Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6208713?dq=5311516
Timestamp: 2017-04-30 07:27:48
Document Index: 527763089

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 04267298', 'Application No. 05233106', 'Application No. 06069635', 'Application No. 06068247', 'Application No. 06109478', 'Application No. 06126335']

Patent US6208713 - Method and apparatus for locating a desired record in a plurality of records ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsA method and apparatus for locating a desired record amongst a plurality of records in a telephone directory involves associating a frequency field with each of the records, the frequency field being operable to store a frequency metric. A characteristic field is also associated with each of the records,...http://www.google.com/patents/US6208713?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6208713 - Method and apparatus for locating a desired record in a plurality of records in an input recognizing telephone directoryAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS6208713 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 08/760,966Publication dateMar 27, 2001Filing dateDec 5, 1996Priority dateDec 5, 1996Fee statusPaidAlso published asCA2278444A1, CA2278444C, DE69732786D1, DE69732786T2, EP0943203A2, EP0943203B1, WO1998025393A2, WO1998025393A3Publication number08760966, 760966, US 6208713 B1, US 6208713B1, US-B1-6208713, US6208713 B1, US6208713B1InventorsTimothy Joseph Rahrer, Brian Finlay Beaton, Colin Donald SmithOriginal AssigneeNortel Networks LimitedExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (86), Non-Patent Citations (17), Referenced by (93), Classifications (29), Legal Events (13) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and apparatus for locating a desired record in a plurality of records in an input recognizing telephone directory
US 6208713 B1Abstract
A method and apparatus for locating a desired record amongst a plurality of records in a telephone directory involves associating a frequency field with each of the records, the frequency field being operable to store a frequency metric. A characteristic field is also associated with each of the records, the characteristic field being operable to store a characteristic representation of at least one identifying characteristic of a rendering associated with the record. An input representation of a rendering purporting to identify the desired record is produced and the input representation is compared with the contents of the characteristic fields of at least some of the records and confidence metrics are assigned to the records respectively, each of the confidence metrics representing a respective probability that a respective record is the desired record. A determination is then made as to which of the records have the first and second highest confidence metrics. The frequency fields of the records having the first and second highest confidence metrics are then read and the record with the highest frequency metric is identified as the desired record. Instruction codes stored on a computer-readable memory medium may be used to configure a general purpose computer to effect the method.
This invention relates to devices for maintaining a telephone directory of names and telephone numbers which a user frequently calls. More particularly, the invention relates to locating a desired record from among a plurality of records in an input recognizing telephone directory. Input which may be recognized by such a directory includes voice input and handwritten input.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of locating a desired record amongst a plurality of records in a telephone directory. The method involves associating a frequency field with each of the records, the frequency field being operable to store a frequency metric. A characteristic field is also associated with each of the records, the characteristic field being operable to store a characteristic representation of at least one identifying characteristic of a rendering associated with the record. An input representation of a rendering purporting to identify the desired record is produced and the input representation is compared with the contents of the characteristic fields of at least some of the records and confidence metrics are assigned to the records respectively, each of the confidence metrics representing a respective probability that a respective record is the desired record. A determination is then made as to which of the records have the first and second highest confidence metrics. The frequency fields of the records having the first and second highest confidence metrics are then read and the record with the highest frequency metric is identified as the desired record.
Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention is shown generally at 10. In this embodiment, the apparatus is included within a telephone 12 connected to a central office (not shown) via a conventional subscriber loop 14. The central office is of the type capable of supplying Calling Line Identification (CLID) information to the telephone when a call is made to the telephone. The central office acts as a first network location.
In this embodiment, the microprocessor is a Mitsubishi 37510. This microprocessor has an address bus, a data bus and control signal lines for interfacing to other elements of the apparatus. The microprocessor further has an input port 38 and an output port 40 which are operable to selectively address any of the input and output devices respectively.
The keypad 26 includes a conventional telephone keypad operable to cooperate with the microprocessor 16 to produce keypad bytes indicative of a key depression on the keypad, and further includes an add key 42 which the user may actuate to direct the microprocessor 16 to effect certain functions associated therewith.
The voice recognition unit 28 cooperates with the microprocessor to produce a number which uniquely identifies an utterance made by the user, and a voice tag, or digitized sound clip of the user's voice. The number acts as a characteristic representation of at least one identifying characteristic of a rendering associated with the record. In this embodiment the rendering is a voice utterance made by the user. The characteristic representation is used for comparison with further utterances to “recognize” what the user is saying. The voice tag is used by the audio prompter to “playback” the name of a party.
