Integrated voice navigation system and method
View Patent ↗An integrated voice navigation system 40 is disclosed. The voice navigation system ( 40 ) includes a voice messaging system ( 44 ), a speech recognition system ( 46 ), a voice channel ( 50 ) and a control link ( 52 ). A caller is connected to the voice messaging system ( 44 ) via PSTN ( 42 ). The voice messaging system ( 44 ) is in turn connected to the speech recognition system ( 46 ). Specifically, the voice messaging system ( 44 ) and speech recognition system ( 46 ) are connected via both the voice channel ( 50 ) and the control link ( 52 ). The voice channel ( 50 ) provides an audio communications pathway between the caller and the speech recognition system ( 46 ), while the control link ( 52 ) provides an out-of-band communications pathway between the voice messaging system ( 44 ) and the speech recognition system ( 46 ).
1. A voice-controlled messaging system comprising:
a voice messaging system comprising an interface to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a processor and a data storage component; and
a stand-alone speech recognition system coupled to the voice messaging system via a control link and comprising a speech recognition application and a voice-navigable messaging application, the control link providing a communications pathway for out-of-band TCP/IP messages between the voice messaging system and the stand alone speech recognition system;
wherein the voice messaging system is interfaced to the PSTN and is configured to:
receive an incoming call from an originating point, via the PSTN interface;
send a first out-of-band message over the control link, via a TCP/IP protocol, to the stand-alone speech recognition system providing call setup data and requesting that an audio path between the stand-alone speech recognition system and the voice messaging system be opened;
pass control of the incoming call, via the audio path, to the stand-alone speech recognition system; and
receive, via the control link, a second out-of-band TCP/IP message from the stand-alone speech recognition system; and
wherein the stand-alone speech recognition system is configured to:
receive the first out-of-band TCP/IP message from the voice messaging system;
open the audio path;
receive control of the incoming call;
elicit a voice response from the originating point;
receive and interpret the voice response via the speech recognition application;
correlate the voice response interpretation to an executable command of the voice-navigable messaging application;
provide the executable command to the voice-navigable messaging application such that the incoming call is processed; and
send, via the control link, the second out-of-band TCP/IP message, which comprises an executable command, to the voice messaging system.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable command comprised within the second out-of-band TCP/IP message causes the voice message system processor to retrieve data from the storage component and provide the data to the stand-alone speech recognition system via the control link.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the stand-alone speech recognition system provides the retrieved data to the originating point via the audio path.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second out-of-band TCP/IP message further comprises data to be stored on the storage component of the voice messaging system and the executable command serves to instruct the processor to store said data on said storage component.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable command comprised within the second out-of-band TCP/IP message causes the voice message system processor to delete data from the storage component.