U.S. patent application number 11/179733 was filed with the patent office on 2005-11-10 for multiple service announcement system.
Invention is credited to Crumpler, Ronald Dale, Downey, John David, Rice, Carol Ann.
Application Number | 20050249335 11/179733 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22301081 |
Filed Date | 2005-11-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050249335 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rice, Carol Ann ; et
al. |
November 10, 2005 |
Multiple service announcement system
Abstract
A method for providing multiple calling service announcements on
a single circuit card within a telephone network. The method
reduces the number of stored speech files necessary to generate
announcements regarding a calling service such as Automatic Call
Back or Enhanced Repeat Dial. By reducing the amount of speech data
stored on a circuit card, multiple calling service announcements
can be provided on a single circuit card, thereby reducing
equipment costs.
Inventors: |
Rice, Carol Ann;
(Springfield, IL) ; Crumpler, Ronald Dale;
(Springfield, IL) ; Downey, John David; (Sherman,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Robert P. Renke
Suite 250
28333 Telegraph Road
Southfield
MI
48034
US
|
Family ID: |
22301081 |
Appl. No.: |
11/179733 |
Filed: |
July 12, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11179733 |
Jul 12, 2005 |
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10191638 |
Jul 9, 2002 |
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10191638 |
Jul 9, 2002 |
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09449588 |
Nov 29, 1999 |
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6442246 |
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09449588 |
Nov 29, 1999 |
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09104552 |
Jun 25, 1998 |
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6011832 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
379/76 ;
379/387.01 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 3/48 20130101; H04M
3/424 20130101; H04M 3/533 20130101; H04M 3/4874 20130101; H04M
3/487 20130101; H04M 3/493 20130101; H04M 3/4872 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
379/076 ;
379/387.01 |
International
Class: |
H04M 001/64; H04M
011/00 |
Claims
1-21. (canceled)
22. A system for telephonically communicating calling service
announcements to users of calling services on a telephone network,
said calling service announcement system comprising: a card adapted
for being operatively received within said telephone network; a
memory situated on said card and storing a number of speech files
in which (i) at least one speech file contains at least one audio
segment utile for composing at least one calling service
announcement relating to a first calling service, and (ii) at least
one speech file contains at least one audio segment utile for
composing at least one calling service announcement relating to a
second calling service; and a controller adapted for electrical
communication with said memory and operable, in response to calling
service selections made by said users on said telephone network, to
(i) selectively access said speech files stored in said memory,
(ii) selectively sequence audio segments selected from said
accessed speech files, (iii) selectively compose calling service
announcements from said sequenced audio segments so that said
composed calling service announcements relate to at least one of
said first calling service and said second calling service
according to said calling service selections made by said users,
and (iv) telephonically communicate said composed calling service
announcements to said users on said telephone network.
23. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said telephone network includes a maintenance trunk module
(MTM) shelf having a circuit card slot, and said card is adapted
for occupying said circuit card slot within said maintenance trunk
module (MTM) shelf.
24. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said memory comprises a dynamic random access memory
(DRAM).
25. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said number of speech files is at least one.
26. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein each said audio segment includes at least one sound bite
selected from the group consisting of a tone, a period of silence,
and a human-intelligible word.
27. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said first calling service is Automatic Call Back
(ACB).
28. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said second calling service is Enhanced Repeat Dial
(ERD).
29. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein at least one speech file stored in said memory contains at
least one audio segment utile for composing at least one calling
service announcement relating to said first calling service and
also at least one calling service announcement relating to said
second calling service.
30. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said controller comprises a programmable
microprocessor.
31. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
wherein said controller is situated on said card.
32. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
said calling service announcement system further comprising a
separate card adapted for being operatively received within said
telephone network, wherein said controller is situated on said
separate card.
33. A calling service announcement system according to claim 32,
wherein said telephone network includes a maintenance trunk module
(MTM) shelf having two circuit card slots in electrical
communication with each other, said card is adapted for occupying
one of said two circuit card slots within said maintenance trunk
module (MTM) shelf, and said separate card is adapted for occupying
the other of said two circuit card slots within said maintenance
trunk module (MTM) shelf.
34. A calling service announcement system according to claim 22,
said calling service announcement system further comprising a
speech processor situated on said card and adapted for electrical
communication with at least one of said memory and said
controller.
