Multi-channel quiet calls

• US 20030138080A1
• Filed: 12/18/2001
• Published: 07/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Denoue, Laurent, Churchill, Elizabeth F., Schilit, William N., Nelson, Lester D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,546,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A system and method for simultaneously conducting multiple telephone conversations is provided. In an embodiment, a user converses with one individual on a first channel while simultaneously transmitting audible utterances to a second individual or a second channel. The user can select the desired channel or channels and a desired phrase and an electronic representation of the selected phrase is transmitted over the selected channel(s).

Claims

1. A method for communicating over multiple channels, comprising the steps of:

(a) communicating over a first channel;

(b) selecting a second channel;

(c) selecting a phrase;

(d) generating an audible utterance representative of the selected phrase; and

(e) providing the audible utterance over the selected second channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a second channel further includes selecting a plurality of channels, and wherein the step of providing the audible utterance over the selected second channel further includes providing the audible utterance over the plurality of selected channels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating an audible utterance includes the step of obtaining an internal representation of a phrase element associated with the selected phrase and generating an audible utterance based on the internal phrase element.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a second channel includes selecting a graphical representation of said second channel using a graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a phrase includes selecting a graphical representation of said phrase using a graphical user interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphical representation of said phrase is selected from a group consisting of an icon, a symbol, a figure, a graph, a checkbox, a GUI widget, a graphics button, and a pulldown menu button.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said internal representation of said selected phrase is obtained from a host computer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step generating an audible utterance includes text-to-speech processing.

9. A multi-channel telecommunication system, comprising:

(a) an audio input;

(b) a channel representation;

(c) a phrase representation;

(d) a memory for storing the channel representation, phrase representation and phrase element associated with the phrase representation, wherein the phrase element has an internal representation of an audible utterance;

(e) a processor, coupled to the audio input, display and memory, wherein the processor provides a first control signal and a second control signal;

(f) an audio generator, coupled to the processor and memory, wherein the audio generator generates an audible utterance responsive to the first control signal and the conversation element; and

,

(g) a channel selector, coupled to the processor and audio generator, wherein the channel selector selects a channel responsive to the second control signal and provides the audible utterance over the selected channel.

10. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein said multi-channel telecommunication system is a telephone.

11. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the multi-channel telecommunication system further comprises:

(h) an audio mixer, coupled to the processor and channel selector, mixing audio received from said channel selector.

12. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the phrase representation and channel representation are displayed in a graphic user interface (GUI).

13. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the multi-channel telecommunication system further comprises:

(h) an audio monitor, coupled to the processor of channel selector, monitoring an audio level received from said channel selector.

14. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the channel representation is selected from the group consisting of a text and a label.

15. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the internal representation is in a format selected from the group consisting of a sound file, a record or playback, a text and a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (“

MIDI”

) sequence.

16. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the internal representation is obtained from a host computer.

17. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the first control signal is generated in response to a user selecting the phrase representation and the second control signal is generated in response to a user selecting the channel representation.

18. The multi-channel telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the phrase representation and channel representation are selected from the group consisting of a button, a switch, a barcode, a label, a glyph, and Braille.

19. A system, comprising:

(a) a plurality of input channels;

(b) a processing device for storing an internal representation of a phrase element; and

,

(c) a scanning device, coupled with the processing device, for reading a first code associated with the phrase element and for reading a second code associated with at least one of said input channels, wherein the processing device provides an audible utterance over the channel associated with said second code in response to reading the first code and the second code.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing device includes:

a channel selection device, for selecting at least one of the plurality of input channels responsive to said second code.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the scanning device is a barcode scanner.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the scanning device is a laser scanner.

23. A general purpose computing device, comprising:

(a) a display, displaying a channel representation and a phrase representation;

(b) a memory, storing the channel representation, phrase representation, and a phrase element associated with the phrase representation, wherein the phrase element has an internal representation of an audible utterance;

(c) a processor, coupled to the display and memory, wherein the processor generates a first control signal responsive to selection of the channel representation and a second control signal response to selection of the phrase representation;

(d) an audio generator, coupled to the processor and memory, wherein the audio generator generates an audible utterance responsive to the second control signal and the phrase element; and

(e) a channel selector, coupled to the processor and audio generator, wherein the channel selector activates a channel responsive to the first control signal and provides the audible utterance over the selected channel.

24. The general purpose computing device of claim 23, wherein the display is a touchscreen display.

25. The general purpose computing device of claim 23, wherein the channel representation and phrase representation are displayed in a Graphic User Interface (“

GUI”

).

26. The general purpose computing device of claim 23, wherein the general purpose computing device is a personal digital assistant.

27. A telecommunication infrastructure, comprising:

(a) a first electronic device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure over a first channel;

(b) a second electronic device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure over a second channel;

(c) a third electronic device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure, selecting the first channel or the second channel and selecting a phrase representation; and

,

(d) a processing device, coupled to the telecommunication infrastructure storing;

1) a phrase element associated with the phrase representation; and

,

2) a software program for providing an audible utterance over the selected first or second channel in response to a selected phrase representation.

28. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the third electronic device generates an in-band signal in response to a phrase representation selection and a channel representation selection.

29. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the third electronic device generates an out-of-band signal in response to a phrase representation selection and a channel representation selection.

30. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 28, wherein the signal is a Dual-Tone Multi Frequency (“

DTMF”

) signal.

31. The telecommunications infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the phrase representation is selected from the group consisting of an icon, a symbol, a figure, a graph, a checkbox, a GUI widget and a graphics button.

32. The telecommunications infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the phrase representation is selected from the group consisting of a text and a label.

33. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the processing device is a computer coupled to the Internet.

34. The telecommunication infrastructure of claim 27, wherein the processing device is a relay between the first electronic device, the second electronic device, and the third electronic device.

35. A method for communicating with a plurality of recipients over a plurality of channels, comprising the steps of:

(a) Communicating over a first channel with a first recipient;

(b) Receiving an indication over a second channel of a second recipient;

(c) Selecting a channel for generating an audible utterance;

(d) Selecting a phrase representation; and

,

(e) Generating an audible utterance over said selected channel based on said selected phrase representation.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said audio input from said first and second channel are mixed.

37. The method of claim 35, further including the step of:

obtaining an internal representation of a phrase element associated with said selected phrase representation.

38. The method of claim 35, said step of selecting a channel for generating an audible utterance includes the steps of:

accessing a channel representation; and

,

selecting a channel representation.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said channel representation is displayed on a graphical user interface.

40. The method of claim 35, said step of selecting a phrase for generating an audible utterance includes the steps of:

accessing a phrase representation; and

,

selecting a phrase representation.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein said phrase representation is displayed on a graphical user interface.