Abstract:
Telecommunication systems including a terminal, a switch and on Internet/Intranet having a memory for storing information blocks at locations defined by addresses, can be made more user-friendly by introducing a detector for detecting speech-recognition/non-speech recognition related parts in control signals originating from the terminal and defining the addresses or n response signals sent from memory to terminal and including said information blocks. A processor is coupled to the detector for routing, in dependence on the detection, routing (parts of) the signals to a server for either conversion of (parts of) the signals or for information purposes.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to a telecommunication system comprising a terminal, a switch and at least a part of an I-net comprising a memory for storing I-net information blocks at locations defined by I-net addresses, with at least parts of said I-net addresses being generated in response to control signals originating from said terminal, and with at least parts of said I-net information blocks being sent from said memory to said terminal in the form of response signals. 
   Such a telecommunication system is known in the form of a telecommunication network for fixed and/or mobile communication, with said terminal being a fixed (PSTN, ISDN etc.) terminal (telephone, screenphone, pc etc.) or a wireless (cordless: DECT etc.) or mobile (GSM, UMTS etc.) terminal (wireless handset etc.), and with said I-net being an Internet and/or Intranet. Said I-net information blocks (HTML pages, web pages, WAP pages etc.) are stored at locations defined by I-net addresses (directly by Internet Protocol—IP—addresses, indirectly by Uniform Resource Locators—URLs—etc.) to be generated in response to control signals originating from said terminal and for example generated by pressing one or more keys and/or clicking on a mouse. As a result, said response signals comprising said I-net information blocks are sent from said memory to said terminal. 
   Such a telecommunication system is disadvantageous, inter alia, due to being user-friendly insufficiently. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the invention, inter alia, to provide a telecommunication system as described in the preamble, which is more user-friendly. 
   Thereto, the telecommunication system according to the invention is characterised in that said switch comprises a detector for defecting speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in said signals, and comprises a processor for, in response to a detection, processing said signals. 
   By introducing said detector and said processor, said telecommunication system can be controlled by using speech-recognition, which increases the user-friendlyness a lot. 
   The invention is based on the insight, inter alia, that the future will be speech-controlled. 
   The invention solves the problem, inter alia, of increasing the user-friendlyness. 
   A first embodiment of the telecommunication system according to the invention is characterised in that said control signals comprise speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts, with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a speech-recognition related part, routing said speech-recognition related part to a server for converting said speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory, and with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a non-speech-recognition related part, converting said non-speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory. 
   By detecting speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts in said control signals originating from said terminal, a user of said terminal has the option to either use keys or mouse etc. or to use speech for controlling the system. Such an option makes the system more user-friendly. 
   A second embodiment of the telecommunication system according to the invention is characterised in that said terminal comprises a preprocessing unit for preprocessing speech-recognition related parts of said control signals, with said server comprising a final processing unit for final processing said preprocessed speech-recognition related parts. 
   By introducing distributed speech recognition, the efficiency of the system is increased, which further increases the user-friendlyness. 
   A third embodiment of the system according to the invention is characterised in that said response signals comprise speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related ports, with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a speech-recognition related part, routing said speech-recognition related part to said server, and with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a non-speech-recognition related part, letting said non-speech-recognition related part pass to allow said non-speech-recognition related part being sent to said terminal. 
   By detecting speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts in said response signals originating from said memory, said server is informed of speech-recognition related parts of I-net information blocks, of which non-speech-recognition related parts flow from said memory to said terminal, which further increases the efficiency of said system. 
   The invention further relates to a switch for use in a telecommunication system comprising a terminal, said switch and at feast a part of an I-net comprising a memory for storing I-net information blocks at locations defined by I-net addresses, with at least parts of said I-net addresses being generated in response to control signals originating from said terminal, and with at least parts of said I-net information blocks being sent from said memory to said terminal in the form of response signals. 
   The switch according to the invention is characterised in that said switch comprises a detector for detecting speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in said signals, and comprises a processor for, in response to a detection, processing said signals. 
   A first embodiment of the switch according to the invention is characterised in that said control signals comprise speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts, with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a speech-recognition related part, routing said speech-recognition related part to a server for converting said speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory, and with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a non-speech-recognition related part, converting said non-speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory. 
