Patent Publication Number: US-2007121814-A1

Title: Speech recognition based computer telephony system

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      One embodiment of the present invention is directed to computer telephony, and more particularly to a system integrating a speech recognition system with a computer telephony system to provide communication services.  
     BACKGROUND INFORMATION  
      Voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) telephone services and related systems are known. Such systems allow voice calls using Internet Protocol (“IP”) networks such as the Internet as an alternative to traditional public switched telephone networks (“PSTN”). Unlike the PSTN, which is circuit-switched, the Internet is packet-switched. As such, communications on the Internet is accomplished by transmitting and receiving packets of data. In addition to data, each packet contains a destination address to ensure that it is routed correctly. The format of these packets is defined by the IP.  
      One type of allowable data is encoded, digitized voice, termed VoIP. VoIP is voice that is packetized as defined by the Internet protocol, and communicated over the Internet for telephone-like communication. Individual VoIP packets may travel over different network paths to reach a final destination where the packets are reassembled in correct sequence to reconstruct the voice information.  
      Meanwhile, speech recognition technology is used more and more for telephone applications like travel booking and information, financial account information, customer service call routing, and directory assistance. Using constrained grammar recognition, such applications can achieve remarkably high accuracy. Research and development in speech recognition technology has continued to grow as the cost for implementing such voice-activated systems has dropped and the usefulness and efficacy of these systems has improved. For example, recognition systems optimized for telephone applications can often supply information about the confidence of a particular recognition, and if the confidence is low, it can trigger the application to prompt callers to confirm or repeat their request (for example “I heard you say ‘billing’, is that right?”). Further, speech recognition has enabled the automation of certain applications that are not automatable using push-button interactive voice response (“IVR”) systems, like directory assistance and systems that allow callers to “dial” by speaking names listed in an electronic phone book. Nevertheless, speech recognition based systems remain the exception because push-button systems are still much cheaper to implement and operate.  
      Most existing VoIP services offered to consumers and small businesses accomplish a basic task of facilitating telephone calls. Other desired services, such as information acquisition or advanced telecommunication services, are either not offered or are difficult to obtain by the user.  
      Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method of implementing a VoIP system that provides additional features besides basic telephony in an easy to use manner.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      One embodiment of the present invention is a computer telephony system that interfaces with a user of a telephone by detecting an off-hook at the telephone. The system then automatically couples the telephone to a speech recognition system and then receives an input from the user to the speech recognition system. The input instructs the system to dial a telephone number or requests some other telecommunication service. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a communication system that can implement an embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a network operations center that is coupled to the Internet.  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the network operations center in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention and illustrating some of the modules of functionality that is provided to a user of a telephone.  
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of the functionality performed by the network operations center when an outbound call is made by a user at the telephone, or when a user requests other communication services.  
       FIG. 5  illustrates a graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 8  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 9  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 10  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 11  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 12  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 13  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 14  illustrates another graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      One embodiment of the present invention is a speech recognition based computer telephony system in which a user is automatically routed to a speech recognition system upon initiation of a telephone call. The user can then obtain a wide variety of communication services through the speech recognition system.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a communication system  10  that can implement an embodiment of the present invention.  
      A user interacts with communication system  10  through either a telephone  12  or a computer  16 . Telephone  12  can be any plain old telephone system (“POTS”). In one embodiment, telephone  12  is coupled to an analog telephone adapter (“ATA”)  14 , which functions as a handset-to-Ethernet adaptor that turns traditional telephone devices into IP devices. ATA  14  allows telephone  12  to be coupled to the Internet  20  over a broadband IP connection  15 . In one embodiment, ATA  14  is the SPA-3000 Analog Telephone Adapter from Sipura Technology Inc.  
      Computer  16  can be any general purpose computer or any other type of device that executes a browser and that connects to the Internet  20  through a link  17 . A user of system  10  interfaces with computer  16  in order to set up functionality of the system, as discussed below. Computer  16  can be also used as a telephone  12  to provide telecommunication services.  
      A user at telephone  12  or computer  16  is ultimately coupled to a network operations center  25  through the Internet  20 . As discussed below, the user at telephone  12  is automatically coupled to a speech recognizer in network operations center  25  as soon as telephone  12  goes “off-hook”.  
      Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to accessing network operations center  25  through only a POTS or computer. For example, network operations center  25  may also be accessed through a POTS over the PSTN  26  by dialing a number associated with network operations center  25 , via a cellular telephone, or by any other known method.  
