Signal processing apparatus

BACKGROUND AND FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to signal processing apparatus, more particularly but not exclusively to apparatus for providing access to telephone and internet systems.

Telephony apparatus and apparatus for providing access to the internet and more particularly E-mail services are well-known, telephony services being able to provide an interchange of information orally/aurally whereas E-mail services provide a means for interchanging information visibly.

It is an inherent disadvantage of telephony and E-mail systems that they lack flexibility in terms of the medium of expression and accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide apparatus which may be used to give greater flexibility in the use of such communication systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention in a first aspect, there is provided signal processing apparatus comprising: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>means for connection to a telephonic link;</li><li>means for connection to an audio transceiver; and</li><li>signal processing means for receiving an audio input signal from the audio transceiver connection means, for selectively converting the input signal to a text signal and for transmitting the input signal or the converted input signal over the link to a predetermined destination.</li></ul>

The apparatus of the first aspect of the invention allows the user to define whether an outgoing speech signal is to be transmitted as a voice message or as text, with the message being processed accordingly.

Preferably the text signal forms the content of an E-Mail message, the E-Mail message further including a destination address, with the destination address being received together with the audio signal and the signal processing means including means for extracting the destination address. The audio signal and the address may be separated using predetermined indicators such as key strokes of a telephone handset, for example combinations of # and *. The destination address received with the audio signal may be in the form of a code corresponding to the address with the apparatus further comprises a look-up table for storing the address corresponding to the code.

The apparatus may further comprise an audio transceiver connectable to the audio transceiver connection means and the audio transceiver may be in the form of a telephone handset.

The apparatus may further comprise means for connection to a text input device, a text input device connectable to the text input device connection means and means for conversion of a text signal to an audio signal and for transmitting the converted text signal over the link to a predetermined destination.

The apparatus may further comprising a video processor connected to the signal processing means for processing text messages for video display and the network connection means may include a modem.

According to the invention in a second aspect, there is provided signal processing apparatus comprising : <ul id="ul0002" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>means for polling a remote server for receipt of an electronic mail message;</li><li>means for receiving said message;</li><li>means for alerting a user of receipt of said message by one of a plurality of alternative means selectable by the user.</li></ul>

The apparatus of the second aspect of the invention provides polling for incoming E-mail messages together with means for alerting the user, in a way chosen by the user from two or more alternatives.

Preferably, the alerting means comprises means for dialling a telephone number at a remote location upon receipt of said message; and means for conveying to said location an indication that said message has been received. The alerting means may further comprise means for reproducing an aural notification that the electronic message has been received which may be in the form of a digital answering machine in which the notification is stored or in the form of a text to speech converter for converting the message to speech format to form said notification.

The alerting means may comprise a video processor for display of the message on a television set or display monitor.

The apparatus may further comprise means for storing the message.

According to the invention in a third aspect, there is provided, signal processing apparatus comprising: <ul id="ul0003" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>means for receipt of a speech and data signal over a telephonic link from a remote location, the signal including a spoken message and an E-mail destination address;</li><li>means for conversion of the spoken message to a text signal; and means for transmission of the text signal over the link to the E-mail destination address.</li></ul>

The apparatus of the third aspect of the invention lets a user remotely, e.g. from a mobile telephone, voice dictate and send an e-mail message by calling the apparatus.

Preferably, the speech and destination components of the message are separated using predetermined indicators which may comprise key strokes of a telephone handset such as combinations of # and *.

The E-mail address may be in the form of a code corresponding to the address and the apparatus may further comprise a look-up table for storing the address corresponding to the code.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which : <ul id="ul0004" list-style="none"><li>Figure 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of signal processing apparatus of the invention showing transfer of data and control signals between a network, a console unit, a portable unit, a television, a keyboard and a mouse.</li><li>Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the various components of the console unit.</li><li>Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the various components of the portable unit.</li></ul>

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In Figure 1, a console unit 40 communicates with a portable unit 80. The console unit 40 has a protective housing (not shown) but the portable unit 80 is preferably in the external form of a multi-purpose telephone handset, for example as shown in US 5138649.

The console unit 40, as depicted in Figure 2, is powered by regulated power supply 14 and facilitates transfer of data and control signals to and from a generic network link 32. Data and control signals from the generic network link 32 are processed by an appropriate network interface box 13 before being received by the console unit 40 for processing. In a first preferred form, network link 32 is a link to a conventional telephone network and accordingly network interface box 13 represents a modem. The data received from network link 32 may contain information pertaining to E-mail messages or conventional telephone signals.

For E-mail transfer, in response to a user request or after a predetermined time interval, the microcontroller 2 instructs dial-out to a remote server to perform the necessary steps to retrieve E-mail messages from the server in the conventional manner. The received messages are processed by serial interface module 12 in a conventional manner and sent to internet protocol controller 1 to be converted to text format. The E-mail data received by internet protocol controller 1 on conversion to text can, on instruction by microcontroller 2, be sent to text-to-speech processing module 6. Text-to-speech processing module 6 is a digital signal processor programmed with known techniques and converts the text containing the incoming E-mail message to analog or digitized speech. The incoming E-mail can, therefore, be in text format at the internet protocol controller 1 and/or analog/digitized speech format at the text-to-speech processing module 6.

Microcontroller 2 in console unit 40 is supported by memory storage 11. Memory storage 11 provides random access memory (RAM) for use by microcontroller 2 in a conventional manner. Memory storage 11 also provides firmware, through read-only memory (ROM), for operating microcontroller 2 and for processing data and signals received by console unit 40. Programs resident in memory storage 11 together with instructions from microcontroller 2 determine the format of the data, that is text or analog/digitized speech, and various alternatives for informing a user of the system, of incoming E-mail messages.

In a first alternative, the user can be informed of incoming E-mail messages by programming microcontroller 2 to instruct telephony function module 3, which establishes communication links with the telephone network via the modem, to dial-out a programmed telephone number at which the user may be contacted. Microcontroller 2 then instructs digital answering machine 15, which is capable of storing speech, to send a programmed speech message, via telephony function module 3 and network link 32, alerting the user of incoming E-mail messages. Alternatively microcontroller 2 can instruct text-to-speech processing module 6 to convert the incoming E-mail message to analog speech format and convey the analog message to the user via telephony function module 3 and network link 32.

In a second alternative, a user may program the microcontroller 2 to send incoming E-mail messages on conversion to text, to video processor 8 for further conversion to appropriate video signals for display on a conventional television set or video monitor 9. The user may then read the messages on the television set or video monitor 9 when convenient. The user may also instruct microcontroller 2 to store incoming E-mail messages in memory storage 11 in text format for later retrieval by the user on television set or video monitor 9.

In a third alternative, the user may be informed of incoming E-mail messages by programming microcontroller 2 to instruct the text to speech processing module to convert the E-mail messages to analog speech format and forward the messages to communication module 17. Communication module 17 modulates the E-mail messages, in analog/digitized speech format, for transmission by transceiver unit 4 to portable unit 80.

Figure 3 depicts portable unit 80 which is powered by a battery 24 via battery management module 19. Transceiver unit 28 in the portable unit 80 receives the modulated analog/digitized speech containing the incoming E-mail messages and further processing is determined by microcontroller 27.

Microcontroller 27 is supported by memory 18 in a manner similar to microcontroller 2 and memory storage 11 in console unit 40. Microcontroller 27 can be programmed to instruct communication module 29 to demodulate the analog/digitized speech containing incoming E-mail messages. Communication module 29 then ensures that the speech containing the E-mail messages is in analog format before conveying it to the user through speaker 22.

Alternatively microcontroller 27 is programmed by the user to activate mechanical vibrator 25 and/or buzzer 26 to notify the user of incoming E-mail messages.

The user may also dictate an E-mail message using portable unit 80 or a conventional telephone/mobile phone. If portable unit 80 is used for dictation of an E-mail message, the outgoing E-mail message in speech format is sent from microphone 23 to communication module 29 where it is modulated and transmitted to console unit 40 by transceiver unit 28. Transceiver unit 4 receives the modulated outgoing E-mail message and sends it to communication module 17 where it is demodulated and sent to digital answering machine 15 to be digitized and compressed. The compressed digitized speech containing the outgoing E-mail message is then sent to speech-to-text processing module 5 to be converted to text. Speech-to-text processing module is a digital signal processor programmed with known software, such as Dragon Dictate® for conversion of compressed digitized speech to text. On conversion to text, the outgoing E-mail message is sent out to the remote server via internet protocol controller 1, serial interface module 12 and the network link 32 .

If a conventional telephone/mobile phone is used for dictation of an E-mail message by a remote user, the outgoing E-mail message, received as a telephone message in speech format, is received by telephony function module 3 in console unit 40 through network link 32 and sent to digital answering machine 15 to be compressed and digitized. The compressed digitized speech containing the outgoing E-mail message is then converted to text by speech-to-text processing module 5 and sent out to the remote user via internet protocol controller 1, serial interface module 12 and network link 32 , as before.

The actuation of keys on the keypad of a conventional telephone/mobile phone or keys on keypad 21 of portable unit 80, in a predetermined manner identifiable by microcontroller 2, sends control signals to console unit 40 to inform microcontroller 2 if the speech being sent is conventional telephone speech or speech containing an outgoing E-mail message to be suitably processed. In the case of an E-mail message, such keys also can send recipient identification information, such as an abbreviated dial code that the handset or the microcontroller 2 can look up in memory to determine the E-mail address or a handset which allows the alpha-numeric characters to be input from the keypad through alternative key functions may be used. A possible format for such a message would be:    # # Dictated E-mail message # *Direct entry or memory recall of E-mail address* # Alternatively, dedicated function keys on keypad 21 in portable unit 80 may be actuated specifically to send control signals to console unit 40, to inform microcontroller 2 if the speech signals being sent is conventional telephone speech or speech containing an outgoing E-mail message to be suitably processed.

When the data received through network link 32 contains signals pertaining to conventional telephony, such as audio and control signals, telephony function module 3 establishes a communication link with network link 32 via network interface box 13 and informs microcontroller 2. Programs resident in memory storage 11 and instructions from microcontroller 2 then determine how the telephone signals are processed.

In a first alternative, a system user can be informed of incoming telephone calls by programming microcontroller 2 to instruct telephony function module 3, after receipt of an incoming call, to dial-out a programmed telephone number at which the user may be contacted. Digital answering machine 15 then sends a programmed speech message, via telephony function module 3 and network link 32, notifying the user of new telephone calls.

In a second alternative, the telephone signals may be relayed to the portable unit 80 held by the user, in the usual way. This is achieved by programming microcontroller 2 to instruct communication module 17 to modulate the telephone signals and send them to transceiver unit 4. The telephone signals are then transmitted by transceiver unit 4 to portable unit 80 where they are received by transceiver unit 28, sent to microcontroller 27 and demodulated by communication module 29. The user may then take the telephone call listening through speaker 22 and speaking through microphone 23, the speech signals being modulated by communication module 29 and transmitted to console unit 40 by transceiver unit 28. Transceiver unit 4 in console unit 40 receives the telephone signals and sends them to communication module 17 for demodulation. The telephone signals are then sent out to network link 32 via telephony function module 3. Telephone control signals from keypad 21 may be sent in a similar way to initiate a call and send control instructions.

In a third alternative, a user may program microcontroller 2 to instruct digital answering machine 15 to digitize and compress the incoming telephone message and sent this to microcontroller 2. Microcontroller 2 then forwards the compressed digitized speech signals to speech-to-text processing module 5 where they are converted to text before being stored in memory storage 11. The telephone message in text format is then retrieved from memory storage 11, converted to appropriate video signals by video processor 8 and may be read by the user on television set or video monitor 9.

Portable unit 80 can also be used as a remote control for television set 9. The keys on keypad 21 in portable unit 80 can be actuated to generate television control signals which are then sent by microcontroller 27 to console unit 40 upon modulation. Transceiver unit 4 in console unit 40 then receives the television control signals which are then demodulated by communication module 17 and forwarded to video processor 8 by microcontroller 2. The television set 9 is then controlled by the television control signals sent by video processor 8 which receives television signals from television antenna 34. Dedicated function keys on keypad 21 or a predetermined sequence of undedicated keys may be actuated to send control signals to console unit 40 to inform microcontroller 2 of arriving television signals to be suitably processed.

Console unit 40 and portable unit 80 are preferably equipped with liquid crystal display (LCD) screens/light emitting diodes (LEDs) 10 and 20 respectively which can be used to display information such as date, time and number of E-mail and telephone messages. Console unit 40 preferably also provides for a keypad and mouse interface module 16 which interfaces with keyboard and mouse unit 7. The keyboard and mouse may be used to instruct microcontroller 2 to set defaults for treatment of incoming and outgoing telephone and e-mail messages, as well as sending e-mail messages in a conventional manner.

The embodiment of the invention described is not to be construed as limitative. For example, although shown using a radio frequency communication link between console unit 40 and portable unit 80, the invention is equally of use with an infra-red or hard-wired communication link. Furthermore, network link 32 may be a Local Area Network (LAN) link and accordingly network interface box may be a suitable card such as an Ethernet® card and internet protocol controller may be replaced by an appropriate LAN protocol controller. As such it is to be understood that various modifications could be made to the embodiment described without departing from the scope of the invention and that the invention is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.