   A second embodiment of the switch according to the invention is characterised in that said response signals comprise speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts, with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a speech-recognition related part, routing said speech-recognition related part to said server, and with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a non-speech-recognition related part, letting said non-speech-recognition related part pass to allow said non-speech-recognition related part being sent to said terminal. 
   The invention also relates to a server for use in a telecommunication system comprising a terminal, a switch and at least a part of an I-net comprising a memory for storing I-net information blocks at locations defined by I-net addresses, with at least parts of said I-net addresses being generated in response to control signals originating from said terminal, and with at least ports of said I-net information blocks being sent from said memory to said terminal in the form of response signals. 
   The server according to the invention is characterised in that said switch comprises a detector for detecting speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in said control signals, and comprises a processor for, in response to a detection, processing said control signals comprising speech-recognition related parts and/or non-speech-recognition related parts, with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a speech-recognition related part, routing said speech-recognition related part to said server comprising a converter for converting said speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory, and with said processing comprising, in response to a detection of a non-speech-recognition related part, converting said non-speech-recognition related part into an address signal destined for said memory. 
   A first embodiment of the server according to the invention is characterised in that said terminal comprises a preprocessing unit for preprocessing speech-recognition related parts of said control signals, with said server comprising a final processing unit for final processing said preprocessed speech-recognition related parts. 
   The invention yet also relates to a method for use in a telecommunication system comprising a terminal, a switch and at least a part of an I-net comprising a memory for storing I-net information blocks at locations defined by I-net addresses, with at least parts of said I-net addresses being generated in response to control signals originating from said terminal, and with at least parts of said I-net information blocks being sent from said memory to said terminal in the form of response signals. 
   The method according to the invention is characterised in that said method comprises a first step of detecting speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in said signals and a second step of, in response to a detection, processing said signals. 
   Embodiments of the method according to the invention are in correspondence with embodiments of the telecommunication system according to the invention. 
   The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,464 discloses a dictating mechanism based upon distributed speech recognition (DSR). Other documents being related to DSR are for example EP00440016.4 (corresponding to U.S. patent application filed Jan. 17, 2001) and EP00440057.8 (corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/789,808 filed Feb. 22, 2001). The document EP00440087.5 (corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/791,562 filed Feb. 26, 2001 discloses a system for performing vocal commanding. Neither one of these documents discloses the telecommunication system according to the invention. All references including further references cited with respect to and/or inside said references are considered to be incorporated in this patent application. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention will be further explained at the hand of an embodiment described with respect to a drawing, whereby 
       FIG. 1  discloses a telecommunication system according to the invention comprising a switch according to the invention and a server according to the invention and a part of an I-net and a terminal. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Terminal  1  as shown in  FIG. 1  comprises a processor  10 , a memory  11 , a transceiver  12  and a man-machine-interface  13  (mmi  13 ). One side of transceiver  12  is coupled to an antennae and of an other side an output of transceiver  12  is coupled via a connection  14  to mmi  13  and an input of transceiver  12  is coupled via a connection  15  to mmi  13 . Processor  10  is coupled via control connections to memory  11 , to transceiver  12 , and to mmi  13 . Memory  11  is further coupled via control connections to transceiver  12  and mmi  13 . 
   Switch  3  according to the invention as shown in  FIG. 1  comprises a processor  30 , a memory  31 , a detector  32 , a coupler  33 , a first unit  34  and a second unit  35 . Processor  30  is coupled via control connections to memory  31 , to coupler  33  and to detector  32 . Coupler  33  is coupled via a connection  50  to a base station  5  for mobile communication with terminal  1  and via a connection  51  to a base station  6  and via a connection  52  to server  2  and via a connection  53  to unit  34  and via a connection  54  to defector  32  and via a connection  55  to memory  4  forming part of an I-net (Internet/Intranet) and via a connection  56  to unit  35 . 
   Server  2  according to the invention as shown in  FIG. 1  comprises a processor  20 , a memory  23 , a first circuit  21  and a second circuit  22 . Processor  20  is coupled via a control bus  24  to memory  23  and to circuit  21  and to circuit  22 , and is coupled via a bus  25  to memory  23 , to circuit  21  and to circuit  22 . Bus  25  is coupled to connection  52 . 
   The telecommunication system according to the invention as shown in  FIG. 1  functions as follows. 
