Patent ID: 7120234

Claim:
A telephone user interface (TUI) configured to receive a command signal after a call is connected, the TUI comprising: voice-based command mode logic for receiving a voice-based command signal from a user in association with an option of a first menu structure of options, said voice-based command mode logic having an active status and an inactive status; tone-based command mode logic for receiving a tone-based command signal from the user in association with an option of a second menu structure of options, said tone-based command mode logic having an active status and an inactive status, said options of said first menu structure logically associated with said options of said second menu structure; mode determination logic configured to determine whether a received command signal correlates with the control mode logic that is currently associated with inactive status; translation logic configured to translate the received command signal into a format associated with the control mode logic that is currently associated with the active status, in response to the determination that the received command signal corresponds to the control mode logic that is currently associated with inactive status; toggle determination logic configured to, in response to the translation logic translating the control signal, determine whether to toggle the voice-based command mode logic and the tone-based command mode logic between active status and inactive status by providing a user prompt and receiving a user input to the user prompt; and switching logic configured to, in response to the toggle determination logic determining to toggle the voice-based command mode logic and the tone-based command mode logic between active and inactive status, toggle the voice-based command mode logic and tone-based command mode logic between active status and inactive status, wherein said active status of the tone-based command logic correlates with the inactive status of the voice-based command logic, and wherein the inactive status of the tone-based command logic correlates with the active status of the voice-based control logic.