Abstract:
A technique for notifying a person who is engaged in a telephone call with a second person that a third person is calling him or her is disclosed. The notification comprises not a series of beeps but a voice—synthetically generated or pre-recorded—that has at least one different psychoacoustic characteristic than the voice of the second person. By using a notification that is psychoacoustically different than the voice of the second person, the ability of the first person to simultaneously perceive and understand the notification and the voice of the second person is enhanced. Example psychoacoustic characteristics of a voice include, but are not limited to, the gender of the speaker&#39;s voice (i.e., male or female), the natural language of the speaker&#39;s voice (e.g., English, Spanish, French, etc.), and the smoothness of the speaker&#39;s voice (e.g., silky or raspy, etc.).

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, more particularly, to a technique for notifying a person who is engaged in a telephone call with a second person that a third person is calling him or her. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A popular feature of modem telecommunications systems is “call waiting.” Without call waiting, a person who was engaged in a telephone call with a second person did not know when a third person was calling him or her. In contrast, with call waiting, a person who is engaged in a telephone call does, in fact, know when a third party is calling. 
     In accordance with a typical call waiting system, the telecommunications system notifies the first person that a third person is calling by injecting a series of beeps into his or her ear. This is accomplished by generating and injecting the beeps into the audio channel from the second person. Upon hearing the beeps, the first person can either ignore the incoming call or can put the current call on hold and switch to the incoming call. 
     Although call waiting is popular and convenient, the method of notification is disadvantageous in that it often drowns out the voice of the second person. This is intrusive and disruptive and somewhat eliminates the overall advantage of call waiting in the first place. 
     Therefore, the need exists for a less intrusive and disruptive technique for notifying a person who is engaged in a telephone call with a second person that a third person is calling him or her. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a technique for notifying a person who is engaged in a telephone call with a second person that a third person is calling him or her without some of the costs and disadvantages for doing so in the prior art. In particular, the illustrative embodiments notify the person of the arrival of a message (e.g., a telephone call, a fax, an e-mail, etc.) not with a series of beeps but with a voice—synthetically generated or pre-recorded—that has at least one different psychoacoustic characteristic than the voice of the second person. By using a notification that is psychoacoustically different than the voice of the second person, the illustrative embodiments facilitate the ability of the first person to simultaneously perceive and understand the notification and the voice of the second person. 
     For the purposes of this specification, a “psychoacoustic” characteristic of a voice is defined as a quality of a voice that facilitates the ability of a listener to perceive and understand one voice at the same time as another. A psychoacoustic characteristic of a voice is not, therefore, necessarily the same as a voiceprint characteristic, which seeks to identify a voice or to distinguish one voice from another. Rather, a psychoacoustic characteristic of a voice is a quality of a voice that affects the perception of that voice. Example psychoacoustic characteristics of a voice include, but are not limited to, the gender of the speaker&#39;s voice (i.e., male or female), the natural language of the speaker&#39;s voice (e.g., English, Spanish, French, etc.), the smoothness of the speaker&#39;s voice (e.g., silky or raspy, etc.), the frequency range of the speaker&#39;s voice (e.g., soprano, alto, contralto, tenor, baritone, bass, etc.), hurried versus relaxed, pleasant vs. dissonant, agitated versus, calm, etc. For example, if the second person&#39;s voice sounds “male” (i.e., has the psychoacoustic characteristic of “maleness”), then a notification that sounds “female” (i.e., has the psychoacoustic characteristic of “femaleness”) will be less disruptive to a listener than a notification than sounds “male.” 
     The illustrative embodiments of the present invention comprise: a receiver for receiving an incoming message for a first person, wherein the incoming message arrives while the first person is engaged in a telephone call with a second person; and a processor for estimating a first psychoacoustic characteristic of the second person&#39;s voice and for notifying the first person to the arrival of the incoming message with a voice that is different in the first psychoacoustic characteristic than the second person&#39;s voice. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of the salient components of a telecommunications system in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the first illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in telephone  102 - 1 . 
     FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of the operation of telephone  102 - 1  in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment. 
     FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the second illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in private branch exchange  120 . 
     FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of the operation of private branch exchange  120  in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment. 
     FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the third illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in central office  111 - 1 . 
     FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of the operation of central office  111 - 1  in accordance with the third illustrative embodiment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of the salient components of a telecommunications system in accordance with the illustrative embodiments of the present invention. Telecommunications system  100  comprises: people  101 - 1  through  101 - 3 , telephones  102 - 1  through  102 - 3  associated with people  101 - 1  through  101 - 3 , respectively, public switched telephone network  110 , central offices  111 - 1  through  111 - 3 , private branch exchange  120 , and cellular base station  130 , interconnected as shown. 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiments, person  101 - 1  has access to public switched telephone network  110  via wireline telephone  102 - 1  and private branch exchange (“PBX”)  120 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which person  101 - 1  has access to public switched telephone network  110  directly via a wireline telephone or via a wireless telephone (e.g., a cellular telephone, a two-way pager, a personal digital assistant, etc.). 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiments, person  101 - 2  has access to public switched telephone network  110  via wireline telephone  102 - 2 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which person  101 - 2  has access to public switched telephone network  110  via a private branch exchange or via a wireless telephone. 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiments, person  101 - 3  has access to public switched telephone network  110  via wireless telephone  102 - 3 , which is connected to public switched telephone network  110  via cellular base station  130 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which person  101 - 3  has access to public switched telephone network  110  via a wireline telephone or via a private branch exchange. 
     In accordance with the illustrative embodiments, people  101 - 1 ,  101 - 2 , and  101 - 3  engage in telephone calls via public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which some or all of people  101 - 1 ,  101 - 2 , and  101 - 3  communicate via a different network (e.g., the Internet, an intranet, a private telecommunications network, a cellular or other wireless network, etc.). Furthermore, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which person  101 - 3  sends a text message, data message, voice-mail message, or a video message to person  101 - 1  that does not require the immediate attention of person  101 - 1  (i.e., that does not require that person  101 - 1  and person  101 - 3  have a real-time interactive conversation). And still furthermore, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which various telecommunications terminals other than telephones (e.g., personal digital assistants, two-way pagers, video terminals, etc.) are used by some or all of people  101 - 1 ,  101 - 2 , and  101 - 3 . 
     In accordance with the first illustrative embodiment, the present invention resides solely in telephone  101 - 1 . In accordance with the second illustrative embodiment, the present invention resides solely in private branch exchange  120 , and in accordance with the third illustrative embodiment, the present invention resides solely in public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use embodiments of the present invention that reside elsewhere (e.g., in any combination of a telephone, a private branch exchange, and the public switched telephone network, etc.). 
     FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the first illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in telephone  102 - 1 . Telephone  102 - 1  is hand-held telephone, but it will be clear to those skilled in the art how, after reading this specification, to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which telephone  102 - 1  is a hands-free terminal or a data terminal or both. 
     Telephone  102 - 1  comprises: processor  201 , speaker  210 , microphone  211 , transmitter  212 , and receiver  213 , interconnected as shown. 
     Processor  201  is a programmed general-purpose processor that is capable of performing all of the functionality described below and with respect to FIG.  3 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which processor  201  is a “hard-wired” or special-purpose processor. 
     Speaker  210  is an electro-acoustic transducer that converts information-bearing electromagnetic signals representing sound into sound for person  101 - 1 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use speaker  210 . 
     Microphone  211  is an electro-acoustic transducer that converts sound into information-bearing electromagnetic signals for processor  201 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use microphone  211 . 
     Transmitter  212  comprises the circuitry that enables telephone  102 - 1  to transmit information-bearing electromagnetic signals to private branch exchange  120 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use transmitter  212 . 
     Receiver  213  comprises the circuitry that enables telephone  102 - 1  to receive electromagnetic signals from private branch exchange  120 . In particular, receiver  213  is capable of receiving a plurality of disparate information-bearing signals (e.g., telephone calls, text messages, video calls, etc.) simultaneously. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use receiver  213 . 
     FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of the operation of telephone  102 - 1  in accordance with the first illustrative embodiment. 
     At event  301 , person  101 - 1  becomes engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation (e.g., a telephone call, a video conference, an instant message session, etc.) with person  101 - 2 , which conversation is connected through telephone  102 - 1 , private branch exchange  120 , public switched telephone network  110 , and telephone  102 - 2 . The salient characteristic of this conversation is that the voice of person  101 - 2  is heard by person  101 - 1 . 
