Methods and systems for building and distributing audio packages
View Patent ↗Methods and systems for building and distributing audio packages include a database storing audio files to be played to end users in a telecommunications network. An audio package builder/export tool generates audio packages including audio segments files and index files. Audio segments files include audio segments to be played by gateways in the telecommunications network. Index files include information used by gateways to located audio segments in audio segments files. The audio packages are distributed to gateways in the telecommunications network to enable the gateways to play audio to end users.
1. A system for use in a telecommunications network for providing audio segments to a gateway to be played to an end user of the telecommunications network, said system comprising:
a provisioning server;
a centralized database containing a plurality of audio segments, said audio segments comprising announcements to be played to the end user of the telecommunications network;
an audio package builder/export tool executed by the provisioning server and configured to:
access the centralized database;
construct an audio package from audio segments in the centralized database;
construct an index file within the audio package that indicates to the gateway where an audio segment is located in the audio package; and
export the audio package to the gateway,
wherein the audio segment is located by using said index file by mapping the audio identifier of an audio segment in the centralized database to the offset and length of an audio segment within the constructed audio package.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool is further configured to:
construct a catalog file within the audio package, said catalog file comprising information selected from the group consisting of: announcement title, phrasing, prompt text, voice talent, language, codec, format, group, release notes, checkdata, and date recorded.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool exports the audio package to the gateway over a packet based network.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein said system is configured to operate on the provisioning server.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said audio segments comprises a unique audio identifier.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool is further configured to present a graphical user interface to a user such that the user selects audio segments to be placed in the audio package.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the audio package further includes an audio segments file comprising a subset of the audio segments in the centralized database.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool is further configured to export the audio package to the gateway by preliminarily exporting the audio package to an intermediary storage location within the provisioning server.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool is further configured to export the audio package to the gateway by exporting the audio package to a portable computer readable storage medium.
10. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool exports the audio package to the gateway so that the gateway selectively presents the audio segments within the audio package to end users.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein said audio package builder/export tool constructs the index file as a distinct data structure within the audio package.
12. A system for use in a telecommunications network for providing audio segments to a gateway to be played to an end user of the telecommunications network, said system comprising:
a provisioning server;
a centralized database containing a plurality of audio segments, said audio segments comprising announcements to be played to the end user of the telecommunications network;
an audio package builder/export tool executed by the provisioning server and configured to:
access the centralized database;
construct an audio package from audio segments in the centralized database;
construct an index file within the audio package that indicates to the gateway where an audio segment is located in the audio package; and
export the audio package to the gateway,
wherein the constructed audio package is associated with a version number and said audio package builder/export tool is further configured to track a version number of any audio package created with the audio package builder/export tool.
13. A method of providing audio segments to a gateway to be played to an end user of a telecommunications network, said method comprising:
accessing audio segments within a centralized database;
constructing an audio package from the accessed audio segments in the centralized database;
constructing an index file within the audio package that indicates to the gateway where in the audio package an audio segment is located; and
exporting the audio package to the gateway, wherein the audio segment is located by using said index file for mapping the audio identifier of an audio segment in the centralized database to the offset and length of the located audio segment within the audio package.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprising provisioning the centralized database with audio segments.
15. The method of claim 13 further comprising constructing a catalog file within the audio package, said catalog file comprising information selected from the group consisting of: announcement title, phrasing, prompt text, voice talent, language, codec, format, group, release notes, checkdata, and date recorded.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein exporting the audio package to the gateway comprises exporting the audio package over a packet based network.
17. The method of claim 13 further comprising associating each of said audio segments with an unique audio identifier.
18. The method of claim 13 further comprising presenting a graphical user interface to a user such that the user selects audio segments to be placed in the audio package.
19. The method of claim 13 wherein the audio package is constructed from a subset of the audio segments in the centralized database.
20. The method of claim 13 wherein exporting the audio package to the gateway comprises exporting the audio package to an intermediary storage location within a provisioning server.
21. The method of claim 13 wherein exporting the audio package to the gateway comprises exporting the audio package to a portable computer readable storage medium.
22. A method of providing audio segments to a gateway to be played to an end user of a telecommunications network, said method comprising:
accessing audio segments within a centralized database;
constructing an audio package from audio segments in the centralized database;
constructing an index file within the audio package that indicates to the gateway where in the audio package an audio segment is located;
exporting the audio package to the gateway,
wherein the constructed audio package is associated with a version number and each audio package constructed is tracked by its own version number.