Abstract:
Instant communications with voice activated connections by both initiating and responding individuals are disclosed using advanced telephones and data networks. A users&#39; speech is captured through an advanced telephone and is automatically recognized to initiate communications with another individual or a group over a data network. The system forwards a predefined communication alert to the designated individual or group. Recipients of the communications alert can indicate acceptance of the communication attempt by speech which is also automatically recognized. Two way communications are instantly established upon acceptance. System configuration, group definitions, user&#39;s access permissions, voice activation phrases, and communication alerts are managed through software in a user-accessible network-based service.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Not Applicable. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not Applicable. 
       REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX 
       [0003]    Not Applicable. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0005]    This invention relates to voice and data communications, in particular, to an improved technique for instantly communicating with individuals or groups by utilizing advanced telephones, automatic speech recognition, data networks, and controlling software and services. 
         [0006]    Advanced telephones are herein defined to be mobile phones, smart-phones, USB-phones, soft-phones, and other voice communication devices and voice communication systems that are capable of interacting with data networks. A smart-phone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone, often with functionality similar to a personal computer. A soft-phone is a software program for making telephone calls over the Internet using a general purpose computer, rather than using dedicated hardware. A USB-phone can look like traditional phone device, but it has a USB connector for connecting to computing equipment and data networks rather than an RJ-11 connector for connecting to traditional telephone networks. 
         [0007]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0008]    People can communicate quickly with each other simply by speaking. Voice communications systems have steadily improved and today allow people a high degree of mobility while retaining the ability to communicate. Still, communication system protocols, user interfaces, and network management often limit the efficiency of communications, especially for tasks involving teams of people. 
         [0009]    Communication systems exist that always broadcast to an entire group regardless of who within the group is specifically intended as the recipient. These systems are common in such applications as intercoms and radio dispatch. Efficiency is reduced in these systems since communication initiators typically identify the intended participants audibly, and all participants must listen to determine if the communications is intended for them. 
         [0010]    One prior attempt to make remote communications more efficient is the process of voice-dialing, where the initiator of a telephone call may speak a phrase or a series of numbers to directly or indirectly cause a communications network to place a traditional phone call. Voice dialing relies on automatic speech recognition, where the input speech is analyzed by computing equipment to determine which phrase of a predetermined set of phrases was spoken. Voice dialing, however, does not provide the call recipient the capability of engaging in communications in a hands-free manner by using voice commands to respond to the communication attempt. 
         [0011]    Another prior attempt at making communications more efficient, referred to as “Transparent Telephony,” is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,784. Transparent Telephony specifies that the caller&#39;s initiating utterance be captured and forwarded to the destination with sufficient fidelity to enable the recipient to identify the caller. This method of alerting recipients can take more time than is necessary to establish two-way communications because the recipients have to hear the initiating phrase which may take several times longer than, for example, an alerting signal tone. It also presumes that the recipient is familiar with the caller&#39;s voice and that the recipient is in a situation where caller identity is distinguishable, which may not be the case, for example, on a noisy battlefield. Transparent Telephony is also lacking in that it does not provide for establishing instant communications with a group of recipients. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    A system and method is presented for people to communicate instantly with individuals or groups. An initiating user need only speak the user or group designation phrase, and a responding user can speak an acceptance phrase for a two-way connection to be established with the initiating user. The instant communications includes the initiating phrase being automatically recognized. Recognition of the initiating phrase then causes one or more alerts to be sent to the designated recipients. Upon receiving an alert, a recipient may speak an acceptance phrase which is also automatically recognized and may be forwarded to the initiating user. The initiator and recipient are then connected with two-way audio communication and possibly other media such as video, and graphics. Connection times are sufficiently short so that audible coordination of tasks is made extremely efficient. And, unlike intercom systems that broadcast to all team members, team members not part of a designated group are not distracted with irrelevant communications because communication alerts are sent only to those team members who are expressly included in the definition of the designated group. 
         [0013]    Voice activation by both the initiator and the recipients allows all participants to communicate in a hands-free manner. Teams that must communicate frequently to be effective, such as military groups, construction crews, sport team members, and others, can improve their team performance with the more efficient and more effective communication capability this invention provides. 
         [0014]    The system and method of this invention also allows multiple simultaneous conversations among disjoint sets of users, and instant management of active connections with specified command phrases. 
