Voice interface board for use in an operator system

Claim 1

An operator system for providing services to subscribers in a public telephone network, the operator system comprising: an operator service center for receiving and servicing calls from subscribers, the operator service center comprising: a channel bank for receiving receive digital audio signals from the public telephone network, converting the receive digital audio signals to receive analog audio signals, converting transmit analog audio signals to transmit digital audio signals and transmitting the transmit digital audio signals to the public telephone network, and a plurality of operator workstations, coupled to the channel bank, for use by an operator to service calls from the subscribers, each operator workstation comprising: a processor for controlling the operation of the operator workstation; an operator input/output interface coupled to the processor for enabling the operator to service calls received from the subscribers, and a voice interface circuit board coupled to the channel bank and the processor for controlling audio characteristics of audio signals received and transmitted by the operator workstation, the circuit board comprising: an interface for receiving the receive analog audio signals from the channel bank, and for transmitting the transmit analog audio signals to the channel bank, an audio characteristics control circuit coupled to the interface for adjusting the audio characteristics of the receive and transmit analog audio signals and for recording and generating voice messages in response to commands received from the operator via the operator input/output interface to be transmitted to the subscriber, the audio characteristics control circuit further comprising a voice processor coupled to the interface for generating control signals to control the adjustment of at least one of the audio characteristics of the analog audio signals, and a headset interface coupled to the audio characteristics control circuit for transmitting the adjusted receive analog audio signals from the audio characteristics control circuit to at least one operator headset and for transmitting the transmit analog audio signals from the at least one operator headset to the audio characteristics control circuit; and a computer coupled via a network to each one of the plurality of operator workstations for storing operator profile information that is used to control the audio characteristics of the receive and transmit analog audio signals and for transmitting the operator profile information to the plurality of operator workstations.