Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
  • H04M3/53—Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages, i.e. mailbox systems
  • H04M3/533—Voice mail systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
  • H04M2201/40—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems using speech recognition
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
  • H04M7/0003—Interconnection between telephone networks and data networks
  • H04M7/0009—Interconnection between telephone networks and data networks where voice calls remain entirely in the telephone network

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a system and method for access to multimedia structures and to the implementation tools for constructing the system and putting the method into practice .
• the present invention relates to a system in which an ordinary telephone set is capable of accessing an automatic answering machine service, to the corresponding access method, and to the tools whereby the system can be made to operate as an automatic answering machine .
• Prior art systems comprise automatic answering machines which, in response to a telephone call, permit the caller to choose from a plurality of options suggested by voice prompts in order to select predetermined paths to desired services or information.
• automatic answering machines comprise programs capable of interpreting voice commands or commands activated on the telephone set via appropriate keys, as well as data or data structures which generally consist of voice prompts and are usually located at the company or organization that wishes to provide alternative service choices automatically by means of access to a single telephone number.
• both programs and data are linked to the physical answering machine on which they are installed, which means that it is usually necessary to modify both programs and data if the physical answering machine is changed.
• any change to programs or data entails corresponding changes in the respective data or programs .
• the object of the present invention is a system and method for access to multimedia data structures for automatic answering services which overcomes the limitations of prior art methods by proposing a new architecture and method in which the data structures to be instantiated are fully independent of the programs whereby these structures can be accessed selectively.
• system and corresponding method in accordance with the present invention make it possible to use a telephone set to selectively access automatic answering procedures available on an interconnection network such as the Internet .
• the system and corresponding method make it possible, thanks to an innovative architecture, to manage a multiplicity of data structures to be instantiated on a single physical unit.
• the system and corresponding method involve the use of a development device capable of generating the data structures to be instantiated simply and without the aid of programming personnel .
• a particular embodiment of the system and corresponding method makes it possible to locate the procedures or programs used for access to data structures in the telephone sets.
• FIG. 1 represents a block diagram of the system in accordance with the invention
• Figure 2 represents a block diagram of the access device or server shown in Figure 1;
• Figure 3 represents a flow chart for the call management program installed on the server shown in Figure 2 ;
• Figure 4 represents an example of a model for data structure generation in accordance with the invention;
• Figure 5 represents an example of a model for data structure testing in accordance with the invention.
• a system 10 for access to multimedia structures consisting for example of voice structures comprises in accordance with the present invention a Network Access Server (NAS) 12, a multiplicity of telephone sets (telephones) 16 capable of connecting in accordance with the prior art to NAS 12 by means of a telephone network 60, a Domain Name Service (DNS) server 18 of known type connected to the NAS 12 by means of an Internet network 80 and capable in accordance with the prior art of mapping logic names into Internet addresses .
• DNS Domain Name Service
• the system 10 comprises a first processing apparatus (developer site) 14 connected to the Internet 80 and capable in accordance with the present invention of producing voice or multimedia answering structures as will be described in detail below, and a second processing apparatus (hosting site) 15, likewise connected to the Internet 80 and capable of storing the voice or multimedia answering structures developed by means of the developer site 14 in appropriate predetermined directories 14.
• a first processing apparatus developer site
• a second processing apparatus hosting site
• the NAS 12 ( Figure 1 and Figure 2) is of known type and may for example consist of a CISCO model AS5300 NAS/Vocal Gateway comprising a central processing unit (CPU) 21, a first non-volatile memory (Boot ROM) 23 capable for example of storing boot programs to be activated at the time the NAS 12 is turned on, a second non-volatile memory (System ROM) 24 capable of storing programs developed at the time system 10 is designed, a first volatile random access memory (RAM) 22a capable for example of storing data and variables, and a second non-volatile random access memory (VRAM) 22b capable of storing configuration parameters, all of known type and mutually interconnected in accordance with the prior art by means of an internal data and command channel (BUS) 27.
• CPU central processing unit
• Boot ROM non-volatile memory
• System ROM System ROM
• RAM volatile random access memory
• VRAM non-volatile random access memory
• the NAS 12 comprises a first interface (telephone interface) 26 capable of interconnecting the NAS 12 to a plurality of lines in the telephone network 60, and a second interface (IP interface) 28 capable of interconnecting the NAS 12 to the Internet 80, both connected in accordance with the prior art to the BUS 27.
• first interface telephone interface
• IP interface IP interface
• the NAS 12 comprises a voice card 25 of known type connected to the bus 27 and capable of managing and transmitting voice messages to the telephones 16 by means of the telephone network 60 using programs resident in System
• the NAS 12 is capable of receiving telephone calls from the telephones 16 and of activating automatic answering machine procedures on the basis of programs developed in a known language, the Tool Command Language (TCL) , for example, and stored in System ROM 24.
• TCL Tool Command Language
• the NAS 12 is capable for example of performing automatic answering machine functions and of interpreting commands 'as represented in the flow chart in Figure 3 and described below.
• the NAS 12 Upon receiving a telephone call from the telephone network 60 ( Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3) by means of the telephone interface 26, the NAS 12 uses the program stored in system RAM 24 to download and transmit a message to the calling telephone 16 by means of the voice card 25; this message presents the service and requests the number of the site which the caller wishes to visit (step 210) .
• the NAS 12 uses appropriate look-up tables stored in System ROM 24 to map the number received into a logic name corresponding to a specific hosting site 15 and service provider directory.
• the NAS 12 queries the DNS server 18 on the Internet 80 in accordance with the prior art in order to obtain the IP address corresponding to the hosting site 15, and instantiates this site and the directory (step 220) .
• the NAS 12 uses a file transfer protocol such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or an audio file streaming protocol such as RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) to download the audio file or message contained in the instantiated directory via the IP interface 28.
• FTP File Transfer Protocol
• RTSP Real Time Streaming Protocol
• the caller receiving the message can press a key to select one of the functions envisaged by the message (step 235), whereupon the NAS 12 proceeds to instantiate a further message to be transmitted to the caller in the previously selected hosting site 15 and directory (step 240) .
• Steps 235 and 240 are repeated cyclically until the call is completed or until the caller presses an end-of-search key, e.g., the "#" key, at which time a check is performed (step 245) and the NAS 12 completes the instantiating function for the messages recorded on the hosting site 15 (step 250).
• NAS 12 is associated with a voice recognition and speech synthesis system (voice system) 121.
• the NAS 12 is capable of cooperating with the voice system 121 to perform the operations described for the first embodiment in equivalent fashion and by means of voice commands .
• the NAS 12 is capable of cooperating with the voice system 121 in such a way that caller commands and the messages used in order to present the service, request the site that the caller wishes to visit, request further messages and to complete calls are all managed by means of voice recognition and speech synthesis .
• the voice system 121 is capable of being instantiated via the NAS 12 by caller voice commands and comprises, as a further characteristic feature of the present invention, processing modules developed at the time the system 10 is designed and which are capable of selectively instantiating, as will be described in detail below, the hosting site 15 and the data structures or directories contained in it.
• the voice system 121 comprises processing modules capable of reading files in XML format, of associating these files with a style sheet or XSL (extensible Style-sheet Language) processing module, and of processing them as will be described in detail below in such as way as to obtain files in VOICE-XML format which are capable in turn of being managed by a voice subsystem of known type.
• XML format XML files
• the files in XML format must follow certain formalisms which will be described here by means of an example of a file in which the characteristic structural elements of a navigation tree for generating a dialog between the calling user and the speech synthesis system are shown together with comments.
• ⁇ info_audio>01d West is a restaurant offering outstanding classic American food and excellent service in an inherent Western atmosphere. Ideal for special occasions and celebrations.
• XSL processing module in accordance with one of the features of this embodiment, comprises pointers to structural elements of the XML files as well as code elements (VOICE-XML tags) that can be selectively associated with the information content of the XML files .
• VOICE-XML tags code elements
• the XML files and the XSL processing module which are constructed according to the formalisms or rules indicated above, are processed dynamically, for example by using a parser module of known type such as the "COCOON" module available free of charge on the Internet, in order to selectively map the XML files into the XSL processing module and thus automatically generate files in VOICE-XML format.
• a parser module of known type such as the "COCOON" module available free of charge on the Internet
• the NAS 12 associated with the voice system 12 is capable, thanks to this set of modules, of instantiating data structures representing messages to be synthesized, and of making them available dynamically to a voice subsystem of known type .
• the developer site 14, which is a further characteristic feature of the present invention, may for example consist of a personal computer or PC with WindowsTM 95 operating system and comprising a 100 MHz Pentium microprocessor, 64 Mbyte RAM, a 1 Gbyte hard disc drive, a color monitor and at least one port for connection to the Internet.
• the developer site 14 makes it possible to produce voice or multimedia data structures (data structures) to be stored in memory on the hosting site 15.
• the data structures consist, for example, of voice prompts that can be managed directly by the NAS 12 and/or of files in XML format that can be managed by the voice system 121 associated with the NAS 12.
• the developer site 14 is capable in accordance with the present invention of implementing the functions used to construct and test a multimedia data structure following predetermined formalisms.
• the developer site 14 can use programs developed at the time the system 10 is designed and implemented on the developer site 14 itself or on the hosting site 15 whereby it is capable of presenting a tree diagram 41 ( Figure 1 and Figure 4) with multiple elements 46 representing a data structure and a table of predetermined functions (function table) 42 on the monitor, e.g. in graphic form and in response to appropriate initialization commands .
• the elements 46 of the tree diagram 41 represent, for example, voice or multimedia messages, while the function table 42 represents the alternative operations that are possible in the displayed context; these operations may for example include a "record audio file” function 42a, an "add child” function 42b and a “delete element” function 42c, whose characteristics will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.
• Constructing a data structure consists, for example, of the following functions : - Assigning a name to the data structure, e.g., "goofyl";
• the data structure must as will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art be constructed in such a way as to comply with the formalisms described above in this connection, thus ensuring that the structure can be managed automatically by the parser in order to generate VOICE-XML files dynamically.
• the tree diagram 41 Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 5 representing the data structure to be tested is displayed and, in accordance with the embodiments described, a table
• testing consists specifically of the following functions :
• testing may for example consist of the following functions: - Selecting a particular data structure, e.g., the structure named "goofyl", in order to view the corresponding tree diagram 41;
• the hosting site 15, which is a further characteristic feature of the present invention, may for example consist of a SUN Ultra5 WS with Sparc-II processor and 512 Mbyte RAM, and has capabilities corresponding to those of a station hosting Internet sites.
• the hosting site 15 is capable of storing a plurality of data structures and of making these structures selectively available on the Internet, e.g., by means of access on the part of the NAS 12 or, equivalently, on the part of the NAS 12 associated with the voice system 121.
• the system 10 thus described has an architecture in which the apparatus capable of accessing or instantiating the data structures, e.g., the NAS 12, is strictly separate from the apparatus that stores the data structures to be instantiated, e.g., the hosting site 15, and in which the apparatus used to create and test the automatic answering machine function, e.g., the developer site 14, consists essentially in an apparatus for creating and testing a particular data structure which can be readily located on the premises of the organization which intends to generate and activate an automatic answering machine.
• the apparatus capable of accessing or instantiating the data structures e.g., the NAS 12
• the apparatus that stores the data structures to be instantiated e.g., the hosting site 15
• the apparatus used to create and test the automatic answering machine function e.g., the developer site 14
• the apparatus used to create and test the automatic answering machine function e.g., the developer site 14
• operation of the system 10 described above is as follows .
• the latter Upon receiving a call from a user of a telephone number corresponding to one of the telephone lines accessing the NAS 12, the latter uses the program stored in System ROM 24 to activate a predetermined voice prompt which directs the user to dial a number corresponding to a particular service provider or answering machine .
• the NAS 12 When the user dials the number corresponding to the specific desired service, the NAS 12, with the aid of the DNS server 18, maps the dialed number into an IP address and a data structure name, e.g., in the known form "ftp://131.1.15.127/123456" or "rtsp : //131.1.15.127/123456 " in order to uniquely instantiate the hosting site 15 and the data structure desired by the user.
• the NAS 12 reads the first file on the hosting site 15, e.g., the "0" file of the instantiated structure, decodes it with the voice card 25 and transmits the decoded voice prompt to the telephone 16 of the calling user so that the latter can proceed in successive steps based on the options provided by the voice prompt to instantiate, for example by pressing individual keys, the further prompts and messages along the instantiated tree diagram 41 set up by the service provider using the developer site 14.
• the NAS 12 will comprise the following conventional functions :
• file “13” in tree diagram 41 will be played again, while if the user presses the "*” key, file “1” will be played, and if the user presses the "#” key, the file named "end” will be played;
• the user's commands can also be voice commands and the resulting prompts may be produced through synthesis from the contents of the dynamically generated VOICE-XML format file .
• key actuation as described above may be replaced by voice commands and the resulting prompts may be produced through synthesis of XML format files taken dynamically from the hosting site 15 by the voice system 121 and converted into VOICE-XML format.
• the system 10 in accordance with the present invention thus presents features equivalent to those of a known automatic answering system, while as regards the "structure” and the “method” whereby its functions are implemented, the system 10 has features that are entirely novel with respect to prior art automatic answering systems .
• the elements of the data structures can contain IP addresses/directories or telephone numbers which, once transferred to the telephone or the NAS, make it possible for example to instantiate further hosting sites/data structures or to activate telephone calls via the Internet .
• the elements of the data structure can also consist of command files arranged in such a way that, once they are transferred to the telephone or the NAS, the user can press keys in order to enter string of numbers and make use of interactive services such as e-commerce or which involve filling out questionnaires .

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

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• 2002
  • 2002-02-20 AU AU2002241241A patent/AU2002241241A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-02-20 WO PCT/IT2002/000101 patent/WO2002069614A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-02-20 BR BR0207508-3A patent/BR0207508A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-02-20 EP EP02707089A patent/EP1425900A2/de not_active Withdrawn

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