US 5,483,588 A · Voice processing interface for a teleconference system

Abstract

A teleconferencing system having screened introductions, named introductions, roll call, talker identification, and subconferencing, scheduling, and recording options. A caller attempting to join a teleconference is prompted to enter identification information by generating corresponding DTMF signals. The caller's identification is used to index the caller's profile stored in memory. The profile includes a memory address pointer to the location at which data representative of the spoken name of the caller is stored. The caller's identification is also checked against a list specified by the meeting organizer and stored in memory to determine whether the caller is to be admitted to the teleconference. If the caller is to be admitted to the teleconference, an announcement is generated to the attendees of the teleconference using the caller's spoken name retrieved from memory. Likewise, when the attendee leaves the conference, the system detects the attendee disconnecting and retrieves the attendee's spoken name stored in memory in order to generate an announcement to the attendees: "XYZ has left the conference." The system is responsive to requests by attendees during the teleconference. The attendees communicate with the system by depressing buttons on their touch tone phones which generate DTMF signals. The system also has the capability of scheduling new conferences and automatically checking for any conflicts.

Claims60

Dependent claims

A teleconferencing system that uses voice processing to connect callers to teleconferences and guide callers through teleconferencing functions without operator intervention comprising:

a memory comprising teleconference information which identifies a teleconference to be held, and a name database comprising a spoken name of at least one caller to the teleconference, said spoken name indexed by a caller's identification;
a switching matrix for selectively connecting telephone trunk lines, to which callers to the teleconference are coupled, for receipt of incoming voice signals from the telephone trunk lines to which callers to the teleconference are coupled and output of voice signals to the telephone trunk lines to which callers to the teleconference are coupled;
a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs) coupled to said switching matrix for mixing a plurality of audio signals received on said trunk lines to provide teleconferencing among a plurality of callers, wherein the plurality of callers teleconferenced become teleconference attendees;
a system controller coupled to the memory and the switching matrix, said controller generating audio prompts to the callers and to the attendees to guide the callers and attendees in the operation of the teleconferencing system, one of said audio prompts requesting a caller's identification to be entered prior to be admitted to a teleconference, and, in response to an entered caller's identification, said controller retrieving the spoken name from the memory indexed by the caller's identification and generating an announcement to the attendees of the teleconference using the retrieved spoken name, said announcement announcing that the caller is to join the conference, said switching matrix causing the announcement to be output on the trunk lines such that the attendees receive the announcement.

1 more element

A teleconferencing system, comprising:

line cards connected to telephone trunk lines, signals representative of callers to a teleconference coming to said system over said telephone trunk lines;
a switching matrix coupled to the line cards for selectively connecting callers such that the connected callers are attendees of the teleconference and the attendees can audibly communicate with each other in real-time;
a plurality of digital signal processors (DSPs) coupled to said switching matrix for mixing voice signals of attendees such that the attendees hear the mixed signals, said DSPs further detecting DTMF signals on said trunk lines;
a memory for storing pre-recorded audio prompts;
a system controller coupled to the memory, line cards, switching matrix and DSPs, said system controller controlling the switching matrix, DSPs and line cards to establish a teleconference, said system controller responsive to predetermined DTMF signals detected by the DSPs to cause the switching matrix, line cards and DSPs to initiate a subconference between a subset of attendees of the teleconference, and said system controller retrieving pre-recorded prompts for playback to the attendees for prompting the attendees to move between said teleconference and said subconference.

2 more elements

In a teleconferencing system having a switching matrix for selectively connecting trunk lines, a processor for processing a plurality of audio signals on said trunk lines to provide conferencing among a plurality of attendees to a teleconference, and a voice subsystem for playing pre-recorded prompts, a method of processing telephone calls comprising the steps of:

storing voice data of a spoken name of at least one caller;
generating a caller profile database, said caller profile database comprising at least one caller profile of the caller comprising caller identification and a memory address pointer to the voice data representative of a spoken name of the caller;
detecting an incoming telephone call by the caller to said teleconferencing system;
prompting for an identification of the caller;
using said identification, retrieving the memory address pointer from the caller profile database;
retrieving the spoken name of the caller from memory;
generating an audio announcement that the caller is to join the teleconference to the attendees of the teleconference, said announcement including the spoken name of the caller retrieved from memory;
and
joining the caller to the teleconference.

6 more elements

In teleconferencing system comprising teleconferencing resources, and a memory comprising voice prompts, a method of scheduling a teleconference utilizing voice prompts stored in the memory, comprising the steps of:

providing a scheduling database comprising teleconferencing resource information, the teleconferencing system resources operating based upon the scheduling database;
retrieving voice prompts from the memory to prompt a caller to enter schedule information pertaining to said teleconference, said teleconferencing system conducting said teleconference according to said schedule information if resources are available;
determining whether said teleconferencing system has resources available to handle said teleconference by comparing said schedule information entered by said caller to the scheduling database;
if said resources are not available to handle said teleconference according to said schedule information entered by said caller:
a) generating an announcement informing said caller that said teleconference cannot be scheduled according to said schedule information;
and
b) prompting said caller to modify said schedule information;
if said resources are available:
c) confirming to said caller that said teleconference is scheduled;
d) assigning a conference number;
e) storing said schedule information in said schedule database.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Voice processing interface for a teleconference system

Life of this patent

Voice processing interface for a teleconference system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims60