User attribute distribution for network/peer assisted speech coding
View Patent ↗Systems, methods and apparatuses are described herein for distributing user attribute information about users of a communications system to communication terminals, which use the user attribute information to configure a speech codec to operate in a speaker-dependent manner during a communication session, thereby improving speech coding efficiency. In a network-assisted model, the user attribute information is stored on the communications network and selectively transmitted to the communication terminals while in a peer-assisted model, the user attribute information is derived by and transferred between communication terminals.
1. A method, comprising:
selecting one or more sets of user attributes from among a stored plurality of sets of user attributes associated with a respective plurality of users of a communications system, wherein each set of user attributes can be used by each of a plurality of communication terminals to configure a configurable speech codec to operate in a speaker-dependent manner; and
transmitting the selected set(s) of user attributes to a particular communication terminal via a network for storage and use thereby to configure a configurable speech codec of the particular communication terminal to operate in a speaker-dependent manner.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the set(s) of user attributes comprises selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more frequently-called or frequently-calling users identified for the particular communication terminal.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the set(s) of user attributes comprises selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more recently-called or recently-calling users identified for the communication terminal.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the set(s) of user attributes comprises selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more users identified in a user database associated with the particular communication terminal.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the set(s) of user attributes comprises selecting sets of user attributes corresponding to a selected group of users identified by a user associated with the particular communication terminal.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the selected set(s) of user attributes to the particular communication terminal comprises: transmitting the selected set(s) of user attributes to the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
retrieving one or more sets of user attributes from the particular communication terminal.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein retrieving the set(s) of user attributes from the particular communication terminal comprises: retrieving the set(s) of user attributes from the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
retrieving one or more updates to a set of user attributes from the particular communication terminal.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein retrieving the updates(s) to the set of user attributes from the particular communication terminal comprises:
retrieving the update(s) to the set of user attributes from the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
11. An apparatus, comprising:
a user attribute selection module that selects one or more sets of user attributes from among a stored plurality of sets of user attributes associated with respective users of a communications system, wherein each set of user attributes can be used by each of a plurality of communication terminals to configure a configurable speech codec to operate in a speaker-dependent manner; and
a user attribute distribution module that transmits the selected set(s) of user attributes to a particular communication terminal via a network for storage and use thereby to configure a configurable speech codec of the particular communication terminal to operate in a speaker-dependent manner.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user attribute selection module selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more frequently-called or frequently-calling users identified for the particular communication terminal.
13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user attribute selection module selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more recently-called or recently-calling users identified for the particular communication terminal.
14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user attribute selection module selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more users identified in a user database associated with the particular communication terminal.
15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user attribute selection module selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting sets of user attributes corresponding to a selected group of users identified by a user associated with the particular communication terminal.
16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the user attribute distribution module transmits the selected set(s) of user attributes to the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
17. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
a user attribute retrieval module that retrieves one or more sets of user attributes from the particular communication terminal.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the user attribute retrieval module retrieves the set(s) of user attributes from the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
19. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
a user attribute retrieval module that retrieves one or more updates to a set of user attributes from the particular communication terminal.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the user attribute retrieval module retrieves the update(s) to the set of user attributes from the particular communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
21. A system, comprising:
a communication terminal; and
a server that selects one or more sets of user attributes from among a stored plurality of sets of user attributes associated with respective users of a communications system and transmits the selected set(s) of user attributes to the communication terminal;
wherein the communication terminal stores the set(s) of user attributes received from the server for use in configuring a configurable speech codec of the particular communication terminal to operate in a speaker-dependent manner.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more frequently-called or frequently-calling users identified for the communication terminal.
23. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more recently-called or recently-calling users identified for the communication terminal.
24. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting one or more sets of user attributes corresponding to one or more users identified in a user database associated with the communication terminal.
25. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server selects the set(s) of user attributes by selecting sets of user attributes corresponding to a selected group of users identified by a user associated with the communication terminal.
26. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server transmits the selected set(s) of user attributes to the communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
27. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server retrieves one or more sets of user attributes from the communication terminal.
28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the server retrieves the set(s) of user attributes from the communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.
29. The system of claim 21 , wherein the server retrieves one or more updates to a set of user attributes from the communication terminal.
30. The system of claim 29 , wherein the server retrieves the update(s) to the set of user attributes from the communication terminal during a period of reduced network usage.