Method and apparatus for overlaying whispered audio onto a telephone call
View Patent ↗Information may be provided to a telephony customer from an overlay service by causing a second stream of audio information to be overlayed on a primary stream of audio information. The overlayed information may be whispered to the user by causing the overlayed information to be compressed into a limited frequency spectrum which is inserted into a manufactured gap in the primary audio stream. This allows the user to continue to hear the main audio stream while also hearing the overlayed information. The overlay service may provide administrative information, advertisements, music, and/or Internet search results via the overlayed audio. Users may issue commands to the overlay service, to have particular information transmitted via overlayed audio. Where the user is also associated with a telephony application running on a computer platform, the overlayed information may be incorporated onto the information being shown to the user on a computer display.
1. A method of providing audio information to a participant in a communication session, the communication session comprising spoken communication, the method comprising:
providing, by a network device, a first audio signal comprising at least a first speech signal generated from current speech within the communication session, the first audio signal including a gap created by reducing an amplitude of the first audio signal in a limited portion of a frequency spectrum;
providing, by the network device, a second audio signal comprising a second speech signal generated from information other than current speech within the communication session, the second audio signal being compressed approximately into the limited portion of the frequency spectrum to primarily fit within the gap in the first audio signal; and
outputting, by the network device, an output signal containing combined first and second audio signals, the first and second audio signals being configured to be used to generate audio output to the participant such that both the current speech within the communication session and the information other than current speech within the communication session are intelligible to the participant.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first audio signal is an audio signal mixed from audio streams received from participants in the communication session.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying administrative information pertaining to the communication session.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying identification of a participant in the communication session who has joined the communication session.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying identification of a participant in the communication session who has left the communication session.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying identification of a current speaker in the communication session.
7. The method of claim 3 , comprising using speaker recognition to identify a current speaker in the communication session.
8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying location of a participant in the communication session.
9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying a time zone of a participant in the communication session.
10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying a duration of the communication session.
11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying when the communication session will expire.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal is a spoken description of visual information communicated in the communication session.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal is a translation into another language of speech in the communication session.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal conveys instructions for using a system used by the participant to participate in the communication session.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal is a speech signal conveying information requested by the participant.
16. The method of claim 15 , comprising using text to speech conversion to convert the information requested by the participant to the second speech signal.
17. The method of 15 , comprising using speech recognition to convert a spoken request for information into a machine-actionable request for information.
18. The method of claim 17 , comprising conducting an information search responsive to the machine-actionable request for information.
19. The method of claim 1 , comprising enabling the participant to control relative volumes of the first and second audio signals.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal is an announcement of an incoming call.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the second speech signal provides caller identification information for the incoming call.
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication session is conference call.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the participant is a chairman of the conference call.
24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speech signal comprises at least part of at least one advertisement.