         [0015]    The invention also includes the capability to optionally automatically accept or otherwise handle communication attempts without the need for explicit acceptance of the communication attempt. Where repeated connections are expected from specific users, automatically accepting a connection from a known source can further increase communication efficiency. 
         [0016]    The invention also includes the capability to deliver priority alerts. Some communications, such as public emergency alerts, require immediate attention. Priority communications may be instantly delivered to users whether they are actively participating in a conversation or not. For example, the priority communication alert could itself be an alerting audio signal or phrase carrying emergency information. If users are engaged in conversation, the connection handling system could interpose the priority message since it is aware of active connections. 
         [0017]    While speech is used as a means of establishing instant two-way communications, those communications need not be limited to audio. The ensuing communications may include images or video or text or other information or data. 
         [0018]    The instant communications system and method includes six major parts:
       1. Advanced Telephones (AT),   2. software to capture and handle users speech,   3. automatic speech recognition systems to translate spoken phrases into system commands,   4. a data communications network, such as, but not limited to, the Internet, cellular phone networks, and dedicated radio channels,   5. systems and software that implements a connection handling and connection bridging system for the AT information streams on the data communications network,   6. supporting computer systems with software for managing system configuration and control.       
 
         [0025]    The instant communications system may be managed by the user through the use of optional features that control, restrict, modify, or redirect access according to various conditions. Access management may include, but is not limited to: user specified schedules, lists of specified individuals or groups, alternate destinations, automatic responses, and combinations thereof. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0026]      FIG. 1  illustrates an overview of the instant communication system with person to person communications showing users and major system components. 
           [0027]      FIG. 2  illustrates an overview of the instant communication system with person to group communications showing users and major system components. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0028]    As depicted in  FIG. 1 , an instant communication system, having been initialized through computer systems  13  with software for managing configuration and control, provides the means for an initiating user  1  to speak a user or group designation phrase. The spoken phrase  2  is captured by software on the initiating users&#39; Advanced Telephone  3  (AT). The AT  3  delivers the captured audio as signal data to the speech processing and recognition system which may include the initiating user&#39;s AT  3 , network servers  7 , or both. To do this, the AT  3  exchanges data with a communications system  4 , which in turn exchanges data with a data network  5 . The data network  5  interconnects with and communicates data to the connection handler  6  and the network server(s)  7 . The speech processing and recognition system determines that the signal data corresponds to a valid user or group designation phrase, and forwards communication initiation information to the connection handler  6 . The network server(s)  7  process various forms of input data from user&#39;s ATs  3 ,  9  and transfers results to the connection handler  6 . If a spoken phrase was determined to be a valid user designation phrase, the connection handler  6  then initiates a data connection through the data network  5  with the AT  9  belonging to the designated user  11  through a communication system  8 . The designated user  11  may be on the same communication network  4  as initiating user  1 , or a different communication network  8  connected to the data network  5 . Optionally, users may be connected to a data network through wireless networks, wired networks, or combinations thereof. If the designated user  11  is actively accepting communication requests, a predefined communication alert is presented as an audio signal  10  to the designated user  11 . The designated user  11  may respond by speaking a phrase  12  indicating acceptance of the communication attempt or a valid communication command phrase. Software on the designated user&#39;s AT  9  captures the spoken response phrase  12 , and forwards it to the speech processing and recognition system which may include the designated user&#39;s AT  9 , network servers  7  or both. If the designated user&#39;s response indicates acceptance of the communication initiative, the spoken response phrase  12  may optionally be presented as an audio signal  14  to the initiating user  1 . Furthermore, if the designated user&#39;s response indicates acceptance of the communication initiative, the connection handler  6  initiates a two-way connection to be established between the initiating user  1  and the designated user  11 . The two-way connection may be maintained entirely by the users&#39; ATs  3 ,  9 , or by a combination of the ATs  3 ,  9 , the connection handler  6 , and possibly also network servers  7  configured to act as a conference bridge of presented media including audio, video, and other media. The AT&#39;s  3 ,  9  continue to capture audio data  2 ,  12  from both the initiating  1  and the designated user  11 , and submit the signal to the speech processing and recognition system. The speech processing and recognition system looks for a valid communication command phrase from either user which may be a disconnect command. When a valid communication command phrase is detected, the communication information is passed to the connection handler  6  for further processing. When the connection handler  6  receives a disconnect command, the two-way audio connections are discontinued. If the designated user  11 , is not accepting connection requests, or actively refuses the connection attempt, the connection handler may provide an audio message  14  to inform the initiating user  1 . 
         [0029]    Connection times are sufficiently short so that audible coordination of tasks is made extremely efficient. And, unlike intercom systems that broadcast to all team members, excluded team members are not distracted with irrelevant communications because a connection includes only those team members expressly identified in the initiating designation phrase. 
         [0030]    The users&#39; ATs  3 ,  9  may be a mobile phone with data services. The AT may be comprised of a mobile phone plus a headset  15  either wired or wireless. 
         [0031]    The software on the ATs  3 ,  9  captures the speech  2 , 12  from the users  1 ,  11 . When the ATs are powered on some user activation of the software on the AT may be required, or the software may activate automatically. Once active, the software captures the audio data  2 ,  12  from the user&#39;s microphone and presents it to the speech processing and recognition system. 
         [0032]    The speech processing and recognition system may be entirely on an AT  3 ,  9 , entirely on a separate computer system  7 , or server, connected to the communication or data network  5 , or it may be distributed across the AT  3 ,  9  and the server  7 , or other systems connected to the communication or data network  5 . The speech processing and recognition system analyzes the audio data for patterns that indicate communication commands such as the initiation of a communication attempt. Since the microphone may always be on or ‘live’, the speech processing and recognition system must be able to distinguish communication commands from other speech uttered by the user as well as ordinary background noise. 
         [0033]    The ATs  3 ,  9  must be capable of exchanging data with a data communication network  5 , possibly through a wireless communications system  4 ,  8 . The wireless communication system  4 ,  8  must be capable of exchanging data with a data communication network  5 . 
         [0034]    The data communication network  5  must be able to interconnect all the communication systems  4 ,  8  for all users and groups  3 ,  9 , the computer systems involved in speech processing and recognition  7 , the connection handling system  6 , and the computer systems  13  for management of the instant communications systems. 
         [0035]    The management system  13  implements features such as configuration of system parameters, group definitions, user&#39;s access management information, and voice communication command phrases. 
         [0036]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , group communications are handled in a very similar manner, except for the following. The speech processing and recognition system determines that the signal data from the initiating user  1  corresponds to a valid group designation phrase, and forwards communication initiation information to the connection handler  6 . The connection handler  6  attempts to forward one or more alerts  10 ,  18 , which may be the captured group designation phrase, or an alerting signal to the ATs  9 ,  16  of all members  11 ,  19  in the designated group. If no designated group member&#39;s AT is accessible, a failure notice is returned to the initiating user  1 . If a designated group member replies audibly  12 ,  17 , the designated group member&#39;s AT captures the spoken phrase and submits the captured speech signal data to the speech processing and recognition system. The speech processing and recognition system determines that the signal data corresponds to a valid communication command phrase, and forwards communication attempt response information to the connection handler  6 . If no designated group member replies with a connect acceptance indication, a failure notice is returned to the initiating user  1 . If a designated group member  11 ,  19  replies with a connection acceptance indication, an acceptance alert, which may be the captured acceptance indication phrase from the group member, is returned to the initiating user  1 , and the users are connected on a live two-way conference bridge with other group members. The two-way connections may be maintained entirely by the users&#39; ATs  3 ,  9 ,  16 , or by a combination of the ATs  3 ,  9 ,  16 , the connection handler  6 , and possibly also network servers  7  configured to act as a conference bridge of presented media whether audio, video, or other media. The AT&#39;s continue to capture signal data from all participating users  1 ,  11 ,  19 , and may continue to submit the signal to the speech processing and recognition system. The speech processing and recognition system looks for a valid communication command phrase from each participating user. When a valid communication command phrase is detected, the communication information is passed to the connection handler  6  for further processing. When the connection handler  6  receives a disconnect command from a designated group member, that member&#39;s two-way audio connection is discontinued. 
         [0037]    For both person to person and person to group communications, the system initialization process involves the communications management system  13  and all participating ATs  3 ,  9 ,  16 . The communications management system hardware and software must be installed on a network so as to be accessible by users (e.g. the Internet). The communication management system must be configured to support the intended users and groups by entering the voice communication command phrases, and communication alerts for each user designation and each group designation. The communication management system must also be configured to support the intended AT of each user. The ATs must also be initialized by loading and activating AT software on each AT. Furthermore, by using the loaded and activated AT software, connection to the communication management system must be made for further initialization.