35. A system for telephonically communicating calling service
announcements to users of calling services on a telephone network,
said calling service announcement system comprising: a card adapted
for being operatively received within said telephone network; a
memory situated on said card and storing a number of speech files
in which (i) at least one speech file contains at least one audio
segment utile for composing at least one calling service
announcement relating to a first calling service, and (ii) at least
one speech file contains at least one audio segment utile for
composing at least one calling service announcement relating to a
second calling service; and a controller situated on said card,
connected in electrical communication with said memory, and
operable, in response to calling service selections made by said
users on said telephone network, to (i) selectively access said
speech files stored in said memory, (ii) selectively sequence audio
segments selected from said accessed speech files, (iii)
selectively compose calling service announcements from said
sequenced audio segments so that said composed calling service
announcements relate to at least one of said first calling service
and said second calling service according to said calling service
selections made by said users, and (iv) telephonically communicate
said composed calling service announcements to said users on said
telephone network.
36. A calling service announcement system according to claim 35,
wherein said telephone network includes a maintenance trunk module
(MTM) shelf having a circuit card slot, and said card is adapted
for occupying said circuit card slot within said maintenance trunk
module (MTM) shelf.
37. A calling service announcement system according to claim 35,
wherein said number of speech files is at least one.
38. A calling service announcement system according to claim 35,
wherein each said audio segment includes at least one sound bite
selected from the group consisting of a tone, a period of silence,
and a human-intelligible word.
39. A calling service announcement system according to claim 35,
wherein said first calling service is Automatic Call Back
(ACB).
40. A calling service announcement system according to claim 35,
wherein said second calling service is Enhanced Repeat Dial
(ERD).
41. A system for telephonically communicating calling service
announcements to users of calling services on a telephone network,
said calling service announcement system comprising: a card adapted
for being operatively received within said telephone network; a
memory situated on said card and storing a number of speech files
in which (i) at least one speech file contains at least one audio
segment utile for composing at least one calling service
announcement relating to a first calling service, (ii) at least one
speech file contains at least one audio segment utile for composing
at least one calling service announcement relating to a second
calling service, and (iii) at least one speech file contains at
least one audio segment utile for composing at least one calling
service announcement relating to said first calling service and
also at least one calling service announcement relating to said
second calling service; and a controller situated on said card,
connected in electrical communication with said memory, and
operable, in response to calling service selections made by said
users on said telephone network, to (i) selectively access said
speech files stored in said memory, (ii) selectively sequence audio
segments selected from said accessed speech files, (iii)
selectively compose calling service announcements from said
sequenced audio segments so that said composed calling service
announcements relate to at least one of said first calling service
and said second calling service according to said calling service
selections made by said users, and (iv) telephonically communicate
said composed calling service announcements to said users on said
telephone network.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
09/104,552 filed on Jun. 25, 1998.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to telephone communication
systems and particularly to automatic announcement systems adapted
to be connected to telephone lines to provide for such services as
Automatic Call Back and Enhanced Repeat Dial.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Various services have become available with the development
of communications technology. For example, in a telephone system,
there are many services in practical use such as call forwarding,
Automatic Voice Messaging (AVM), Automatic Call Back (ACB),
Enhanced Repeat Dial (ERP), and Abbreviated Dialing (AD). These
services are typically presented to users by recorded
announcements. Recorded announcements for such calling services are
formed from spoken words, phrases, tones or periods of silence
stored in separate speech files. In response to a request for such
calling services, various speech files are accessed in a
predetermined order to generate a complete announcement which is
then presented to the caller.
[0004] Telecommunications equipment vendors support such calling
services by providing multiple speech files on circuit cards along
with a microprocessor controller for accessing the speech files and
generating announcements. The circuit cards provide link access to
the front end of a digital phone network switch. An example of such
a circuit card is the NT1.times.80AA Enhanced Digital Recorded
Announcement Machine (EDRAM) card manufactured by Northern
Telecom.
[0005] Commercially available circuit cards have several
shortcomings, however. The circuit cards typically have
announcement fragments stored in several separate speech files. In
a typical announcement, portions of the several speech files must
be accessed to form a complete announcement. A telephone company
seeking to implement a particular calling service must purchase all
of the speech files, even though many of the fragments within the
speech files do not support the desired calling feature.
Furthermore, due to limited memory space on the circuit cards, the
resources of an entire circuit card can be exhausted in a typical
implementation of a single calling service. Thus, for each calling
service implemented by a telephone company, a dedicated circuit
card must be purchased. In some instances, a separate controller
card must also be programmed to retrieve and assemble complete
announcements from the available speech files on the circuit cards.
Considering a large telephone company with many central offices,
circuit cards represent a substantial equipment investment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is a general object of the present invention to reduce
the number and thus the cost of circuit cards for a telephone
system. It is another object of the present invention to provide
more than one communication service on a single circuit card.
[0007] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a
circuit card with audio segments unique to two separate
communication services, as well as segments common to both
services. It is still another object of the present invention to
provide a single circuit card with audio segments necessary to
compose announcements for both Automatic Call Back and Enhanced
Repeat Dial services.
