Voice dialing methods and apparatus implemented using AIN techniques

• US 6,744,861 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Services Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Reformato, John, Naik, Jayant M., McAliley, Scott Alexander, Lubchenko, Euguene, Diede, William F., Bechtel, Kay L., Pershan, Barry Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): WEAVER, SCOTT LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US09/609,018
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/88.01, 379/88.03, 379/88.04, 379/88.07, 379/88.2, 379/88.22, 379/207.02, 379/201.02, 379/207.15
• US Class Current: 379/88.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for implementing communication services such as voice dialing services are described. In one Centrex based voice dialing embodiment, voice dialing service subscribers are given access to personal voice dialing records including calling entries via the Internet as well as via telephone connections. Each calling entry normally includes the name and, optionally nickname, of a party to be called. It also includes one or more telephone numbers associated with each name. Different telephone number identifies, e.g. locations, can be associated with different names. A user can create or update entries in a voice dialing directory using text conveyed over the Internet or speech supplied via a telephone connection. In order to facilitate updating and maintenance of voice dialing directories over the Internet speaker independent (SI) speech recognition models are used. When a calling entry is created via the Internet the text of the name is processed to generate a corresponding speech recognition model there from. When an entry is created via speech obtained over the telephone, a speech recognition model is generated from the speech and a text name is generated is generated using speech to text technology. To avoid having to hang-up and initiate a new voice dialing call the outcome of a voice dialing call is monitored and the subscriber is provided the opportunity to initiate another call using voice dialing if the first call did not complete successfully e.g., goes unanswered.

Claims

1. A voice dialing method, comprising:

setting a first trigger on a telephone line at a telephone switch;

in response to activation of said first trigger, contacting a service control point for call processing instructions;

operating the service control point to instruct said switch to connect a first party on said telephone line to voice dialing circuitry; and

operating the switch to disconnect the first party from the voice dialing circuitry after receiving said telephone number information from said voice dialing circuitry without disconnecting said first party from the switch.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein said first party is a party attempting to initiate a voice dialing call; and

wherein said first trigger is a termination attempt trigger.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first trigger is a vertical access trigger.

4. The voice dialing method of claim 1,

wherein operating the service control point to instruct said switch includes:

transmitting an instruction from the service control point to said switch; and

wherein the method further comprises;

operating said switch, in response to said instruction, to connect the calling party to said voice dialing circuitry.

5. The method of claim 2,

wherein said service control point is an integrated service control point;

and

wherein operating the service control point includes;

accessing one of a plurality of call processing records stored in the service control point, each call processing record including call processing information corresponding to one of a plurality of voice dialing service subscriber'"'"'s.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said instruction is part of a send to outside resource message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said message includes an address identifying said voice dialing circuitry.

8. The voice dialing method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

operating the switch to route the call in response to telephone number information received from said voice dialing circuitry.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating a second trigger set at the switch on said telephone line in response to the occurrence of an event on said line;

reconnecting said first party to said voice dialing circuitry; and

operating the voice dialing circuitry to perform a speech recognition operation on speech received from said first party to identify the name of an additional party to be called.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the voice dialing circuitry is an intelligent peripheral device coupled to the said telephone switch.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the switch to establish a voice connection between the first party and the voice dialing circuitry;

retrieving voice dialing information corresponding to the first party from a plurality of voice dialing records; and

using the retrieved voice dialing information to identify a telephone number to be dialed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of operating the service control point includes the step of:

supplying the switch with a subscriber identifier to be used when performing a voice dialing operation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of operating the service control point includes the step of:

performing a look-up operation using a set of stored customer identifier information and using a telephone number corresponding to a telephone from which the first party is calling, to identify a user identifier corresponding to said telephone number.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said step of contacting a service control point includes the step of:

using automatic number identification information to obtain the telephone number corresponding to the telephone from which the first party is calling; and

sending the telephone number of the first party to the service control point.

