# US 8,787,866 B2 · System, method and program for controlling mute function on telephone

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- Number: US 8,787,866 B2
- Document ID: US8787866B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 11/189,294
- Filed: 2005-07-26
- Published: 2007-02-15
- Granted: 2014-07-22
- Earliest claimed: 2005-07-26
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: Roberto Battaglini; Brian Patrick Singer
- Inventors: Roberto Battaglini; Brian Patrick Singer
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787866B2

## CPC

- H04M 1/19: Arrangements of transmitters, receivers, or complete sets to prevent eavesdropping, to attenuate local noise or to prevent undesired transmission; Mouthpieces or receivers specially adapted therefor (circuit arrangements for preventing eavesdropping H04M1/68; telephone cabinets E04H1/14)
- G10L 15/22: Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
- G10L 17/04: Training, enrolment or model building
- G10L 17/06: Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
- G10L 25/84: for discriminating voice from noise
- H04M 1/247: Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use (user interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones H04M1/724)
- H04M 1/6033: {for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets (arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08)}
- G10L 2015/223: {Execution procedure of a spoken command}
- H04M 1/6008: {in the transmitter circuit}
- H04M 2201/405: involving speaker-dependent recognition
- H04M 2203/258: Service state indications
- H04M 2250/74: with voice recognition means
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING

## Abstract

System, method and program for controlling a mute function on a telephone device. While the mute function is active, sound reaching a telephone or other communication device is sensed, and a determination is made if the sound includes a word. If so, an alarm is activated to alert a user that the mute function is active. If not, the alarm is not activated. In accordance with an optional feature of the present invention, speech recognition software is trained to recognize the voice or speech pattern of a specific user, and the alarm is activated only if the word was spoken by the specific user.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for controlling a mute function in a telephone device, said method comprising the steps of:
while the mute function is active, a microphone in the telephone device sensing sound reaching said telephone device, and voice recognition software in said telephone device recognizing and identifying a specific word from said sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active, and in response, said telephone device automatically activating an alarm in said telephone device to alert a user that said mute function is active;
said voice recognition software training to differentiate a specific word spoken by a specific person from a same specific word spoken by other people; and
while the mute function is active, said voice recognition software processing other sound detected by said microphone to recognize and identify said specific word spoken by said specific person and not by another person, and in response, said telephone device activating said alarm.

### Claim 2

A telephone device including a mute function, said telephone device comprising:
a microphone for sensing sound reaching said telephone device;
a CPU, a memory and a computer readable storage device;
a voice recognition program, stored in said storage device for execution by said CPU via said memory, to recognize and identify specific words from sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active; and
computer hardware and/or software stored in said storage device for execution by said CPU via said memory, operative while said mute function is active, (a) responsive to said voice recognition program recognizing and identifying a specific word from said sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active, to activate an alarm in said telephone device to alert a user that said mute function is active, and (b) responsive to said voice recognition program not recognizing and identifying a specific word from said sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active, to avoid activation of said alarm; and wherein:
said voice recognition program has been trained to differentiate a specific word spoken by a specific person from a same specific word spoken by other people; and
said voice recognition program processes other sound detected by said microphone while said mute function is active to recognize and identify said specific word spoken by said specific person and not by another person, and said computer hardware and/or software is responsive to said voice recognition program recognizing and identifying said specific word spoken by said specific person and not by another person, to activate said alarm.

### Claim 3

A computer program product for controlling a mute function of a telephone device equipped with a microphone to detect sound reaching the telephone device, said computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage device;
a voice recognition program, operative while a mute function is active, to recognize and identify specify words from sound detected by said microphone;
program instructions, operative while said mute function is active, (a) responsive to said voice recognition software recognizing and identifying a specific word from said sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active, to activate an alarm to alert a user that said mute function is active, and (b) responsive to said voice recognition program not recognizing and identifying a specific word from said sound sensed by said microphone while said mute function is active, to avoid activation of said alarm; and wherein
said voice recognition program and said program instructions are stored on said computer readable storage device; and wherein:
said voice recognition program has been trained to differentiate a specific word spoken by a specific person from a same specific word spoken by other people; and
said voice recognition program processes other sound detected by said microphone while said mute function is active to recognize and identify said specific word spoken by said specific person and not by another person, and said program instructions are responsive to said voice recognition program recognizing and identifying said specific word spoken by said specific person and not by another person, to activate said alarm.