Unified Interface and Routing Module for Handling Audio Input

• US 20110075818A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mann, Jonathan L., Morrison, Andrew R., Birand, Gülay A., Wood, Paula H., Temple, Sinclair M., Vance, Michael Steffen, Panchal, Prarthana H., Goulart, Valerie Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 8,995,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/07 to the speaker
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00

Abstract

Methods, systems and articles for receiving, by a telecommunication device, audio input through a unified audio interface are disclosed herein. The telecommunication device is further configured to determine whether to handle the audio input as a command, as a request of a telecommunication device application, or as a network search request, the determining being based on one or more user-configurable rules or priorities.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a telecommunication device, the method comprising:

receiving audio input through a unified audio interface of the telecommunication device; and

determining whether to handle the audio input as a command, as a request of a telecommunication device application, or as a network search request, the determining being based on one or more user-configurable rules or priorities.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that a dedicated key of the unified audio interface has been pressed or actuated, the dedicated key being reserved for invoking an audio capture process; and

in response to receiving the indication, invoking an audio capture process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the dedicated key is a graphic user interface (GUI) key available on each user interface (UI) screen rendered by the telecommunication device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing, by an audio recognition module, the audio input to translate the audio input from audio to text.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising learning, by the audio recognition module, voice characteristics of a speaker to improve audio recognition.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the processing includes retrieving the audio characteristics, the voice characteristics belonging to a speaker profile that is stored on a server and associated with a user login and/or user service agreement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-configurable rules or priorities include one or more of a priority for attempting to handle audio input as a command before handling it as a request, a priority for attempting to handle audio input as a request of a telecommunication device application before handling it as a network search request, or a priority for attempting to handle audio input as a network search request before handling it as a request of a telecommunication device application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes determining whether the audio input comprises one or more recognized command words or one or more words associated with telecommunication-device-level macros.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising carrying out the commands on telecommunication device settings, telecommunication device personalizations, and/or on telecommunication device applications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the carrying out further comprises simultaneously executing the commands on multiple telecommunication device applications.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the carrying out further comprises querying a service provider for account information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising exposing an application programming interface (API) that enables telecommunication device applications to register with and/or interact with an audio routing module of the telecommunication device which performs the determining.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing potential meanings of the audio input to resolve the meaning of the audio input when the meaning of the audio input is ambiguous.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

gathering context information about the telecommunication device; and

performing the determining based at least in part on the context information or submitting the context information with a command or with a request.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the determined command, request of the telecommunication device application, or network search request or providing the determined command, request of the telecommunication device application, or network search request to a system or application for execution; and

receiving results of the execution of the command, request of the telecommunication device application, or network search request.

16. A telecommunication device comprising:

a processor;

a dedicated key configured to invoke an audio capture process when actuated;

an audio recognition module operable by the processor and associated with the dedicated key, the audio recognition module configured to recognize audio input captured by the audio capture process; and

an audio routing module operable by the processor and configured to evaluate the recognized audio input to determine whether to handle the recognized audio input as a command, as a request of a telecommunication device application, or as a network search request, the determining being based on one or more user-configurable rules or priorities, the audio routing module offering an application programming interface which enables telecommunication device applications to register with and/or interact with the audio routing module.

17. The telecommunication device of claim 17, wherein the application programming interface provided by the audio routing module enables a telecommunication device application to provide recognized commands or macros for use by the audio routing module.

18. An article of manufacture comprising:

one or more storage media; and

executable instructions stored on the storage media which, when executed by a telecommunication device, instruct the telecommunication device to perform operations including;

receiving while engaged in communication with another device, an actuation of a dedicated key associated with a unified audio interface for audio commands and requests;

processing audio input provided with the actuation as an audio command or request; and

determining whether to handle the audio input as an audio command, as a request of a telecommunication device application, or as a network search request, the determining being based at least in part on a context or data associated with the communication with the other device.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the communication with the other device is one of a phone call, a chat session, an instant messaging session, or an email message and engaging in the communication includes writing the communication, speaking the communication, reading the communication, and/or listening to the communication.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the operations further include providing results of the command or request to both the telecommunication device and the other device.