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Mobile Phone Patent Abstract
A voice activated method of establishing a Push-to-Talk (PTT) connection
from a mobile phone is disclosed. The mobile phone user presses
and holds a PTT key on the mobile phone. The user then speaks the
name of a contact. The mobile phone recognizes the name of a contact
that has been spoken and associates the recognized name with an
entry in the mobile phone's memory. The mobile phone then displays
the name of the contact on its display. The user can then speak
additional contact names or can release the PTT key. Upon release
of the PTT key, the mobile phone initiates a PTT connection from
the mobile phone to the contact(s) displayed. The mobile phone uses
PTT contact data in the mobile phone's memory associated with the
contact name to make the PTT connection. The name of a contact may
also comprise a group name that is associated with multiple contacts.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A voice activated method of establishing a Push-to-Talk (PTT)
connection from a mobile phone comprising: pressing and holding
a PTT key on the mobile phone; recognizing the name of a contact
that has been spoken; associating the recognized name of the contact
that has been spoken with an entry in the mobile phone's memory;
displaying the name of the contact on the mobile phone's display;
releasing the PTT key on the mobile phone; and initiating a PTT
connection upon release of the PTT key, wherein the PTT connection
is from the mobile phone to the contact displayed on the mobile
phone's display and uses PTT contact data in the mobile phone's
memory associated with the contact name to make the PTT connection.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
cellular network.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
Voice-Over IP (VoIP) network.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the name of a contact can comprise
a group name that is associated with multiple contacts.
6. A voice activated method of establishing a Push-to-Talk (PTT)
connection from a mobile phone comprising: recognizing the name
of a contact that has been spoken; associating the recognized name
of the contact that has been spoken with an entry in the mobile
phone's memory; displaying the name of the contact on the mobile
phone's display; pressing and releasing the PTT key on the mobile
phone; and initiating a PTT connection upon release of the PTT key,
wherein the PTT connection is from the mobile phone to the contact
displayed on the mobile phone's display and uses PTT contact data
in the mobile phone's memory associated with the contact name to
make the PTT connection.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
cellular network.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
Voice-Over IP (VoIP) network.
9. The method of claim 6 wherein the mobile phone operates on a
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).
10. The method of claim 3 wherein the name of a contact can comprise
a group name that is associated with multiple contacts.
11. A computer readable medium storing a computer program product
for establishing a voice activated Push-to-Talk (PTT) connection
from a mobile phone, the computer readable medium comprising: computer
program code for recognizing when a PTT key on the mobile phone
has been pressed; computer program code for recognizing the name
of a contact that has been spoken; computer program code for associating
the recognized name of the contact that has been spoken with an
entry in the mobile phone's memory; computer program code for displaying
the name of the contact on the mobile phone's display; computer
program code for recognizing when a PTT key on the mobile phone
has been released; and computer program code for initiating a PTT
connection upon release of the PTT key, wherein the PTT connection
is from the mobile phone to the contact displayed on the mobile
phone's display and uses PTT contact data in the mobile phone's
memory associated with the contact name to make the PTT connection.
12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a cellular network.
13. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a Voice-Over IP (VoIP) network.
14. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).
15. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the name of
a contact can comprise a group name that is associated with multiple
contacts.
16. A computer readable medium storing a computer program product
for establishing a voice activated Push-to-Talk (PTT) connection
from a mobile phone, the computer readable medium comprising: computer
program code for recognizing the name of a contact that has been
spoken; computer program code for associating the recognized name
of the contact that has been spoken with an entry in the mobile
phone's memory; computer program code for displaying the name of
the contact on the mobile phone's display; computer program code
for recognizing when a PTT key on the mobile phone has been pressed
and released; and computer program code for initiating a PTT connection
upon release of the PTT key, wherein the PTT connection is from
the mobile phone to the contact displayed on the mobile phone's
display and uses PTT contact data in the mobile phone's memory associated
with the contact name to make the PTT connection.
17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a cellular network.
18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a Voice-Over IP (VoIP) network.
19. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the mobile
phone operates on a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).
20. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the name of
a contact can comprise a group name that is associated with multiple
contacts.
Mobile Phone Patent Description
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Mobile phone users increasingly rely on their mobile phones for
their communication and organizational needs. More recently, Push-to-Talk
(PTT) technology over a cellular network, a Voice-Over IP (VoIP)
network such as Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), or a Wireless
Local Area Network (WLAN) has provided even more options for personal
communications among groups of users. PTT provides users with instantaneous
connections that bypass some of the more rigorous call establishment
procedures associated with traditional mobile phone calls. It is
the convenience of instantaneous two-way connection that gives PTT
its appeal. While the infrastructure, systems, and hardware used
to establish these connections works quite well, the steps incumbent
upon the mobile phone user to activate PTT can seem complex or complicated,
is especially true if a PTT session is to involve multiple parties.
This front-end PTT initiation complexity effectively lessens the
benefits of instantaneous connections that can be achieved with
PTT.
What is needed is a procedure that reduces the front-end complexity
associated with PTT initiation, especially if a PTT session is to
involve multiple parties.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
A voice activated method of establishing a Push-to-Talk (PTT) connection
from a mobile phone is disclosed. The term mobile phone used throughout
this disclosure refers to a telephone handset that can operate on
a cellular network, a Voice-Over IP (VoIP) network such as Session
Initiated Protocol (SIP), or a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
using an 802.11x protocol, or any combination thereof. The mobile
phone user presses and holds a PTT key on the mobile phone. The
user then speaks the name of a contact. The mobile phone recognizes
the name of a contact that has been spoken and associates the recognized
name with an entry in the mobile phone's memory. The mobile phone
then displays the name of the contact on its display. The user can
then speak additional contact names or can release the PTT key.
Upon release of the PTT key, the mobile phone initiates a PTT connection
from the mobile phone to the contact(s) displayed. The mobile phone
uses PTT contact data in the mobile phone's memory associated with
the contact name to make the PTT connection. The name of a contact
may also comprise a group name that is associated with multiple
contacts.
The method may also be implemented by software as a computer program
product or as a system within the mobile phone.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical mobile phone showing a Push-to-Talk
button and sample display of contact names.
FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart describing one embodiment of the
present invention.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart describing another embodiment of
the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical mobile phone 100. Mobile phone 100
is shown having a display along with a keypad for entering data
into the mobile phone. One of the keys shown is a PTT key 110. The
PTT key, when depressed, places mobile phone 100 in a Push-to-Talk
mode as opposed to the regular full duplex call establishment mode
for the cellular, SIP, or WLAN network. PTT key 110 has been illustrated
here as a hard-wired key in the lower left corner of the front face
of the mobile phone. This is illustrative only. One of ordinary
skill in the art could easily choose to implement the PTT key in
an alternate location or as a "soft key".
FIG. 1 also illustrates several names on the display 120. These
names represent contacts or groups that the mobile phone user wishes
to establish a PTT connection with as per the steps to be described
with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of the present
invention. There are two pre-conditions that should be met before
the present invention can function effectively. The first pre-condition
is that the mobile phone be powered on and have sufficient signal
strength so that the establishment of a call with the network can
be achieved 210. The second pre-condition is that voice activation
mode is active 215. Voice activation mode refers to the mobile phone's
ability to receive and recognize verbal instructions from the mobile
phone user. While these two steps have been characterized as pre-conditions,
they do not affect the scope of the present invention. The steps
that comprise the present invention assume these conditions to be
met but do not actively cause these conditions to be met.
In a first implementation, when the mobile phone user wishes to
make a PTT connection, he presses and holds the PTT key 220. While
holding the PTT key, he speaks the name of a contact or the name
of a group that he wishes to establish a PTT connection 230. The
mobile phone uses voice recognition processing to recognize the
name of the contact or group 240. Upon recognition, the mobile phone
will attempt to associate the recognized contact or group name with
an entry in the mobile phone's memory (or SIM card) 245. The mobile
phone will then display the contact name or group as it is listed
in the mobile phone's memory (or SIM card) 250. The user will then
decide whether to speak an additional contact name or group 260.
If he does decide to add more contacts to the PTT connection, the
mobile phone will repeat steps 240 and 250 until the user is finished.
The user signals that he is finished by releasing the PTT key 270.
This causes the mobile phone to initiate the establishment of a
PTT connection 280 with everyone identified on the mobile phone's
display.
In an alternative implementation described by FIG. 3, the mobile
phone user creates the list of contacts or groups he wishes to establish
a PTT connection with prior to pressing the PTT key. Once again
it is assumed that the preconditions described in blocks 210 and
215 are met. This time the user speaks the contact or group name
first 230. The mobile phone recognizes 240 and associates the recognized
contact or group name with an entry in the mobile phone's memory
(or SIM card) 245. The mobile phone then displays 250 the names
on the mobile phone's display. The user can continue to speak names
260 until all the contacts or groups for the PT connection have
been displayed. At this point the user presses and releases the
PTT key 300 to indicate to the mobile phone to initiate establishment
of a PTT connection with the displayed contacts and groups 280.
Computer program elements of the invention may be embodied in hardware
and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,
etc.). The invention may take the form of a computer program product,
which can be embodied by a computer-usable or computer-readable
storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program
instructions, "code" or a "computer program"
embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with the instruction
execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable
or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain,
store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use
by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus,
or device. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be,
for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,
electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,
or propagation medium such as the Internet. Note that the computer-usable
or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable
medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be
electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of
the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise
processed in a suitable manner. The computer program product and
any software and hardware described herein form the various means
for carrying out the functions of the invention in the example embodiments.
Specific embodiments of an invention are disclosed herein. One
of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the invention
may have other applications in other environments. In fact, many
embodiments and implementations are possible. The following claims
are in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention
to the specific embodiments described above. In addition, any recitation
of "means for" is intended to evoke a means-plus-function
reading of an element and a claim, whereas, any elements that do
not specifically use the recitation "means for", are not
intended to be read as means-plus-function elements, even if the
claim otherwise includes the word "means". |