Call initiation by voice command
View Patent ↗A terminal for use in a communications network for calling a called party includes a capture buffer for storing a media stream, including a voice command, received from the caller. A session controller in the terminal controls call handling and launches the call from the caller to the called party in accordance with the voice command. Responsive to the session manager, a stream controller will transmit the media stream from the capture buffer to the called party following set up of the call. In this way the called party may identify the caller voice and screen the call. Silence intervals in the media stream are detected and suppressed.
1. A method for establishing a call from a caller to a called party, comprising the steps of:
storing, in a buffer of a controller, a media stream, including a voice command, received from the caller;
initiating, by the controller, the call from the caller to the called party in accordance with the voice command; and
transmitting the media stream including the voice command from the buffer to the called party following setup of the call, wherein the transmitting has an accumulated delay that is initially at least a duration of the voice command plus an address recognition latency of the determining plus a duration of the initiating, and wherein the transmitting step includes the steps of:
(a) monitoring the media stream for a silence interval;
(b) omitting the silence interval of the media stream from transmission; and
(c) transmitting intervals of the media stream other than the silence interval at normal speed; and wherein the steps of (a) and (b) are repeated for each subsequent silence interval to reduce the accumulated delay in the media stream below a predetermined value.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting the media stream includes transmitting the media stream at faster than real time until the accumulated delay is reduced below the predetermined value.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of initiating the call includes sending an SIP INVITE message.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the media stream further includes video.
5. A method for initiating a call between a caller and a called party, comprising:
storing, in a buffer of a controller, a media stream received from a first participant that is one of the caller and the called party, the media stream including a voice command;
initiating the call, by the controller, in accordance with the voice command as recognized by a speech recognition module of the controller; and,
transmitting the media stream, including the voice command, from the buffer to a second participant that is another one of the caller and the called party; wherein transmitting the media stream initially incorporates an accumulated delay of at least a duration of the voice command; and wherein the transmitting step includes:
(a) monitoring the media stream for a silence interval;
(b) omitting the silence interval of the media stream from transmission; and
(c) transmitting intervals of the media stream other than the silence interval at normal speed;
wherein the steps of (a) and (b) are repeated for each subsequent silence interval to reduce accumulated delay in the media stream below a predetermined value.
6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the step of transmitting the media stream includes transmitting the media stream at faster than normal speed until the accumulated delay is reduced below the predetermined value.
7. The method according to claim 5 wherein the step of launching the call includes sending an SIP INVITE message.
8. The method of claim 5 wherein the first participant is the caller and the address for a station of the second participant is determined from the voice command.
9. The method of claim 5 wherein the first participant is the called party and the voice command indicates acceptance of the call.