Methods and systems for managing telecommunications and for translating voice messages to text messages

• US 8,447,285 B1
• Filed: 03/11/2008
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CallWave Communications, LLC
• Original Assignee: CallWave Communications, LLC
• Inventors: Giannini, David, Hofstatter, David F., Kelley, Colin, McClintock, David C., Smith, Robert F., Trandal, David S., Kirchhoff, Leland W., Bladon, Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US12/046,305
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.4, 370/300, 379/71, 379/80, 379/85, 379/88, 379/88.22, 379/88.25, 379/88.26, 704/200, 704/201, 704/251
• US Class Current: 455/414.4
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72433 for voice messaging, e.g. dictaphones for answering incoming calls H04M1/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/554 Data synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/203 composed of PSTN and data network, e.g. the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53341 Message reply
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5335 Message type or catagory, e.g. priority, indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0012 Details of application programming interfaces [API] for telephone networks; Arrangements which combine a telephonic communication equipment and a computer, i.e. computer telephony integration [CPI] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Systems and methods that can be utilized to convert a voice communication received over a telecommunication network to text are described. In an illustrative embodiment, a call processing system coupled to a telecommunications network receives a call from a caller intended for a first party, wherein the call is associated with call signaling information. At least a portion of the call signaling information is stored in a computer readable medium. A greeting is played the caller, and a voice communication from the caller is recorded. At least a portion of the voice communication is converted to text, which is analyzed to identify portions that are inferred to be relatively more important to communicate to the first party. A text communication is generated including at least some of the identified portions and including fewer words than the recorded voice communication. At least a portion of the text communication is made available to the first party over a data network.

Claims

1. A method of processing a voice communication and enabling a first user to share information with other users, comprising:

receiving, at an application software program installed on a mobile device associated with the first user, a voice communication including a plurality of spoken words from a first user;

converting some or all of the voice communication received at the application program installed on the mobile device associated with the first user to text using at least in part a speech-to-text recognizer;

identifying gist of the voice communication from the translated text wherein the identification is based at least in part on;

an identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more words in a vocabulary of uncommon words that are uncommon in voice communications, and

a confidence value calculated by the speech-to-text recognizer in the identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more words in the vocabulary of uncommon words;

automatically posting, by a processing system, text corresponding to the identified gist of the voice communication on a social networking web page associated with the first user,

wherein the social networking web page is configured to share first user information posted on the social networking web page with others; and

wherein text corresponding to a portion of the plurality of spoken words is not posted and the social networking web page is accessible by at least a first plurality of other users.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

generating a concise text version of the voice communication, wherein the concise text version does not include all of the voice communication words, includes abbreviations of a voice communication word, and/or includes an intentionally misspelled word, wherein the intentionally misspelled word includes less characters than if the misspelled word was spelled correctly; and

providing the concise text version in a web page accessible to one or more recipients identified by the first user.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising:

providing the gist of the voice communication for transmission via a short messaging service.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising providing the software application to be hosted on the first user'"'"'s mobile communications device, wherein the software application is configured to be used to record voice communications.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising making the social networking web page accessible to at least some other users identified by the first user.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising transmitting all or some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications from the first user prior to receipt of the voice communication.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising transmitting at least some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications via the social networking web page from the first user, wherein an opt-in user interface is presented via the social networking web page.

8. A method of processing a voice communication and enabling a user to share information with other users, comprising:

providing an application software program to a mobile device associated with a first user, wherein the application software program is at least in part;

preinstalled on the mobile device of the first user, or

transmitted to the mobile device of the first user;

receiving at the application software program a voice communication including a plurality of spoken words from the first user;

converting some or all of the voice communication to text;

identifying gist of the voice communication from the translated text wherein the identification is based at least in part on;

an identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more vocabulary of phrases indicating gist, and

a position in the translated text of the vocabulary of phrases indicating gist in the voice communication;

automatically causing, at least in part, text corresponding to the identified gist of the voice communication to be displayed on a social networking web page associated with the first user,

wherein the social networking web page is configured to share user information posted on the social networking web page with others and the social networking web is accessible by at least a first plurality of other users; and

in addition to causing, at least in part, the concise version of the text to be displayed on the social networking web page accessible by at least the first plurality of users, automatically transmitting some or all of the text to one or more other destinations designated by the first user.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the one or more other destinations include one or more email, Short Message Service, and/or Multimedia Message Service addresses.

10. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein substantially all of the plurality of spoken words is converted to text and all the text is sent to at least one mobile device.

11. The method as defined in claim 8, the method further comprising transmitting all or some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications via the social networking web page from the first user prior to posting of the voice communication.

12. The method as defined in claim 8, the method further comprising transmitting at least some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications from the first user, wherein an opt-in user interface is presented via the social networking web page.

13. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the social networking web page is accessible at a website that hosts social networking pages of a plurality of users.

14. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the social networking web page is a publicly accessible web page.

15. A system comprising:

at least one computing device;

program instructions stored in non-transitory memory, that when executed by the at least one computing device, are configured to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at an application software program installed on a mobile device associated with the first user, a voice communication including a plurality of spoken words from a first user;

converting some or all of the voice communication received at the application program installed on the mobile device associated with the first user to text using at least in part a speech-to-text recognizer;

identifying gist of the voice communication from the translated text wherein the identification is based at least in part on;

an identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more words in a vocabulary of uncommon words that are uncommon in voice communications, and

a confidence value calculated by the speech-to-text recognizer in the identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more words in the vocabulary of uncommon words;

automatically posting text corresponding to the identified gist of the voice communication on a social networking web page associated with the first user,

wherein the social networking web page is configured to share first user information posted on the social networking web page with others; and

wherein text corresponding to a portion of the plurality of spoken words is not posted and the social networking web page is accessible by at least a first plurality of other users.

16. The system as defined in claim 15, the process further comprising:

providing the concise text version for transmission via a short messaging service.

17. The system as defined in claim 15, the process further comprising:

providing the software application to be hosted on the first user'"'"'s mobile communications device, wherein the software application is configured to be used to record voice communications.

18. The system as defined in claim 15, the process further comprising:

making the social networking web page accessible to at least some other users identified by the first user.

19. The system as defined in claim 15, the process further comprising:

transmitting all or some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications from the first user prior to receipt of the voice communication.

20. The system as defined in claim 15, the process further comprising:

transmitting at least some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications from the first user, wherein an opt-in user interface is presented via the social networking web page.

21. A system comprising:

at least one computing device;

program instructions stored in non-transitory memory, that when executed by the at least one computing device, are configured to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

providing an application software program to a mobile device associated with a first user, wherein the application software program is at least in part;

preinstalled on the mobile device of the first user, or

transmitted to the mobile device of the first user;

receiving at the application software program a voice communication including a plurality of spoken words from the first user;

converting some or all of the voice communication to text;

identifying gist of the voice communication from the translated text wherein the identification is based at least in part on;

an identification of one or more words in the translated text that correspond to respective one or more vocabulary of phrases indicating gist, and

a position in the translated text of the vocabulary of phrases indicating gist in the voice communication;

automatically causing, at least in part, text corresponding to the identified gist of the voice communication to be displayed on a social networking web page associated with the first user,

wherein the social networking web page is configured to share user information posted on the social networking web page with others and the social networking web is accessible by at least a first plurality of other users; and

in addition to causing, at least in part, the concise version of the text to be displayed on the social networking web page accessible by at least the first plurality of users, automatically transmitting some or all of the text to one or more other destinations designated by the first user.

22. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein the one or more other destinations include one or more email, Short Message Service, and/or Multimedia Message Service addresses.

23. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein substantially all of the plurality of spoken words is converted to text and is sent to a mobile device.

24. The system as defined in claim 21, the process further comprising transmitting all or some of the text to one or more other users that have opted to receive communications from the first user prior to posting of the voice communication.

25. The system as defined in claim 21, the process further comprising transmitting at least some of the text to one or more other users that have opted in to receive communications from the first user, wherein an opt-in user interface is presented via the social networking web page.

26. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein the social networking web page is a social networking web page accessible at a website that hosts social networking pages of a plurality of users.

27. The system as defined in claim 21, wherein the social networking web page is a publicly accessible web page.