Voice Over Short Messaging Service

1 . A method of operating a mobile communication device, said method comprising:

over a wireless messaging channel receiving a text message, wherein the text message contains a non-text representation of an utterance;

extracting the non-text representation from the text message; and

synthesizing an audio representation of the spoken utterance from the non-text representation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile communication device is a cellular phone.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-text representation of the utterance is a string of symbols representing sounds of the utterance.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the symbols in the string of symbols are selected from the group consisting of phonemes, diphones, triphones, syllables, and demisyllables.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the symbols in the string of symbols are phonemes.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless messaging channel is an SMS channel and the text message is an SMS message.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the received text message includes an indicator identifying the text message as containing a non-text representation of the utterance.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-text representation is a compressed version of the utterance.

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

over the wireless messaging channel receiving a plurality of text messages in addition to the first-mentioned text message, said first-mentioned text message and said plurality of text messages forming a set of text messages, wherein each text message of the set of text messages contains a non-text representation of a different portion of the utterance; and

extracting the non-text representations from the plurality of text messages.

10 . A mobile communication device for receiving a voice message, said mobile communication device comprising:

a processor system;

a transceiver for receiving a text message that contains a non-text representation of an utterance;

an audio output device; and

memory storing code which when executed on the processor system causes the mobile communication device to extract the non-text representation from the received text message; synthesize an audio representation of the spoken utterance from the non-text representation.

11 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the mobile communication device includes a cellular phone.

12 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the non-text representation of the utterance is a string of symbols representing sounds of the utterance.

13 . The mobile communication device of claim 12 , wherein the symbols in the string of symbols are selected from the group consisting of phonemes, diphones, triphones, syllables, and demisyllables.

14 . The mobile communication device of claim 12 , wherein the symbols in the string of symbols are phonemes.

15 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the wireless messaging channel is an SMS channel and the text message is an SMS message.

16 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the received text message includes an indicator identifying the text message as containing a non-text representation of the utterance.

17 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the non-text representation is a compressed version of the utterance.

18 . The mobile communication device of claim 10 , wherein the code when executed on the processor further causes the mobile communication device to:

over the wireless messaging channel, receive a plurality of text messages in addition to the first-mentioned text message, said first-mentioned text message and said plurality of text messages forming a set of text messages, wherein each text message of the set of text messages contains a non-text representation of a different portion of the utterance; and

extract the non-text representations from the plurality of text messages.