Abstract:
A telephone device includes a housing, a microphone, a loudspeaker and an auxiliary input device coupled to the housing. The auxiliary input device generates output in response to user manipulation. A controller within the housing is coupled to the microphone, loudspeaker and auxiliary input device. The controller is responsive to output of the auxiliary input device to enable a caller to expose and invoke advanced or special features of the telephone device.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to telephony and in particular to a telephone device that is responsive to output generated by an auxiliary input device such as a mouse to enable a user to invoke advanced or special features of the telephone device without requiring use of the telephone device keys. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Advances in telephony equipment have led to a significant increase in the options and features available to users. It is common for telephone devices to include advanced or special features such as conference, call transfer, call trade, etc. that can be accessed and invoked by pressing soft and/or hard keys on the telephone devices. Many of these telephone devices have layered soft key menus requiring users to navigate through one or more screens before being presented with the menu containing the soft key associated with the advanced or special feature of interest. Although sighted users find these telephone devices easy to use, this is not the case for visually impaired users. For a visually impaired user, locating advanced or special feature keys and navigating through the layered soft key menus requires extensive training. As will be appreciated, telephony equipment and telecommunications systems that are easily used by visually impaired users are desired. 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel a telephone device that is responsive to output generated by an auxiliary input device to enable a user to invoke advanced or special features of the telephone device without requiring use of the telephone device keys. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a telephone device comprising: 
     a housing; 
     a microphone; 
     a loudspeaker; 
     an auxiliary input device coupled to said housing, said auxiliary input device generating output in response to user manipulation; 
     a controller within said housing, said controller being coupled to said microphone, loudspeaker and auxiliary input device, said controller being responsive to output of said auxiliary input device to enable a caller to invoke features of said telephone device. 
     Preferably, the microphone and loudspeaker are accommodated in a handset coupled to the housing and wherein the auxiliary input device is a mouse coupled to housing. The controller stores a map for mapping output of the mouse to features of the telephone device. The controller makes special features of the telephone device available for selection (i.e. exposes) in response to right, left, short and long mouse clicks allowing a user to select the exposed features using the mouse. 
     Preferably the controller initiates a call to a voice recognition facility in response to output of the mouse when the telephone device is idle. It is also preferred that the controller automatically initiates a call to the voice recognition facility when the telephone device goes off hook and output is received from the mouse. 
     Preferably, the controller is also responsive to output of the mouse to enable a caller to navigate through menus of a voice-mail facility. The controller stores a map between menu selections of the voice-mail facility and mouse clicks. 
     Preferably, the auxiliary input device is a mouse and auxiliary input device output is generated in response to mouse clicks. It is also preferred that auxiliary input device output is generated in response to left, right, short and long mouse clicks. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided in a telephone device including a housing, a microphone, and a loudspeaker, the improvement comprising: 
     an auxiliary input device coupled to the housing that generates output in response to user manipulation; and 
     a controller coupled to the microphone, loudspeaker and auxiliary input device, the controller exposing and invoking features of said telephone device in response to output of the auxiliary input device. 
     According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of initiating telephone device special features comprising the steps of: 
     mapping special features of a telephone device to auxiliary input device output; 
     in response to auxiliary input device output, determining the special feature associated therewith; and 
     invoking the determined special feature. 
     According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a telecommunications system comprising: 
     a telephone switch; and 
     at least one telephone device coupled to said telephone switch, said at least one telephone switch including:
         a housing;   a microphone;   a loudspeaker;   an auxiliary input device coupled to said housing, said auxiliary input device generating output in response to user manipulation; and   a controller within said housing, said controller being coupled to said microphone, loudspeaker and auxiliary input device, said controller being responsive to output of said auxiliary input device to enable a caller to invoke features of said telephone device;       

     wherein, said telephone switch is responsive to output generated by said at least one telephone device in response to said invoked features. 
     The present invention provides advantages in that a user can use the auxiliary input device to navigate through menus and/or invoke special features of the telephone device without requiring visual contact with the telephone device. This of course makes the telephone device particularly suitable for use by the visually impaired. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       An embodiment of the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing a telecommunications system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of a telephone device forming part of the telecommunications system of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3   a  shows an example of mouse click to telephone device special feature mappings; and 
         FIG. 3   b  shows an example of mouse click to voice-mail facility menu mappings. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Turning now to  FIG. 1 , a telecommunications system is shown and is generally identified by reference numeral  10 . Telecommunications system  10  allows a caller to initiate a telephone call to a desired party using voice recognition thereby to avoid the caller having to dial manually the desired party&#39;s telephone number. As can be seen, telecommunications system  10  includes a private branch exchange (PBX)  12  coupled to a telephone device  14 . Although only one telephone device  14  is shown, those of skill in the art will appreciate that this is for ease of illustration only. PBX  12  is also coupled to a voice recognition facility  16 , a voice-mail facility  18  and a public switched telephone network (PSTN)  20 . 
