Abstract:
Text captioned telephony, in which a telephone conversation is accompanied by text captions to aid in hard-of-hearing users, is implemented without the use of specialized text captioned telephone terminals by using a combination of an Internet appliance such as a computer and a telephone or by generalized voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephones.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60/695,099 filed Jun. 29, 2005, and hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present application relates generally to telephone systems and specifically to telephone systems that provide for real-time text captioning for the hard of hearing.  
         [0003]     Modem telecommunication services provide features to assist those who are deaf or hard of hearing. One such feature is the text telephone (TTY) also known as a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD). TDDs allow for text communication through the telephone system by generating tones that may be transmitted by analog telephone lines in response to a user typing letters on a keyboard.  
         [0004]     Hearing users may communicate with deaf users who have TDD devices through so-called “relays.” A relay is a service funded by telephone communication surcharges that provides a “call assistant” who intermediates between a deaf user and a hearing user. The call assistant communicates with the deaf user using a TDD and communicates with the hearing user by voice over a standard telephone line.  
         [0005]     A relay service may also be used to help those who are not deaf, but hard of hearing, by providing a captioned telephone. With a captioned telephone, a user who is hard of hearing may carry on a normal telephone conversation with a hearing user while a text transcription of the words spoken by the hearing user is displayed on the telephone. The text transcription allows the hard of hearing user to confirm his or her understanding of the spoken words. Unlike with a conventional relay service, captioned telephone requires extremely fast text transcription using a computer executed voice recognition system (typically with revoicing by a trained operator) so that the text captioning is as nearly as possible contemporaneous with the spoken words.  
         [0006]     Text captioned telephones of this type are marketed under the service mark CAPTEL and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,307,921 and 6,075,842 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0007]     A text captioned telephone system employs a relay service in a mode where the relay transmits both the voice of the hearing user and a text stream of the spoken words by that user. A telephone of the receiving hard of hearing user provides a text display for displaying the captions.  
         [0008]     In a single-line text captioned telephone, text and voice signals may be received over a single telephone line and separated electronically. The text captioned telephone includes software that automatically dials the relay, and providing the relay with the telephone number of the ultimate destination of the call. For incoming telephone calls, the hard of hearing user must normally hang up and redial the caller through the relay.  
         [0009]     In a two-line text captioned telephone, a first telephone line communicates with the caller, and a second telephone line communicates exclusively with the relay. The two-line system allows text captioning to be easily used on incoming calls by allowing the text captioned telephone to dial out to the relay when the call is received and forward the necessary voice signal.  
         [0010]     Many users of text-captioned telephony have jobs requiring significant use of the telephone as made possible by text-captioning. These users face a significant problem when they need to make use of telephone systems outside of their normal work environment where text captioning telephones may not be available or equipment such as cellular telephones that does not support text captioning must be used. Many workplaces use proprietary private branch exchange (PBX) telephone lines that do not support analog text captioning telephones, the latter which require standard telephone connections.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     The present inventors have recognized that increased accessibility of workers to the Internet and general purpose computers makes it possible to provide text-captioned telephony independently of specialized telephone terminal hardware intended narrowly for the deaf, hard of hearing, or assisted users. In a first embodiment, a standard telephone may be used in tandem with an Internet-connected computer to allow the conversation on the telephone to be augmented with text displayed on the computer. The voice signal is provided to a captioning service which transmits text captions over the Internet to the computer in near real time. In this way, standard office equipment can provide text-captioning capabilities without the need for specialized telephone equipment.  
         [0012]     Specifically, in a first embodiment of the invention, text captioning is provided to callers by a combination of a telephone terminal and an Internet appliance such as a browser on a computer. A first caller communicates a voice portion of a telephone call over the telephone network with a second caller, both callers operating telephone terminals on telephone lines. Text transcribing the telephone call is communicated over the Internet to one of the first and second callers for display on the Internet appliance.  
         [0013]     Thus it is one object of at least one embodiment of the invention to use commonly available office equipment to provide text-captioned telephony.  
         [0014]     It is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to permit text-captioned telephony using available telephone equipment, telephone networks, and billing arrangements.  
         [0015]     The telephone network may include a PBX network.  
         [0016]     Thus it is an object of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow users of PBX phones to participate in the benefits of text-captioned telephony normally limited to standard telephone lines.  
         [0017]     The text may be provided by a relay communicating with the Internet.  
         [0018]     It is thus another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow existing relay services to be used without the need to navigate proprietary calling systems such as PBX or cellular telephone.  
         [0019]     The relay may receive a portion of the telephone call from the telephone network.  