[0008] These and other objects and features of the present
invention will become apparent when viewed in light of the detailed
description of the preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction
with the attached drawings and appended claims.
[0009] The present system is directed to an improved announcement
delivery system which overcomes these and other disadvantages of
previous calling service systems. The method provides more than one
communication service on a single circuit card by defining the
groups of audio segments necessary to compose a complete
announcement of the first communication service such as ACB
(Automatic Call Back) and the second communication service such as
ERD (Enhanced Repeat Dial). Once the announcement fragments are
defined, they are stored on a single circuit card. The circuit card
is then programmed to deliver, in response to a user selection of
either the first or second communication service, a complete
announcement for the respective service composed from the audio
segments stored on the circuit card.
[0010] For a more complete understanding of this invention,
reference should be made to the embodiment illustrated in greater
detail in the attached specification and accompanying drawings.
[0011] In particular, the present invention has a number of
important advantages. Specifically, the present invention provides
an improved method of providing multiple calling services on a
single circuit card.
[0012] Another advantage of the present invention is saving
recording time by eliminating unnecessary verbiage within the
speech files forming the calling service announcements. A further
advantage of the present invention is increased speech file storage
by the elimination of unnecessary speech files for unsupported
calling service announcements.
[0013] Another advantage of the present invention is improved
maintenance of the overall system due to the reduced number of
components. Still another advantage of the present invention is the
reduction of equipment necessary to implement multiple calling
services, including a reduced number of circuit cards and
maintenance trunk module slots.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing a prior art method of
implementing multiple calling services on circuit cards;
[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram representing a telecommunication
system structured according to the present method of combining
multiple calling services on a single circuit card; and,
[0016] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the present method of
implementing multiple calling service announcements on a single
EDRAM card.
BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0017] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a known method
of providing multiple calling service announcements such as for
Automatic Call Back (ACB) and Enhanced Repeat Dial (ERD). Digital
recorded announcement hardware consists of a speech processor, a
microprocessor controller, and speech memory. Using Northern
Telecom's equipment, for example, the prior art implementation of
more than one calling service, such as ACB and ERD, required a
1.times.75AA/BA controller card 10 and four additional EPROM cards
12. A NT1.times.80AA EDRAM card 20 was also required because of the
multi-tracked ERD announcement. The EPROM cards 12 contain speech
memory comprising various phrases, tones, and periods of silence
that are used to create a complete announcement. The controller
card 10 can be programmed to select and retrieve the various
phrases, tones and periods of silence from the speech memory of the
EPROM cards.
[0018] The controller card 10, EPROM cards 12, and EDRAM card 20
each occupy a slot in the maintenance trunk module (MTM) shelf 14.
In order to operate properly, however, the controller card 10,
EDRAM card 20, and EPROM cards 12 must reside in the same MTM shelf
14. The MTM 14 contains slots for the circuit cards 10, 12 and 20.
The circuit cards 10, 12, 20 provide link access to the front end
of a digital telephone network switch. Because the controller card
10, EDRAM card 20, and the EPROM cards 12 must reside in the same
MTM 14, the cards themselves and the space they occupy in the MTM
14 represent a significant equipment investment for a large
regional telephone company.
[0019] FIG. 2 represents the equipment requirements for multiple
calling services implemented according to the present invention.
Again, using Northern Telecom's equipment as an example,
announcements for multiple calling services can be provided with a
single NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card 20 occupying a single slot in a
maintenance trunk module shelf 14.
[0020] The NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card 20 contains dynamic random
access memory that stores the announcement data such as phrases,
tones and periods of silence. Again, as provided by the equipment
vendor in a conventional manner, the announcement data resides in
pre-recorded speech files. The present invention is an improved
method of implementing calling service announcements on a single
circuit card, such as a NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card.
[0021] In order to provide multiple calling services on a single
NT1.times.80AA card, the desired calling services must first be
determined. Once the calling services are identified, the
announcement fragments necessary to generate announcements
regarding the desired calling service can be identified and
prepared.
[0022] In one embodiment of the present inventive method, ACB and
ERD were selected to be provided on a single NT1.times.80AA card.
