Patent Publication Number: US-2003231746-A1

Title: Teleconference speaker identification

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] This invention relates generally to the field of conference bridges in communication systems, and more particularly to automatically identifying who is speaking at a given time.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] Existing conference bridges allow a plurality of users to call a predetermined telephone number and be bridged together in a conference call. The conference bridge provides a certain amount of information to the conference participants, such as tones when parties join or leave the conference.  
       [0003] There is, however, no current way for conference participants to determine who is speaking at a given time. Participants wishing to know the identity of the current speaker must now interrupt the conference and verbally ask who is speaking.  
       [0004] Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus that allows conference participants to identify who is currently speaking.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] The present invention provides a method for providing identification of the current speaker in a conference call. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a conference participant who wishes to know the identity of the current speaker requests the information of the network and the speaker identity is only provided to the requesting participant.  
       [0006] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when a conference is initiated, the conference bridge includes an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system on the call. As each participant joins the conference call, they are prompted to repeat a predetermined list of words. The ASR system then uses the spoken words to generate a voice template for each conference participant. When a particular participant wishes to learn the identity of the current speaker, the participant signals the conference bridge, which in turn obtains the identity of the speaker from the ASR system and returns the identity to the requesting user.  
       [0007] Advantageously, such an arrangement gives conference participants the ability to learn the identity of the person currently speaking on a conference call without interrupting the call by verbally requesting the speaker&#39;s identity. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0008]FIG. 1 depicts a communication system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0009]FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart of a method for providing teleconference speaker identification during call establishment and voice profile generation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0010]FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart of a method for providing teleconference speaker identification when a conference participant requests the identity of the current speaker in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0011]FIG. 1 depicts a communication system  100  in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Communication system  100  includes user terminals  110  and  120  as well as communications network  130 , conference bridge  140 , and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system  150 . Communication network  130  comprises known functions necessary to operate and maintain communications. Communication network  130  can be based on any well known technologies such as analog, digital, wireless, or wireline. For example, communication network  130  can be a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), analog wireless (AMPS) or wireless digital (TDMA or CDMA) system.  
     [0012] User terminals  110  and  120  are coupled to communications network  130  via links  111  and  121  and provide communications among a plurality of user terminals such as  110  and  120 . User terminals  110  and  120 , as well as links  111 ,  121 ,  141 , and  151 , can be based on any well-known technologies such as analog, digital, wireless, or wireline. It should be understood that communication system  100  can include a plurality of elements and user terminals. Only a single block of communication network elements  160 , two user terminals  110  and  120 , single conference bridge  140 , and single Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system  150  are depicted in FIG. 1 for clarity.  
     [0013] In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, user terminal  110  and user terminal  120  are coupled to and communicating with communication network  130 . It should be understood that in an actual network a plurality of user terminals are coupled to communication network  130 . Only two user terminals are depicted in FIG. 1 for clarity. As depicted in FIG. 1 user terminal  110  is communicating with communication network  130  via link  111 . User terminal  120  is communicating with communication network  130  via link  121 . Links  111  and  121  can be the same or different.  
     [0014] In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, conference bridge  140  is coupled to and communicating with communication network  130  via link  141 . Link  141  can be an analog link or any other link that can support both user information and control signals. It should be understood that in an actual network a plurality of conference bridges are coupled to the communication network. Only one conference bridge is depicted in FIG. 1 for clarity.  
     [0015] In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, ASR system  150  is coupled to and communicating with conference bridge  140  via link  151 . Link  151  can be an analog link or any other link that can support both user information and control signals. It should be understood that in an actual network a plurality of ASR systems can be connected to a conference bridge. Only one ASR system is depicted in FIG. 1 for clarity.  
     [0016] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, conference bridge  140  receives a call request from a user terminal. The call request can originate from a terminal connected to communication network  130  or from any other network that can interface with communication network  130 , such as a PSTN. Conference bridge  140  accepts the call and initiates a session with ASR system  150  via link  151 .  
     [0017] Conference bridge  140  plays a list of predetermined words to the call originator and prompts the originator to identify themselves and to repeat the words on the predetermined list. The words as they are spoken as well as the identification of the user are passed to the ASR system  150 , where a voice template is generated and associated with the identity of each user.  
