Patent ID: 7286990
Filing Date: 2007-10-23
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
1. A universal interface for accessing one or more information systems from a user device, the universal interface comprising: an input converter for converting voice or tone inputs from the user device to commands; an interface control module coupled to the input converter for receiving the commands from the input converter; determining one of the information systems to be accessed; converting the commands to commands recognizable by the information system; forwarding the converted commands to the information system; receiving data from the information system; and detecting the form of the data received from the information system, including whether the data received from the information system is speech or text data; a speech-to-text routing switch coupled to the interface control module for receiving data from the information system and control data from the interface control module; an output switch coupled to the interface control module and the speech-to-text routing switch for receiving speech from the speech-to-text routing switch, for receiving a control input from the interface control module, and for forwarding speech from the speech-to-text routing switch to the user device; and a text-to-speech converter coupled to the output switch for receiving text from the interface control module, converting the text to speech, and forwarding the speech to the output switch to deliver the speech to the user device.