The voice recognition unit 28 also recognizes standard commands such as “YES” or “NO” and responds to such commands by providing to the microprocessor command data packets indicative of the command received. Thus all matching of user-spoken utterances to commands takes place at the voice recognition unit 28.
CLID Receiver
The CLID receiver 30 receives CLID information from the telephone line 14 and produces name and number packets corresponding to the name and telephone number of an incoming caller. The CLID receiver 30 may be equipped to receive the CLID information in any one of many different ways. For example, CLID information may be received over a phone line using a CLASS (Custom Local Area Signalling Services) service offered by a telephone service provider. Alternatively, the CLID receiver 30 may include a voice mail service equipped to automatically store incoming CLID information. CLID information could also be received over a cellular network through an SMS (Short Messaging Services) service, for example. In this embodiment, the CLID receiver acts as a caller information receiver and a detector for detecting when a telephone call is received from a calling party.
The DTMF generator 32 is a conventional dialler and is operable to produce dual-tone multi-frequency signals which are supplied to the telephone line 14 to permit the apparatus to dial a telephone number in response to a number packet produced by the microprocessor 16. In this embodiment the microprocessor also acts as a detector for detecting when a call is made to a called party.
The audio prompter 34 includes a speaker 44 and is operable to playback the name of a party as digitized by the voice recognition unit.
In this embodiment, the display 36 includes a conventional liquid crystal display (LCD) having two horizontal lines of text 46 and 48, each capable of displaying 20 characters. The display is used to display a caller's name on the first line 46, in response to a name packet provided by the microprocessor 16, while the caller's telephone number is displayed on the second line 48, in response to a number packet provided by the microprocessor 16.
In this embodiment, the random access memory 18 is capable of storing 32k 8-bit words and may be read and written by the microprocessor 16 for retrieval and storage of data. Data stored in RAM is transferred to Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (E2PROM) (not shown) whenever a call is completed. This ensures that in the event of a power failure, information is retained, but at the same time may be updated.
In this embodiment, the read only memory 20 is capable of storing 64K 8-bit words and is configured to store a plurality of program codes operable to direct the microprocessor 16 to effect various functions to carry out a method according to the first embodiment of the invention. The program codes are selected such that read and write functions involving the random access memory 18 are made in one of four main address areas within an address range defined by the address bus.
A first memory address area 50 acts as a dial directory and includes a plurality of memory registers in a first address range. This area is used to store a first set of telephone call event records 52 associated with telephone calls initiated by dialling on the keypad. Each record of this first set includes number and frequency fields 54 and 56, where the number 54 field is used to store a telephone number dialled on the keypad 26 and the frequency field 56 is used to store a frequency metric related to the number of times the number in the number field 54 is dialled. In this embodiment, the frequency metric is a number representing the number of times a number is dialled. Thus the frequency field acts as a frequency of use field.
Incoming Directory
A second memory address area 58 acts as an incoming directory and includes a plurality of memory registers in a second address range. This area is used to store a second set of telephone call event records 60 associated with telephone calls initiated by an outside caller calling into the user's telephone 12. Each record 60 of this second set includes number, name and frequency fields 62, 64 and 66 for storing a telephone number, a name of an incoming caller as provided by the CLID receiver 30 and a frequency metric related to the number of times the incoming caller identified by the CLID receiver 30 has called the user's telephone 12. In this embodiment, the frequency metric is a number representing the number of times the incoming caller identified by the CLID receiver 30 has called the user's telephone.
A third memory address area 70 acts as a personal directory and includes a plurality of memory registers in a third address range. This area is used to store a third set of telephone call event records associated with parties the user is most likely to call. Each record of this third set includes name, number, characteristic, frequency and voice tag fields 72, 74, 76, 78 and 79. The name and number fields 72 and 74 identify the party and are used to store telephone numbers and names of parties with whom telephone calls have been conducted and the frequency field 78 stores a frequency metric related to the number of times a telephone call is conducted between the user and the party identified by the associated name and number fields. In this embodiment, the frequency metric is the number of times a telephone call is conducted with the party. The characteristic field 76 is used to store the characteristic representation produced by the voice recognition unit 28.
A fourth address area 80 acts as free memory which the microprocessor 16 can use for storing intermediate values in calculations and general parameters during the course of carrying out the method according to the first embodiment of the invention. This area is also used to keep a dial buffer 82, a pointer register 84, a CLID buffer 86 and input representation buffer 88, and an input buffer 89 all of which cooperate with program codes stored in the ROM.
The program codes stored in the ROM 20 direct the microprocessor 16 to effect various functions which cooperate to carry out a method according to the first embodiment of the invention. The functions cooperate with each other in a manner depicted by various algorithms according to the first embodiment. This embodiment includes a dial algorithm, an incoming algorithm, an add algorithm, and a function algorithm.
Dial Algorithm
Referring to FIG. 2, the dial algorithm is shown generally at 90 and serves to perform dialling functions and maintain and update the dial directory. The dial algorithm includes a plurality of functional blocks representing blocks of program codes used to effect the functionality indicated in the corresponding block. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 a and 2 b, the dial algorithm 90 is invoked upon receipt of a keypad interrupt at the microprocessor 16, from the keypad 26. The keypad 26 produces packets which are received at the input port 38 of the microprocessor 16. Block 91 directs the microprocessor to store the packets in the input buffer 89, and to load into the pointer register 84 the address of the input buffer 89. Block 92 directs the microprocessor 16 to store the contents of the number field of the record addressed by the contents of the pointer register 84 in the dial buffer 82 in the fourth address area 80 of the RAM 18. Block 94 then directs the microprocessor 16 to provide packets to the DTMF generator 32 in response to the keypad packets to generate dialling tones received by the central office in the usual manner, to establish a telephone call. Block 96 then successively addresses each record 71 in the personal directory 70 to determine whether or not the number just dialled is already in the user's personal directory 70. In other words, the personal directory is searched for a record associated with the called party. The microprocessor thus acts as a searcher. Where no corresponding record is found in the personal directory, block 98 directs the microprocessor 16 to successively address the records in the dial directory 50 to determine whether or not the number just dialled has been dialled before from the user's telephone 12. Thus, the dial directory is searched for a record corresponding to the called party. If a corresponding record is not found in the personal or dial directories, block 100 directs the microprocessor 16 to wait until the end of the call.
Incoming Algorithm
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the incoming algorithm is shown generally at 118 and serves to load into the incoming directory 58 CLID caller identification information received from the central office. The incoming algorithm is invoked upon receipt of a CLID interrupt at the microprocessor 16, the CLID interrupt being produced by the CLID receiver 30. Upon receipt of the CLID interrupt, block 120 directs the microprocessor 16 to store, in the CLID buffer 86, CLID information including name and number data identifying the caller, as provided by the CLID receiver 30 to the input port 38 of the microprocessor 16.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 a and 4 b the Add algorithm is shown generally at 150 and serves to add to the personal directory 70 new records obtained from the dial directory 56, the incoming directory 58 or which may be entered by the user via the keypad 26. The Add algorithm 150 is invoked upon receipt of an add key interrupt from the add key 42 on the keypad 26 or a call from the dial, incoming or voice recognition algorithms.
Upon invoking the Add algorithm 150, block 152 directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user to indicate whether or not the last dialled number or the last received CLID information is to be added as a record to the personal directory 70. The microprocessor prompts the user by writing to the display 36 appropriate indicia requesting user input and by writing to the audio prompter 34 a data packet or sound clip which causes the audio prompter to sound a prompt such as “LAST CALL”.
The user may respond to such prompts either by keypad entry, or by simply speaking the words “YES” or “NO” into the voice recognition unit 28. The microprocessor, display and audio prompter thus act as a prompter.
If the user does not want to store such information, the user replies with the utterance “NO” and then block 154 directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user to indicate whether a record is to be copied from the dial directory 50 or the incoming directory 58 or whether a new record is to be added and wait for a command utterance from the user. If the user wishes to copy from the dial directory 50, block 156 directs the microprocessor 16 to store the address of the first record of the dial directory 50, in the pointer register 84. Similarly, if the user wishes to copy from the incoming directory 58, block 158 directs the microprocessor 16 to store the address of the first record in the incoming directory 58 in the pointer register 84.
Function Algorithm
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, the function algorithm is shown generally at 180 and serves to enable the user to effect calling and programming instructions by keypad entry or simply by uttering voice commands recognizable to the voice recognition unit 28. The function algorithm is invoked upon receipt at the microprocessor 16, of a keypad interrupt in response to activation of a predefined key or key sequence.
Upon receiving an invocation of the function algorithm block 182 directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user for input by providing a data packet to the audio prompter 34 to cause it to sound clips of reconstructed speech to sound the words “CALL”, “LIST” or “PROGRAM”. The microprocessor also sends appropriate packets to the display to cause these prompts to be displayed on the display.
The user responds to the prompt by keypad entry or by uttering either of these words back to the voice recognition unit 28, which recognizes these utterances as commands and responds by providing to the input port 38 a packet indicating the word spoken or entered by the user. If the user has spoken the word “PROGRAM”, block 184 directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user for further input by providing a packet to the audio prompter 34 to cause it to sound clips of reconstructed speech to sound the words “ADD” or “DELETE”. If the user responds with the word “ADD”, the microprocessor 16 is directed to location “A” of the Add algorithm 150 of FIGS. 4a and 4 b and processing continues as described above in connection with the Add algorithm 150.
If the user responds with the word “DELETE”, block 185 directs the microprocessor to wait for the user to say or enter the name associated with the record to be deleted. Upon the user entering the name, via the keypad, a pointer to the identified record is produced and stored in the pointer register 84. If the user utters the name to the voice recognition unit, the name is recognized as a non-standard command and a representation of the user's utterance or input representation is provided to the input port of the microprocessor and the first voice recognition algorithm is invoked.
Block 190 then directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user to indicate whether the next successive record is to be addressed or whether the currently addressed record is the one of interest. The microprocessor 16 transfers a packet to the audio prompter 34 causing it to annunciate the word “NEXT?” and waits for a reply or input to be received at the voice recognition unit 28. If the user responds with the word “DELETE”, block 192 directs the microprocessor 16 to delete the currently addressed record 71 and the algorithm 180 is ended. If the user responds with the word “NEXT”, the next successive record is addressed, (i.e. the next most frequently used record) and execution of the algorithm resumes at block 188 which retrieves, displays and causes to be annunciated this next successive record. By the user repeatedly responding with “NEXT” at block 190, the records in the personal directory 70 are successively addressed starting with the least frequently used record. Thus, the user is immediately directed to records which are most likely to be the most desirable to replace and user need not scroll through the personal directory records in the order in which they were entered. This, of course, saves time. In addition, this permits hands free operation of the apparatus which can be useful in areas such as a vehicle, where the user's hands and eyes are occupied with other matters.
If at block 182, the user responds with the word “LIST”, the algorithm 180 enters a list branch which successively lists and annunciates the names and numbers in the personal directory and allows the user to select one to be dialled. The list branch begins with block 194 which directs the microprocessor 16 to load into the pointer register 84 the address of the first or last record in the personal directory 70, depending upon whether the user wishes to cause the names and numbers to be displayed in order of most frequently used record first or least frequently used record first. This selection may be pre-configured by the user. Alternatively, the records may be listed for the user in alphabetical order.
Block 198 then directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt the user to indicate whether the next successive record is to be addressed or whether the currently addressed record is the one of interest. The microprocessor 16 transfers a packet to the audio prompter 34 causing it to annunciate the word “NEXT?” and waits for a command response to be received at the voice recognition unit 28. If the user responds with the word “CALL”, block 200 directs the microprocessor 16 to load into the pointer register the address of the record currently displayed. The list branch of the algorithm 180 is thus completed and the microprocessor 16 is directed to continue processing at location “A” of the dial algorithm 90 shown in FIG. 2.
As above, if at block 198, the user replies with the word “NEXT”, the next successive record is addressed and execution of the algorithm 180 resumes at block 196 which retrieves, displays and causes to be annunciated the next successive record. As above, by the user repeatedly responding with “NEXT” at block 198, the records in the personal directory may be successively addressed and displayed until the desired record is located.
If, at block 182, the user responds with the word “CALL”, block 202 directs the microprocessor 16 to prompt for the name of the person to call.
Referring to FIG. 7, a personal directory record according to a second embodiment of the invention is shown generally at 240. The record has name, number, characteristic, and frequency of use fields 72, 74, 76 and 78 as in the first embodiment but further includes a frequency of success field 242 for storing a number representing the frequency of success of matching the input representation of a name uttered by the user with the contents of the characteristic field of the record. Initially, the frequency of success field 242 is set to zero, but is updated in accordance with a second voice recognition algorithm which is a combination of the voice recognition algorithm shown in FIG. 6 and a determination algorithm shown in FIG. 8, according to the second embodiment of the invention.
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