Voice-operated interface for DTMF-controlled systems

1. A method comprising:

receiving a voice command;

accessing a user record associated with communicating with a remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, the user record including user-specific representations of dual-tone multifrequency tones for accessing the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system;

when the voice command corresponds to a dual-tone multifrequency tone command in the user record:

establishing a communication link between a user voice-communication device and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system through a speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application; and

translating the voice command into a dual-tone multifrequency tone based on the user record for interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system; and

when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record, and instead corresponds to a non-dual-tone multifrequency command, performing an action associated with the voice command.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

bridging together a first call between a user and the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and a second call between the speech to DTMF speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the dual-tone multifrequency tone from the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application to the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

requesting a user to input spoken user identifying information;

receiving the spoken user identifying information from the user;

validating the spoken user identifying information; and

permitting the user to access the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system after successfully validating the spoken user identifying information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representations of dual-tone multifrequency tones in the user record correspond to commands for a plurality of remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising translating, using the user record, a plurality of user voice commands into corresponding dual-tone multifrequency commands for interacting with two of the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user record further comprises dial-out information associated with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

8. A voice-operated arrangement comprising:

a speech recognition unit which:

responds to voice commands from a user; and

generates a digital signal representative of a voice command received from the user;

a speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application which:

responds to the digital signal representation from the speech recognition unit to access a user record, the user record comprising user specific dual-tone multifrequency tone information for accessing the dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system;

retrieves the dual-tone multifrequency tone information; and

completes a communication path between the user and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, wherein the voice-operated arrangement is configured to:

monitor the communication path;

retrieve a further voice command uttered by the user; and

use the user record to translate the further voice command into a dual-tone multifrequency tone which is thereafter transmitted to the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system; and

a non-dual-tone multifrequency voice command application which initiates an operation when the digital representation does not correspond to a dual-tone multifrequency tone in the user record.

9. The voice-operated arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the voice-operated arrangement is further configured to:

request the user to input spoken user identifying information;

receive the spoken user identifying information from the user;

validate the spoken user identifying information; and

permit the user to access the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system after successfully validating the spoken user identifying information.

10. The voice-operated arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the voice-operated arrangement is further configured to bridge together a first call between the user and the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and a second call between the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

11. The voice-operated arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the dual-tone multifrequency tone information in the record corresponds to commands for a plurality of remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

12. The voice-operated arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the voice-operated arrangement is further configured to translate, using the user record, a plurality of voce voice commands into corresponding dual-tone multifrequency commands for interacting with two of the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

13. The voice-operated arrangement of claim 8 , wherein the user record further comprises dial-out information associated with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

14. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, result in the computing device performing operations comprising:

receiving a voice command;

accessing a user record associated with communicating with a remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, the user record having user-specific representations of dual-tone multifrequency tones for accessing the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system;

when the voice command corresponds to a dual-tone multifrequency tone command in the user record:

establishing a communication link between a user voice-communication device and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system through a speech to dual-tone multifrequency tone application; and

translating a user the voice command into a dual-tone multifrequency tone based on the user record for interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system; and

when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record, and instead corresponds to a non-dual-tone multifrequency command, performing an action associated with the voice command.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

bridging together a first call between a user and the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and a second call between the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

transmit the dual-tone multifrequency tone from the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application to the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

requesting a user to input spoken user identifying information;

receiving the spoken user identifying information from the user;

validating the spoken user identifying information; and

permitting the user to access the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system after successfully validating the spoken user identifying information.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the user specific representations of dual-tone multifrequency tones in the user record correspond to commands for a plurality of remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising using the user record to translate a plurality of user voice commands into corresponding dual-tone multifrequency commands for interacting with two of the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the user record further comprises dial-out information associated with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.

21. A voice-operated arrangement comprising:

means for receiving a voice command;

means for accessing a user record associated with communicating with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, the user record including user-specific representations of dual-tone multifrequency tones for accessing the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system;

means for, when the voice command corresponds to a dual-tone multifrequency tone command in the user record, establishing a communication link between a user voice-communication device and the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system through a speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application; and

means for, when the voice command corresponds to a dual-tone multifrequency tone command in the user record, translating a user voice command into a dual-tone multifrequency tone based on the user record for interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system; and

means for, when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record, and instead corresponds to a non-dual-tone multifrequency command, performing an action associated with the voice command.