     Voice recognition facility  16  includes an applications server hosting a voice recognition application and a database that stores a list of names and associated telephone numbers. The voice recognition application can be developed from a server-based speech recognition development kit such as those provided by Nuance, Speechworks, Phillips or Lucent for example. Alternatively, the voice recognition application may be a complete server-based application such as those provided by. Mitel Networks Corporation, Speechworks, Phillips or Locus for example. 
     The voice-mail facility  18  also includes an applications server hosting a voice mail application and a database that stores voice mail messages and greetings left by callers. 
     The telephone device  14  is designed to facilitate use by a visually impaired user. In the present embodiment, the telephone device  14  is a Mitel SS400 series telephone set, such an a SS4125 or SS4150 telephone set, and includes an RS-232 serial interface  90  (see  FIG. 2 ) and a headset jack (not shown). An auxiliary input device  24  in the form of a two-button mouse is coupled to the serial interface  90  via a cable  26 . A headset  28  is shown coupled to the headset jack. 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the telephone device  14  will now be further described. As can be seen, telephone device  14  includes a housing  42  with a cradle that accommodates a handset  44  having a speaker  44   a  and a microphone  44   b . A hookswitch  46  is associated with the cradle. A display  48  that presents soft keys and keyboards  50  and  52  having hard keys are provided on the housing  42 . A loudspeaker  54  and a microphone  56  are also provided to enable “hands-free” calls to be carried out. 
     Disposed within the housing  42  are the telephone device electronics generally identified by reference number  60 . As can be seen, the telephone device electronics  60  include a controller  62  coupled to a communications line  64  via an audio bus  66  and a line interface  68 . The communications line  64  leads to the PBX  12 . 
     A digital signal processor (DSP)  70  communicates with the controller  62  and with a pair of coder/decoders (Codecs)  72  and  74 . Codec  72  is coupled to the speaker  44   a  and the microphone  44   b  of the handset  42  via amplifiers  80  and  82  respectively. Codec  74  is coupled to the loudspeaker  54  and the microphone  56  via amplifiers  84  and  86  respectively. The DSP  70  provides volume control, hands-free functionality, tone generation, and other necessary functionality for the operation of the telephone device  14 . The controller  62  communicates with the display  48  and the keyboards  50  and  52 , and connects either one or both voice channels of the telephone device  14  to the line interface  68  in response to a user initiated call or an incoming call that is answered. 
     The controller  62  is also coupled to the serial interface  90  and is programmed to interpret input from the auxiliary input device  24 , in this embodiment, left and right mouse clicks and long and short mouse clicks. In response to mouse clicks received from the auxiliary input device  24 , the controller  62  exposes functions of the telephone device  14  and invokes selected functions to provide a visually impaired user with the ability to initiate telephone calls and to take advantage of other telephone device features (hereinafter referred to as “special” features) without requiring visual assistance. Specifically, the controller  62  is programmed to enable a visually impaired user to use the auxiliary input device  24  to establish a connection between the telephone device  14  and the voice recognition facility  16 , to establish a connection between the telephone device  14  and the voice-mail facility  18 , to terminate a call, to initiate a call transfer, to complete a call transfer, to trade a call, to form a conference call, to split a conference call, to answer a camped call and put an active call on hold and to return a call on hold to an active call. Further specifics of the operation of the telephone device  14  will now be described. 
     When an auxiliary input device  24  is coupled to the serial interface  90 , and the handset  44  of the telephone device  14  is lifted from the cradle to go off-hook, or if input is received from the auxiliary input device  24  and the telephone device  14  is on-hook and idle (signifying a hands-free speaker or headset call), rather than providing the caller with a dial tone via the DSP  70 , the controller  62  automatically places a call to the voice recognition facility  16 . Once a call between the voice recognition facility  16  and the telephone device  14  has been established, the voice recognition application plays a canned voice message prompt to the caller asking the caller to speak the name or telephone number of the party to be called. If the caller speaks the name of the party to whom the call is to be routed, the voice recognition application compares the spoken name with the names in the database list. When a match is determined, the voice recognition application echoes the name in the database that is associated with the spoken name. If the caller says nothing within a certain period of time, the voice recognition application conveys the telephone number associated with the spoken name to the PBX  12  to allow the call to be routed. If the name echoed by the voice recognition application is incorrect, the caller can re-start the process by saying “cancel” and then repeating the name of the party to be called. 
     Similarly, if the caller speaks the telephone number of the party to whom the call is to be routed, the voice recognition application compares the spoken telephone number with the telephone numbers in the database list. When a match is determined, the voice recognition application echoes the name in the database that is associated with the spoken telephone number. If the caller says nothing within a certain period of time, the voice recognition application conveys the telephone number to the PBX  12  to allow the call to be routed. If the name echoed by the voice recognition application is incorrect, the caller can re-start the process by saying “cancel” and then repeating the telephone number of the party to be called. 
     When the PBX  12  receives the telephone number from the voice recognition facility  16 , the PBX conveys the telephone number to the PSTN  20  if the party being called is external to enable the telephone call to be completed. In this manner, the auxiliary input device  24  enables a visually impaired user to initiate a call using voice recognition without requiring the user to seek visual assistance. 
     The controller  62  is also programmed to interpret right and left as well as long and short duration mouse clicks to enable a caller to advance through menu selections of the voice-mail facility  18  and to enable the caller to take advantage of special features of the telephone device  14 . Specifically, a map between mouse clicks and voice-mail menus and a map between telephone device special features and mouse clicks are stored in the controller  62 . In the present embodiment, short duration mouse clicks are those having a duration up to 0.7 seconds and long duration mouse clicks are those having a duration greater than 1.0 seconds. 
       FIG. 3   a  shows exemplary mappings between mouse clicks and some telephone device special features. As can be seen, when the telephone device  14  is idle and a short left mouse click is received, the controller  62  places a call to the voice recognition facility  16  allowing the user to make a telephone call. If the telephone device  14  is ringing, the controller  62  answers the incoming call in response to a short left mouse click. During dialing of a call, if the user enters a long left mouse click, the call being dialed is dropped by the controller  62 . 
     While a call is in progress, the transfer/conference feature is invoked by the controller  62  in response to a short left mouse click. The call in progress is dropped by the controller  62  in response to a long left mouse click. When the transfer/conference feature is invoked and a call with a party is in progress, the controller  62  places the party on hold and presents the caller with a dial tone. With the dial tone present, if a long left duration mouse click is received by the controller, the controller  62  returns the held call to active. 
     If the user completes a call to a third party and a ring back signal is received, the controller  62  returns the caller back to the held call in response to a long left mouse click. The controller  62  connects the two outside parties in response to a short duration right mouse click. If the call to the third party is answered, the controller  62  trades the call in response to a short left mouse click, returns the call back to the held party in response to a long left mouse click, releases the call in response to a short right mouse click, and conferences all parties in response to a long right mouse click. 
     If the caller is the master of the conference (i.e. set the conference call up), the controller  62  invokes the transfer/conference feature in response to a short left mouse click. The controller  62  drops the master from the call in response to a long left mouse click and splits the call in response to a long right mouse click. If a telephone conversation is in progress and a call is waiting, controller  62  trades the existing call with the waiting call in response to a short left mouse click. 
       FIG. 3   b  shows exemplary mappings between mouse clicks and menus of the voice-mail facility  18 . As can be seen, when a call is made to the voice-mail facility  18  alternate short left and right mouse clicks are used to enter a password. A long left mouse click drops a call to the voice-mail facility  18  while a duration right mouse click signifies complete entry of the password. Once a connection to the voice-mail facility  18  has been made, the play menu can be opened by entering a short left mouse click. Messages can be saved or skipped by entering long right clicks. Entering a short duration mouse click opens the greetings menu. 
     When the play menu is opened and a message is being played, a short left mouse click rewinds the message. A long left mouse click deletes the message, a short right mouse click fast forwards the message and a long left mouse click saves the message. 
     When the greeting menu is opened, a short left mouse left click plays the caller&#39;s primary greeting. A long left mouse click drops the call to the voice-mail facility  18 . A short right mouse click plays the caller&#39;s conditional or secondary greeting. A long right mouse click allows the caller to swap the primary and conditional greetings. 
     As will be appreciated, the controller  62  accesses the appropriate maps to facilitate control of the telephone device  14  via the auxiliary input device  24 . In this manner, a visually impaired caller has easy access to enhanced features of the telephone device  14  and can easily navigate through the voice-mail facility  18  without requiring visual assistance. A mouse is easy for a visually impaired user to locate and is ergonomically designed for ease of use without requiring visual contact. In view of this, by mapping mouse clicks to special features of the telephone device, a standard ergonomic substitute for invoking telephone device special features is made available. 
     Although a two-button mouse has been described, those of skill in the art will appreciate that a three-button mouse or other similar auxiliary input device that is easily controlled by a visually impaired user can be used. Also, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the mappings shown in  FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are exemplary in nature. Alternative mouse click to telephone device special feature mappings may be used. 
     Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.