   According to a first embodiment, terminal  1  is operated in for example the so-called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) mode or in an other Internet/Intranet related mode, as a result of which a connection (at least partly circuit-switched and/or at least partly packet-switched) is set up from terminal  1  via base station  5  and switch  3  to memory  4 . In response, a first I-net information block (for example a HTML page or web page or WAP page) for example to be called ‘startpage’ (for example predefined and stored in memory  4  per user and/or per terminal or predefined and stored in memory  11  and sent to switch  3  together with user information and/or terminal information) is sent from memory  4  towards terminal  1  and arrives via connection  55  at coupler  33  of switch  3 , in response to which processor  30  is informed of said arrival, and in response instructs coupler  33  to couple connection  55  with connection  56 , as a result of which said first I-net information block is for example buffered in unit  35  having a buffer function. Then, according to the invention, processor  30  instructs defector  32  to analyse said first I-net information block, which in general will comprise one or more codes indicating that a part of said first I-net information block is speech-recognition related. Such a code for example is a so-called ‘grammar’ specifying a speech recognition grammar, or is for example a ‘href’ for example specifying &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=“http://www.alcatel.com”&gt;The world of Alcatel &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;. To be able to analyses said first I-net information block is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  54  to detector  32  which performs an analysis (for example by comparing subparts of said first I-net information block with predefined subparts stored in memory  31 ). In response to detection of such a speech-recognition related part, detector  32  informs processor  30 , which then controls coupler  33  in such a way that said speech-recognition related part is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  52  to server  2  and that the non-speech-recognition related part is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  50  and base station  5  to terminal  1  (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) for example in the form of a response signal. In server  2 , said speech-recognition related part is supplied to bus  25 , in response to which processor  20  is informed, which controls memory  23  is such a way via control bus  24  that said speech-recognition related part is stored in said memory  23  (for example together with and/or in relation to user information and/or terminal information). In terminal  1 , said non-speech-recognition related part is supplied via transceiver  12  and connection  14  to mmi  13  under control of processor  10 , in response to which said first I-net information block is displayed at mmi  13  (for example comprising a display and further for example comprising a loudspeaker, a microphone, a keyboard etc.). 
   According to a first alternative to said first embodiment, both said speech-recognition related part and said non-speech-recognition related part are together sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  50  and base station  5  to terminal  1 , with said speech-recognition related part of course still being sent to server  2 . 
   According to a second alternative to said first embodiment, unit  35  is not used, due to coupler  33  and processor  30  and detector  32  being sufficiently fast to detect and in response to send said non-speech-recognition related part (possibly together with said speech-recognition related part) to terminal  1  and to send said speech-recognition related part (also) to server 2 . 
   According to a second embodiment, a user operating terminal  1  and looking at said first I-net information block at mmi  13  (display) decides to order a second I-net information block (a next page). Thereto, said user for example operates mmi  13  (keyboard) in such a way that a control signal (comprising at least one non-speech-recognition related part) is generated, which via connection  15  and transceiver  12  under control of processor  10  is sent via base station  5  and connection  50  to coupler  33  of switch  3 . Processor  30  is informed of this arrival, and in response instructs coupler  33  to couple connection  50  with connection  56 , as a result of which said control signal is for example buffered in unit  35  having a buffer function. Then, according to the invention, processor  30  instructs detector  32  to analyse said control signal, which either at least comprises one or more codes indicating that said control signal is non-speech-recognition related (generated via the keyboard of mmi  13 ) or comprises one or more codes indicating that said control signal is speech-recognition related (generated via the microphone of mmi  13 ). To be able to analyse, said control signal is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  54  to detector  32  which performs an analysis (for example by comparing subparts of said control signal with predefined subparts stored in memory  31 ). In response to detection of at least one non-speech-recognition related part (due to said keyboard being used), detector  32  informs processor  30 , which then controls coupler  33  in such a way that said control signal is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  53  to unit  34  having a conversion function. Unit  34  then converts said control signal function (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) into an address signal suitable for memory  4 , which address signal either directly via connection  53  and coupler  33  and connection  55  is supplied to memory  4  or indirectly via connection  53  and coupler  33  and connection  50  and base station  5  is supplied to terminal  1 , which then sends it (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) via base station  5  and connection  50  and coupler  33  and connection  55  to memory  4 . As a result, memory  4  generates said second I-net information block which at least partly is sent to terminal  1  (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) and at least partly is sent to server  2 , etc. 
   According to a first alternative to said second embodiment, unit  34  is not used, due to said control signal already comprising an address signal suitable for memory  4 , etc. 
   According to a second alternative to said second embodiment, unit  35  is not used, due to coupler  33  and processor  30  and detector  32  being sufficiently fast to detect and in response to process said control signal etc. 
   According to a third embodiment, a user operating terminal  1  and looking at said first or second I-net information block at mmi  13  (display) decides to order a second or third I-net information block (a next page). Thereto, said user for example operates mmi  13  (microphone) in such a way that a control signal (comprising at least one speech-recognition related part) is generated, which via connection  15  and transceiver  12  under control of processor  10  is sent via base station  5  and connection  50  to coupler  33  of switch  3 . Processor  30  is informed of this arrival, and in response instructs coupler  33  to couple connection  50  with connection  56 , as a result of which said control signal is for example buffered in unit  35  having a buffer function. Then, according to the invention, processor  30  instructs detector  32  to analyse said control signal, which either at least comprises one or more codes indicating that said control signal is non-speech-recognition related (generated via the keyboard of mmi  13 ) or comprises one or more codes indicating that said control signal is speech-recognition related (generated via the microphone of mmi  13 ). To be able to analyse, said control signal is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  54  to detector  32  which performs an analysis (for example by comparing subparts of said control signal with predefined subparts stored in memory  31 ). In response to detection of at least one speech-recognition related part (due to said microphone being used), detector  32  informs processor  30 , which then controls coupler  33  in such a way that said control signal is sent from unit  35  via connection  56  and coupler  33  and connection  52  to server  2 . In server  2 , said control signal is supplied via bus  25  to circuit  21  having a conversion function and/or to memory  23 . Together, memory  23  and circuit  21 , in dependence of what has previously been stored in memory  23  in relation to the I-net information block presently shown at mmi  13 , convert said control signal (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) info an address signal (suitable) for memory  4 , which address signal either directly via connection  52  and coupler  33  (and possibly via unit  34 ) and connection  55  is supplied to memory  4  or indirectly via connection  52  and coupler  33  (and possibly via unit  34 ) and connection  50  and base station  5  is supplied to terminal  1 , which then sends it (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) via base station  5  and connection  50  and coupler  33  and connection  55  to memory  4 . As a result, memory  4  generates said second or third I-net information block which at least partly is sent to terminal  1  (for example by using user information and/or terminal information) and at least partly is sent to server  2 , etc. 
   According to a first alternative to said third embodiment, terminal  1  comprises a preprocessing unit (not shown, possibly forming part of processor  10 ) for preprocessing said control signal generated via mmi  13  (microphone), in which case in server  2  circuit  22  having a final processing function for final processing said preprocessed control signal, and in which case either possibly detector  32  is able to detect speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in said preprocessed signal or possibly switch  3  comprises a further unit (not shown) for either re-preprocessing or final processing said preprocessed control signal to assist said detector  32 , etc. 
   According to a second alternative to said third embodiment, unit  35  is not used, due to coupler  33  and processor  30  and detector  32  being sufficiently fast to detect and in response to process said control signal etc. 
   All embodiments are just embodiments and do not exclude other embodiments not shown and/or described. All alternatives are just alternatives and do not exclude other alternatives not shown and/or described. Any (part of an) embodiment and/or any (part of an) alternative can be combined with any other (part of an) embodiment and/or any other (part of an) alternative. 
   Said terminal, base station and switch can begin accordance with GSM, UMTS, DECT, ISDN, PSTN etc. Said construction of said terminal, switch and server can be amended without departing from the scope of this invention. Parallel blocks can be connected serially, and vice versa, and each bus can be replaced by separate connections, and vice versa. Said units and circuits, as well as all other blocks shown and/or not shown, can be 100% hardware, or 100% software, of a mixture of both. Each unit, circuit and block can be integrated with a processor or any other part, and each function of a processor can be realised by a separate unit, circuit or block. 
   For example detector  32  having a double function—detecting speech-recognition/non-speech-recognition related parts in response signals originating from memory  4  (for example said detection of said ‘href’ and/or ‘grammar’) as well as in control signals originating from terminal  1  (for example detection of codes and/or a protocol defining that certain signals originate from keyboard and/or mouse and/or that other signals do not etc.)—can be realised by separated detectors. And for example unit  34  having said conversion function may also comprise a DNS (Domain Name Server) function for converting a Uniform Resource Locator—URL—into an Internet Protocol—IP—address. However, said DNS function could also be located in server  2 , etc.