US6088428A — Voice controlled messaging system and processing …

Claim 1

Independent Claim 201 words

A voice controlled digital voice messaging system comprising: at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller means for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line; a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon; signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller means and to the mass storage device for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising means for selecting verification data responsive to an identification of the said at least one subscriber telephone line; means for controlling access of a subscriber to the system upon verification of a spoken password of the subscriber using said selected verification data; means for control of playback of voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising means for interrupting playback when the subscriber speaks a voice command during playback; means for control of storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages in response to affirmative or negative voice commands given by the subscriber; and means for directing messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 201 words

A voice controlled digital voice messaging system comprising: at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller means for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line; a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon; signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller means and to the mass storage device for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising means for selecting verification data responsive to an identification of the said at least one subscriber telephone line; means for controlling access of a subscriber to the system upon verification of a spoken password of the subscriber using said selected verification data; means for control of playback of voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising means for interrupting playback when the subscriber speaks a voice command during playback; means for control of storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages in response to affirmative or negative voice commands given by the subscriber; and means for directing messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 40 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for controlling access to the system comprises means for speaker dependent recognition of a stored subscriber password and means for granting access to the system when the stored subscriber password is recognized.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 42 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of playback comprises means for speaker dependent recognition of an interrupt command during playback, and means for interrupting playback of a message in response to speaker dependent recognition of the interrupt command.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 46 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage comprises means for speaker independent recognition of YES or NO commands, and means for interrupting saving, erasing, replaying, and sending a message in response to speaker independent recognition of the YES or NO commands.

Claim 6

Independent Claim 23 words

The system of claims 2, 3, or 4 wherein each means for recognition includes means for rejection of out-of-vocabulary utterances by the subscriber.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 42 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for controlling access to the system further comprises means for enrollment of a speaker dependent password template, the template comprising a digital representation of features of a spoken password signal provided by the subscriber.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 71 words

The system of claim 6 wherein the means for enrollment further comprises means for receiving a first plurality of spoken password utterances from the subscriber, means for creating the template based on a second plurality of the utterances comprising a first subset of the first plurality, and means for testing the template by comparing a third plurality of the utterances, comprising a second subset of the first plurality, to the template.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 43 words

The system of claim 1, wherein the means for control of playback of voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprises means for enrolling the word STOP spoken by the subscriber and means for recognition of the utterance STOP by the subscriber.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 74 words

The system of claim 8 wherein the means for enrolling the word STOP further comprises means for receiving a first plurality of input spoken utterances from the subscriber, means for creating a template based on a second plurality of the utterances comprising a first subset of the first plurality, and means for testing the template by comparing a third plurality of the utterances, comprising a second subset of the first plurality, to the template.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 32 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises means for speaker independent recognition of utterances of YES and NO.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 65 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select a play message mode for playing messages stored on the mass storage device; means for recognition of affirmative and negative utterances by the subscriber; and means responsive to an affirmative utterance for playing back a stored message.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 72 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select a save message mode for saving messages recently stored on the mass storage device; means for recognition of affirmative and negative utterances by the subscriber; and means responsive to an affirmative utterance for saving a recently received stored message on the mass storage device.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 71 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select an erase message mode for erasing messages recently stored on the mass storage device; means for recognition of affirmative and negative utterances by the subscriber; and means responsive to an affirmative utterance for erasing a recently received message from the mass storage device.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 74 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select a review saved message mode for replaying messages previously stored on the mass storage device by the subscriber; means for recognition of affirmative and negative utterances by the subscriber; and means responsive to an affirmative utterance for replaying a message stored on the mass storage device.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 79 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select an erase saved message mode for erasing a message stored on the mass storage device by the subscriber in the save message mode; means for recognition of affirmative and negative utterances by the subscriber; and means responsive to an affirmative utterance for erasing a saved message from the mass storage device.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 100 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the means for control of storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages further comprises: means for prompting the subscriber to select a send message mode for sending messages from the subscriber to one of a plurality of intended message recipients; means, responsive to the means for prompting the subscriber, for sending messages from the subscriber to one of the plurality of intended message recipients, comprising: means for recognition of the name of an intended message recipient; and means for recording a digitized voice message to the intended recipient on the mass storage device.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 34 words

The system of claim 16, wherein the means for sending messages from the subscriber further comprises means for selectively replaying the voice message upon speaker independent recognition of a YES utterance from the subscriber.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 34 words

The system of claim 16 wherein the means for sending messages further comprises means for enrolling a plurality of speaker dependent templates representing digitized utterances of a plurality of names of intended message recipients.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 29 words

The system of claim 9 wherein the template is created using a hidden Markov model having at least fourteen states and having cepstral coefficients of at least twentieth order.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system of claim 19 wherein the means for testing the template comprises means for measuring spectral distance using smoothed Laplacian group delay spectrum.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 23 words

The system of claim 19 wherein the means for testing the template comprises means for weighting the cepstral coefficients using smoothed group delay.

Claim 23

Independent Claim 74 words

The system of any of claims 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 wherein the means for recognition comprises means for creating a digital template and means for comparing the digital template to the spoken password of the subscriber, the template representing an earlier measured utterance of the password by the subscriber, using a hidden Markoff model, having at least 14 states and having cepstral coefficients of at least 20th order.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system of claim 22 wherein the means for comparing the template comprises means for measuring spectral distance using smoothed Laplacian group delay spectrum.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 23 words

The system of claim 23 wherein the means for comparing the template comprises means for weighting the cepstral coefficients using smoothed group delay.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 200 words

In a data processing system having at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line, a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon, and signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller and to the mass storage device; a method for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising the steps of: identifying the at least one subscriber telephone line; selecting verification data responsive to said identification; providing access to the system in response to verification of a spoken password uttered by a subscriber, said verification using the selected verification data; selectively playing back voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising the substep of interrupting playback in response to an utterance by the subscriber of a voice command during playback; controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages in response to utterances of affirmative or negative voice commands by the subscriber; and selectively sending messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 200 words

In a data processing system having at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line, a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon, and signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller and to the mass storage device; a method for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising the steps of: identifying the at least one subscriber telephone line; selecting verification data responsive to said identification; providing access to the system in response to verification of a spoken password uttered by a subscriber, said verification using the selected verification data; selectively playing back voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising the substep of interrupting playback in response to an utterance by the subscriber of a voice command during playback; controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages in response to utterances of affirmative or negative voice commands by the subscriber; and selectively sending messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 42 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of providing access to the system further comprises the step of recording a speaker dependent password template, the template comprising a digital representation of features of a spoken password signal provided by the subscriber.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 26, wherein the step of providing access to the system further comprises the steps of comparing the template to a second template formed from an utterance by the subscriber, determining whether the templates match, and in response to a template match, granting access to the system.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the affirmative utterance is YES and the negative utterance is NO.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 93 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of providing access to the system further comprises the steps of: receiving a first plurality of input spoken password utterances from the subscriber, creating a template based on a second plurality of the utterances comprising a first subset of the first plurality, testing the template by comparing a third plurality of the utterances, comprising a second subset of the first plurality, to the template, and in response to the testing step, rejecting the template if the third plurality of utterances do not match the template.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 25, wherein the step of selectively playing back voice messages stored on the mass storage device, includes the substep of enrolling an interrupt command word spoken by the subscriber.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method of claim 30, wherein the interrupt command word is STOP.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 25, wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending includes the substep of enrolling an interrupt command word spoken by the subscriber.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method of claim 32, wherein the interrupt command word is STOP.

Claim 36

Independent Claim 95 words

The method of claims 30 or 32 wherein the substep of enrolling the interrupt command word further comprises the steps of: receiving a first plurality of input spoken password utterances from the subscriber, creating a template based on a second plurality of the utterances comprising a first subset of the first plurality, testing the template by comparing a third plurality of the utterances, comprising a second subset of the first plurality, to the template, and in response to the testing step, rejecting the template if the third plurality of utterances do not match the template.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages further comprises the step of speaker independent recognition of affirmative or negative command utterances.

Claim 38

Dependent Claim 62 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises the steps of: prompting the subscriber to select a play message mode for playing messages stored on the mass storage device; recognition of affirmative or negative utterances by the subscriber; and responding to an affirmative utterance by playing back a stored message.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 18 words

The method of claim 36 wherein the step of recognition further comprises the step of rejecting out-of-vocabulary utterances.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 70 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises the steps of: prompting the subscriber to select a save message mode for saving messages recently stored on the mass storage device; recognition of affirmative or negative command utterances by the subscriber; and responding to an affirmative utterance for saving a recently received stored message on the mass storage device.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 68 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages further comprises the steps of: prompting the subscriber to select an erase message mode for erasing messages recently stored on the mass storage device; recognition of affirmative or negative utterances by the subscriber; and responding to an affirmative utterance by erasing a recently received message from the mass storage device.

Claim 42

Dependent Claim 68 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages further comprises: prompting the subscriber to select a review saved message mode for replaying messages previously stored on the mass storage device by the subscriber; recognition of affirmative or negative utterances by the subscriber; and responding to an affirmative utterance for replaying a message stored on the mass storage device.

Claim 43

Dependent Claim 75 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises the steps of: prompting the subscriber to select an erase saved message mode for erasing messages stored on the mass storage device by the subscriber in the save message mode; recognition of affirmative or negative utterances by the subscriber; and responding to an affirmative utterance by erasing a saved message from the mass storage device.

Claim 44

Dependent Claim 111 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the step of controlling storage, retrieval, playback and sending of voice messages further comprises the steps of: prompting the subscriber to select a send message mode for sending messages from the subscriber to one of a plurality of intended message recipients; recognition of affirmative or negative utterances by the subscriber; responding to an affirmative utterance for sending messages from the subscriber to one of the plurality of intended message recipients, comprising the steps of: recognition of the name of an intended message recipient spoken by the subscriber; and recording a digitized voice message of the subscriber to the intended recipient on the mass storage device.

Claim 45

Dependent Claim 41 words

The method of claim 42, wherein the step of responding to an affirmative utterance further comprises the substeps of prompting the subscriber whether to replay the message, and selectively replaying the message upon recognition of an affirmative utterance from the subscriber.

Claim 46

Dependent Claim 36 words

The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of enrolling a plurality of speaker dependent templates representing digitized utterances of a plurality of names of intended message recipients prior to the step of sending messages.

Claim 47

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 44 wherein the speaker dependent templates are created using a hidden Markov model having at least fourteen states and having cepstral coefficients of at least twentieth order.

Claim 48

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 45 further comprising testing the speaker dependent templates by measuring spectral distance using smoothed group delay spectrum.

Claim 49

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 45 further comprising testing the speaker dependent templates by weighting the cepstral coefficients using smoothed group delay.

Claim 50

Dependent Claim 177 words

A voice controlled digital voice messaging system comprising: at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller means for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line; a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon; signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller means and to the mass storage device for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising means for selecting verification data responsive to an identification of the said at least one subscriber telephone line; means for controlling access of a subscriber to the system upon verification of a spoken password of the subscriber using said selected verification data; means for control of playback of voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising means for interrupting playback when the subscriber speaks a voice command during playback; and means for directing messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 51

Dependent Claim 177 words

A voice controlled digital voice messaging system comprising: at least one subscriber telephone line coupled to a line interface controller means for digitizing voice signals received on the telephone line; a mass storage device having a plurality of digitized voice prompts recorded thereon; signal processing means coupled to a memory and to the line interface controller means and to the mass storage device for controlling storage, retrieval, playback, and sending of voice messages, comprising means for selecting verification data responsive to an identification of the said at least one subscriber telephone line; means for controlling access of a subscriber to the system upon verification of a spoken password of the subscriber using said selected verification data; means for control of playback of voice messages stored on the mass storage device, comprising means for interrupting playback when the subscriber speaks a voice command during playback; and means for directing messages to one of a plurality of intended message recipients, the intended recipient being identified by a spoken utterance by the subscriber of the name of the intended recipient.

Claim 52

Dependent Claim 31 words

The system of claim 18 wherein the speaker dependent templates are created using a hidden Markov model having at least fourteen states and having cepstral coefficients of at least twentieth order.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2003-07-11	2004-01-10	2004-07-11	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2007-07-11	2008-01-10	2008-07-11	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2011-07-11	2012-01-10	2012-07-11	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Voice controlled messaging system and processing method

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