned to the particular user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the user database further comprises a call screening field that contains information about which calls to a particular user are allowed so that calls to the device assigned to the particular user are prioritized.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the call screening field further comprises a block all calls field which specifies that all calls to the particular user will be blocked.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the call screening field further comprises a VIP field containing one or more persons that can override the block all calls.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the call screening field further comprises an allow all calls field which specifies that all calls to the particular user are being allowed to be answered at the device assigned to the user.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the user profile database further comprises a forwarding portion that contains information for the routing of a call to a particular device assigned to the particular user when the user is not accepting calls to the device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the forwarding portion further comprises a work phone field that specifies a work phone to which a call to the particular user may be routed.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the forwarding portion further comprises a home phone field that specifies a home phone to which a call to the particular user may be routed.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the forwarding portion further comprises a cellular phone field that specifies a cellular phone to which a call to the particular user may be routed.

12. The system of claim 3, wherein the user database further comprises a call receiving portion that contains information about the call receiving options chosen by the particular user.

13. The system of claim 3, wherein the user database further comprises a network boundary alert field that specifies that the device assigned to the particular user will alert the user when the user leaves the coverage areas of the access points.

14. The system of claim 3, wherein the user profile data and messages for a particular user are deleted from the device assigned to the particular user when the device returns to the unassigned state.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer further comprises a browser application which permits a user to interact with the computer and change a user profile database containing user profile information, the browser application further comprising means for assigning a device to a particular user by changing a badge identification field in the user database so that a particular device is assigned to a particular user.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the central computer further comprises a voice recognition system that receives voice commands from a user through the device and wherein the device is assigned to a particular user when the user issues a “

Log On”

command from the device to the voice recognition system.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the device further comprises an automatic answer feature in which a call to the device is capable of being answered without any action by a user of the device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the user database further comprises a group calling field containing a group name wherein the group further comprises one or more people and wherein the computer further comprises a group calling command that causes the people in the group to be called by the computer.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the group calling command further comprises a scheduling algorithm to determine an order to call the one or more people in the group.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the order is a sequential order.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the order is a round robin order.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer further comprises means for mapping an extension number to a user of the device wherein the mapping means further comprises means for mapping the extension number to a particular user and means for mapping the particular user to a device based on the user profile in the database.