         [0020]     Thus it is an object of at least one embodiment of the invention to present an embodiment in which high speed Internet is not required.  
         [0021]     The first caller may dial the relay on the telephone network to provide the relay with the telephone number of the second caller, and the relay may call the telephone number of the second caller to complete the call.  
         [0022]     Thus it is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to preserve the anonymity or invisibility of the relay in the calling process.  
         [0023]     The relay may alternatively receive a portion of the telephone call from the Internet in a voice over Internet protocol.  
         [0024]     It is thus another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to eliminate the need for a separate call to the relay allowing seamless handling of incoming calls as well as the ability to make outgoing calls.  
         [0025]     The portion of the telephone call may be provided by tapping into the handset of one telephone terminal to communicate a portion of the conversation to the Internet appliance.  
         [0026]     It is thus another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a wide variety of telephone terminals to be used, with which the user is convenient and familiar, while providing a signal to the Internet appliance without the need for cumbersome or specialized microphones and the like.  
         [0027]     The Internet appliance may further transmit a video signal to the user over the Internet.  
         [0028]     Thus it is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to take advantage of the Internet connection to provide augmented communication between the callers or a caller and the relay.  
         [0029]     In an alternative embodiment, the invention may provide for text captions to telephone calls by communicating a voice portion of the telephone call between the first caller and the second caller over an Internet telephone using voice over Internet protocol (VOIP). Text captioning of the telephone call can be provided by a relay tapping into the Internet transmission and forwarding captioning information to the Internet telephone also over the Internet.  
         [0030]     Thus it is an object of at least one embodiment of the invention to take advantage of the ability of the Internet to make multiple connections among more than one party (e.g., two callers and the relay) to provide text-captioned telephony. It is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to take advantage of the ubiquity of Internet connections in the office environment to avoid the problems normally inherent in PBX proprietary lines.  
         [0031]     The Internet telephone may be a computer communicating with the Internet or a dedicated VOIP telephone where the captioning is displayed on the VOIP telephone display.  
         [0032]     Thus it is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to take advantage of inherent text communication qualities of VOIP telephone systems, either those using computers or dedicated VOIP phones, to provide for text-captioned telephony without specialized equipment.  
         [0033]     The user may initiate the communication to the relay to promote text captioning.  
         [0034]     Thus it is an object of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow on-demand text captioning only as required.  
         [0035]     The device may provide for a volume display to one of the first and second users.  
         [0036]     Thus it is an object of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow the hard-of-hearing user to have an additional dimension of understanding of the conversation, and thus some assurance that proper text captioning is occurring.  
         [0037]     The Internet telephone may incorporate a serial number and may use the serial number to validate the user.  
         [0038]     It is thus another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to prevent misuse of relay services as may occur with the anonymity of the Internet.  
         [0039]     The Internet telephone may further include a telephone network connection and the telephone may use the telephone network in lieu of the Internet when a telephone number is an emergency number such as 911.  
         [0040]     Thus it is another object of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a system that allows for traditional 911 response.  
         [0041]     These particular objects and advantages may apply to only some embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the scope of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0042]      FIG. 1  is a representation of a first embodiment of the invention providing text-captioned telephony using a PBX office telephone and Internet-connected computer;  
         [0043]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a voice-tap connecting the PBX telephone of  FIG. 1  to the computer to allow transfer of voice signals over the Internet to a relay;  
         [0044]      FIG. 3  is a caller interface window as may be displayed on the computer of  FIG. 1  allowing on-demand captioning of the telephone call;  
         [0045]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the principle steps of a program executed on the computer of  FIG. 1  when captioning is demanded by the caller;  
         [0046]      FIG. 5  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 1 , showing an alternative embodiment in which the voice signal is routed through a standard telephone line to the relay and the text is returned to the computer;  
         [0047]      FIG. 6  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 4  showing the flowchart for the embodiment of  FIG. 5 ;  
         [0048]      FIG. 7  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 3  showing a caller interface window for entering a PIN number to link captioning text to a particular call;  
         [0049]      FIG. 8  is a figure similar to that of  FIGS. 1 and 5  showing implementation of a text-captioning using VOIP transmissions;  
         [0050]      FIG. 9  is a figure similar to that of  FIGS. 7 and 3  showing a caller interface window for a VOIP telephone implemented on a standard computer;  
         [0051]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart of the principal steps executed by the computer in implementing the text-captioned telephony using VOIP telephones;  
         [0052]      FIG. 11  is a fragmentary view of the computer of  FIG. 8  showing the addition of a video camera so that voice and video may be transmitted to the other caller; and  
         [0053]      FIG. 12  is a fragmentary view of the caller interface window of  FIG. 9  showing a video inset possible with the configuration of  FIG. 11 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0054]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , in a first embodiment of the invention, a text captioned telephone system  10  may be implemented within a typical office having a PBX telephone terminal  12  and a desk top computer  14 . The desk top computer  14  includes a display screen  16 , a base unit  18  (including a processor, memory, disk drives and importantly a sound card) and a keyboard or other entry device  20 .  
