Method and system for providing textual content along with voice messages

• US 6,775,360 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2000
• Issued: 08/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Pokhariyal, Shuvranshu, Hernandez, Thomas J., Davidson, Jason Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elahee, Md S
• Application Number:
  US09/749,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20020085690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.12, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.15, 379/88.17, 379/52, 379/88.01, 379/88.02, 455/557, 704/235
• US Class Current: 379/88.14
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6505 storing speech in digital form

Abstract

A system and method for providing textual content along with voice messages is presented. A caller at a calling station places a call to a callee at a receiving station. The call is placed through a connection, and the receiving station includes a callee'"'"'s phone linked to a callee'"'"'s computer. The call is recorded at the calling station to generate voice data. The call is then transcribed based on the voice data to generate the textual content of the call. The textual content is sent by the calling station to a server via the connection. The server then transfers the textual content, as well as voice data received by the server, to an electronic incoming mailbox of the callee as electronic mail.

Claims

1. A method for providing textual content along with voice messages, comprising:

receiving a telephone call from a caller at a caller telephone;

switching the telephone call to a server if a callee is unavailable;

transmitting a first message to the caller from the server identifying that a calling station including the caller telephone should initiate voice-to-text conversion;

transmitting a second message from the calling station to the server indicating the first message, regarding initiation of the voice-to-text conversion, was received;

transforming voice data of a call to textual data using a caller'"'"'s voice profile;

associating the textual data with the voice data in the calling station; and

transmitting the textual and voice data to the callee.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming comprises:

digitizing the voice data of the call if the voice data is recorded in analog form to generate digital voice data; and

performing speech recognition, using a speech recognition engine and the voice profile, on the digital voice data to generate the textual data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording data of the call to generate the voice data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data of the call is recorded in the calling station.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice data comprises digital or analog voice data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the caller'"'"'s voice profile characterizes speech properties of the caller.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual and voice data are transmitted as electronic mail to the callee.

8. The method according to claim 1, further including placing a call to a callee phone at a receiving station, wherein when the callee does not answer the call via the callee phone, a connection is established between the caller phone and the computing device and the caller provides the voice data.

9. A method, comprising:

establishing a call from a phone to a receiving station, wherein the phone is associated with a caller and coupled to a computer, and the receiving station is associated with a callee;

recording, at the phone, an analog signal of the call;

receiving, from a server, a digital signal to indicate absence of the callee at the receiving station and to identify that the computer should initiate voice-to-text transformation;

transmitting a second signal from a calling station, including the phone and the computer, to the server indicating the first message, regarding the initiation for the voice-to-text transformation, was received;

sending the recorded analog signal to the computer;

transforming, at the computer, the recorded analog signal to textual data; and

sending the textual data to the server.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

determining the identity of the caller prior to the establishing;

associating the analog signal with the determined identity; and

sending the identity of the caller to the computer along with the recorded analog signal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the identity is determined based at least in part on speaker identification.

12. A method for a server linking a caller and a callee, comprising:

receiving, via a computer, voice data of a call placed by a caller to a callee;

transmitting the voice data to a receiving station associated with the callee;

detecting absence of the callee at the receiving station;

sending a first message to the caller if absence of the callee is detected to initiate voice-to-text transformation at a calling station;

receiving a second message from the calling station to acknowledge the first message regarding the initiation of voice-to-text transformation;

storing the voice data;

receiving, from the caller, textual data of the call; and

sending the textual data and the voice data to the callee as electronic mail.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the textual data is sent as an attachment to an electronic mail message.

14. A system for providing textual content along with voice messages, comprising:

a calling station configured to enable a caller to place a call to a callee, the call being placed via a telephone, the calling station being further configured to transmit the voice data of the call and to transform voice data of the call to textual data using a caller'"'"'s voice profile;

a receiving station associated with the callee and configured to communicate with the calling station; and

a server configured to communicate with the calling station and the receiving station, to transmit a first message to the caller from the server identifying a calling station should initiate voice-to-text conversion, and to receive the voice data of the call and to store the voice data of the call, the server being further configured to associate the textual data with the voice data and to transmit the textual and the stored voice data to the callee, wherein

the calling station transmits a second message to the server indicating the first message, regarding the initiation of voice-to-text conversion, was received.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the textual and voice data are transmitted to the callee as electronic mail.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein when the call is placed to a callee phone at the receiving station and the callee does not answer the call via the callee phone, a connection is established between the caller phone and the computer and the caller provides the voice data.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the server includes a private branch exchange (PBX).

18. A calling station for providing textual content along with voice messages, comprising:

a phone associated with a caller who places a call to a callee, the phone being configured to communicate with a receiving station associated with the callee and a server, the phone receiving a digital signal to indicate absence of the callee at the receiving station and to identify that initiation of voice-to-text transformation should begin, and the phone transmitting a second signal to the server indicating the first message, regarding the initiation of voice-to-text conversion was received; and

a computer coupled to the phone, the computer having an identification mechanism and a speech recognition mechanism, the identification mechanism being configured to determine the identity of the caller, the speech recognition mechanism being configured to perform speech recognition on voice data of the call based at least in part on a retrieved local voice profile associated with the identity, the speech recognition generating textual data for the call and transmitting the textual data for the call,

wherein the server transmits the textual and voice data to the callee.

19. The calling station according to claim 18, wherein when the call is placed to a callee phone at the receiving station and the callee does not answer the call via the callee phone, a connection is established between the phone and the computer and the caller provides the voice data.

20. A computer-readable medium encoded with a plurality of processor-executable instructions which when executed cause a computer to:

transmit a call to a callee phone;

receive, by a calling station associated with the caller, a first message sent by a server, the first message to indicate an absence of the callee at a receiving station associated with the callee and to identify that the calling station should initiate voice-to-text transformation;

send, by the calling station to the server, a second message to acknowledge the first message that the voice-to-text transformation should be initiated; and

retrieve, at the calling station, the caller'"'"'s voice profile;

transform voice data of the call to textual data using a caller'"'"'s voice profile;

associate the textual data with the voice data; and

transmit the textual and voice data to a callee.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the transforming comprises:

digitizing the voice data of the call if the voice data is recorded in analog form to generate digital voice data; and

performing speech recognition, using a speech recognition engine and the local voice profile, on the digital voice data to generate the textual data.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, further comprising processor-executable instructions which when executed cause the computer to record data of the call to generate the voice data.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the textual data is sent to the callee embedded in an electronic mail message.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising the processor-executable instructions which when executed cause the computer to place the call to a callee phone at a receiving station, wherein when the callee does not answer the call via the callee phone, a connection is established between the caller phone and the computing device and the caller provides the voice data.

25. A method for providing textual content along with voice messages, comprising:

receiving a telephone call from a caller at a caller telephone;

switching the telephone call to a server if a callee is unavailable;

recording voice data of the telephone call at both the server and at a calling station including the caller telephone before transforming the voice data;

transforming, at the calling station, the recorded voice data of the recorded telephone call to textual data using a caller'"'"'s voice profile;

transmitting the textual data to the server; and

associating the textual data for the recorded voice data with the recorded voice data in the server.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the transforming comprises:

digitizing the voice data of the call if the voice data is recorded in analog form to generate digital voice data; and

performing speech recognition, using a speech recognition engine and the local voice profile, on the digital voice data to generate the textual data.