Telephone communication with silent response feature

Abstract

A telephone call may be received or made by the user of telephony-enabled apparatus in circumstances, such as during a meeting, where spoken responses by the user to what the other party to the call has said are unacceptable. A telephony method and arrangement are disclosed which permits a user to use silent input to the telephony-enabled apparatus in order to generate a response to the other party to the call. Response generation is facilitated by enabling the user to effect a selection from the content of the other party's input, or from options derived from that input, with this selection then being used in forming the response.

1 . A telephone communication method comprising the steps of: 
 (a) establishing a telephone call between a remote entity and telephony-enabled apparatus of the user;    (b) facilitating generation of a response to input from said entity to the telephony-enabled apparatus during the call, by enabling the user to effect a selection from the content of said input or from options derived therefrom;    (c) using silent user input to the telephony-enabled apparatus to generate said response by at least effecting a said selection; and    (d) sending the response back to said entity.    
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein response generation is facilitated in step (b) by carrying out speech recognition and analysis on the input from said entity to generate, and present to the user, multiple response options; the user identifying, by said silent input in step (c), a said option to select it for said response.  
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein response generation is facilitated in step (b) by carrying out speech recognition and analysis on the input from said entity to identify options present in the input, these options being presented to the user as individual options; the user identifying, by said silent input in step (c), a said option to select it for said response.  
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein response generation is facilitated in step (b) by having an automatic voice response unit organise the remote entity to present their input as a structured list of individual options; these options being presented to the user and the user identifying, by said silent input in step (c), a said option to select it for said response.  
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein response generation is facilitated in step (b) by the input from said entity being converted into text and displayed, the user then selecting, by said silent input in step (c), one or more portions of the displayed text for incorporation into said response.  
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from said entity, or options derived therefrom, are presented to the user in text form on a display of the telephony-enabled apparatus.  
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from said entity, or options derived therefrom, are presented to the user in audible form through an earphone.  
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 2 , wherein the input from said entity is presented to the user in audible form through an earphone, and the options derived from said input are presented to the user in text form on a display of the telephony-enabled apparatus.  
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 3 , wherein the input from said entity is presented to the user in audible form through an earphone, and the options derived from said input are presented to the user in text form on a display of the telephony-enabled apparatus.  
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein said silent user input is effected through hard or soft keys of the telephony-enabled apparatus.  
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the response generated in step (c) is in text form and step (d) involves converting the text-form response into speech for return to said entity over a same channel as that used for the said input from the entity.  
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the response generated in step (c) is in text form and step (d) involves returning the text-from response to the said entity over a communication channel different from that used for the said input from the entity.  
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the response generated in step (c) is in text form and step (d) involves converting the text-form response into speech for return to said entity over a same channel as that used for the said input from the entity; at least a part of the selected said one or more portions of the displayed text being converted to speech by using the corresponding part of the original input from said entity, this part having been stored and associated with the corresponding displayed text.  
     
     
         14 . A telephone communication method comprising: 
 (a) establishing a telephone call between a remote entity and telephony-enabled apparatus of the user;    (b) converting voice input from said input into text and using this text with or without further processing, to represent the input from said entity to the user as displayed text on a visual display of the telephony-enabled apparatus;    (c) using silent user input to the telephony-enabled apparatus to generate a text-form response to the input from said entity, this silent user input being used at least to effect a selection from the displayed text; and    (d) converting the response to voice for return to said entity over the same channel as that used for the said input from the entity.    
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein in step (b) the text derived from the voice input from said entity is analysed to generate multiple possible text-form responses which are presented to the user via said visual display as individually identified response options that together form said displayed text, the user selecting between these options by silent user input in step (c).  
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein in step (b) the text derived from the voice input from said entity is analysed to identify options present in the input, these options being presented in text form to the user via said visual display as individually identified options that together form said displayed text, the user selecting between these options by silent user input in step (c).  
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein in step (b) the text derived from the voice input from said entity is displayed without further processing to provide said displayed text, the user selecting by silent user input in step (c) portions of the displayed text for incorporation into said response.  
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 14 , comprising a further step intermediate steps (a) and (b) in which the remote entity interacts with an automatic voice response unit set to organise the remote entity to present their input as a structured list of individually-identified options, step (b) converting these options to text for display without further processing to form said displayed text.  
     
     
         19 . A telephone communication arrangement for enabling a user of telephony-enabled apparatus to generate silently a response to input received from a remote entity during the course of a telephone call involving that entity and the apparatus, the arrangement comprising: 
 apparatus output functionality adapted to avoid disturbing nearby persons when presenting output to the user;    apparatus silent-input functionality for silent indication by the user of a desired selection from output of the output functionality;    response-facilitation functionality for presenting, via said output functionality, call-related output comprising the content of said input or options derived therefrom; and    response generation means for generating a response to said input by using at least a selection made by the user from said call-related output using the silent-input functionality.    
     
     
         20 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the response-facilitation functionality is arranged to carry out speech recognition and analysis on the input from said entity to generate, and present to the user via said output functionality, multiple response options.  
     
     
         21 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the response-facilitation functionality is arranged to carry out speech recognition and analysis on the input from said entity to identify options present in the input and to present these options to the user via said output functionality.  
     
     
         22 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the response-facilitation functionality comprises an automatic voice response unit arranged to organise the remote entity to present its input as a structured list of individual options, and means for presenting this structured list to the user via said output functionality.  
     
     
         23 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the output functionality comprises a visual display, the response-facilitation functionality being arranged to convert the input from said entity into text and display it on said visual display, and the silent-input functionality being arranged to enable the user to select one or more portions of the displayed text for incorporation into said response.  
     
     
         24 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the response-facilitation functionality is incorporated into the telephone apparatus.  
     
     
         25 . An arrangement according to any to  claim 19 , wherein the response-facilitation functionality is part of a network infrastructure used by the telephone apparatus.  
     
     
         26 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the output functionality is a visual display for presenting the input from said entity, or options derived therefrom, in text form.  
     
     
         27 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the output functionality is an earphone for presenting the input from said entity, or options derived therefrom, in audible form.  
     
     
         28 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein the output functionality comprises a visual display for presenting the input from said entity in text form, and an earphone for presenting options derived from said input in audible form.  
     
     
         29 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein said silent input functionality comprises hard or soft keys of the telephone apparatus.  
     
     
         30 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein said silent-input functionality is operative to generate said response in text form, the telephone apparatus further comprising means for converting the text-form response into speech for return to said entity over the same channel as that used for the said input from the entity.  
     
     
         31 . An arrangement according to  claim 19 , wherein said silent-input functionality is operative to generate said response in text form, the telephone apparatus further comprising means for returning the text-form response to the said entity over a communication channel different from that used for the said input from the entity.