System and method for providing voice communication from textual and pre-recorded responses

• US 9,881,611 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Raedel, Michelle Roos, Archer, Steven T., Hubner, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Safaipour, Houshang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shah, Bharatkumar S
• Application Number:
  US14/309,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20150371636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 704235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/027 Concept to speech synthesisers; Generation of natural phrases from machine-based concepts generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text G10L13/08
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1491 using deception as countermeasure, e.g. honeypots, honeynets, decoys or entrapment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/642 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/254 where the visual mode comprises menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5322 for recording text messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]

Abstract

An approach is provided for detecting a voice call directed to a user. The approach involves presenting a user interface for interacting with the voice call, wherein the user interface includes a control option for selecting a pre-recorded word or phrase from the user; for generating a custom-created audio word or phrase from one or more phonemes pre-recorded by the user; or a combination thereof. The approach also involves interjecting the pre-recorded word or phrase, the custom-created audio word or phrase, or a combination thereof into the voice call.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting an ongoing voice call, between a first party and a second party, at a user device associated with the first party;

presenting, by the user device and during the ongoing voice call, a user interface that includes a control option that allows selection of a pre-recorded word or phrase, from a plurality of pre-recorded words or phrases, the pre-recorded word or phrase having been received from a user of the user device prior to the ongoing voice call;

receiving, by the user device, via the user interface, and during the ongoing voice call, a selection of a particular pre-recorded word or phrase from the plurality of words or phrases;

receiving, by the user device, via the user interface, and during the ongoing voice call, another word or phrase and an indication to pre-pend or post-pend the another word or phrase to the particular pre-recorded word or phrase; and

interjecting, by the user device and in accordance with the indication, the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the another word or phrase, into the ongoing voice call, the interjecting including outputting, via the ongoing voice call and to the second party, the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the another word or phrase,

the another word or phrase being pre-pended or post-pended to the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase, based on the indication.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting an input element in the user interface, the input element including an option to receive a text input that specifies a typed audio word or phrase corresponding to the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

processing the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase via a speech-to-text engine to generate a text equivalent; and

comparing the text equivalent to the text input to calculate an accuracy of the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining a correction parameter for generating the particular pre-recorded word or phrase based on the accuracy on a per-user basis.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a statistical tracking of the particular pre-recorded word or phrase.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically placing the ongoing voice call in a muted state for the user when presenting the user interface, the muted state causing a microphone, of the user device, to be muted while the user interface is presented.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically interjecting one or more additional pre-recorded words or phrases based on a termination of the ongoing voice call.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, via the user interface and during the ongoing voice call, a visual preview of the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the another word or phrase.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to interjecting the particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the other word or phrase into the ongoing voice call, determining a longer phrase that includes one or more words in addition to the pre-recorded word or phrase and the other word or phrase,

wherein interjecting the particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the other word or phrase includes interjecting the longer phrase into the ongoing voice call.

8. A user device, comprising:

a memory device storing processor-executable instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the processor-executable instructions, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions causes the processor to;

present, during an ongoing voice call in which the user device is involved, a user interface that includes a control option that allows selection of a pre-recorded word or phrase, from a plurality of pre-recorded words or phrases, that has been received from a user of the user device prior to the ongoing voice call,

wherein the ongoing voice call is a voice call between the user device and at least one other party;

receive, via the user interface and during the ongoing voice call, a selection of a particular pre-recorded word or phrase from the plurality of pre-recorded words or phrases;

receive, via the user interface and during the ongoing voice call, another word or phrase and an indication to pre-pend or post-pend the another word or phrase to the particular pre-recorded word or phrase; and

interject the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and, in accordance with the indication, the another word or phrase, into the ongoing voice call, the interjecting including outputting, via the ongoing voice call and to the at least one other party, the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the another word or phrase, based on the indication.

9. The user device of claim 8, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

present an input element in the user interface, the input element including an option to receive a text input that specifies a typed word or phrase corresponding to the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

process the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase via a speech-to-text engine to generate a text equivalent; and

compare the text equivalent to the text input to calculate an accuracy of the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

11. The user device of claim 10, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

determine a correction parameter for generating the particular pre-recorded word or phrase based on the accuracy on a per-user basis.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

perform a statistical tracking of the particular pre-recorded word or phrase.

13. The user device of claim 8, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

automatically place the voice call in a muted state for the user when presenting the user interface, the muted state causing a microphone, of the user device, to be muted while the user interface is presented.

14. The user device of claim 8, wherein executing the processor-executable instructions further causes the processor to:

automatically interject one or more additional pre-recorded words or phrases based on a termination of the ongoing voice call.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor of a user device, cause the processor to:

present, during an ongoing voice call in which the user device is involved, a user interface that includes a control option that allows selection of a pre-recorded word or phrase, from a plurality of pre-recorded words or phrases, that has been received from a user of the user device prior to the ongoing voice call,

wherein the ongoing voice call is a voice call between the user device and at least one other party;

receive, via the user interface and during the ongoing voice call, a selection of a particular pre-recorded word or phrase from the plurality of pre-recorded words or phrases;

receive, via the user interface, and during the ongoing voice call, another word or phrase and an indication to pre-pend or post-pend the another word or phrase to the particular pre-recorded word or phrase; and

interject the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase into the ongoing voice call, and, in accordance with the indication, the another word or phrase, into the ongoing voice call,

the interjecting including outputting, via the ongoing voice call and to the at least one other party, the selected particular pre-recorded word or phrase and the another word or phrase, based on the indication.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the processor-executable instructions further include instructions to:

present an input element in the user interface, the input element including an option to receive a text input that specifies a typed audio word or phrase corresponding to the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the processor-executable instructions further include instructions to:

process the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase via a speech-to-text engine to generate a text equivalent; and

compare the text equivalent to the text input to calculate an accuracy of the particular pre-recorded audio word or phrase.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the processor-executable instructions further include instructions to:

determine a correction parameter for generating the particular pre-recorded word or phrase based on the accuracy on a per-user basis.