Apparatus and method for managing interactive television and voice communication services

• US 9,344,562 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Moore, Darryl Cynthia, Bossi, Burt Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US13/690,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20140153705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2475 for a hearing impaired user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/50 Telephonic communication in combination with video communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42391 where the subscribers are hearing-impaired persons, e.g. telephone devices for the deaf
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A system, process and computer-readable media that incorporate teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, an interactive application delivering captions of an audio signal, such as a voicemail message or audio received concurrently during a telephone conversation. The application can be a television application, for example, receiving at a media processor associated with equipment of a first party, a textual interpretation of an audio signal of a second party, for example, during an active telephone call between the first party and the second party. A graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal is rendered at the media processor and presented to a display device, such as a television display. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, an indication of an audio signal associated with an active telephone conversation;

presenting, by the system, at a television display associated with a first party an offer to receive a textual interpretation of the audio signal;

receiving, by the system, in response to an acceptance of the offer, the textual interpretation of the audio signal, wherein the textual interpretation of the audio signal is received from an application server;

rendering, by the system, a graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal;

accessing, by the system, a user preference associated with a feature of the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal;

presenting, by the system, at the television display, media content that is received from a content source; and

presenting, by the system, at the television display, the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal while the active telephone conversation is occurring, wherein the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal is presented as an overlay of the media content that is being presented, and wherein the graphical image is presented according to the user preference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the feature of the graphical image comprises a transparency value associated a degree to which the graphical image of the textual interpretation blocks visibility of the media content that is being presented.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the feature of the graphical image further comprises a relative location on the television display for the presenting of the graphical image at the television display.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the system, the user preference associated with the feature of the graphical image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising presenting, by the system, a user-selectable feature at the television display responsive to the receiving of the indication of an audio signal, wherein the user-selectable feature is associated with the receiving of the user preference.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user-selectable feature comprises an icon, a soft button, or a combination thereof that are presented at the television display.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual interpretation of the audio signal further comprises an audio signal of a voicemail message.

8. A media processing device comprising:

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving, during an active telephone call between a first party and a second party, a textual interpretation of an audio signal associated with the active telephone call and that is generated by equipment of the second party, wherein the textual interpretation of the audio signal is received from an application server;

rendering a graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal generated during the active telephone call by the equipment of the second party;

accessing a user preference associated with a feature of the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal;

presenting, at a television display, media content that is received from a content source; and

presenting at the television display that is associated with a caller identification of the first party, the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal while the active telephone call by the equipment of the second party is occurring, wherein the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal is presented as an overlay of the media content that is being presented, and wherein the graphical image is presented according to the user preference.

9. The media processing device of claim 8, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations further comprising presenting to the television display an offer for presenting the textual interpretation of an audio signal generated during the active telephone call, wherein the rendering of the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal and the presenting to the television display the graphical image of the textual interpretation are responsive to an acceptance of the offer.

10. The media processing device of claim 9, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations further comprising receiving an indication of a caller identification of the second party, wherein the presenting to the television display the offer for presenting the textual interpretation of an audio signal generated during the telephone call is presented in response to the indication of the caller identification of the second party.

11. The media processing device of claim 10, wherein the presenting of the offer comprises rendering a selectable graphical icon and presenting the selectable graphical icon to the television display.

12. The media processing device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the user preference associated with the feature of the graphical image.

13. The media processing device of claim 12, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations further comprising presenting a user-selectable feature at the television display responsive to the receiving of the textual interpretation of the audio signal, wherein the user-selectable feature is associated with the receiving of the user preference.

14. The media processing device of claim 8, wherein the feature comprises one of font style;

font size;

font color;

background color;

location;

number of displayed lines;

number of displayed characters;

or any combinations thereof.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, during an active telephone call between a first party and a second party, a textual interpretation of an audio signal associated with the active telephone call that is generated by equipment of the second party, wherein the textual interpretation of the audio signal is received from an application server;

rendering a graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal that is generated during the active telephone call by the equipment of the second party;

accessing a user preference associated with a feature of the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal;

presenting, at a television display, media content that is received from a content source; and

presenting to a display device associated with a caller identification the first party, the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal that is associated with the active telephone call by the equipment of the second party while the active telephone call is occurring, wherein the graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal is presented as an overlay of the media content that is being presented, and wherein the graphical image is presented according to the user preference.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein rendering a graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal generated during the active telephone call comprises rendering a graphical image for presentation as a picture-in-picture for display with other video content.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein rendering a graphical image of the textual interpretation of the audio signal generated during the active telephone call comprises rendering a graphical image in combination with other video content for presentation as an overlay for display with the other video content.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the textual interpretation of the audio signal generated during the telephone call is received from a network-accessible translation service.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, comprising computer instructions which when executed by processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising receiving of the user preference associated with the feature of the graphical image of the textual interpretation, wherein rendering the graphical image of the textual interpretation includes the feature of the graphical image.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the feature comprises one of:

font style;

font size;

font color;

background color;

location;

number of displayed lines;

number of displayed characters;

or any combinations thereof.