     At event  302 , processor  201  in telephone  102 - 1  estimates, using well-known signal processing techniques, at least one psychoacoustic characteristic of person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice. Other psychoacoustic characteristics might include: young vs. old, angry vs. happy, and exasperated versus patient. It will be clear to those skilled in the how to make estimate one or more psychoacoustic characteristics of person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice. 
     At event  303 , and while person  101 - 1  is engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation with person  101 - 2 , an incoming message (e.g., a telephone call, an e-mail, a video conference call, an instant message, etc.) arrives at receiver  213  for person  101 - 1 . In accordance with the first illustrative embodiment, the incoming message is from person  101 - 3 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, that in some alternative embodiments of the present invention the incoming message might originate not from a person, but rather from a computer. 
     At event  304 , processor  201  prepares to notify person  101 - 1  of the arrival of the incoming message from person  101 - 3  and generates a verbal, audible notification that is different from person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice in at least one psychoacoustic characteristic. For example, when processor  201  at event  302  estimates that person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice is female, processor  201  at event  304  might generate a notification that sounds male. Processor  201  can synthesize the notification with the appropriate psychoacoustic characteristics, or, alternatively, can select the notification from a collection of pre-recorded notifications with differing psychoacoustic characteristics. 
     The notification can be general in content (e.g., “A message has just arrived for you,” etc.) or more specific (e.g., “Dr. Marza has R.S.V.P&#39;d to your dinner invitation,” etc.) and can, for example, be based on the information in the message. 
     The nature of the incoming message might necessitate that person  101 - 1  halt or suspend the conversation with person  101 - 2 —when, for example, it was a telephone call—or, alternatively, the incoming message might not necessitate that person  101 - 1  halt or suspend the conversation with person  101 - 2 —when, for example, it was an e-mail. This reflects the fact that some incoming messages need to be addressed immediately while others do not. 
     When person  101 - 1  is bilingual or multilingual, that information is provided to processor  201 , and, therefore, processor  201  can generate the notification that is in a different natural language than spoken by person  101 - 2 . 
     At event  305 , processor  201  provides person  101 - 1  with the notification generated at event  304  by injecting it the audio channel from person  101 - 2 , which is then output via speaker  210 . 
     It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use telephones in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of the second illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in private branch exchange  120 . Private branch exchange  120  comprises: switch fabric  402 , processor  401 , transmitter  412 , receiver  413 , and N pairs of transmitters and receivers—transmitters  410 - 1  through  410 -N and receivers  411 - 1  through  411 -N—interconnected as shown, wherein N is a positive integer. 
     Switch fabric  402  enables private branch exchange  120  to establish a telephone call between one or more extension telephones (e.g., telephone  102 - 1 , etc.) and public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use switch fabric  402 . 
     Processor  401  is a programmed general-purpose processor that is capable of performing all of the functionality described below and with respect to FIG.  5 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which processor  401  is a “hard-wired” or special-purpose processor. 
     Transmitter  412  comprises the circuitry that enables private branch exchange  120  to transmit information-bearing electromagnetic signals to public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use transmitter  412 . 
     Receiver  413  comprises the circuitry that enables private branch exchange  120  to receiving information-bearing electromagnetic signals from public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use receiver  413 . 
     Transmitter  410 -i, for i=1 to N, comprises the circuitry that enables private branch exchange  120  to transmit information-bearing electromagnetic signals to telephone extension  102 -i. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use transmitter  410 -i. 
     Receiver  411 -i comprises the circuitry that enables private branch exchange to receive information-bearing electromagnetic signals from telephone extension  102 -i. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use receiver  411 -i. 
     FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of the operation of private branch exchange  120  in accordance with the second illustrative embodiment. 
     At event  501 , person  101 - 1  becomes engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation with person  101 - 2 , which conversation is connected through telephone  102 - 1 , private branch exchange  120 , public switched telephone network  110 , and telephone  102 - 2 . The salient characteristic of this conversation is that the voice of person  101 - 2  is heard by person  101 - 1 . 
     At event  502 , processor  401  in private branch exchange  120  estimates, using well-known signal processing techniques, at least one psychoacoustic characteristic of person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice. The tasks that processor  401  uses in accomplishing event  502  can be identical to those that processor  201  uses in performing event  302 . 
     At event  503 , and while person  101 - 1  is engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation with person  101 - 2 , an incoming message from person  101 - 3  arrives at receiver  413  for person  101 - 1 . In accordance with the second illustrative embodiment, the incoming message is from person  101 - 3 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, that in some alternative embodiments of the present invention the incoming message might originate not from a person, but rather from a computer. 
     At event  504 , processor  201  prepares to notify person  101 - 1  of the arrival of the incoming message from person  101 - 3  and generates a verbal, audible notification that is different from person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice in at least one psychoacoustic characteristic. The tasks that processor  401  uses in performing event  504  can be identical to those that processor  201  uses in performing event  504 . 
     At event  505 , processor  201  provides person  101 - 1  with the notification generated at event  504  by injecting it the audio channel from person  101 - 2 , which is then output via speaker  210 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use private branch exchanges in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of the third illustrative embodiment, in which the present invention resides solely in central office  111 - 1 . Central office  111 - 1  comprises: switch fabric  602 , processor  601 , M pairs of transmitters and receivers—transmitters  610 - 1  through  610 -M and receivers  411 - 1  through  411 -M—interconnected as shown, wherein M is a positive integer. 
     Switch fabric  602  enables central office  111 - 1  to establish a telephone call between one or more telephones, private branch exchanges, cellular base stations, and other central offices in public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use switch fabric  402 . 
     Processor  601  is a programmed general-purpose processor that is capable of performing all of the functionality described below and with respect to FIG.  7 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, after reading this specification, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which processor  601  is a “hard-wired” or special-purpose processor. 
     Transmitter  610 - 1  comprises the circuitry that enables central office  111 - 1  to transmit information-bearing electromagnetic signals to private branch exchange  120 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and person transmitter  610 - 1 . 
     Receiver  611 - 1  comprises the circuitry that enables central office  111 - 1  to receive information-bearing electromagnetic signals from private branch exchange  120 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use receiver  611 - 1 . 
     Transmitter  610 -j, for j=2 to N, comprises the circuitry that enables central office  111 - 1  to transmit information-bearing electromagnetic signals to telephones, private branch exchanges, cellular base stations, and other central offices in public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use transmitter  610 -j. 
     Receiver  611 -j comprises the circuitry that enables central office  111 - 1  to receive information-bearing electromagnetic signals from telephones, private branch exchanges, cellular base stations, and other central offices in public switched telephone network  110 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use receiver  611 -j. 
     FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of the operation of central office  111 - 1  in accordance with the third illustrative embodiment. 
     At event  701 , person  101 - 1  becomes engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation with person  101 - 2 , which conversation is connected through telephone  102 - 1 , private branch exchange  120 , public switched telephone network  110 , and telephone  102 - 2 . The salient characteristic of this conversation is that the voice of person  101 - 2  is heard by person  101 - 1 . 
     At event  702 , processor  601  in central office  111 - 1  estimates, using well-known signal processing techniques, at least one psychoacoustic characteristic of person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice. The tasks that processor  601  uses in performing event  702  can be identical to those that processor  201  uses in performing event  302 . 
     At event  703 , and while person  101 - 1  is engaged in a real-time, interactive conversation with person  101 - 2 , an incoming message from person  101 - 3  arrives at receiver  610 -j for person  101 - 1 . In accordance with the third illustrative embodiment, the incoming message is from person  101 - 3 . It will be clear to those skilled in the art, however, that in some alternative embodiments of the present invention the incoming message might originate not from a person, but rather from a computer. 
     At event  704 , processor  601  prepares to notify person  101 - 1  of the arrival of the incoming message from person  101 - 3  and generates a verbal, audible notification that is different from person  101 - 2 &#39;s voice in at least one psychoacoustic characteristic. The tasks that processor  601  uses in performing event  704  can be identical to those that processor  201  uses in performing event  504 . 
     At event  705 , processor  601  provides person  101 - 1  with the vocal notification generated at event  704  by injecting it into the audio channel with the sound from person  101 - 2 . 
     It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this specification, how to make and use central offices in accordance with present invention. 
     It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.