         [0055]     As is understood in the art, the PBX telephone terminal  12  may be connected through an office wall jack  22  to a PBX network  24  using a proprietary communication protocol. The PBX network  24  communicates with a public switched telephone network  26  that allows the PBX telephone terminal  12  to connect to an external telephone terminal  28  to originate a call to the external telephone terminal  28  or to receive a call from the external telephone terminal  28 .  
         [0056]     The computer  14  may connect through an Ethernet card to an Ethernet network  30 , passing to a local router  32  to connect to the Internet  34  or may use one of a number of well known wireless standards to connect to the local router  32 .  
         [0057]     Referring now also to  FIG. 2 , a voice signal tap  36  has a short cable stub  38  terminating in an RJ-12 jack  40  that may be received in the handset jack for the main body of the PBX telephone terminal  12 . The tap  36  also provides a receiving socket for the RJ-12 jack  42  associated with the handset cord  44  so that the tap  36  may be simply interposed between the handset  46  and the main body of the PBX telephone terminal  12  to conduct voice signals as analog audio signals therethrough.  
         [0058]     A tap line  48  extending from the tap  36  terminates in a subminiature telephone jack  50  that may be received by audio input of the sound card of the base unit  18 . The tap line conducts a portion of the voice signals from the handset  46  to the sound card of the base unit  18 .  
         [0059]     The voice signals received by the computer  14  may be processed by an internal program of a type well known in the art to encode the voice signals as VOIP signals  52  that may be sent over the Internet to a server  54  associated with a relay service  56 . Programs for transmitting VOIP signal are commercially available from Skype of Luxembourg and Vonage of N.J., USA. At the relay service  56 , the encoded voice signals may be converted back to an analog signal for transcription by a call assistant who produces corresponding captioning text  55  that may be relayed through conventional Internet transfer protocols back to the computer  14  where the text may be displayed.  
         [0060]     In an alternative embodiment, a headset microphone and earpiece (not shown) may communicate separately with left and right sound card channels. This, along with echo canceling software in the computer  14  allows the relay service  56  to separate the voice of the caption user from the other party for improved transcription and anonymity.  
         [0061]     The relay service  56  may provide for human operators working with speech recognition engines to rapidly translate voice signals into text streams. The operation of such a relay is described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,503, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0062]     By placing the tap  36  in the path of the handset  46 , analog audio signals may be obtained, greatly simplifying the acquisition of the audio signal without the need to contend with the PBX standard or the need or awkward or unfamiliar computer associated microphones.  
         [0063]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , an office user wishing to avail themselves of text captioning may start a text-captioning program  58  on the computer  14  to provide a caller interface window  60  on the display screen  16 . The caller interface window  60  may provide simple mouse or keyboard operated controls including a caption button  62  that may be actuated by the caller to begin the program&#39;s operation.  
         [0064]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , upon pressing of the caption button  62 , as indicated by process block  64 , the computer  14  may initiate an Internet connection to the relay service  56  by invoking a stored URL of the relay server  54 . At this time, the computer  14  may provide some information to the relay including a serial number of the caller to validate the caller&#39;s location for the purpose of identifying the particular public authority responsible for the relay call. The caller can be required to register the program with a relay service database and the serial number can be used to authorize their use of the service, thus limiting fraudulent use of the relay service and allowing for local 911 service by providing information about the geographic location of the user.  
         [0065]     As indicated by process block  66 , the program  58  may then forward the tapped voice signals as VOIP signals to the relay server  54 , and receive text as indicated by process block  68  which may be displayed in text box  70  of the caller interface window  60 . The text box  70  includes conventional scroll-type controls  73  allowing text to be reviewed after it has been received. The program  58  may also provide for normal file operations  75  including saving of text files, e-mailing text files, and the like.  
         [0066]     Upon completion of the call, the caller may press the caption button  62  again to disconnect the call as indicated by process block  71 . The caption button  62  may include an animation visually indicating its state as being depressed or released or may change its label from “caption” to “end caption” indicating its changing function.  