      Network operations center  25  is coupled to various telephone carriers  22  for coupling telephone  12  to another POTS over the PSTN. Further, network operations center  25  is coupled to one or more content providers  24  for providing content to a user at telephone  12 . The content may be stored locally to content providers  24 , or may be accessed from the Internet  20  of from some other source.  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of network operations center  25  that is coupled to Internet  20 . Network operations center  25  includes a sessions border controller (“SBC”)  32 . SBC  32  controls real-time interactive communications—voice, video, and multimedia sessions—across IP network borders. It provides new session controls in the areas of security, service reach and interworking, SLA assurance, revenue/profit assurance, and regulatory compliance.  
      Coupled to SBC  32  is an access server  34 . Access server  34  includes a media gateway that converts traditional phone circuits such as PRIs or T-1s, enabling VoIP networks to connect to traditional phone networks. Access server  34  further implements customer features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, and Speed Dialing. In one embodiment, access server  34  is the GSX and ASX controller from Sonus Corp.  
      Coupled to access server  34  is a policy server  36 . Policy server  36  makes logical decisions determining which of the carriers  22  to route each call. These decisions can be based on cost, priority, or a combination of the two. In one embodiment, policy server  36  is the PSX controller from Sonus Corp.  
      Network operations center  25  further includes a speech recognizer  30  which is a speech recognition system that recognizes spoken words and further performs text-to-speech generation, and includes a navigational menu. In one embodiment, speech recognizer  30  is a speech recognition system from Nuance Communications, Inc.  
      In one embodiment of the present invention, when a user takes telephone  12  off-hook, the user is automatically routed to the speech recognizer  30  of network operations center  25 . The user will be routed to network operations center  25  without any interaction by the user, such as a spoken word or Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (“DTMF”) input. Further, unlike known telephony systems where a user, upon taking a telephone off-hook, will hear a traditional audio “dial-tone”, in embodiments of the present invention, the user, upon taking telephone  12  off-hook, will instead hear a musical selection generated by the navigational menu of speech recognizer  12 , and then a menu describing the telecommunication services available to the user. The services can be then selected by the user through spoken word or DTMF selection.  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of network operations center  25  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention and illustrating some of the modules of functionality that is provided to a user of telephone  12 . In one embodiment, the functionality is implemented by software stored in a memory and executed by a processor. In one embodiment, the software functionality is implemented using a Voice Extensible Markup Language (“VXML”) interpreter. In other embodiments, the functionality can be performed by hardware, or any combination of hardware and software.  
      Speech recognition module  40  allows the user to interact with network operations center  25  by listening to audio that is either pre-recorded or computer-synthesized and submitting audio input through the user&#39;s natural speaking voice or through a keypad on telephone  12 .  
      Play audio module  41  plays the audio to the user at telephone  12  when the telephone goes off-hook. The audio may be in the form of a .wav file and may be musical. As disclosed, the audio takes the place of a traditional dial tone that a user of a telephone will initially hear in prior art telephony systems.  
      Text-to-speech module  42  performs a form of speech synthesis that converts text into spoken voice output that can be heard by a user of telephone  12 . In one embodiment, the text is content such as weather, horoscope, etc. that is requested by the user.  
      Get content module  43  retrieves content that is requested by the user through speech recognition module  40 . The content could be retrieved from local cache storage or retrieved real time from the Internet  20  or other source.  
      Update database module  44  allows a user at computer  16 , through web pages, to update personal selections for that user&#39;s profile.  
      Transfer/dial-on-demand module  45  will couple the user at telephone  12  to another telephone over the PSTN or other network based on a request from the user.  
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of the functionality performed by network operations center  25  when an outbound call is made by a user at telephone  12 , or when a user requests other communication services.  
       101 : Telephone  12  goes off hook and routes call through ATA  14  and the Internet  20  to SBC  32 .  
       102 : SBC  32  authenticates the call, making sure the call is from a paying or legitimate subscriber.  
       103 : Access server  34  receives the call request from SBC  32  and directs it to the navigational menu of speech recognizer  30 .  
       104 : The navigational menu plays music or other audio material, and then plays menu prompts and waits for a user response in the form of voice commands or DTMF input. When a user desires to make an outbound call, the user will respond with a telephone number. If the user desires content, the user will respond with the type of content desired (e.g., weather, stocks, horoscope, etc.) and the content will be retrieved from the content provider at  110 . More details on how the content is retrieved is disclosed below. If the user wants to send a message in a “one call, tell all” routine (disclosed in more detail below), the user will request “one call, tell all” and the one call, tell all routine will be executed at  109 .  
       105 : Based on the user&#39;s response, a request is sent to access server  34  to route accordingly.  
       106 : Access server  34  requests policy server  36  for a call route.  
       107 : Policy server  36  returns the call route.  
       108 : Access server  34  routes the call.  
       FIG. 5  illustrates a graphical user interface  500  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  500  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  500  includes a menu  510  which allows a user to select a page for updating or inserting data. Interface  500  further includes a recent activity section  520  that displays the current number of voicemail and e-mail messages, a listing of incoming and outgoing calls, and on/off status of various functions. Interface  500  further includes a “my content” section  530  that displays content of interest to the user.  
       FIG. 6  illustrates a graphical user interface  600  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  600  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  600  includes a “my backup” section  610  in which a user can enter a list of alternate telephone numbers that telephone calls will be routed to if the network is out of service. At  620 , the user can choose for all of the telephone numbers to be ringed sequentially or in parallel.  
       FIG. 7  illustrates a graphical user interface  700  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  700  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  700  is an address book for storing names and telephone numbers and corresponding speed dial numbers. A user, via telephone  12 , can dial the numbers stored in interface  700  by verbally speaking the name or speed dial, which is recognized by speech recognizer  30  and which has access to interface  700  to limit the choices that need to be recognized.  
       FIG. 8  illustrates a graphical user interface  800  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  800  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  800  allows a user to click on a voice mail message, and listen to that message at computer  16 , rather than having to listen to voice messages at telephone  12 .  
       FIG. 9  illustrates a graphical user interface  900  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  900  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  900  provides a list of all outgoing calls and incoming calls.  
       FIG. 10  illustrates a graphical user interface  1000  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  1000  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  1000  is a calendar in which a user can enter desired reminder calls. Reminder calls can be wake up calls, or other calls such as a reminder of a birthday. When the entered date and time arrives, network operations center  25  automatically generates a call to telephone  12 , and uses test-to-speech to inform the user of the desired information.  
       FIG. 11  illustrates a graphical user interface  1100  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  1100  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  1100  displays a list of “one call, tell all” lists. Each one call, tell all list is a grouping of telephone numbers under a designated name. For example, a “soccer team” list will store all telephone numbers of everyone on a soccer team. A user at telephone  12  can then say “one call, tell all” when connected to speech recognizer  30 . The navigational menu will ask as input the name of the one call, tell all list and ask for the user to leave a message. Network operations center  25  will then call all telephone numbers on the list and play the identical message to the respective callees. Interface  1100  includes a PIN number to provide security for the one call, tell all list.  
       FIG. 12  illustrates a graphical user interface  1200  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  1200  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  1200  is an emergency link page that allows a user to enter a list of emergency contacts and corresponding telephone number. To activate the emergency link, a caller calls a user&#39;s telephone number. When the caller reaches voicemail, the caller can dial “0” (or some other agreed upon entry). Network operations center  25  then dials, either sequentially or in parallel, all numbers listed on interface  1200  and connect the caller to whomever answers.  
       FIG. 13  illustrates a graphical user interface  1300  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  1300  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  1300  includes a “find me” menu  1310  in which the user enters a list of telephone numbers for which a call to the user will be forwarded to if the user is not available at the primary number. The telephone numbers can be dialed sequentially or in parallel. Interface  1300  further includes a call forwarding menu  1320  that allows a user to select specific times where only designated callers will be routed to the user.  
       FIG. 14  illustrates a graphical user interface  1400  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, interface  1400  is displayed at computer  16 . Interface  1400  is a content page that displays the user&#39;s desired content. Not shown is an option for the user to enter desired content. For stocks, the user will enter a list of stock symbols. For weather, the user will enter a list of locations for desired weather. For horoscope, the user will enter a list of birthdates.  
      In one embodiment, network operations center  25  stores content at a predetermined time interval (e.g., every  20  minutes) from a content provider. Therefore, when content is retrieved at  110  of  FIG. 4 , the content will be readily available without undue delay. The content available to the user is based on the desired content entered at interface  1400 . For example, for sports content a user will enter a list of sports teams (e.g., Pittsburgh Steelers, Florida Gators) or city names (e.g., Pittsburgh, New York) that the user is interested in. Then, at  104  of  FIG. 4 , when the user says “sports”, all stored content for those sports teams or selected city teams will be read to the user at telephone  12 . Similarly, for stocks, when the user says “stock”, all quotes and news for the stocks stored by the user at interface  1400  will be read to the user at telephone  12 . For horoscopes, all horoscopes for the date or dates stored by the user at interface  1400  will be read to the user at telephone  12 . In other embodiments, the content can be retrieved from the Internet  20  when requested.  
      As disclosed, the computer telephony system of the present invention automatically connects a user to a voice recognition system when the user&#39;s telephone goes off hook. The user can then easily initiate a telephone call or obtain other telecommunication services through simple voice commands or DTMF entry.  
      Several embodiments of the present invention are specifically illustrated and/or described herein. However, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the present invention are covered by the above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.