     [0018] When a user wishes to determine who is speaking at a given time, the user signals conference bridge  140  via user terminal  110 . The signaling can be done in a variety of ways including but not limited to analog signals or digital signals. Conference bridge  140  intercepts the user signal and passes it to ASR system  150 . ASR system  150  compares the voice of the current speaker to the plurality of voice templates and identifies the current speaker. ASR system  150  then sends the identity of the speaker to conference bridge  140 . Conference bridge  140  provides the identity of the current speaker to the user requesting the speaker&#39;s identity. The provision of the speaker identity to the requesting user can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including but not being limited to analog means or digital means.  
     [0019]FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart  200  for providing teleconference speaker identification during call establishment and voice profile generation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0020] Responsive to incoming call requests, conference bridge  140  establishes ( 201 ) a conference call. The method for establishing a conference call is known and typically comprises dialing a predetermined bridge number and entering an predetermined conference identification code.  
     [0021] Conference bridge  140  initiates ( 202 ) a session with ASR system  150  by establishing a connection with ASR  150 . ASR  150  is also bridged in conference bridge  140  to the conference participants.  
     [0022] Conference bridge  140  prompts ( 203 ) participants to repeat a predetermined list of words. This can be done by playing the list of words to the conference participants. This is preferably done on a per participant basis. The words are chosen to have the speaker use a variety of verbal attributes, such as phoneme, tone, inflection, and the like. The method for choosing suitable words is known in the field of speech recognition.  
     [0023] Conference bridge  140  receives ( 204 ) the predetermined words spoken by each participant and a spoken identification of each participant. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, conference bridge  140  blocks the links to the other conference participants so that participants do not hear other participants recite the predetermined list of words.  
     [0024] Conference bridge  140  sends ( 205 ) the spoken list of predetermined words and the spoken identification to ASR  150 . This can be done as audio voice or data.  
     [0025] ASR system  150  receives ( 206 ) the spoken words and spoken identification of the participant. ASR system  150  stores the spoken identification in a manner easily transmitted when requested by a conference participant. Storing the identification as analog data or digitally encoded data are two examples.  
     [0026] ASR system  150  creates ( 207 ) a voice profile for each of the conference participants. This comprises analyzing each spoken word and distilling phonemes which are unique characteristics of each speaker. This creation process is currently known in the art of speech recognition.  
     [0027]FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart  300  of a method for providing teleconference speaker identification when a conference participant requests the identity of the current speaker in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0028] Conference bridge  140  receives ( 301 ) a speaker identification request from one of the conference participants at a user terminal. There are a variety of ways for the request to be sent to conference bridge  140 , including but not limited to utilizing inband tones or out-of-band messaging.  
     [0029] Conference bridge  140  sends ( 302 ) the speaker identification request to ASR system  150 . Conference bridge  140  prevents transmission of the request to participants other than ASR system  150 . This can be accomplished by conference bridge  140  detecting and removing from the voice path the request before the request is bridged to the other participants. There are a variety of ways for the request to be sent to ASR system  150 , including but not limited to utilizing inband tones or out-of-band messaging.  
     [0030] ASR system  150  receives ( 303 ) the request for speaker identification. There are a variety of ways for the request to be received by ASR system  150 , including but not limited to using inband tones or out-of-band messaging.  
     [0031] ASR system  150  determines ( 304 ) the identity of the participant currently speaking. This determination comprises distilling the voice of the current speaker into phonemes and comparing them to the predetermined set of voice templates for the conference participants.  
     [0032] ASR system  150  transmits ( 305 ) the identity of the participant currently speaking to conference bridge  140 . There are a variety of ways for the identity to be transmitted by ASR system  150 , including but not limited to inband identification such as playing a recording of the name of the current speaker and out-of-band messaging.  
     [0033] Conference bridge  140  receives ( 306 ) the identification of the current speaker from ASR system  150 . There are a variety of ways for the identity to be received by conference bridge  140 , including but not limited to using inband audio and out-of-band messaging.  
     [0034] Conference bridge  140  transmits ( 307 ) the identification of the current speaker to the requesting user terminal. There are a variety of ways for the identity to be transmitted by conference bridge  140 , including but not limited to using inband audio or out-of-band messaging.  
     [0035] The present invention thereby provides a method for providing identification of the current speaker during a conference call. By using the present invention, the user can identify the person currently speaking without interrupting the conference call and verbally asking the speaker to identify themselves.  
     [0036] While this invention has been described in terms of certain examples thereof, it is not intended that it be limited to the above description, but rather only to the extent set forth in the claims that follow.