15. A voice dialing method, comprising:

setting a first trigger on a telephone line at a telephone switch, said first trigger being a mid call trigger;

in response to activation of said first trigger, contacting a service control point for call processing instructions; and

operating the service control point to instruct said switch to connect a first party on said telephone line to voice dialing circuitry.

16. A voice dialing method, comprising:

setting a first trigger on a telephone line at a telephone switch said first trigger being a feature code trigger;

in response to activation of said first trigger, contacting a service control point for call processing instructions; and

operating the service control point to instruct said switch to connect a first party on said telephone line to voice dialing circuitry.

17. A voice dialing method, comprising:

setting a first trigger on a telephone line at a telephone switch;

in response to activation of said first trigger, contacting a service control point for call processing instructions;

operating the service control point to instruct said switch to connect a first party on said telephone line to voice dialing circuitry;

wherein the step of operating the service control point includes the step of;

supplying the switch with a subscriber identifier to be used when performing a voice dialing operation, the subscriber identifier being the telephone number of a subscriber'"'"'s land-line phone and wherein said telephone number corresponding to the telephone from which the first party is calling is a subscriber'"'"'s mobile telephone number, said step of supplying the switch with a subscriber identifier including the step of correlating the subscriber'"'"'s mobile telephone number to the subscriber'"'"'s land-line telephone number.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the subscribers land-line telephone number is a telephone number for which Centrex service is provided.

19. A voice dialing method, comprising:

sending a message to an integrated service control point, the message including a first telephone number, the first telephone number being a mobile telephone number;

operating the service control point to use the first telephone number to access a call processing record;

identifying, using information included in the accessed call processing record a subscriber identifier the subscriber identifier being a land-line telephone number; and

supplying the identified subscriber identifier to voice dialing circuitry.

20. The voice dialing method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

operating the voice dialing circuitry to retrieve information in a data record associated with the supplied subscriber identifier.

21. The voice dialing method of claim 19, further comprising:

operating a telephone switch to generate said message in response to a signal received from a telephone associated with the first telephone number.

22. The voice dialing method of claim 20, further comprising the step of:

operating the voice dialing circuitry to perform a speech recognition operation to identify a name; and

operating the voice dialing circuitry to supply a second telephone number corresponding to an identified name to a telephone switch.

23. A voice dialing system, comprising:

voice dialing circuitry including a speech recognition circuit for performing a speech recognition operation;

a telephone switch coupled to the voice dialing circuitry; and

a service control point coupled to the telephone switch, the service control point including voice dialing information relating to a plurality of voice dialing service subscribers, the voice dialing information corresponding to at least one voice dialing service subscriber including;

information associating at least two different telephone numbers corresponding to telephones used by said service subscriber to place calls with a subscriber identifier, said at least two different telephone numbers being suitable for comparison to a calling party number to obtain the associated subscriber identifier from said voice dialing information.

24. The voice dialing system of claim 23, wherein the subscriber identifier is a first telephone number, the plurality of telephone numbers including a land-line telephone number and a mobile telephone number associated with the same subscriber.

25. The voice dialing system of claim 23, wherein the voice dialing circuitry is an intelligent peripheral device including means for performing speech recognition operations using speak recognition models of names generated from text versions of said names.

26. The voice dialing system of claim 23, wherein the service control point includes means for supporting a plurality of Centrex services through the use of call processing records, said voice dialing information being stored in at least some of said call processing records.

27. An integrated service control point, comprising:

means for receiving signals from telephone switches;

a plurality of call processing records corresponding to voice dialing service subscribers, each call processing record including information identifying voice dialing circuitry to be used to perform a voice dialing operation when servicing the subscriber with which the record is associated; and

means for coupling the service control point to the Internet; and

means for updating call processing records in response to information received over the Internet.

28. The integrated service control point of claim 27, wherein at least one of the call processing records includes a plurality of telephone numbers associated with a voice dialing service subscriber identifier.

29. The integrated service control point of claim 27, wherein said plurality of telephone numbers includes at least two land-line telephone numbers and one mobile telephone number.

30. The integrated service control point of claim 28, wherein the call processing records include information for providing a plurality of Centrex services.