METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SOCIAL NETWORK COMMUNICATION OVER A MEDIA NETWORK

• US 20130024187A1
• Filed: 07/18/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: CHANG, HISAO, Mornhineway, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• 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: G10L 19/00 Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis in musical instruments G10H
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/87 Detection of discrete points within a voice signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking messaging within social networks H04L51/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53366 Message disposing or creating aspects

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, transmitting a request to initiate a communication session with a member device of a social network, activating a speech capture element, maintaining activation of the speech capture element in accordance with a pattern of prior speech messages, detecting a speech message at the activated speech capture element, and transmitting the detected speech message, or a derivative thereof, to the member device of the social network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory;

a speech capture element for capturing speech messages;

a user interface; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the speech capture element, and the user interface, wherein the processor is operable to;

detect a stimulus at the user interface for initiating a communication session with a member device of a social network to exchange communications, wherein the communications are associated with a television program presented by way of a media processor communicatively coupled to the processor;

activate the speech capture element in response to the detected stimulus, wherein the speech capture element is maintained active independent of a characteristic of the detected stimulus in accordance with a pattern of prior speech messages captured by the speech capture element;

transmit a request for initiating the communication session with the member device of the social network;

capture a speech message at the speech capture element; and

transmit a message representative of the speech message to the member device of the social network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises one of a remote controller and a mobile communication device, and wherein the media processor is within a set-top box.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the stimulus is a selection of one or more buttons on the user interface of the device, wherein the user interface comprises one of a mechanical keypad, and a touch-sensitive display, and wherein the processor is operable to transmit a command to the media processor to indicate an activation state of the speech capture element.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of duration and a sequence of selection of one or more buttons on the user interface and wherein the pattern of prior speech messages is determined by one of the processor, the media processor, and a remote server.

5. The device of claim 1, further comprising a display, and wherein the processor is operable to:

receive a text message from the member device of the social network; and

present the received text message on the display.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising a speaker, and wherein the processor is operable to:

receive an audio message from the member device of the social network; and

reproduce the audio message via the speaker.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the transmitted message is a text message and wherein the speech message is converted to the text message by one of the processor, the media processor and a remote server.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to:

present by way of the user interface a list of member devices of the social network;

detect by way of the user interface a first selection of the member device from the list of member devices; and

detect by way of the user interface a second selection to initiate the communication session with the member device.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to:

receive a group of messages generated by the member device; and

present the group of messages at the user interface, wherein the group of messages generated by the member device are received from one of a remote server communicatively coupled to the social network, and the media processor.

10. A network element, comprising a processor coupled to a memory, wherein the processor is operable to:

initiate a communication session between first and second member devices of a social network to exchange communications in relation to a media program;

receive a speech message captured by a speech capture element of the first member device, wherein the speech capture element is activated independent of a characteristic of a detected activation stimulus of the first member device in accordance with a pattern of prior speech messages captured by the speech capture element; and

transmit a message representative of the speech message to the second member device of the social network.

11. The network element of claim 10, comprising one of a server and a set-top box and wherein the first member device comprises one of a remote controller and a mobile communication device.

12. The network element of claim 10, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of duration and a sequence of selection of one or more buttons on a user interface of the first member device and wherein the pattern of prior speech messages is determined by one of the first member device and the processor.

13. The network element of claim 10, wherein the pattern of prior speech messages is derived from a user profile that is updated by monitoring speech message patterns.

14. The network element of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to:

present by way of a display communicatively coupled to the network element a list of member devices of the social network;

receive a first selection of the second member device from the list of member devices; and

receive a second selection to initiate the communication session.

15. The network element of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to:

receive a group of messages generated by the second member device; and

present the group of messages at a display device that is communicatively coupled to the network element.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

transmit a request for initiating a communication session with a member device of a social network to exchange communications;

activate a speech capture element, wherein the speech capture element is maintained active independent of a characteristic of the detected stimulus in accordance with a pattern of prior speech messages;

detect a speech message at the activated speech capture element; and

transmit a message representative of the speech message to the member device of the social network.

17. The storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to detect a stimulus at a user interface for initiating the communication session, wherein the characteristic of the detected stimulus comprises at least one of duration and a sequence of selection of one or more buttons on the user interface and wherein the pattern of prior speech messages is determined by at least one of a processor coupled with the speech capture element, a media processor communicatively coupled to the device, and a remote server.

18. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the pattern of prior speech messages is derived from a user profile that is updated by monitoring speech message patterns.

19. The storage medium of claim 16, comprising computer instructions to:

present by way of a user interface a list of member devices of the social network;

detect by way of the user interface a first selection of the member device from the list of member devices; and

detect by way of the user interface a second selection to initiate the communication session with the member device.

20. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the communications are exchanged in relation to a media program.