This is shown in the flow diagram of FIG. 3, as block 30. The first
step requires an examination of the speech files offered by
Northern Telecom as EPROM cards 12. These EPROM cards 12 provide
the basis for constructing announcements offering the desired
calling services of ACB and ERD. For example, the announcement
fragments of one speech file contained in the NT1.times.76AJ EPROM
card are shown in Table 1:
1 Total Phrase Duration: Duration: ID Seconds Seconds Content 000
1.024 1.024 (one second silence) 001 0.160 0.160 test tone: 750 Hz
tone 002 0.512 Prompt tone: silence 0.096 750 Hz tone 0.032 silence
0.096 750 Hz tone 0.032 silence 0.096 750 Hz tone 0.128 0.992
silence 003 0.256 0.256 1/4 second silence 004 6.208 6.272 "We're
sorry, the number cannot be reached now by this method. Please hang
up and try again later." 005 7.680 7.74 "The last number that
called your line cannot be given out. If you want to call this
number, enter 1; otherwise, hang up now." 006 7.488 7.552 "We're
sorry, the last number that called cannot be reached by this
method. Please hang up now and call the number directly." 007 2.848
9.952 "The last call to your 4.960 telephone cannot be 1.120
traced. Please consult the introductory pages of your telephone
directory for further instructions. Please hang up now."
[0023] From the available announcement fragments, a complete
announcement can be constructed for ACB and ERD by identifying the
data necessary to present the desired calling feature to a
potential user. This is shown in FIG. 3 as block 40. Complete
announcements are constructed by assigning address locations for
each Phrase ID to enable the controller to select and process the
announcement data to generate a complete announcement.
[0024] Once all of the necessary announcement fragments for ACB and
ERD are identified, the remaining fragments in the speech files can
be discarded. For example, a review of the available announcement
fragments identified in Table 1 reveals that Phrase ID 007 does not
relate to either ACB or ERD. Accordingly, Phrase ID 007 would be
one announcement fragment to be eliminated from the speech files,
as shown in block 50.
[0025] Thus, in the case of Northern Telecom's equipment, portions
of the four speech files in EPROM cards 12 are necessary to support
ACB and ERD, and the remaining announcement data within the four
speech files can be eliminated. The portions of the four speech
files in EPROM cards 12 necessary to support ACB and ERD can then
be combined into a single set of speech files as shown in block
60.
[0026] Once the desired announcement fragments are recorded and
stored on a single NT1.times.80AA EDRAM card, the announcements for
ACB and ERD are constructed by assigning address locations for each
announcement fragment, as shown in block 70. These assignments
enable the controller to select and process the announcement data
to generate a complete announcement.
[0027] Assignments are made on the NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card using
the DRAMREC command. The following is an example of the assign
format for the NT 1.times.80AA:
2 DRAMREC ASSIGN 4 SILENCE 2 2 3 ASSIGN 4 CLASSENG2 8 2 11 ASSIGN 4
CLASSENG7 3 2 9 . . . ASSIGN 4 ENGJANUARY 1 5 57 ASSIGN 4
ENGFEBRUARY 1 5 58 . . . ASSIGN 4 ENGNUM08 1 5 33 ASSIGN 4 ENGNUM09
1 5 34 ASSIGN 4 ENGAT 1 5 35 ASSIGN 4 ENGAM 1 5 36 ASSIGN 4 ENGPM 1
5 37 ASSIGN 6 BUSY2 2 0 4 ASSIGN 6 AM01 2 0 5 ASSIGN 6 AM02 2 0 6
ASSIGN 6 AM03 2 0 7 ASSIGN 6 AM04 2 0 8 ASSIGN 6 AM05 2 0 9 ASSIGN
6 BUSY1 2 0 10 QUIT
[0028] In the example format, the columns represent the assignment,
DRAM position #, phrase name, phrase length in seconds, block
number and phrase ID, respectively. Thus, the phrase name SILENCE
may represent 0.25 seconds of silence, and the phrase names ENGAM
and ENGPM represent the speech fragment for the phrases "a.m." and
"p.m.", respectively. Other phases would be assigned for the days
of the week and months of the year while numbers could be assigned
for minutes, seconds and telephone numbers. Finally, speech
fragments could be assigned for ACB and ERD. The speech fragments
for ACB are contained in the CLASSENG files and the speech
fragments for ERD are contained in the AMO files.
[0029] Because the speech data on the NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card
can be re-recorded, multiple calling services such as ACB and ERD
could also be implemented on a customized single EDRAM card without
regard to the existing speech files prerecorded by Northern
Telecom. Thus, desired announcement fragments can be created and
recorded on a single NT 1.times.80AA EDRAM card. This is shown in
block 80. The same calling services would be provided as before.
Specifically, address assignments for each announcement fragment
would be made to enable the controller to generate a complete
announcement.
[0030] From the foregoing, it will be seen that the new and
improved method of provisioning multiple calling services on a
single EDRAM overcomes the drawbacks associated with prior
implementations of multiple calling service announcements. In
particular, the described method greatly reduces the equipment
necessary to implement such multiple calling service
announcements.
[0031] While the invention will be described in connection with one
or more embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is
not limited to those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention
includes all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be
included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *