Embedded phonetic support and tts play button in a contacts database

Abstract

Improved methods and arrangements are provided for use in a computer telephony system that supports dial by name operations. A multiple purpose contacts database is modified through a graphical user interface (GUI) to include corresponding phonetically spelled information and / or other alias information for a contact. Voice recognition capabilities in the computer telephony system, which support the dial by name operations, can be directly invoked through the GUI to playback the phonetically spelled information and / or other alias information.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0001] Computer telephony systems are becoming increasingly popular because they provide specific services, which in the past would have been cost prohibitive if provided by traditional telephone systems. Essentially, computer telephony system includes technologies that actively integrate computers and like devices to function as would a traditional telephone system and / or private branch exchange (PBX), but only on a smaller scale and / or at a significantly lower cost. While a computer telephony system can be a stand alone communication system, for example within a home or small business environment, it is more likely to also be connected to existing telecommunications systems, such as a public switched network (PTSN), and / or other data networks, such as a local area network (LAN). As such, most computer telephony systems are configured to provide users with several communication related features. Indeed, the inherent flexibility of a programmable comput...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] In accordance with certain aspects of the present invention, the improved methods and arrangements provide tools that allow a user to add one or more extensions to a contacts database for use by the voice recognition capabilities in a computer telephony system.

Problems solved by technology

Computer telephony systems are becoming increasingly popular because they provide specific services, which in the past would have been cost prohibitive if provided by traditional telephone systems.

Indeed, the inherent flexibility of a programmable computer telephony system allows for specialized and / or customized communication features to be provided, often with only a modest attendant increase in cost.

Configuring a computer telephony system to accurately support voice commands, such as, for example, a dial by name voice command, can be difficult.

One of the drawbacks to these types of computer telephony systems is that they require a special database.

Establishing and maintaining this computer telephony database can be a burden to users who also utilize and maintain a separate, typically more general purpose contacts database.

Providing such a capability, however, can be a challenge due to the limitations in existing voice recognition software and the size / complexity of a typical contacts database.

For example, there is a significant possibility that the accurate spelling of names that is required in a contacts database will not be recognizable to the automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) engines within the computer telephony system.

These types of solutions can be overly burdensome on the users, not only during initial set-up and maintenance, but also during continued operation.

These problems are only increased if the system is installed to support a large number of users, and / or users with diverse language based names.

Moreover, in those systems that require trick spelling of names, the integrity of the contacts database can be reduced, and / or the contacts database can be more difficult manage.

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