Patent ID: 7706513

Claim:
A method for performing distributed text-to-speech synthesis by a second telephone subscriber unit, a telephone network being coupled to a first telephone subscriber unit and the second telephone subscriber unit, the first telephone subscriber unit having a first telephone number and associated with a first party by the telephone network, and the second telephone subscriber unit having a second telephone number and associated with a second party by the telephone network, the method comprising the steps of: detecting that the telephone network opened a second communication channel between the telephone network and the second telephone subscriber unit responsive to a step of opening a first communication channel between a first telephone subscriber unit and the telephone network as performed by the telephone network; receiving a data stream, representing caller identification information of the first party, from the telephone network over the second communication channel responsive to a step of sending the data stream to the second telephone subscriber unit over the second communication channel as performed by the telephone network; decoding the data stream to form decoded symbols, representing the caller identification information of the first party, responsive to the step of receiving the data stream, wherein the decoded symbols represented text of the caller identification information; converting the decoded symbols to speech, representing the caller identification information of the first party, responsive to the step of decoding; and generating the speech responsive to the step of converting the decoded symbols to speech to permit the second party associated with the second telephone subscriber unit to listen to the speech to identify an identity of first party associated with the first telephone subscriber unit prior to accepting a telephone call from the first telephone subscriber unit; wherein the decoded symbols are represented by spectral and prosodic feature parameters.