Method and apparatus for facilitating distributed speech processing in a communication system

• US 6,292,781 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Issued: 09/18/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Belkin, Anatoly S., Urs, Kamala D., Cimet, Israel A., Lev, Valy
• Primary Examiner(s): Korzuch, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lerner, Martin
• Application Number:
  US09/322,846
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/275, 704/201, 455/552, 455/553, 379/93.09, 379/100.15, 379/100.16, 379/202
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications

Abstract

The present invention addresses the need for an apparatus and method for facilitating and performing distributed speech processing in a wireless communication system. The present invention encompasses communication infrastructure embodiments that facilitate distributed speech processing by establishing voice and data pathways to support distributed speech processing services. The present invention also encompasses a communication unit that performs distributed voice recognition and distributed speech synthesis via the communication infrastructure. The communication unit (102) requests communication services from the communication infrastructure (101) that support both voice and data communication and utilizes a data connection to a distributed speech processing unit (116) to perform distributed voice recognition and distributed speech synthesis.

Claims

1. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a communication unit for a communication service that supports both voice and data communication;

receiving a call request for a call between the communication unit and a communication device;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the communication device using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and a distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of establishing the voice path between the communication unit and the communication device further comprises the step of routing, by a switching center, voice communication between the communication unit and the communication device via a voice transcoder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the request for the communication service that supports both voice and data communication comprises the step of receiving a request from the communication unit for a communication service that supports alternate voice and data communication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication service that supports alternate voice and data communication comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) alternate speech and data service.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a switching center, an indication to switch between the data path and the voice path; and

switching, by the switching center, between the data path and the voice path in response to the indication to switch.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the indication to switch between the data path and the voice path is originated by the communication unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indication to switch between the data path and the voice path comprises a call hold request.

7. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a communication unit for a communication service that supports both voice and data communication;

receiving a call request for a call between the communication unit and a communication device;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the communication device using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and a distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of establishing the data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit further comprises the step of routing, by a switching center, data communication between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit via a data transcoder.

8. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a communication unit for a communication service that supports both voice and data communication;

receiving a call request for a call between the communication unit and a communication device;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the communication device using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and a distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of receiving the request for the communication service that supports both voice and data communication comprises the step of receiving a request from the communication unit for a communication service that supports alternate voice and data communication and wherein the step of establishing the data path comprises the step of establishing, by a transcoder, the data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the transcoder, an indication to switch between the data path and the voice path; and

switching, by the transcoder, between the data path and the voice path in response to the indication to switch.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the indication to switch between the data path and the voice path is originated by the communication unit.

11. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a communication unit for a communication service that supports both voice and data communication;

receiving a call request for a call between the communication unit and a communication device;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the communication device using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and a distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of establishing the data path comprises the step of establishing, by a transcoder, the data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data path comprises a first portion of the wireless communication resource and the voice path comprises a second portion of the wireless communication resource.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of routing, by the transcoder, data communication between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit via the first portion of the wireless communication resource.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of routing, by the transcoder, voice communication between the communication unit and the communication device via the second portion of the wireless communication resource.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless communication resource comprises two time division multiplexed (TDM) time slots, a first time slot and a second time slot, and wherein the first portion of the wireless communication resource comprises the first time slot and the second portion comprises the second time slot.

16. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a communication unit to call a distributed speech processing unit;

receiving a request from the communication unit for a communication service that supports alternate voice and data communication;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of establishing the voice path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit further comprises the step of routing, by the switching center, voice communication between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit via a voice transcoder.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the distributed speech processing unit, speech processing data from the communication unit via the data path;

receiving, by the distributed speech processing unit, voice communication from the communication unit via the voice path; and

differentiating, by the distributed speech processing unit, between the voice communication and the data communication.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the switching center, an indication to switch between the data path and the voice path; and

switching, by the switching center, between the data path and the voice path in response to the indication to switch.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the indication to switch between the data path and the voice path is originated by the communication unit.

20. A method for a communication infrastructure to facilitate distributed speech processing, the method comprising the steps of

receiving a request from a communication unit to call a distributed speech processing unit;

receiving a request from the communication unit for a communication service that supports alternate voice and data communication;

establishing a voice path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit using a wireless communication resource; and

establishing a data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the step of establishing the data path between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit further comprises the step of routing, by a switching center, data communication between the communication unit and the distributed speech processing unit via a data transcoder.

21. A wireless communication infrastructure comprising:

infrastructure equipment that receives a request from a communication unit for a communication service that supports both voice and data communication, receives a call request for a call between the communication unit and a communication device, establishes a voice path between the communication unit and the communication device using a wireless communication resource, and establishes a data path between the communication unit and a distributed speech processing unit using the wireless communication resource, wherein the infrastructure equipment comprises a voice transcoder and a switching center that routes voice communication between the communication unit and the communication device via the voice transcoder.