Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Voice activation or recognition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-23
2001-10-30
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Voice activation or recognition
C379S088030, C379S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06310940
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a telephone communication system, and in particular, to a personal computer interactive phone system which utilizes existing telephone equipment and existing phone wiring.
Increasingly, many homes may have one or more telephone sets and a modern personal computer (PC). With increasing performance needs and expectations on home telephone systems, more and more consumers are demanding that the home telephone system have more intelligence and processing capabilities at an affordable price. Telephony features that consumers may find desirable in a home telephone system include: (i) caller ID announcement, (ii) voice activated auto-dial, (iii) message center access from any phone in the home, (iv) routing of incoming calls to specific phones in the home, (v) in-house intercom with no additional wiring of the home, (vi) screening of incoming messages from any phone in the home, (vii) home convenience package including list maker and scheduler, and (viii) speech recognition.
In order for a telephone system which provides the above telephony features to be marketable to consumers, the telephone system ideally would be (i) inexpensive, (ii) flexible to form a specific telephone system for a household, (iii) adaptable to existing telecommunication technology, (iv) adaptable to consumer's existing telephone equipment and house wiring, (v) simple to install, and (vi) non-interfering with regular operation of existing home telephone system.
Method and apparatus are therefore needed which may be integrated with existing telephone equipment to provide advanced telephony features to existing telephone equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a phone system controller for use with a phone system adapter that selectively couples a telephone set to a telephone line. The phone system controller includes a computer system and an interactive phone system board. The computer system includes a processor and an expansion slot operable to couple an expansion card to the processor of the computer system. The interactive phone system board is coupled to the expansion slot. The interactive phone system board includes a connector operable to connect the computer system to a telephone line. Moreover, the interactive phone system board is operable to (i) establish a communication channel with the phone system adapter that permits normal concurrent use of the telephone line while the communication channel is established, (ii) receive audio signals from the telephone set, and (iii) provide the computer system with the audio signals via the communication channel.
Pursuant to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a telephone system for providing advanced telephony features. The telephone system includes a first phone system adapter and a phone system controller. The first phone system adapter is coupled between a first telephone handset and a telephone line. Furthermore, the first phone system adapter is operable to (i) selectively couple the first telephone handset to the telephone line, (ii) receive an oral command from the first telephone handset when the first telephone handset is decoupled from the telephone line, and (iii) transmit the oral command to the phone system controller via the telephone line while the first telephone handset is decoupled from the telephone line.
The phone system controller is coupled to the telephone line. Moreover, the phone system controller includes a personal computer system having an interactive phone system board and a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes programs that configure the personal computer system and the interactive phone system board to (i) receive the oral commands via the telephone line, and (ii) execute the oral command.
Pursuant to yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing a telephone set with an advance telephony feature. One step of the method includes decoupling the telephone set from a telephone line. Another step of the method includes transmitting an oral command from the telephone set to a phone system adapter box coupled to the telephone line while the telephone set is decoupled from the telephone line. The method also includes the step of transmitting the oral command from the phone system adapter box to a interactive phone system board of a personal computer system via the telephone line while the telephone set is decoupled from the telephone line. Furthermore, the method includes the step of processing the oral command at the personal computer system in order to provide the advanced telephony feature.
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Newton's Telecom Directory, 8thEdition (2 Pages) US Statutory Invention Registration No. H 1646 Issued on May 6, 1997 Inventor: Kato et al.
Maginot Addison & Moore
Matar Ahmad
NCR Corporation
Tieu Benny Q.
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