Voice-operated interface for DTMF-controlled systems
View Patent ↗An arrangement for allowing “hands-free” access to DTMF-controlled systems, such as one's voice mail messaging systems, utilizes a speech-to-DTMF tone application that monitors the communication between the user and the DTMF-controlled system. A speech recognition unit is utilized to retrieve certain voice commands (e.g., “next”, “skip”, “repeat”, “forward”, etc.) when uttered by the user. The application then translates the received commands into the proper DTMF tone sequence used by the DTMF-controlled system and transmits the DTMF tones to the system. The application is particularly useful in the cell phone environment and avoids the necessity of the user to constantly switch between using the keypad and listening to messages/commands from the system.
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 comprising a user identification;
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 the dual-tone multifrequency tone based on the user record, to yield a dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system via the dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record, 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-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 of dual-tone multifrequency tone in the user record corresponds 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 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 system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a voice command;
accessing a user record associated with communicating with a remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, the user record comprising a user identification;
when the voice command 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, to yield a dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system via the dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record performing an action associated with the voice command.
9. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result operations 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.
10. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result operations comprising:
transmitting the dual-tone multifrequency tone from the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application to the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.
11. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result operations 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.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the of dual-tone multifrequency tone in the user record corresponds to commands for a plurality of remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.
13. The system of claim 12 , the computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result operations comprising translating, using the user record, a plurality of user voice commands into corresponding dual-tone multifrequency commands for interacting with two remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the user record further comprises dial-out information associated with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a voice command;
accessing a user record associated with communicating with a remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system, the user record comprising a user identification;
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, to yield a dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
interacting with the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system via the dual-tone multifrequency tone command; and
when the voice command does not correspond to the dual-tone multifrequency command in the user record, performing an action associated with the voice command.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , the non-transitory computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in operations 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.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , the non-transitory computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising:
transmitting the dual-tone multifrequency tone from the speech-to-dual-tone multifrequency tone application to the remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled system.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , the non-transitory computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in operations 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.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the of dual-tone multifrequency tone in the user record corresponds to commands for a plurality of remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , the non-transitory computer-readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising translating, using the user record, a plurality of user voice commands into corresponding dual-tone multifrequency commands for interacting with two remote dual-tone multifrequency-controlled systems.