Automatic un-muting of a telephone call
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsShang Q. Guo, Paul J. Landsberg, Jonathan Lenchner, Maharaj Mukherjee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for automatic un-muting of a telephone call. A muted telephone of a user is automatically un-muted during a telephone call by evaluating whether the user is facing the telephone while speaking during the telephone call. The telephone can optionally be automatically muted when the user stops speaking and is not facing the telephone. A telephone call of a user can also be processed by evaluating whether the user is facing the telephone while speaking during the telephone call; and providing a message to the user indicating that the telephone is muted if the user is facing the telephone while speaking during the telephone call.
Claims20
A method for automatically un-muting a muted telephone of a user during a telephone call, comprising:
- evaluating, using at least one processing device, whether said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call based on processing of speech and images of said user, wherein said step of evaluating whether said user is facing said telephone further comprises evaluating sound waves of said user by determining whether said sound waves reach a plurality of microphones associated with said telephone at substantially the same time;
- and
- automatically un-muting said telephone, using at least one processing device, if said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call.
A method for processing a telephone call by a user, comprising:
- evaluating, using at least one processing device, whether said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call based on processing of speech and images of said user, wherein said step of evaluating whether said user is facing said telephone further comprises evaluating sound waves of said user by determining whether said sound waves reach a plurality of microphones associated with said telephone at substantially the same time;
- and
- providing a message to said user, using at least one processing device, indicating that said telephone is muted if said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call.
An apparatus for automatically un-muting a muted telephone of a user during a telephone call, the apparatus comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- at least one hardware device, coupled to the memory, operative to:
- evaluate, using at least one processing device, whether said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call based on processing of speech and images of said user, wherein said step of evaluating whether said user is facing said telephone further comprises evaluating sound waves of said user by determining whether said sound waves reach a plurality of microphones associated with said telephone at substantially the same time;
- and
- automatically un-mute said telephone, using at least one processing device, if said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call.
An article of manufacture for automatically un-muting a muted telephone of a user during a telephone call, comprising a tangible machine readable recordable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
- evaluating, using at least one processing device, whether said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call based on processing of speech and images of said user, wherein said step of evaluating whether said user is facing said telephone further comprises evaluating sound waves of said user by determining whether said sound waves reach a plurality of microphones associated with said telephone at substantially the same time;
- and
- automatically un-muting said telephone, using at least one processing device, if said user is facing said telephone while speaking during said telephone call.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.