         [0067]     Importantly, this system allows for convenient and intuitive voice communication between a PBX telephone terminal  12  and telephone terminal  28 , either for making outgoing calls or ingoing calls, while allowing either type of call to be captioned on demand without interruption of the telephone call or the need for specialized telephone equipment. This system will also work without a PBX exchange and can work for a variety of different telephone types not intended for text captioning.  
         [0068]     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , in a second embodiment, a standard desk top computer  14  may work in conjunction with a standard telephone (i.e., not text captioned), in this case a cell telephone  72 , the latter of which communicates through a cellular service  74  with the public switched telephone network  26 , without a direct connection between the cell telephone  72  and the computer  14 .  
         [0069]     In this embodiment, the caller using the cell telephone  72  first calls the relay service  56  as indicated by process block  76  of  FIG. 6 . The relay service  56 , per standard practice, receives telephone calls over the public switched telephone network  26 . The relay service  56  may provide an automated answering system that requests a telephone number from the caller of the ultimate destination of the telephone call, in this case, telephone terminal  28 . As indicated by process block  78  of  FIG. 6 , the caller may enter the requested telephone number by using the caller&#39;s keypad on the cell telephone  72 .  
         [0070]     In the case where the relay service remains anonymous, in the sense that the call assistant does not speak directly with the caller, the answering system may provide the caller with a personal identification number (PIN) as indicated in process block  80 . The relay service  56  links the caller&#39;s particular incoming line to the PIN in an internal database  57 .  
         [0071]     The caller, using a conventional browser on the desk top computer  14 , then enters the URL of the server  54  of the relay service  56 , as indicated by process block  82  of  FIG. 6 . This may also be done before initiating the call to the relay service  56 .  
         [0072]     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the relay server  54  provides the caller with webpage  86  offering a text box  88  allowing entry of the PIN received at process block  80 . The caller, by entering that PIN and press a captioning initiation button  90 , causes the relay service  56  to complete the call by connecting the incoming audio from the cell telephone  72  to the telephone terminal  28 . The relay service  56  then forwards captioning text  55  over the Internet  34  to the caller through a text box  92  as indicated by process block  94 . The text box  92  may use, for example, a browser plug-in or instant messaging program to provide for a consistent updating of the text as it is received, but otherwise requires no specialized software on computer  14 .  
         [0073]     Alternatively and preferably, the caller may first contact the webpage  86  using the computer  14  to provide the relay server  54  with both the number the caller wishes to dial and also the caller&#39;s own telephone number. The relay server  54  then calls the caller over the cell phone  72 . Once a connection is established with captions, the relay server  54  dials to the other party. This automatically links the IP address to the telephone connections without the need for PIN. The phone number of the caller may be entered on the webpage  86  in text box  87  and the destination phone number may be entered in text box  89  similar to those described for the PIN.  
         [0074]     The use of a web page and browser plug in to avoid the need for specialized software to be on the desktop computer  14  is also applicable to the earlier embodiment of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0075]     At the end of the call as indicated by process block  96 , the caller may press the captioning initiation button  90  again to terminate the call. The captioning initiation button  90  may reflect this new purpose, of terminating the captioning, by changing its label.  
         [0076]     Again, in this embodiment, no specialized text captioning equipment is required, but the system makes use of commonly available office and telephone equipment to provide for text captioning that is not limited to a particular location, but which may be used in any location where Internet and telephone access may be had. In this regard, computer  14  may, for example, be any Internet appliance, for example, a wireless mobile laptop or the like. Thus a caller may work from a hot spot using a cell telephone and a wireless laptop to obtain competent text captioning.  
         [0077]     In a variation on this embodiment, set-up of the call (e.g. providing the relay service  56  with the destination phone number) may be accomplished using the desktop computer  14  rather than via telephone  72 . When the caller calls the relay service  56 , the caller enters a pin number to connect the call to the captioning or the connection may be made by linking the callers phone number with a number previously entered on the computer  14 .  
         [0078]     In this embodiment, identification of the particular governmental entity responsible for reimbursement for the captioning can be obtained from the information of the public switched telephone network  26  per standard practice.  
         [0079]     In a variation on this embodiment, new 3G cellular services allow the use of both cellular voice and data connections simultaneously using a cellular phone. In this case, the browser on a desktop computer  14  may be replaced with a browser on the cell phone which provides a telephone and Internet appliance, all in one.  
         [0080]     Referring now to  FIG. 8  in a third embodiment, a single advanced Internet appliance may be used to replace the need for a telephone. That Internet appliance, for example, may be a standard computer  14  equipped with a microphone and headphone assembly  100  for making VOIP calls or a VOIP telephone  102  providing for display capabilities on screen  104 . Many PBX systems now allow for the connection of VOIP phones.  
         [0081]     Referring also to  FIGS. 9 and 10 , in a first variation on this embodiment, a program  108  executed by the computer  14  provides a caller interface window  110  on the display screen  16  of the computer allowing the initiation of a VOIP connection as indicated by process block  112  of  FIG. 10 . The caller interface window  110  provides a standard virtual telephone keypad  114  by which a telephone number of a telephone terminal  28  on the public switched telephone network  26  may be entered and displayed in text box  116 . Pressing of a call button  120  initiates a VOIP telephone call. The basic process of initiating a VOIP call is well understood in the art.  
         [0082]     In the present invention, however, at any time, a captioning initiation button  122  may be pressed, causing initiation of a second VOIP telephone call directly to the relay service  56  through the relay server  54  as indicated by process block  124 . At this time, the VOIP signals  52  exchanged between the computer  14  and telephone terminal  28  (optionally via the public switched telephone network  26 ) may be multicast to the server  54  to be interpreted as voice signals by the relay service  56 . The server  54  may also receive a serial number  125  identifying the caller and assisting in allocation of relay service fees among governmental entities. The relay service  56  returns captioning text  55  transcribing the VOIP signals  52  back to the computer  14  to be displayed in text box  92  as indicated by process block  126 .  
         [0083]     The caller interface window  110  may also provide a volume meter  130  aiding the caller in speaking to obtain sufficient signal strength for proper relay interpretation.  
         [0084]     Alternatively, the call may be initiated as a captioned call by pressing the captioning initiation button  122 , then dialing the telephone number, in which case, setup information  123  (e.g., the destination telephone number) together with a serial number  125 , are forwarded to the relay service  56  which may then initiate the VOIP call to the telephone terminal  28  patching through signals received from computer  14  to the telephone terminal  28 .  
         [0085]     As indicated by process block  132 , the call may be terminated by pressing the call button  120  and/or captioning may be terminated by pressing the captioning initiation button  122 .  
         [0086]     When the computer  14  is used, a connection to the public switched telephone network  26  may also be provided for interception of emergency calls, for example, to 911, routing those through the publicly-switched telephone network rather than through the Internet so as to provide for the benefits of rapid identification of geographic location of the caller inherent in calls made through the publicly-switched telephone network and not always provided currently with the VOIP services.  
         [0087]     Referring again to  FIG. 8 , the identical steps may be accomplished by a specially programmed VOIP telephone  102 , which requires only a modification in software to implement the same functions as those described above. The captioning initiation button in this case can be implemented in software keystroke combinations without the need for additional switches with the standard screen  104  on the VOIP telephone serving as the text display and optional volume meter.  
         [0088]     General purpose Internet appliances such as computer  14  make it possible to expand the previous embodiments to the addition of a video camera  140  providing video signals  142  to the Internet as well as the VOIP signals  52  and the receipt of captioning text  55 . Referring to  FIG. 12 , the addition of video signals allows a video inset box  144  to be added to the caller interface window  136 , allowing viewing of the other party to the conversation or the relay operator also having an Internet appliance such as a computer  14 . This embodiment allows face-to-face conversations, but also may allow, for example, the use of American Sign Language or lip reading between users together with the captioning provided by the text box  92 . In other respects, the caller interface window  136  may be identical to caller interface window  110  described above.  
         [0089]     In a variation on this embodiment, a standard videophone may be used as may be connected over a broadband Internet connection (or corporate LAN) to provide video and voice. Videophones are popular with both hearing people and deaf people that use sign language and provide a built in camera and display screen for the picture of the other party.  
         [0090]     In this embodiment, the videophone user or video conference system user can connect with the captioning service website and the service can send the captions not as IP text but as an IP video signal formatted to be compatible with the videophone. The captions are transmitted instead of the image of the caller, as video images of letters using standard captioning software that converts text to a video signals or as overlaid on the image of one caller using a video merging technique. In the case where a videophone provides a separate text display, this can alternatively be used for the captioning, as described above with the Internet phone, with the text being transmitted as IP text, that is, character data such as ASCII or Baudot. Alternatively, IP text may be converted at the videophone into image data to be displayed on a video screen as a caption. When IP text is recieved, the videophone may elect how the text is to be displayed, either as captions on a video image or as text with no other image. The IP text may be uniquely marked to identify it to the videophone.  
         [0091]     It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein, but include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims.